In 1917, the Bahamas exported over a million pounds of sponges, worth more than $400,000 — a sum that made the archipelago the third-largest sponge producer on earth.
Nassau’s pastel-colored colonial buildings and bustling cruise port tell one story of wealth. But for a century before tourism, the real engine of the Bahamian economy was invisible to the casual visitor, sitting on the ocean floor. Sponge diving — the harvesting of natural sea sponges — built the fortunes that shaped early Nassau. By the 1880s, the Commissioner for the Bahamas at the London Fisheries Exhibition declared sponges “by far the most important marine product of the Bahama Islands.” Yet the industry collapsed so completely that most visitors today have no idea it ever existed. This article traces the rise, the people, the methods, and the sudden fall of the sponge merchants who made Nassau rich — and asks what their story reveals about the island economy that replaced them.
The sponge trade wasn’t just an industry; it was the post-emancipation economic backbone that employed thousands of formerly enslaved Bahamians and their descendants. Its collapse in 1938 from a fungal blight was so total that it created the economic vacuum tourism later filled. But the story is more complex than a simple boom-and-bust — it involves Greek migration, wartime innovation, and a species that still grows on the same reefs today.
Quick reference: The Bahamian sponge trade at a glance
| Period | Key event | Scale | Primary market |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1841 | Gustave Renourd begins exporting sponges to Paris | Single shipwrecked sailor’s operation | France |
| 1880s–1910s | Peak production era | 600+ vessels, 6,000 men employed | United States (New York hotels) |
| 1917 | Record export year | 1,010,239 pounds exported, worth $400,578 | United States |
| 1926 | Three hurricanes disrupt sponge beds | Population decline begins | — |
| 1938 | Fungal disease destroys remaining beds | Industry collapses; thousands unemployed | — |
| 1939–present | Artificial sponges replace natural ones | Fraction of former size | Limited niche (professional janitorial) |
The industry’s scale is hard to grasp today. At its height, the sponge grounds employed roughly 6,000 men and boys — a significant portion of the Bahamian male workforce — working from about 550 schooners and sloops and 2,500 open boats, according to records from the Grand Bahama Museum. These were not large industrial vessels but small, family-operated craft that worked the shallow banks around the islands.
How sponge diving worked: biology meets labor
Sponges are not plants. They are animals — porifera — that attach to hard surfaces like rocks and coral, filtering seawater through porous bodies. About 5,000 sponge species exist worldwide, but only five types had commercial value in the Bahamas: hardhead, grass, wool, reef, and yellow. Fine wool sponges commanded the highest prices, ranging from 25 cents to $1.20 per pound, while yellow and glove sponges were cheapest.
Harvesting methods were remarkably simple and remained largely unchanged for decades. Divers used 10- to 12-foot poles fitted with iron cutting hooks or knives, working from small boats. A critical tool was the water glass — a wooden cone with a glass bottom that allowed divers to spot sponges on the sea floor. When a diver located a sponge, they cut it at the base, leaving the root intact so it could regenerate. The cut sponge would reattach to the ocean floor and grow into a new sponge.
Divers used a water glass to scan the sea floor from a small boat. Clear Bahamian waters allowed visibility to depths over 20 fathoms (120 feet).
Using a staff and hook, the diver tore the sponge from its attachment. The base was left intact to allow regeneration. Freshly harvested sponges were heavy and gelatinous, their fine qualities hidden until processing.
Divers gently squeezed out the gray gelatinous gurry (the living tissue) and brought the sponges to larger vessels. Catches were kept separate from other ship cargo.
On shore, sponges were sorted by kind and grade, trimmed (clipped), baled, pressed, and encased in canvas for shipment. Dried sponges were shipped in burlap sacks, primarily to U.S. markets.
The industry supported a whole ecosystem of related trades — boat-building, net-making, and the production of the iron hooks and water glasses. Sponge merchants in Nassau acted as middlemen, buying from the boat captains and selling to exporters who shipped to New York, London, and Paris. The dried sponges supplied hotels in New York City and bathhouses across Europe.
