Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1871-06-08
Seal Fishing.

A CORRESPONDENT of the New York
Euening Post, writing from ST. Johns, N.
F., gives the following interesting particu-
lars
On these shores, LAG, 900 souls are main
tanned in existence by catching, curing and
exporting seals and Goldfish. All our insti-
tuuons, churches, schools, politicians, law
yers, bishops, clergy, are created out of
seals and cod Take these away, and we
all vanish quickly as the morning cloud
and the early dew.
1t is stirring time here when prepara-
tions for the seal fishery commence. For
the three weeks that precede the first day
of March, the sound of axes and hammers
reverberates cheerily. The offices of the
merchants are crowded with rough, hardy
looking men, who are eagerly seeking for
berths. From the distant "outports
they have arrived, with bundles of spare
clothing over their shoulders, slung on the
"gaf or pole seven or eight feet in
length, with which the seals are to be
struck and dragged over the ice to the side
of the vessel. These are the "batmen";
the "gunners," who rank step higher,
carry on their shoulders the long, heavy
sealing gun, with which the Older seals
are to be destroyed. The men are roughly,
but warmly clad, and wear long, heavy
boots, well paved in the soles with "spar
ables and spikes, to enable them to walk
securely over the ice.
The men are well fed during the voy
age, their diet being chiefly pork, biscuit,
tea, and a few vegetables. They also feast
on the heart and certain other parts of the
young seals, when successful in capturing
number.
Let us now picture to ourselves sixty or
seventy of these stout fellows on board
one of these small sealing vessels of 140
or $50 tons, ready for their hunting eXcur-
sion on the ocean fields of ice; and let us,
in Imagination, go with them on their
perilous voyage, in order to form some
idea af the great "swile hunt" as il is YER
nacularly called. About the middle of
February the seal casts its young on those
huge ice fields that are borne along our
shores by the great northern current that
sets southward out of the Greenland seas
For three or four weeks after birth the
young remain on the ice, fed by their
mothers milk, and growing rapidly. At
the end of this period they are very fat
and in perfect condition; and the object
| of the hunter is to reach them at this time,
as they are then readily taken, and their
oil is purer and finer than that of the old
ones. For this purpose they sail from our
| harbors as nearly as possible to the first
day of March. Steering northward, they
endeavOr to keep the open water, if such
can be found; but generally they are not
long out till they encounter the ice.
AT times the scene is terrific; bowling g
| night closes in, and the vessel, caught in
a vast ice field, is momentarily threatened
with destruction. The huge foes come
grinding, crushing down upon her; the
wind roars through the shrouds, driving
tS w no SlpQt anH
sharp as myriads of needles, before which
only men of iron can stand. Thus beset
and locked in the embrace of the foe, the
luckless vessel is drifted helplessly hun-
dreds of miles, at times past the harbor
| from which she took her departure. The n
suddenly the scene changes. Soft wester-
| ly breezes blow, unfolding lovely sky
studded with bright stars, adorned by the
presence of the young moon, and brilliant
with the Hickering aurora Calmly the
vessel makes its way through numberless
islets of glittering ice, with shining pima
Gle and fantastic forms, realizing all the
youthful dreams of fairy-land. The
scenery on such night, amid the ice
fields, is said to be enchanting
Suddenly, however, the enchantment is
dissolved by the welcome whimpering OF
young seals, resembling much the cry OF
last touched the seal meadows, and myriads
of the ''whitecOats" are all around amid the
ice hillocks. Now the bloody work be
gins not moment is to be lost, for the
wind may shift and the treasure drift fal
away. Ii the ice be firm the men eagerly
leap on it, armed with 'gatf," towing
line" and 'sculping knife" Ii it's broken
the word is given, "Out with the punts
(boats)% and from 'pan" to 'pan" they
pursue their prey. The slaughter of tbs
innocents" is terrible. The shouts of ths
hunters, the blows of the "gaffs" as theJ
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 palpitating with warm life
as they are flung on the ice; the eager
exultant hunters Staying, "sculping,
dragging heavy loads OF fat and skins
toward the vessel-what scene of deatI
amid these ice solitude of the ocean, will
the bright sun in the heavens lighting uI
the glittering pinnacles and far-s spreading
fields of ice
Meantime, the vessel keeps movin.
through the ice; the men follow, clearing
OFT the seals on each side as they pas
along. Sometimes dozen seals are foun(
within space of twenty pards square
At other times they are more widely scat
tered, and the men have to disperse owe
the Ice in search of them, to distance o
several miles. In skinning, cut is mad
through the fat to the flesh, thick
ness generally of about three inches
from the throat to the tail. Tn
legs or "fiippers," and also tn
head, are then drawn out from tn
inside, and the skin is laid out flat an,
entire, with the layer of fat or blubber ad
herring to it; and in this state the skin i
called the "pelt" OF sculp" 1t is gen
orally about three feet long, and two ant
half feet wide, and weighs from thirt,
to fifty pounds. The hunters nick tw,
holes along the edge of each side of tn
skin, and then lay them one over the other
passing the rope through the nose of eacl
"pelt, and lacing it through the sid
holes In such manner that, when pulle,
tight, it draws them into a compac
, bundle. Fastening the gaff in this bundle
they then put rope over the shoulde
3 and haul it over the ice to the vessel. Si
pells are reckoned heavy load to dra
5 over rough and broken ice, often leapin
: from pan to pan" Then what
scene the deck of the vessel presents a
/. the seal skins are piled there, previous t
being slowed under deck The men NOV
' about knee deep in fat and blood-th
s deck, with gore, is slippery as glass. TIL
? hunters arrive with their boats, and snatc
r a hasty moment to drink bowl of tea @
Y eat piece of biscuit and butter-thei
| hands and bodie reeking with blood an
r fat|they then hurry off in search of ne,
/ victims. The poor mother. seals, no,
e cubless, are seen popping their heads u
r In the small lakes of water and hole
e among the ice, anxiously looking for the
r snow white darlings, and refusing to b,
lleve that the bloody carcasses on the ic
stripped of their warm coverings, are a
that remain of their tender off-sprin,
With moan of distress, they plunge int
. the water, as if anxious to escape from
# scene polluted by the ensanguined trail {
= the hunters.
e The seal hunt is full of perils and e.
i element Sometimes, when the men al