With Julia Percy to Torres Strait : the Pacific Beche-de-Mer trade sails west

On July 16, 1860 the brig Julia Percy set sail from Dillion's Bay, Eromanga, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), on a 1,400-mile voyage. What made this typical southwest Pacific vessel unusual was the cargo that her captain was seeking, and where he was sailing to get it. For centuries China has had a huge appetite for dried sea cucumber, a signature ingredient in its cuisine, usually served stir-fried or in soups. In the Indian Ocean it is known as trepang, in the Pacific, beche-de-mer. The Chinese call it Hai Shen (sea ginseng), a name that suggests its reputed medicinal qualities. These elongated creatures are large, sedentary and easy to collect in shallow, warm water, like that in the azure waters of the Torres Strait, which separates Australia and Papua New Guinea. The beche-de-mer industry would have a profound impact on the scattered villages of the Torres Strait Melanesian people. Indeed, colonialism arrived there aboard beche-de-mer vessels, and its harbinger was the brig Julia Percy.