PEARLER'S REVENGE -

Back in the days of sail powered pearling luggers, the pearling fleet in Broome became infested with cockroaches and rats.

The roaches on the luggers were in such large numbers that there was not a great deal for them to eat and they resorted to eating the toenails of crew members while they slept.

Both rats and roaches got in to the food supplies and rats of course did a lot of damage ro ropes and other equipment.

Rats would also bite sailors and were carriers of disease but a rat free boat was considered a disaster because the rats fed on the roaches and kept their numbers down a bit.

There were two types of cockroaches. The grey ones were about half an inch long and could squeeze in to cracks the width of a fingernail. As soon as food appeared they would come out in hordes. The other type were large, black and several inches long. They flew around the boats on large wings.

When the roaches reached plague numbers the sailors would pour a mixture of tar oil and kerosine or a swill of cyanide or sulphuric acid into the cracks.

At the end of the pearling season the luggers would be brought in close to shore and anchored.

The gear would all be removed from the luggers and then the stopcocks left open at low tide.

As the tide came in the decks were soon alive with roaches and rats. As the water rose higher the vermin were washed in to the sea with any rats trying to swim to shore being promptly whacked by sticks wielded by members of the crew.

In this way the crew took their revenge on the critters that had been plaguing them for the past few months at sea.

Pearling luggers

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