CLASSIC DIVE BOOKS

    PEARL and SPONGE DIVING

    Please note: The books are listed for interest only, and not offered for sale. 

    PEARLING first then SPONGES BELOW.
     

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    .    		 DIVER'S LUCK -  A Story of Pearling Days.
    Clarence Benham.
    First published 1949. reprinted 1951.
    Angus and Robertson, Sydney, London.
    Hardcover, dustjacket, 258 pages, some mono prints. 
    Tells of diving for pearl in Torres Strait and the Solomon Islands - and a fight to the death with a Japanese diver. 
    From the fly: This is the true story of a young man who looked for adventure. The author tried bis luck as a diver, first in Torres Straits and later in the Solomons, and his experiences make a story as absorbing as any fiction. He tells of the rough and ready life of the pearling fleet, of its pictur- esque crews and their ways, and of the strange beauty and perils of the undersea world. The men he worked with, brown and white, come vividly to life, at their skilled and dangerous work or ; at play, making merry on board or ashore on Thursday Island-even as far afield as Sydney, where the con- fidence men soon smell out the pearls in their pockets. The author has an unerring eye for character and an ear for dialogue. Such a figure as Billy the Groper, whose rich originality has almost a Dickensian flavour, would alone make the book worth while. These old-time divers play their part in many thrilling incidents, wgether in the clear sunlit waters of Torres Straits or the uncanny tree-shadowed passages of the Solomons, in which sharks, head- hupters, and cannibals are involved. Most memorable of all is the author's underwater fight to the death with a Japanese diver. Diver's Luck is a book for all who are interested in the development of our pearling a. industry, and most particularly for everyone who loves adventure, the smell of salt water, and the breath of more spacious days. 
    Cover far left (green and black) is from edition listed above. Not sure what edition is blue and yellow cover. [ps-farleft]

    .    		 FORTY FATHOMS DEEP. 
    Pearl Divers and Sea Rovers in Australian Seas. 
    Ion L. Idriess. 
    First published 1937, the second edition the same year (which I have), Angus & Roberston Limited, Sydney.
    Hard cover, no dust jacket, 343 pages, mono plates throughout. 
    A first edition of this book would be nice - a collectors item and quite valuable, from the stable of a prolific and well respected author. It is a wonderful book, superbly writen of course, and of great historicc value as it documents the pearl divers of, predominantly, Broome in Western Australia. A ',must read' for all recreational and commercial divers.
    [ps]
    Left image (blue) is of a paperback edition.

    .    		 HEKURA. The Diving Girl's Island.Fosco Maraini.
    THE ISLAND OF THE FISHERWOMEN. Fosco Maraini.
    First published in Great Britain in 1962, by Hamish Hamilton, London,as Hekura. The Diving Girl's Island; then in the USA, same year, by Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc, New York, as The Island of the Fisherwomen. Hardcover, dustjacket, 95 pages, seventy-four  mono and colour plates throughout.
    A wonderful record of the Ama divers of Japan, and their diving for pearls.  'The habits, religion, and feasts of this tribe are interesting enough; but it is the girls themselves, diving almost naked and priding themselves on their strange vocation, who are the chief subjects.'
    The two books are identical except for the covers. It proves that the Brits prefer books, whilst the Yanks prefer bums. 
    From eBay: A sought after diving book. Study of the Ama divers who live in about 50 villages n the coastline of Japan on the islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu and smaller offshore islands. These people live a life distinct from that of the ordinary Japanese by whom they are considered rather as gipsies are with us. The Ama women do not dive for pearls, as is commonly believed but for edible seaweed and shell-fish. They dive without snorkels, without scuba gear, with very little cloths on, just a kind of g-strings, goggles and the tools they need under water. The photos are incredible. [ps-both]
    KUWAIT'S AGE OF SAIL: PEARL DIVERS, SEA CAPTAINS, AND SHIPBUILDERS PAST AND PRESENT. 
    Claudia Farkas Al Rashoud 
    Husain Mohammed Rafie Marafie, 1993. 
    Hardcover, dustjacket. No further details.
    PEARL DIVER
    A True Story of Thrilling Adventure Under the Sea. (Paperback, as shown).

