For hundreds of years, pearls originating from the Arabian Gulf have been recognized as one of the finest gemstones in the world. By the mid-1800s, most of the inhabitants surrounding the Arabian Gulf were connected in some way to the local pearling industry. The core of the Gulf pearl industry was located on the island of Bahrain: “The gulf fisheries employ around 3,500 boats, large and small, of which 1,200 of the best belong to Bahrain…” (The Pearl Book: GF Kunz 1908). A typical Bahraini ship’s crew, known as dhow Prayed ‘sambuk,’ that caught pearl oysters included:
or the ‘Nokhadha’ (Captain): The captain used to be the owner of the boat, an expert fisherman with knowledge of all waters and the best pearl banks.
or the ‘Al-Mejaddimi’ (Second-in-command): Responsible for upholding the captain’s rule.
or the ‘Al Musally’ (Prayer Leader): A religious figure, similar to a chaplain in the military.
or the ‘Nahham’ (Singer): In charge of singing pearl songs and chants to keep the crew’s spirits up and bring luck.
or the ‘Saib’ (Diver’s Top-Man): Performing critical work, they remained on top monitoring the lifeline attached between the boat and the diver.
or the ‘tababah’ (Apprentice): Deck hands who performed all sorts of tasks at the behest of other crew members.
or the ‘ghowwas’ (pearl diver).
The life of a Bahraini pearl hunter was hard. Even before leaving home for the pearling season between April and September, most pearl divers were already in debt; forced to borrow money from their captains to ensure the survival of their families while diving. Even if his dives were fruitful and the harvest high, thus erasing his debts, the diver still had to weather the next six months until the diving season started again. The existence of the entire crew on board was frugal to say the least; living on a diet of dates, fish, rice and coffee. However, it was the divers who suffered the most; In addition to overexertion and malnutrition, they faced the daily threat of a shark attack and long-term neurological diseases caused by insufficient oxygen supply to the brain during prolonged dives.
Diving methods employed on these ships had remained rudimentary, unchanged since pearl diving began. Once moored to the oyster beds, everything revolved around the ‘Ghawwas’ and their ‘Saib’. A ‘Saib’ literally had the diver’s life in his hands, because if he didn’t pull the diver fast enough, the diver would drown. The ‘Ghawwas’ dove in 15-minute shifts, and in that time they made at least 8 visits to the seafloor from ten to forty feet deep. They sank to the bottom aided by a stone-weighted rope, wearing a nose clip called ‘Fetatn’, leather gloves called ‘Khabat’ to protect themselves from sharp corals, and a ‘Dayyeen’ net basket hung from the neck. After the divers returned to the surface, the oysters were stacked on the deck, allowed to dry, and split open; whether or not the oysters contained pearls was a matter of sheer luck. Up to a whole week, and thousands of oysters, could pass through the hands of the crew without a single pearl being found. On the other hand, a few hours of diving could result in the mother load. However, each time they surfaced, the pearls, called ‘Lulu’, always ended up in the captain’s red cloth bag.
The captain would collect his pearl harvest from the local ‘Tawwash’, or pearl dealer, who would visit the ship to buy the pearls and then resell them to larger dealers. Once the captain had received the money, he paid each crew member according to his hierarchy, with the majority going to the captain and the ship. The Arabic dialects used in the Gulf have a variety of words for the pearl: ‘Lulu’, ‘Dana’, ‘Hussah’, ‘Gumashah’. then there are the names to describe the shape and color of a pearl: ‘Sujani’, pear-shaped drop; ‘Khaizi’, high vaulted upper half with a rounded half bottom; ‘Adasi’, a rounded cylinder with flat sides and ‘Majhoolah’, a large, ugly pearl that may hide a finer pearl inside. Extraordinary experience and tolerance were required to remove the thin layers of a ‘Majhoolah’ – a process that could take weeks. Of all the pearls a crew expected to see, there was the ‘Jiwan’, meaning young, which was the perfect round white pearl tinted pink with sheer brilliance. Gulf pearls were, and still are to this day, sorted and graded using a sequence of sieves called ‘Gurbaai’. Pearls are weighed using an ancient complex unit of weight called ‘Chow’, one carat equals 0.6518 ‘Chow’.
The purchase of pearls sometimes revolved around a system of silent auction, where a merchant who does not want others present to know what price he is offering, will cover his hands together and those of his client with a cloth that indicates the quantity with a system of finger signals. . From Bahrain, the pearls were sold to Indian merchants, who shipped them to Bombay for hand-drilling. From there, the pearls were sold to Europeans, whose thirst for pearls from the Arabian Gulf was insatiable.