The pearl diving was one of the ways to make a living in the UAE, before the discovery of oil. There were same season for pearl diving and it toke about three months and above of pearling. It’s begin on May and end on September. There are many reasons that let the emirates people to endure these dangers of diving and working under burning sun. The most important reason is, to provide a living for his family. The divers are at risk at any time during their journey. Because they don’t know about the weather, they will be in the middle of the sea and they descend to depths of 100 feet or more.
Before they want for diving they prepare themselves for this long period. They start by checking the boats by painting the bottom of the boat with some special oil called (Al Sal) to avoid the effect of being for a long time in the water and ensure that the boat becomes safe for the journey. They used (Al Sam’aa ) for pearl diving, it’s about 15 – 100 feet long, 3- 20 feet wide and 2- 10 feet high.
Moreover,
they starting make the boats if they need. The boat maker is called (Al Jalaf) he
has knowledge about everything involved in the making of boats.
Then, the
divers start carrying simple tools and provisions, financed by the wealthy
pearl traders
After they
prepare their boats and themselves they start to board the ships and their
families are standing on the other side of the beaches to see them off and then
moving to the places of destination (Al Hiraat). They went as a group of captain,
sailors, divers and apprentices left to the haunting melodies of the song (Al Nabbam
).
Each of them has his own job to do during the journey.
Each of them has his own job to do during the journey.
- Nokhitha: captain of the ship, which is preparing everything from the beginning of her journey to the end.
- Diver: The person who comes down to the sea and dive
to extract the oysters and shellfish from the sea.
- Seeb: It is the direct
diver and has a
responsibility to the safety of the
diver, he is holding a rope
connected between him and the diver, if
the diver move the plunger
the Seeb quickly withdrawn.
- Al Naham: vocalist in the
ship, which seeks to poems
melodious voice.
- Cooker: the person who cooks
food and tea.
- Aljlash: They are men
who are reservists a solver in any emergency happens to one of
the divers.
- Some other men are setting to open the oysters after they
collected.
When divers
reach (Al Hiraat), they made very deep dives, with only noise clip, finger
protector, a basked made of rope, a stone weighting about 5kg to pull them down
and rope to rise then to the surface again.
About 50 dives
were made a day, each about 3 minutes. After the period of pearling finished
they returned to their home and during this period the started to oyster splitting
involves a number of tools and knives and is done under the supervision of the captain.
The selection of oysters for splitting is done carefully and only those having
the potential of holding pearls are taken and the rest are thrown back to the
sea.
At the end of pearling season, AL Tawash started to distribute the pearls in something called ( Al Toos), it is brass sieves for grading pearls. He sorted the pearls depending on the size, color and shape. Moreover, he used copper pearl scales and brass pearl scoops.
Furthermore, Al Twaash organize he’s tools in the wooden box.
In the end he started
to sell these pearls in UAE for other traders or for important
traders around the world.