The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-05-03
CATCHING SEALS.

- CATCHING SEALS.
The purchase of Alaska by the United
States Government in 1867 gave Ameri-
can merchants and ship owners new and
valuable opportunities for the capture of
seal. In consequence of the reckless de-
struction of these animals in regions
open to all who chose to hunt them,
comparatively few are now to be found
elsewhere than on this coast, where they
have been preserved from determination
through the care of q company. which
under the Russian Government enjoyed
the monopoly of their capture. When,
in 1867, negotiations were in progress
for the purchase of Alaska, Mr.. Haven,
a merchant of New London, CORE
sponded with Secretary Seward to learn
If citizens of the United States would be
free to hunt seal in that Territory when
lis transfer was completed. Learning
that they would have the desired privi-
lege, Alaska was no sooner ceded than
Mr. Haven dispatched two vessels thith-
or, equipped with the necessary crew
and appliances for hunting seal. Sitka
being the only port of entry, they re-
ported there to Gen. Jefferson G. Davis,
In command. With his approval they
pushed out to st. Paul Island, the great
sealing ground, two hundred and fifty
miles from the mainland There they
effected the first landing after the pur-
chase, and raised the first American flag.
As result of their venture they soon
had $4,000 seal-skins ready for ship
ping. . ec5
Within q short time there were Cali
fornians and others on the Alaska seal
ing grounds, but after while combi
&C., Eo fxar-r, nd
Western ship-owners, and a lease, dated
August, 1870, of st. Paul and st. George
Islands, was obtained by them from the
Government, with the exclusive right of
seal-catching, under certain restrictions.
These two islands are quite isolated, be-
ing thirty miles apart, and are little
more than barren rocks of the Aleutian
range, running from the coast of Alaska
toward .Kamtchatka. A small popula-
ton, principally of native Aleutians, a
people essentially Esquimaux, occupy
these islands, and pursue the seal
fishery. ol.s
The men work in parties at their seal
killing, being paid according to the
number of seals killed. 1t is said that a
skillful A1eut viii skin fifty day. Not
only are young seals and females ex-
empt from slaughter, but no seals are
killed at their ssrookeries, % or gathering
places on the coast. They must first be
driven or coaxed to the shilling
grounds " in the interior of the islands,
out of sight and out of scent of the coast.
This precaution is necessary because of
the peculiar sensitiveness and timidity
of the seal. "Very strange are these
SEAL" says DIR. Kane, in recording his
| first killing of one in the polar seas ga
Iorr ox,1 he,
mild African ape-an expression so like
| that of humanity that it makes gun
murderers hesitate" Have natural
lists ever noticed the expression of this
animals phzip" he asks, as he tells of
the dying look given him by his first
victim. " Curiosity, contentment, pain,
| reproach, despair, even resignation, /
| thought / saw on this seals face"
Although the male seals will fight
manfully in defense of the females when
cornered, the discharge of firearms, the
barking of q dog, the tainting of the
water around them with the blood of
one of their number, or even the smell
| of lighted Obabco, is sometimes suffi-
cient to drive them from their rookeries.
And driving them away permanently
means their determination, for if they
| can not come back to the waters where
they were born they cease to increase.
/ An illustration of this truth is found in
the story of sealing on Kerguelen Land,
after the seals were newly discovered
| there some years ago. So abundant were
the seals at first that as many as 1,700,-
900 were killed in a single year by the
| vessels flocking thitherfrom all quarters.
But in the space of three years they
we're practically exterminated, there not
l 1of< 80, bot hair fobs
| femunerative. On the Alaska Islands,
however, the rigid regulations concern.
Jog the taking Of seals are enforced not
only by the presence of resident Gov
ernment inspectors, but by the obvious
interests of those engaged in the work.
As result, more thar two-thirds of all
the seals now taken in the world are
| taken from those islands; and there
they are on the increase. At first the
fur seals were killed in immense numbers
BIZ the Russians. At one time three
hundred thousand skins were destroyed,
in order that the market might not be
overstocked. 1t was only when their
numbers were greatly diminished that
the number annually killed were limited
and the other mentioned restrictions
were imposed.
On the coasts of New Foundland the
decline of the seal fishery, which at one
time ranked in importance almost with
the herring and the cod, has been great
misfortune. Formerly, however pitiable
and destitute the poor classes might be
during the winter, after st. Valentine's
day things would take a sudden turn
The busy sound of axes and hammers
would reyerberate from the hillside:
around the harbor, and not rotten ole
schooner, brig, or lugger which could
float, or floating be insured, but wa:
trimmed up aud provisioned to join the
great spring seal fishery. bl.ovs
For many years this great fishery, OF
hunting expedition on the ocean field:
of ice, as it should be more properly
named, had brought hundreds of thou
sands of dollars among the community
yearly; and lucky was the man es
teemed who had secured his berth in {
ship to be sailed and commanded b.
some smart and experienced hand. Fo
three weeks to month the hearts of al
classes in the great fish colony palpitat
ed between hope and dread necessarily
The first thing on awaking, the last be
fore sleeping, the only observation
hazarded in the streets was the state o
wind and weather bearing on this mo
J ruentous voyage. All had q stake in it
the merchant, in his ship stores ant
, winter credits to the fishermen; th'
fishermen, to pay these debts, in orde
-and in order solely-to obtain mon
redit for the summer cod fishery