ACS Monterey Bay Program for January 2006
Monterey Abalone Divers from 1898 to 1943 and a
Tribute to the Unknown Divers of Historic Cannery Row
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Of the wealth of invertebrate marine life in Monterey
Bay, the abalone may have had one of the greatest historical and economic
impacts. From the argument about the sea otter's role in its abundance,
through the years of its harvest by a string of different peoples, to
the regulations about it as a fishery, the mollusc with the pearly inside
shell resides in the center of development and controversy.
It is not easy to find and pry an abalone off a rock; moreover that's
done underwater in an environment difficult for air-breathing mammals.
Hence, getting it involves the history and technology involved in HOW
to get it.
Our speaker is a writer and historian who is fascinated by all of the
above. A.L. "Scrap" Lundy wrote a book entitled: The California Abalone
Industry -- A Pictorial History. It caught the eye of Huell Howser
of the television program "California Gold." Before long, Lundy, Howser,
Jerry Loomis, and others, were sitting off Cannery Row in a classic Monterey
fishing boat, watching an original abalone diver from 1939, Roy Hattori,
and the story of hard-hat diving came to life. Lundy wrote an article
about the experience in Historical Diver (Historical Diving Society),
No. 19, Spring 1999.
Cannery Row's hard-hat divers were pioneers in diving techniques and in
the profession of commercial diving. They solved problems of building
canneries and moving fish, and they developed the use of the wooden "hoppers"
that floated outside each cannery's intake. Lundy found very little was
known about these divers and his research is impressive. Lundy himself
was a Navy deep-sea diver to 600 ft, and a commercial abalone diver in
the Channel Islands. So, the mechanics of early diving make a topic he
is well able to talk and write about. Reviews praise Lundy's book, California
Abalone Industry..... Don Barthelmess wrote: "....we continue to use
the text as a reference in our teaching and training of Marine Diving
Technology at Santa Barbara City College." (quoted on amazon.com)
Join us for a program about a most unique part of Monterey's marine history.
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Abalone illustration from Seashore Life Illustrated, Dover
Permission-free Designs, 1999.Last updated February 21, 2006.