The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1881-03-05
Sealing in Newfoundland.

Sealing in Newfoundland. c
SEALING operations also are vigor- !
ously conducted by the inhabitants of ,
St. Johns. In former days the seal
fishery was carried on in sailing vessels,
and was attended with considerable dan.
ger; but now that steamships are used
the risk is diminished. The paying ma
ture of the business may be gathered
from the fact that steamers of five or six
hundred tons burden, built and fitted for
the purpose, and quite useless for any
other trade, make large profit in ave.
rage wears, although the sealing season
lasts only month or six weeks. Early
in the spring, about the beginning OF
March, the ice from the north strikes in
toward the eastern coast of NewfOund-
land, bringing with it hundreds and
hundreds of thousands of seals, young
and old. Then St. Johns wakes up and
the whole island is in hustle. Though
it entails constant exposure to great cold,
and extremely hard work, the young
men struggle eagerly to secure a berth
for the sealing season, for they earn
very high wages, and the business is
sailed with that element of uncertainty
and danger which adds such relish to
life.
At length everything is ready, and q
fleet of steamers from St. Johns and OF
sailing craft of all kinds and sizes from
large coasting schooners down to open
boats issuing from every bay, start out
to look for the ice. The ships, crowded
with as many men as they can hold,
make two trips of about q fortnight's
duration each; the first being devoted to
the capture of the young seals, at that
time only few weeks old, and the Sec
ond to the destruction of the full-grown
animals. The latter are generally shot,
: while the former are knocked on the
head with clubs. AS soon as the ice
is reached the men scatter them
selves about the field, running
over the rough surface, jumping
; from block to block on loose ice, tum
bling into holes and scrambling out
4 again, wild with excitement in theil
search for seals. Each man acts indie
pendently, doing the best he can TO
himself. When he has killed a, seal h
( stops but a minute to whip off the skin
!. with the blubber attached, and fasten
Z cord to it, and then off again afte
!. another seal, till he has got as many a
he can drag, when he returns, town
10 his Aoad behind him to the ship. III
= men work with will, giving themselvt
scarcely time to eat or rest, for the
receive share of the profits accordin
to the number of seals each man bring
. in, and, if the season is successful, 8
= active and daring man will make
large sum of money. The seals q
4. valuable only for the oil which
- tried out of their fat. and which
7 employed for various lubricating pu
poses, and for their skins, which a
. tanned and used principally, l believ
10 for shoe leather. They do not produ
the pat, which, when plucked and dye
is worked up into those lovely seal-sk
Jackets that are as destructive to t
purse as they are delightful to the g.
The number Of seals brought in annu
" is very great, as many as 100000 hi
ing been killed in single season, a
the business employs nearly 10, 600 M
What becomes of the multitude OF 8
wing seals is problem have ne'
heard satisfactorily solved. The ice,
which they come down in swarms ey
D yea, from the North, melts during
suucmor month"; soon after coming
u contact with the warm waters OF
y : Gulf Streal. What then becomes OF
seals? Do they find their way b
through thousands of watery miles
their polar birthplace, or DO they rem
scattered about along the shores OF N
|'8 foundland and the neighboring CO
nent? It is problem in natural hi
ry.-Earl Dunraven, IN Nineteenth
IA 4 turn. }Eh -