    Pearl Diver - Adventuring Over and Under Southern Seas.
    Victor Berge and Henry Wysham Lanier.
    First published 1930. Doubleday, Doran & Co., Garden City, USA; William Heinemann, London.  Hardcover, (probably) dust jacket, 368 pages. Autobiography about Victor Berge's adventures around the world. Illustrations by Stephen Haweis.  Also published in German, as Der Perlentaucher, by Buchring der Jugend, no date. 
    [ps-hc,no dj,Heinemann]
    PORT OF PEARLS - Broom's First 100 Years. 
    Hugh Edwards 
    Published by author, Perth, WA, 1984. ISBN 0-646-19309-0
    Softcover, 198 pages, mono and colour plates.
    Broome, on the remote northern coast of Western Australia, is known for its pearling industry. Its past history weaves a rich tradition of several cultures including the indigenous Australians, Indonesians, Malays, Japanese and virtually anyone with a colourful background. But cyclones, the Pacific war, sharks and the dreaded bends have left many bones in the local graveyard, and more on the bottom of the sea. There was an appalling death rate among the early divers where ignorance of the hazards of deep and prolonged diving resulted in a painful death or at best, incapacitation, through what became known as decompression sickness. The industry survived; cultured pearls from Broome are now the best in the world. Hugh Edwards’ historical and contemporary insights into Broome make a fitting tribute to the resilient Australian town which is now fast becoming one of the finest tourist destinations in Australia. An excellent read for all divers. [ps]
    In print, available from Oceans Enterprises.   See also author's page.
    THE PEARL KING
    Robert Eunson.
    Angus & Robrston, Sydney, london 1956.
    Hardcover, dustjacket, 207 pages, mono prints, no index.
    From the fly: The man who wrought this pearly revolution was Mikimoto, a one-time street peddler of noodles and sea foods who became one of Japan's richest and most beloved men. 'The Pearl King' is his story. Born on the south coast of Japan, Mikimoto was acutely aware of the depletion of the once rich pearl fisheries off the shores of his village. After twelve years of expensive and discouraging failures, he discovered a way of producing a cultured pearl which so resembled a natural pearl that only a special X-ray could detect the difference. He soon was able to offer his pearls at one-quarter of the current price - a Japanese habit of undercutting which we now know only too well but which then created a sensation in the pearl markets: soon Mikimoto pearl salons were opened across the world from Paris to Shanghai. But ‘The Pearl King' is not merely the story of the birth and growth of a bizarre commercial enterprise; it is' also the story of the simple little man who discovered the secret and built up the business. Until he was allmost ninety he entertained his factory workers with his juggling feats and conjuring magic: at ninety-four he was still hale and hearty, and still actively managing his business. [ps]

    ..     		 THE PEARL SEEKERS
    Norman Bartlett.
    First published March 1954. Andrew Melrose Limited, London.
    Hardcover, dust jacket, 312 pages, many mono prints throughout, slight tinge of green. 
    This is the full faactual story of the Australasian pearling industry, filled with drama, adventure and fascinating tales. Murder, rape, theft, brutality and treachery are found side by side with ccourage, honesty, and pioneering vision. A valuable historical record.
    From the fly: Man at his best, and man at his worst, stalk the pages of this exciting chronicle of the Pearling trade. Murder, rape, theft, brutality and treachery are found side by side with courage, honesty, and pioneering vision. This is the full, factual story of the Australasian pearling industry, filled with drama, adventure and fascinating tales. This is the plain and unadorned story of honest men, and unscrupulous men - the latter thought nothing of mass murder, fiendish cruelties, piracy, barratry and dirty dealing to gain their ends. Most of these men would have cut their  grandmother's throat for tuppence - some of them probably did ! Factual, exciting and alive, this is the fabulous story of a fabulous trade. Beachcombers and drunkards, pioneers and explorers, arrant rogues and deserters of all colours and all nationalities fight, quarrel, and swagger through these pages. [ps-farleft]
    Covers: far right (black and green) is hardcover; immediate left may be the paperback. 
    THE PEARL SEEKERS
    A Tale of Adventure in the Southern Seas.
    Alexander MacDonald. Illustrated by Edward S. Hodgson.
    Published 1908 by Blackie & Sons, Limited, London.
    Hardcover, no dustjacket, printed boards showing title and author, and image of wrecked ship[ on shore; 364 pages, plus 16 pages of book advertisements, several mono plates, illustrations to the text. Preface - "I have based this story on some personal expereinces in the South Seas, and on some well-known incidents which occurred there, of which I happen to have some experience". The author goes on to mention a well known Australian shipwreck - "As for th advenjturers, I need only remind my readers of the gang of very modern pirates who stole the Highland Railway Company's steamer ferret. This vessel, as is well known, was engaged in several more or less nefarious practices before she was finally captured at Melbourne." The Ferret indeed was captured on a voyage from Englan to Marseilles, but never arrived; she was captured, as the India, after entering Port Phillip. There is nothing in this work of fiction that adds to our knowledge of the voyages of the Ferret, and indeed she seems never to hve entere the South Pacific, but no doubt the author took some inspiration from her piracy. A ripping good yarn eh wot!  [ps]

