48["White Divers – A Sturdy Body of Men", The Sunday Times (Perth, WA), Sunday 11 February 1912, page 13]

White Divers – A Sturdy Body of Men

A fine body of men are the British divers who have come out under contract to take on the work of pearl-diving in the Nor'-West. Clean-skinned, clear-eyed, burly Britishers, they are good types of the splendid service in which they have been trained. They are quietly confident of their ability to prove that the trained while man is a better diver than the Malay br the Jap.

"Look here," said a bull-necked Devonshire man, "there isn't one of us that hasn't served for 15 years in the British navy." He-seemed to think that settled the question.

"But," said a doubter, "do you know the conditions you'll be asked to work under? The luggers are just long enough for a fisherman's walk,

three steps and overboard! You'll have to spend weeks on end in these little vessels, and live on preserved food. You'll have to put in a working, day, under water, and walk miles on the sea floor following the drift of the lugger. You'll have to find shell and plenty of it if the movement is to pay, and all the time you'll be in a tropical climate."

"That's all right," replied the Devon man. "We know all that. We've served as divers in every part of the known world, from the Arctic to the line. We've worked on the west coast of Africa, in the East Indies, China and Japan, and there is nothing in all this to frighten any of us."

"Yes," chipped in a quiet-spoken young pocket Hercules from Plymouth, "every one of us is able and willing to work in 30 fathoms, and British fathoms at that – six feet between the marks – and come out of it alive and hearty. Why, these Japs only count four feet to the fathom, and they are singing out about 25 of these [? razeed] marks, and they know so little about the game that they die of it. Only let them give us a straight go and we'll do the work, and make a profit at it at that," i

"You will have to work with colored crews--for a time, anyhow."

"We have had to do with the colored races all over the world. Treat them kindly, but don't allow any familiarities, and there need be no trouble with the average Asiatic. They are ail right if they are handled properly."

"But what about the Japs that you are going to supplant?"

"We expect that these men will try to make themselves nasty, but we've made up our minds to take no notice of them. We are not going to lose our tempers over the likes of them. We'll teach them that we've forgotten more about diving than they ever learnt."

"Suppose you know all about divers' paralysis?

"Oh, that's nothing. Any man can die of it if he likes to be fool-hardy, but the trained man never runs the risk. The thing's preventable, and need never be incurred if the necessary simple precautions are taken."

"Good luck to you, anyhow. Every White Anstralian will wish you that."

SOME OF THE WHITE DIVERS NOW ON THEIR WAY TO BROOME.

The figure on the right is Mr. J. S. Davis, of Siebe, Gorman and Co., who has the men in charge.