524 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
171 vessels with 1,370 sponge fishermen, of which craft 36 were sailing vessels 
equipped with diving apparatus, 342 divers, and 667 sailors; 15 were sailing 
vessels with the dragnet and 80 fishermen, and 70 were barks equipped with 
hooks and 281 fishermen. A%gina sent out 4o sailing vessels with the diving 
apparatus, of which 24 were accompanied by another sailing vessel, with 214 
divers and 508 sailors. According to the harbor master of Spetze this island 
put out in that year 8 sailing vessels with the diving apparatus, 43 divers, and 
80 sailors. Kranidion sent out 52 barks carrying hooks, with 162 fishermen, 
and 21 sailing vessels with the dragnet and 93 fishermen, moreover 2 vessels 
with 24 sailors carrying supplies to the fishermen on the coast of Africa. The 
number of 12 sailors on each of these vessels is extraordinarily large, and Her- 
mione is not mentioned by Savvas. ‘The total of the above figures is 318 vessels 
with 2,494 men, of which 134 carried 599 divers and 1,173 sailors, 122 carried 
hooks and 443 fishermen, 36 carried the dragnet and 173 fishermen, 24 were 
escort of the diving vessels and had 82 sailors, and 2 were packet boats with 24 
sailors. According to the commander of the Kreta, Stamatios Vuduris, the 
fishermen flying the Greek flag gathered in 1902 120,000 to 130,000 oka, or 
153,600 to 166,400 kilograms, of sponges, valued at 5 to 5% million drachmas. 
From the data furnished by the Greek naval physician, George Sphinis, 
who served on the Kreta from 1900 to 1903, Savvas gives the following statistics: 
Under the eyes of the officers of the Kreta in 1900, 12 divers died, 228 fell slightly 
ill, 34 fell seriously ill. In 1901, 396 fell ill, 34 were treated on the Kreta, and 5 of these 
died. In 1902, 3 died on the Kreta, 232 fell slightly ill, and 23 gravely ill. In 1903, 
56 sick were treated on the Kreta, of which 9 were completely cured, 17 improved to 
such an extent that they could do some work, while 27 improved, but needed after 
treatment. Three died. 
Savvas observes: 
The number of divers treated on the Kreta seems small in comparison with the 
cases of illness in previous years. ‘This is due to the fact that the captains of the sponge 
vessels are distrustful toward the war-ship on account of its rigorous supervision and 
would not report their sick, going only so far as to ask for remedies. 
But do not the men asking for remedies avow that there is at least one 
sick on board, and has not the commander of a war-ship the power to seek out 
the sick on board the small vessel should he earnestly desire it? 
Savvas says further that Paul Bert had found that about 30 Greek sponge 
divers died every year. Katsards reduces this already inadequate figure to “at 
least 10,’’ while Sphinis states that the number seen by him and the officers of 
the Kreta were 12 in 1900, 4 in 1901, 3 in 1902, and 2 in 1904. Savvas, however, 
observes, quoting official witnesses for corroboration, that ‘‘ the number of deaths 
among the sponge divers is much larger.’’ And the commander of the Kreta, 
Stamatios Vuduris, says that 60 divers had died at Bengazi and Derna in 1901. 
In the Great Desert there was found a sack containing the bodies of two divers. 