    .
    		THE WHITE DIVERS OF BROOME. 
    The True Story of a Fatal Experiment.
    John Bailey.
    Published by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd, 2001.Reprinted several times - below image in 2004 in smaller format.
    Softcover, 301 pages, 26 mono plates. 
    This book could have won the Booker Prize if it were fiction, and not a true account of bureaucratic stupidity and racism. Brilliantly written, it is perhaps the most interesting, if not significant, book to be published on diving in Australia in the last ten years. In 1912, twelve British Royal Navy-trained divers were sent to the predominantly Asian town of Broome in Australia's remote north-west to master the art of pearl-shell diving. Such an arrangement, urged on by the Commonwealth Government deep in the grip of a White Australia policy,  was not so much as to wrench away the industry from the industrious Japanese, Malays, Aborigines and others, but to prove the supremacy of the white race. Not only is this the true story of those who died to prove an unnecessary point but it gives a wonderful background to a still fascinating and myssterious town, of a tightly-packed Asian community opf opium dens, food stalls and brothels, "where pearl shell mattered more than human life". If you like true history with more than a touch of the dramatic, this is the book.
    From the fly: In 1912 Broome was as much Asian as Australian. The town thrived on the hugely profitable, and extremely dangerous pearl-shell industry, using Asian labour that was cheap to hire and easy to replace. It was a frontier town, where racial tensions simmered uneasily between whites, Asians anq'Aborigines. In that year, twelve British Royal Nary-trained divers and their tenders were sent to Broome to take part in the White Experiment. Their task was to master the perilous art of pearl- shell diving and overcome the Asian stranglehold on the pearling industry, proving once and for all the supremacy of the white man over the coloured. Urging them on was a
    Commonwealth Government deep in the grip of the White Australia Policy and anxious to rid the country of the last remaining Asian 'taint'. The White Divers of Broome tells the extraordinary, true story of this experiment and its fatal aftermath. Set against the backdrop
    of Broome, it vividly conjures up a world in which lanes lined with noodle stalls and opium dens, and the slum dwellings of hawkers and prostitutes were more redolent of Asia than Australia; and where pearl shell mattered more than human life. [ps]
     
     
     
     

     
    SPONGE DIVING

     
    BITTER SEA
    Faith Warn
    Subtitle: The Real Story of Greek Sponge Diving.
    Published by: Guardian Angel Press, UK in 2000.  (Reprinted with revisions in 2001)
    Illustrated card covers with 114 printed pages. Dimensions: 21 cms tall by 15 cms wide.
    The book tells the story of the Greek sponge divers, their families and their way of life, customs, tradition and popular folklore particularly on the Dodecanese Islands.  The stories are told to the author by the divers and their families themselves.  It goes on to look at their new communities in America and Australia.  The book is divided into 21 chapter and is very well illustrated with monochrome photographs. [pt]
    SPIRO OF THE SPONGE FLEET
    Henry Chapin and Peter Throckmorton.
    Little, Brown & Co. Boston, Massachusetts 1964 
    Hardcover, dust Jacket;  8vo - over 7" - 9" tall ; 104pp, glossary of Greek words, illustrated throughout with authentic sketches. 
    SPONGES - Common Commodities ands Industries.
    E J Cresswell
    Published by: Sir Isaac Pitman Ltd, London UK c1920.  (Book not dated but signed by author 26th July 1922)
    Hard cover no dust jacket;  126 printed pages. Dimensions: 18.5 cms tall by 12.5 cms wide.
    This book was written by Ernest J Cresswell, a co-director of Cresswell Brothers, Sponge Importers in Holborn London, the other director was his brother, Alfred. The book not only shows different types of sponges but documents how sponges have been “harvested” through history starting with free divers using a heavy stone up to modern times with standard diving equipment and “the latest invention of the Ferenz Apparatus”.  It also covers sponge diving around the world like the Mediterranean, Bahamas, Cuba, British Honduras, Florida. 
    Extremely well illustrated throughout with all different diving methods through history shown along with different types of sponges found. 
    This book is one of what was called the “Common Commodities and Industries” series.  Other books in the series included tea, rubber, coal, iron founding, cotton spinning plus many more (over 60 are listed).   Apparently, each book cost 3 shillings, which I guess was quite expensive in 1920? [pt]
    Note: Cover image has been 'tweeked' to show lettering. It has a dark green cover with black type. 
    THE SPONGE DIVERS.
    Charmian Clift and George Johnston. 
    First published 1956, Collins, London
    Hardcover, no dust jacket my copy, 314 pages, no photographs.
    The authors are no strangers to the Australian literary scene of the mid 20th century, having several books between them, and he a respected journlaist also. They claim the book to be fiction, based on the island of Kalymnos in Greece, where they lived for many years, but no doubt there is a measure of authenticity in their tales. 
    [ps]

     
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