If you visit the Grand Bahama Museum, look for the sponging exhibit. It includes original water glasses, cutting hooks, and photographs of the fleet at its peak. The museum is in Freeport and open most weekdays.
The people behind the sponges
The industry’s origins trace to a single shipwreck. In 1841, a French sailor named Gustave Renourd was shipwrecked in the Bahamas and, after being rescued, began exporting sponges to Paris. His son-in-law, Edward Brown, continued the business. That small operation grew into an international trade.
After the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1838, the sponge industry provided crucial employment for formerly enslaved people and liberated Africans. The work was grueling — men began as boys and continued as long as they could endure the physical demands. Boat owners gave a share of sponge proceeds to vessel owners for towing and ship room, a system that distributed risk and reward across the fleet.
One less-known chapter involves Greek migration. Families from the Dodecanese Islands in Greece — already experienced in Mediterranean sponge diving — moved to the Bahamas to participate in the industry. The family of Emmanuel Alexiou, later publisher of The Nassau Guardian, likely came to the Bahamas for this reason. Greek spongers also worked the west coast of Florida, and some migrated between the two regions.
What killed the sponge industry?
The decline happened in stages. Three hurricanes in 1926 disrupted and reduced sponge populations across the Bahamian banks. Overfishing had already been a concern — the Agricultural and Marine Products Board Sponge Amendment Rules of 1937 introduced fishing season monitoring, but it was too late.
The fatal blow came in 1938. A fungal disease — never fully identified in public records, though two British marine biologists named Smith (one of whom was Dr. F. G. Walton Smith) were sent to investigate — swept through the sponge beds, killing nearly all commercially valuable populations. Thousands of Bahamians were thrown out of work almost overnight.
The timing could not have been worse. World War II began in 1939, and the sudden demand for sponges — for military vehicles, ship maintenance, and medical use — led the Allies to develop artificial sponges. Much of the research and production happened in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. By the time the war ended, synthetic sponges had captured the market. The Bahamian industry never recovered.
A common misconception is that the sponge industry died because of overfishing alone. While overfishing was a problem, the decisive factor was the 1938 fungal blight — a disease that wiped out the sponge beds faster than any human activity could have. The hurricanes of 1926 had weakened the populations, making them more vulnerable, but the fungus was the killer.
Context and comparison: sponge economies of the Atlantic
The Bahamas was not the only place with a sponge industry, but it was the most significant in the Western Hemisphere. The comparison with other sponge-producing regions reveals how the Bahamian trade was structured differently.
| Region | Peak period | Primary species | Harvest method | Cause of decline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bahamas | 1880–1920 | Hardhead, grass, wool, reef, yellow | Pole and hook from small boats; water glass | Fungal disease (1938) |
| Tarpon Springs, Florida | 1900–1940 | Wool, yellow, grass | Helmet diving (hard-hat suits) | Artificial sponges + competition |
| Mediterranean (Greece, Tunisia) | Ancient–mid-20th century | Fine wool, elephant ear | Free diving (sponge divers) | Overfishing, disease, synthetics |
| Caribbean (Cuba, Honduras) | 1900–1930 | Grass, wool | Free diving and pole harvesting | Market collapse, disease |
Tarpon Springs, Florida, became the sponge capital of the United States after Greek immigrants established a diving industry there. Unlike the Bahamian method — which used poles and water glasses from small boats — Tarpon Springs divers used hard-hat diving suits, allowing them to reach deeper waters. The two industries were connected: Greek families sometimes moved between Florida and the Bahamas.
In the Mediterranean, sponge diving was an ancient practice, mentioned by Aristotle. Greek divers from the Dodecanese islands (especially Kalymnos, Halki, and Symi) had been free-diving for sponges for centuries. Their techniques and knowledge traveled with them to both Florida and the Bahamas.
