Pearls Jan. 28

January 28 A Day at Sea

As part of the Exploration Speaker Series we had a speaker whose lecture was entitled Digital Photography for Beginners. This was educational as well as entertaining. He will continue with a series of talks about digital photography. We also heard David Abbott again who said very little about our next port Tonga, just that Queen Saloti ruled for 47 years and the island still has a royal family. He talked mostly about New Zealand which I will write about when we arrive at that port. Jack went to a lecture about pearls while I went to the bridge lecture. The following was what Jack learned about pearls:

There are basically three types of pearls in the South Pacific. Australian South Sea pearls, black Tahitian pearls and South Pacific pearls. In order to grow pearls you must seed an oyster. The seed oysters are up to as big as a nickel. The seeding process involves opening the shell and inserting a nucleus (which could be various materials) into the sex organ of the oyster and then you close the shell. You then hang the seeded oyster for a month to see if they spit out the seed. After that they are placed in the ocean for 24 to 30 months then removed and the pearl extracted and cleaned for use. Only about five percent are quality pearls.

In Australia during this period the oysters are placed in wire cages and placed deep in the ocean. In Tahiti the oysters are placed on a pole and covered with black plastic and placed in fairly shallow water in the ocean.

In order to increase the size of the pearl, after the oyster is opened and the pearl removed a new nucleus the same size as the removed pearl is placed in the oyster and it is put back in the sea for another 24 to 30 months. It grows a larger pearl. This process can be done four times in order to get larger pearls.

The quality pearls are graded A through D. (A) pearls are 90% no flaws, (B) 70% no flaws, (C) are 40% no flaws and (D) are 60% or greater flawed. In addition to grading, pearls are valued by 5 additional items. The five are:
luster, size, shape, skin, and color.

Pearls do require some care which involves removing them from the body before cosmetic application or removal of cosmetics. They should be polished with a soft cloth and they should be soaked in water annually. They come from the sea so they last longer if they are put in water.

One of the speakers told us the story about how sailors were treated long ago when the ship crossed the international date line. They were tied to a pole and submerged 3 times in the water. The only way to avoid this was to give up their Grog (rum) for three days. This was called keel hauling.