The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-07-07 00:00:00

THE NEWFOUNDLAND SEAL FISHERY.

Intelligence received at Lloyd's from Newfound-
land, dated St. John's, June 7thl states:—" A heavy
gale from the north east has been blowing since noon
yesterday, with a mountainous sea. Thirty sealing
schooners are immured in heavy field ice in the
northern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and their
crews are reported to be starving."
Another report, dated the 12th June, states that
" fifteen sealing schooner, which fitted out and
cleared from the Magdalen Islands, are firmly jammed
in an icefield north of the Straits of Belleisle and
the crew are all destitute of food and in a starving
condition. Ten men volunteered to haul a boat over
the ice, in which for nearly twenty miles there was
neither crack nor rent. They were in an exhausted
condition when they reached the shore."

The Standard notices the above intelligence in a
leader from which we make the following extracts :
As soon as the winter ice breaks up in Baffin's
Bay and the Northern reaches of Davis Strait,
vast fleets of icebergs begin to pour out of the
Greenland fjords and sail southward before the
wind, until, as the Atlantic voyager is too well
aware, they not only crash among the floss off
the northern parts of Newfoundland, but some-
times seriously endanger the passenger steamers to
Canada End the United States. When a storm
sets the ice dashing about hither and thither,
the risks which the sealers run are serious,
though, all things considered, it is remarkable how
few vessels are lost from the perils of ice navigation.
During the Spring of 1872 one hundred men perished,
fifty having gone down in a single vessel which sank
off the coast of Labrador. In the same year the
Bloodhound and Retriever were crushed by the ice, but
their crews—numberin4 tour hundred men and boys
—after enduring terrible hardships, managed to reach
Battle Harbour, in Labrador, the floes which had
destroyed their ;hip affording a bridge by which they
escaped to land.
The vessels immured in the ice to the North of New-
foundland are described as "schooners." It may
consequently be taken for granted that each has on
board from twelve to twenty men, for with the
exception of such small craft, the Newfoundland
Sealing is now-a-days pursued in large vessels.
At one time, sealing boats and schooners were the
only craft employed, but in 1863 steam entered into
competition with them. Since that date the
steamers have rapidly increased in number, and
the sailing vessels still more rapidly diminished, and
probably at no distant period the industry will be
carried on solely by means of such powerful screw
steamers as those which for many years past have
formed the Dundee Whaling and Sealing Fleet. Ac-
cording to a recent description of the staple Spring
trade of Newfoundland there are engaged in it about
twenty•five steamers, some of them of five hundred
tons burden, and carrying from two hundred to three
hundred of a crew, and a number of sailing vessels
each with a complement of from twelve to fifty men.
Altogether over ten thousand persons a-e directly em-
ployed in this exciting hunt. Last year's catch was
the smallest on record since 1818; but in 1881
nearly four hundred and forty•eight thousand
seals were brought to port, these seals, it is,
perhaps, unnecessary to explain, not neing the precious
pelt of the furrier, but the less valued pinnipeds
slaughtered for the sake of their blubber, and for their
hides, out of which a useful quality of leather is made.
The steamers have much the beat chance in this lot-
tery ; for not only can they make their way through
the lowe ice, but, being independent of wind and
current, can take advantage of every favourable open-
ing to search for their prey. Then, when the flocks
of seals are found, they can "hold on by the ioe,"
while sailing vessels are liable to be driven off by a
change of wind, and, as in the case of the Magdalen
Island schooners, are powerless to escape if beset.
Legally, no sailing vessel can be cleared for the ice
before the Ist of March, and no steamer before the
10th of the same month, and by the end of April the
season is over. Thus, during seven or eight weeks,
the average "take" of three hundred thou.and is
killed, mainly by blows with iron-pointed clubs, the
seals nose being its vulnerable point. Altogether the
sealskins exported from Newfoundland are worth
about seventy-seven thousand pounds per annum,
while the seal oil is estimated to return an average
profit of one hundred and fifty•nine thousand pounds.

THE INTERNATIONAL ART
EXHIBITION AT MUNICH.

The International Art Exhibition at Munich was
opened on Sunday with the usual ceremonies by
Prince Luitpold in presence of all the Royal Princes
with their suites, the heads of the Ministries, and a
numerous and select company. The impression made
by the exhibition was grand; the vestibule, especially
with the great cascade and fantastic flower decorations,
being beautiful. The palace now contains 2,232 oil
paintings, 310 water-colours, 270 plastic works, and
140 graphic productions. In describing the opening
ceremonies the Correspondent of the Daily News

At eleven o'clock Prince Luitpold, the King's
uncle, followed by the Court in fifteen splendid blue-
and-silver carriages, each drawn by four horses,
arrived in front of the Crystal Palace, situated in
the Botanical Gardens. The porches were deco-
rated in the old German style with tall knotty pines
and the flags of all nations. The entrance-hall of
the Crystal Palace was transformed into a con-
servatory. The centre was occupied by a high
grotto, surmounted by a pyramid, from which a broad
waterfall passed over many marble steps, surrounded
by ferns and exotic plants. The lofty hall was entirely
filled with palms and rhododendrons, forming a back-
ground to the marble statues from all countries. Prince
Luitpold, with his sons and daughters-in.law, and other
Princes, occupied the platform, which was surroun-led
by a crowd comprising the veteran generals of 1870,
the Secretaries of State, the high functionaries, an arch-
bishop, and the entire diplomatic corps, among which
could be noted the brilliant uniform of the English
representative, with whom Prince Lnitpold shook
hands after having listened to the opening address.
This was delivered by the President of the Art
Society. Herr Ferdinand von Miller, director of the
Royal Foundry where the colossal statue of Germania,
to be placed upon a rock in the Rhine in commemora-
tion of the victories in 1870, has just been finished.
The President conducted the Royal party through the
entire Exhibition, occupying twenty large and fifty
lesser rooms. While the Royal procession was moving
through the Crystal Palace the military bands played
alternately. It is impossible to mention even the most
noteworthy of the three thousand and odd pictures.
Connoisseurs turn with eager expectation to the fine
collection of English painters, which never before
mustered so many first•rate names in a Continental
exhibition, The Spanish Salon contains mostly
realistic works, in which dead bodies play the fore-
most part; but some of the pictures are very fine,
The Americans have exhibited scale good landscapes,
but they principally excel in black and white.
Austria has sent some of its masterpieces. Several
Hungarian pictures are also very fine. The German
pictures are so numerous that they will require many
visits to be properly valued. The exhibition is con-
sidered one of the finest ever held.