History of pearling and effect of the Celebes Trading Co

The Closing of the Frontier. A history of the fisheries of Southeast Asia c1850-2000 John G Butcher (2004)

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James Clark, the 'Pearl King' of Australia, sent one of his nephews with two vwssels from the Torres Strait to the Aru Islands to prospect for pearl shell. In 1905 Clark and several other Torres Strai pearl-fishers shifted all their fleets to to Aru Islands when the Netherlands Indies government granted a consortium that they formed—the Celebes Trading Company—w three-year concession for the right to collect pearl oysters in the islands.
. . .
The CTC was initially made up of Clark's company and four other companies that moved from the Torres Strait, but in 1906 they wete joined by Baädilla Brothers and a company owned by one of Clark's brothers. These companies operated a total of 150 vessels, of which 115 belonged to the five original companies and organised them as per how the Torres Strait pearl-shellers had developed in the 1890s. Each company operated one or more 'floating stations', each of which consisted of a schooner to direct the operation and several pearling boats called luggers because of their lug rigs. On board the schooner was the captain, the manager of the station, and one or two clerks, all of whom were 'Europeans', as well as an Asian crew of 25-30 men. Most of the divers were Japanese; the CTC employed ca500. Each company had a fast motor boat that went from the luggers taking shells to the schooner. The Europeans opened the shells. The CTC had a steamboat that transported the shells from the mother vessels to Dobo or Australia. In 1906 the company supplied 37% if the mother-of-pearl imported by London. Numbers of catch dropped. Clark withdrew his fleet by 1916

James Clark and the Celebes Trading Co. : making an Australian maritime venture in the Netherlands East Indies

Mullins, Steve, 1952- Central Queensland University. Faculty of Arts, Health and Sciences.; Central Queensland University

2002; , journal article LIBRARY OF CONGRESS NEEDED, History, Modern, Pearl fisheries.

Description

This is the fifth in a series of research papers and articles examining the activities of Australian pearl-shellers in late 19th and early 20th Century Molucca, now known as Maluku. The project's centre of gravity has been the relocation from Torres Strait in 1905 of seven schooner-based pearl-shelling fleets, consisting of some 115 vessels, for the Aru Islands: a consortium led by Australia's most prominent pearl-sheller, James Clark, had purchased a concession from the Netherlands East Indies government for the exclusive right to work the Aru grounds. Registered in Batavia as the Celebes Trading Co. (CTC), three more fleets had joined Clark's consortium by 1906, one owned by his brother, AJ. (John) Clark, and the other two by Said bin Abdullah Baadilla of Banda, to make about 135 vessels in all. CTC established its offices and facilities at Dobo, Aru's port, and its fleets worked the waters of the archipelago and the adjacent northern Arafura until 1916, when the original consortium broke up. CTC continued to trade however, under new ownership and on a much smaller scale until the Pacific War, which finally brought an end to the Australian presence in the region.

Mullins, Celebes Trading Co

NT Times & Gazette 29 Sept 1905

Wednesday evening (says the T. S. Pilot of Sept. 9) saw the departure of the pearling fleets of George Smith &. Co. and Munro, Outridge & Co. for the Aru Islands. The fleets comprised two schooners and thirty-two luggers, with a total crew of 144 coloured and eight white men. Our contemporary remarks — "They presented a fine pic- ture sailing away in the light of the setting sun. Rather a melancholy picture for T. I. we should imagine.

NT Times & Gazette 11 May 1906

SHIPPING
PORT DARWIN 
ARRIVED
May 5 - The Celebes Pearling and Trading
Company's steamer Pretoria, from Arrou
Islands. Passengers - J. McKenzie, V.
Jessup, J. J. Munro [Edwin Munro's brother], W. F Porter.
Cargo-248 cases pearlshell and sundries.

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