When I had finished school after year 12, I needed to earn some money before starting my apprenticeship. I decided to go to work on the Prawn Trawlers up north of Australia between Darwin in the Northern Territory and Weepa in Queensland. We were out at sea for Tiger season which was 7 months long and Banana season which went for a further 2 months. It was honestly the hardest job I have ever done in my life. Banana season was flat out. We worked 24 hrs a day and basically the harder and faster we worked, the more chance we would have of getting 20minutes sleep between the nets being brought up. Having said that, it was fun, very lively and the pay was great.
One experience I will never forget is the day I was bitten by a Sea Snake. It was the luckiest day of my life. We had been catching hundred of snakes over the past few months and simply put a shovel over their head, grab them by the tail and flick them back out to sea. No worries. Job done! this time however was different. I was bringing up the Tri Gear ( a small net to show how much we were catching). I through the grapple over and hooked the net. Pulled it in and spilled it’s contents into the basket that I had at my feet. The problem was it had a sea snake in it. This thing was going nuts. Bouncing off the walls and getting really agitated. So I knelt down, slowly took aim and with two fingers grabbed him by the back of the head. The problem was I got him about a centimeter too low and he bend his head backward and bit me on the thumb. With blood on my hand, I was yelling to the deck crew to let them know I’d been bitten. People were running around everywhere not knowing what to do. We were hours from the nearest hospital and these guys kill in minutes. We washed my hand off,soaked it in Detol and they sat me down, watching for any signs that the venom was taking effect. Six crew all staring at me about 2 foot away from my face. But nothing happened. Not a single symptom. All I can say is that maybe he bit a fish in the net as I was pulling it up and emptied his fangs.
Either way I’m extremely grateful.
Life is good!
Stuart
Tags: australian, culf of carpentaria, marine engineer, offshore, prwan trawler, queensland, sea snakes, shrimps, weepa
