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METHODS OF FISHING
season
of the year only, at comparatively short intervals (four to six years),
the necessity for dress-diving is less and the naked native diver will
probably survive for many years although modern innovations are
gradually creeping in even among the fisheries controlled by Orientals.
The
dress consists of a rubber suit all in one piece, which the diver gets
into through the neck; leaden-soled boots, corselet to which the helmet
is screwed, and chest and back weights. The diver dresses and steps on
to the ladder hanging over the boat's side. The air-pipe, lifeline,
and helmet are attached, the man at the air-pump is set to work, and
last of all the face glass is screwed up.
A
plunge, a splash, and he drops swiftly through the heaving billows to
the quiet depths below, his life in the hands of the tender he has left
in the boat. This man must feel the diver constantly by the life-line,
keep him supplied with air and be ready for any of the emergencies
always liable to arise. Only an alert man of good judgment and quick
action should tend the life-line, though the most successful diver, a
Japanese, on the Australian coast some years
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