Natural sea sponges are still used today by professional janitors and window washers because they hold more liquid than artificial sponges of the same size. A shop in Tarpon Springs still sells natural sponges — among their largest displays are luffas imported from Sudan, which are a close relative of the cucumber, not a sponge at all.
What remains of the sponge trade today
The sponge industry never fully disappeared. Small-scale harvesting continues in the Out Islands, and there have been revival efforts. In 2017, The Tribune reported on a project to revitalize the sponging industry, and in 2018, Bahamas Press covered a final phase of a sponging project aimed at training new harvesters. These efforts have remained small, constrained by the same disease that wiped out the beds in 1938 — the fungus persists in the marine environment.
But the economic legacy is visible everywhere in Nassau. The stone buildings on Bay Street, the warehouses that once held dried sponges, the very layout of the downtown commercial district — all were built with sponge money. When the industry collapsed, the Bahamian government turned to tourism as an alternative, a decision that shaped the modern Bahamas.
- The sponge industry was the single largest employer of Bahamians after emancipation, providing livelihoods for 6,000 men and boys at its peak.
- Harvesting methods were sustainable by design — divers left the base of each sponge intact to regenerate — but the industry was vulnerable to environmental shocks.
- The 1938 fungal blight was a natural disaster, not a failure of management, but it created the economic conditions that made tourism the dominant industry.
- Greek migration to the Bahamas is a direct result of the sponge trade, connecting the islands to a Mediterranean diving tradition.
Questions readers ask about the sponge trade
Were Bahamian sponges really that valuable?
Yes. In 1917, the Bahamas exported over a million pounds of sponges worth $400,578 — roughly $9 million in today’s dollars. That made sponges the most valuable marine product in the islands by a wide margin.
Did the sponge industry use enslaved labor?
No. The industry began in 1841, three years after the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. It provided employment for formerly enslaved people and their descendants, but it was not a slave-based economy. The labor was harsh but paid.
Can you still buy Bahamian sponges today?
Yes, but in very limited quantities. Small-scale harvesters still work the Out Islands, and you can sometimes find natural Bahamian sponges at craft markets in Nassau. The Native Stew article on the historic sponge industry includes photos of modern sponges for sale.
Why did the fungus kill the sponges but not the industry in other countries?
The fungus that hit the Bahamas in 1938 was specific to the region’s sponge species. Mediterranean sponges were not affected, and Florida’s industry was already in decline from other causes. The disease remains in Bahamian waters, limiting revival efforts.
Were there any famous sponge merchants?
Gustave Renourd is the most documented founder, but the industry was dominated by small operators — boat captains and their crews. The Greek families who migrated to the Bahamas, like the Alexious, became prominent in other fields after the industry collapsed.
The sponge economy’s hidden legacy
The sponge merchants of early Nassau left no grand monuments. No statues of them stand on Bay Street. But the wealth they generated built the city’s commercial core, and the economic vacuum their industry’s collapse created opened the door for the tourism economy that now defines the Bahamas. Understanding the sponge trade is not just a historical exercise — it’s a way to see the modern Bahamas as the product of a single, fragile, and now-forgotten industry that once connected these islands to the world. For a deeper look at how Bahamian culture evolved after the sponge era, explore our guide to Junkanoo, the street festival that became the nation’s new heartbeat.
Sources and further reading
Native Stew. “The Historic Sponge Industry of The Bahamas.” 2025. 🔗
Grand Bahama Museum. “Sponging.” 🔗
The Nassau Guardian. “Thoughts on the demise of a once vital industry.” 🔗
Related reading on IslandHopperGuides
The Art of Straw Weaving: Tradition into Souvenirs, a Bahamian Story — Another craft industry that employed Bahamian families, with a different trajectory from the sponge trade.
Bahamian Bush Medicine: Ancient Remedies for Modern Wellbeing — How Bahamians turned to local plants for medicine, a parallel tradition of resourcefulness.
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