The stamp issued in 2011 by St Maarten shows us a pearling down, she carried the flag of Kuwait, and by looking to the stamp most probably a dhow of the SAMBOUK or also named SANBOUK type is depict.
She was the dhow mostly used in Kuwait for the pearling fishing in the Persian Gulf, and hundreds were used in the pearling season from June to October.
At its peak the pearling industry employed over 15,000 men in Kuwait.
The pearl divers attached a stone or a heavy weight on their feet sinking up to 20 meters to the sea bottom, the divers wear ear stoppers of bee wax and a bone clip to close their nostrils, they stay below for 90 seconds average and collects so many oysters as possible.
A good diver can make around 60 dives a day.
It was a very dangerous job, not only the pressure problems by the repeated immersion of the divers to the sea bottom, but also shark and barracuda attacks en the contact with the poisonous jelly fish.
The ship crew when pearling was around 60 men, and they stayed out for around four months in the Persian Gulf.
St Maarten 2011 525c sg?, scott?
Source: Various web-sites.