He was 95. Saif Ahmed Al Ghurair was born in Deira on the shores of Dubai Creek in 1924. The eldest of five sons born to Ahmed Al Ghurair, he soon became involved in the family business which at that time was pearl diving. Even as a teenager, he would spend up to four months at a time at sea, living off rice, dates and fish.
As the nokhada, or owner’s representative, on board, one of Saif’s most important duties was to safeguard the pearls which he would place in a small wooden box inside a compartment on top of which he slept.
By the 1930s, the emergence of cultured pearls from Japan made pearl diving a far less lucrative business and the family branched into trading. The small pearling boats were reconditioned for longer voyages and heavier loads and they began taking dates from Iraq to Africa and India from where they would return with textiles and teak logs for boat building.
Later, gold was added to the cargo as Dubai became an important centre for trade in the precious metal.
REST IN POWER SIR
ReplyDeleteI have a friend that works in Al Ghurair center in Dubai
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