Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-05-02
Newfoundland seal Fishing.

Soft westerly breezes blow, up folding lovely
sky studded with bright stars, adorned by the
presence of the young moon, and brilliant with
the Pickering aurora. Calmly the vessel makes
its way through numberless islets of glittering
ice, with shining pinnacles and fantastic forms,
| realizing all the youthful dreams of fairyland.
| The scenery on such night, amid the ice
| fields is said to be enchanting.
Suddenly, however, the enchantment is dis
| solved by the welcome whimpering of young
| seals, resembling much the crv of an infant in
distress The vessel has at last touched the seal
meadows, and myTiads of the 'whitecoats" are
all around amid the ce-hillorks. Now the
bloody work begins; not a moment is to be lost,
for the wind may shift and the treasure drift far
away. If the ice is firm the men eagerly leap
on it, armed with "gat, "towing-line" and
"sculping-knife." If it is broken, the word is
given "Out with the puntsP' and from "pan"
to "pan" they pursue their prey. The "slaugh-
ter of the innocents" is terrible. The shouts of
the hunters, the blows OF the "gaffs" as they
dispatch their victims with stroke on the nose,
the blood gOuts that cover the hands and arms
of the murderers and stain the virgin snow, the
carcasses denuded of skin and fat and yet pal
pitating with warm life as they are flung on the
ice; the eager, exultant hunters Staying, "sculr-
ing" dragging heavy loads of fat and skins to-
wars the vessel-what scene of death amid
these ice-solitudes of the ocean, with the bright
sun in the heavens lighting up the glittering
pinnacles and far-spreading fields Of icel
Meantime, the vessel keeps moving through
the ice; the men follow, clearing off the seals
on each side as they pass along. Sometimes
dozen seals are found within space of twenty
yards square. AT other times they are more
widely scattered, and the men have to dispense
over the ice in search of them, to distance of
several miles. In SHINING, a cut is made through
the fat to the flesh. thickness generally of
about three inches, from the throat to the tail
The legs or clippers" and also the head, are
then drawn out from the inside, and the skin is
laid out fat and entire, with the layer OF fat or
blubber adhering to it; and in this state the skin
is called the "pelt or "sculp." 1t is generally
about three feet long, and two and half feet
wide, and weighs from thirty to fifty pounds.
The hunters nick two holes along the edge of
each side of the skin, and then lay them one
over the other, passing the rope through the
nose of each "pelt," and lacing it through the
side holes, in such manner that when pulled
tight it draws them into a compact bundle.
Fastening the gaff in this bundle, they then
put rope over the shoulder and haul ii over
the ice TO the vessel. Six pelts are reckoned a
heavy load to drag over rough and broken ice,
| often leaping from pam to "pan." Then what
scene the deck of the vessel presents as the seal
skins are piled there, previous to being slowed
| uuuer ueck' Inc men move about knee-deep in
! fat and blood-the deck, with gore is slinnerv as
glass; The hunters arrive with their boats, and
| snatch hasty poment to drink bowl OF tea or
| eat piece of biscuit and butter-tbeir bonJs
| and bodies reeking with blood and fat-then
they hurry off in search of new victims The
poor mother-seals, now cubless, are seen manning
their heads up in the small lakes of water and
holes among The ice, aDxiously looking for their
| snow-white darlings, and refusing to believe
that the bloody carcasses on the ice, stripped of
| their warm coverings, are all that remain of
| their tender offspring. With moan of distress,
| they plunge into the water, as if anxious to es-
| cape from a scene polluted by the ensanguined
| trail of the hunters.
The seal hunt is full of peris and excitements.
| Sometimes, when the men are mile or two
| from their vessel, binding snow storm sets in,
or a thick fog envelopes them; and as they stag
ger along, trying TO regain their ship, they fall
| through hole in the ice, covered by the treach-
| erous snow, and 90 down to oceans depths,
| "unknelled, uncofined and unknown" Some
times, too, the field Of ice on which they are at
work separates into fragments, and they are
hoaled OIL to lie down and die on The ice, unless
picked up by some passing vessel Or a furious
nor easter perhaps blows for several days,
i Ialtins huge blocks of ice one on the other all
around the imprisoned ship, crushing her at
ais iae nuesheli and leaving the unhappy
sealels shiyerlng and perishing with hunger on
h0aung ice neld AT times their sufferings are
very great, and IN some seasons there ia q seri.
Gus loss OF life. On the whole however snch
aIe tnen sAnl ana lortltude in meeting all
emergencies, and such their KNOWLEDGE az the
ways and manners of the iee comparatively few
mishaps occur. In the spring of 1854 a lar0e
feet of sealers took their departure from onr
harbors. The east wind set IN soon after, and
for six weeks continued 70 blow without in.
PERMISSION. The consequences were that very
few of our seal hunters reached their prey
| The bulk Of the vessels were caught between the
ice and a lee shore, and there damned until they
were crushed like walnuts. The uckless crews
scrambled ashore on the ice as best they could
Many of them were almost starved to death
and thousands of poor Fellows, after enduring
fearful hardships, found their way at length tC
their homes, where Starving faces awaited them
That was a year Of disaster in Newfoundland
: but happily such misfortunes are rare. Se