2-324-257 - Curt Teich Postcard Archives/Heritage Images

Diver coming up with sponges, Tarpon Springs, Florida, USA, 1940. Postcard. A man in a diving suit holding a string bag of sponges coming up from the water and getting onto a boat. A man removes the diver's helmet as another watches. Many sponges are strung on lines hanging on the boat. Tarpon Springs was the centre of a thriving sponge harvesting industry from the late 19th century. Many of the divers were Greek immigrants, who introduced the techniques they had used to gather sponges underwater in the Mediterranean. The industry was wiped out in 1947 by a red algae bloom that killed the sponges.