Sewer Hunters: Meet One of the Worst Professions on the Planet

What is the worst profession you can imagine? If you don't enjoy the heat very much, you probably wouldn't be a good welder or baker. If I worked in health care, it would be unreasonable to have to be a traveling phlebotomist, snake milker, or human subject. For if all this sounds bad, know that there are worse things.

Even if your boss is boring, your inhuman goals and salary don't pay, it's still - a little - better than being a sewer hunter. But we are not talking about any manhole, but those present in the Victorian Era in London. That is, a place populated by several pests, rats and a series of infectious diseases that were not even curable at the time.

The profession required employees to spend most of their time exploring London's sewers for lost goods. Even more shocking is that the practice is still being held in some countries, including Bangladesh.

A nauseating time travel ...

Imagine you are in 1840, that is, at the height of the Victorian Era in London. Now you smell the putrid odor of human waste beneath your feet as you sneak through the maze-shaped claustrophobic sewers. Also remember that things got worse in 1858 with the arrival of the Great Stink, in which an unbearable stench washed over the city from the pollution of the River Thames.

Got? So now you have a little sense of what it was like to be a sewer hunter. But who would have the courage to face this routine every day? At that time, a lot of people. Several men had made a life until "stable" ventured through the sewers of London and trying to find some less valuable coins and jewels running down the culverts.

A search at the ends of the sewers

Sewer hunters, also known as toshers, spent the day looking for valuables that might have stopped beneath the city. In their adventures, they sought all kinds of materials, from silver to some coins that ended up falling in the ditches. In general, men searched in groups of three to four people.

The farm was led by an older veteran, aged 60 to 80. The most seasoned knew exactly where the best places to catch a few change were, and men often had to stick their arms in the dirt to their elbows to find anything.

But do not think that being a veteran was an easy task, because to achieve this feat, you had to know hundreds of miles between tunnels, cracks and slippery corners. In fact, some of the sites were less than 1.2 meters - that is, this was not an easy job for claustrophobic people either.

While life in the sewers was lucrative for some more experienced hunters, it is good to remember that it was also extremely dangerous. There were, for example, floodgates that generated low tides and led to waves that could reach or even drown the most unsuspecting.

In addition, the bravest toshers, who tried their luck venturing deeper, could eventually get lost there and drown in dross and feces. As if that wasn't enough, there was also the problem of mice and hydrogen sulfide explosive gases.

Twice a day the floodgates were opened to let water flow through the tunnels. As a result, some unfortunate people drowned in the sewers. Survivors still had to be smart about the possible bites of rodents. A single bite could result in a more terrible death than drowning by human waste.

But how much is it worth?

With so much disease, rats, rotting vegetables, animal carcasses, feces, and endless other things that can be found in a sewer, why did men risk exploring the site? Strangely enough, the sewage hunter service even yielded well.

Per day an explorer could earn up to 6 shillings (currency adopted in Britain at the time and in some of its colonies). In the Victorian era, this was a value that made up for all rat baths, unpleasant smells, and the constant fear of possible drowning.

Tales of the sewer

A legend was perpetuated by the family of the tosher Jerry Sweetly, who died in 1890, and published more than a century later. According to the story, the man met the Queen of Rats in a pub. They drank until midnight, danced and then "the girl took him to an abandoned house to make love."

By taking a strong bite on the neck (the queen used to do this to her lovers so that no other rat could hurt them), Sweetly attacked the girl. She disappeared and reappeared with a giant rat. Then she said, "You'll have your luck, tosher, but you haven't paid me for it yet!"

Offended, the rat queen cast a curse that struck the entire tosher family. His first wife died in childbirth and the second died in the river when she was crushed between a barge and the dock. But as promised, all of Sweetly's children were lucky. However, at least once in each generation of the family, a girl was born with different colored eyes - one blue and one gray, representing the colors of rivers.

In other legends, the Toshers also believed that the sewers were infested with wild pigs that inhabited the sewers below Hampstead, London, on the northernmost side of the city. This is one of the percussive narratives of the supposed alligators that inhabit the sewage of the tales of New York.

The sewage hunt today

If you think toshers have definitely retired, you are very wrong. Dhaka City in Bangladesh has a famous gold bazaar, where several streets house factories and shops selling the material. Every day before stores open, janitors sweep stores pushing dirt, debris, and occasionally some gold chips into the sewers.

In this way, hunters arm themselves with pots and dive into the rubble for some lost pieces. On a good day, a Dhaka hunter manages to earn about $ 12.