184 Pearls.
ten-and-a-half fathoms. He can now find shells as well as any native.
Mr.
Chippindall practically proved that diving dresses could be worked
satisfactorily on the NorthÂwest Australian grounds, and in a
systematic manner. This fact being assured, the use of swimming divers
will henceforth gradually but surely die out. The "Telephone" and the
"Sree Pas-Sair" are now used as floating and moveable stations, for the
needs of the fleet. Each vessel carries a diving dress and seven men;
thus the fleet now consists of 21 boats carrying 150 divers, and 21
diving dresses. All these men are signed under shipping articles, and
are therefore under complete control. The extended nature of the
West-Australian pearling grounds, renders this system absolutely
necessary, and this will in the future tend to prevent the relations
between the masters and the men falling into the state which now exists
in Torres Straits.
It
speaks well for the discipline of the crew, and the kindness of the
officers, that they never have to punish a man, beyond sending him up
aloft. Every other night, half of the men come on to the mother ship,
to hear the music. The severest punishment the men can receive is not
to be allowed to be present at the concert. They work hard and
