Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1882-06-29
SeaIIug.

The seals of the North Atlantic are
not hunted for their fur, as are their
Alaskan cousins, but chiefly for their
oil, aAd secondarily for their skins. 1t
is an industry winch proiitably employs
hundreds of ships and thousands of sea-
men, and it receives the name of
Sealing"
You may know that near the end of
winter enormous herds. chiefly of the
harp seals. come down and congregate
upon the floating fields of ice eastward
of Newfoundland, where the young are
born in March. These are the place and
season of the largest fishery, but the
locality is never fixed nor certain; the
fields, approached simultaneously by
sailing fleets and steamers from New
foundIand, Nova Scotia. Scotland.
England, France, Germany, and Nor
way, must be sought for every year as
though for the first time. This in
the icy, tempestuous North Atlantic, at
the most stormy period of of the year.
Dreadful gales may drive the ships
anywhere but where they seek TO go,
bergs may be hurled against item. the
ice may jam them between its ponder
GUS edges and crush the doubly braced
hulIs into spLnters, or cleanly cut away
parts of the bottom, and leave the
vessels to sink and the men to save
themselves as best they may upon
broken and drifting ice. Often field
OF thin "bay-ico" will lie right in the
path. Then the ship dashes into it as
far as its power can force it. When it
sticks, the crew leap overheard, chop
and break the field into cakes which are
showed under the foe or Lauled ont on
top: or, il it is too thick TO be broken.
saws are brought cut. and a canal is
sloMly made for the ships progress.
This is time of great desire for haste,
and you may well believe that every
man works with all his might.
Well, when all this toll ard danger
are passed, - sometimes greatly prolong
ed, and III the midst of a frozen sea
and the most violent storms,-and the
ship has the good luck to sight herd.
then begins Tor the crew of hardy
sailors a season of about the most
arduous labor that one can imagine.
If the weather permit, the vessel Is
run into the ice, and moored there; if
not. it sails back and forth in open
spaces, managed by the captain and one
or two others, while the remainder of
the crew, sometimes sixty or seventy,
or even more in number, get into boats
and row swiftly to the foe. The young
seals lie scattered about here and there,
basking in the sun or sheltered under
the Ice of hummouk, and they lie so
thickly that half dozen will cften be
seen in a space twenty yards square.
They can not get away, or at most can
only founder about. and their plaintive
bleatings and white coats might almost
be those Of lambs. The old seals are
frightened away by the approach of the
sailors, and never show fight, and the
Youngsters are easily killed; so the men
do not take guns, but only clubs, with
which they strike the poor little fellows
a single blow on the head, usually kill
| ing them at once.
Having struck down all they can see
within a short distance, the small
squad of men who work together then
quickly skin, or Gas they call it) ''sculp"
them. with broad clasp-knife, cutting
clear through the thick layer of fat
which lies underneath the hide. and so
leaving a surprisingly small carcass be-
hind. Bundles are then made of from
three to seven ''pelts." and each man
drags bundle toward the boat. This
| is sometimes miles distant. the ice Is
rough and broken, he must leap cracks,
trust himself to isolated cakes, and often
he falls into the freezing water, or
loses his wayin sudden squall of snow.
1t is mb-cracking and life-risking
work, and, to accomrlis it successful
ly, man must school his muscles to
endurance, his nerves to peril, and his
heart to bitter cruelty;-but every pelt
is worth dollar.
BY night, after "seal-meadow" has
been attacked, the decks of the vessel
are hidden under deep layer of fat,
slippery pelts. After these have lain
long enough to get cool, they are stow
ed away in the hold in pairs. each pair
having the hair outward. The hold is
divided by stout partitions into COM
partments, or pounds" in order to
prevent the cargo from moving about
and so rubbing the fat into oil, which
would speedily fill every part of the
hold and the cabins, spelling all the
provisions. A ssel once had to be
abandoned from this accident, because
it had not been pounded" The
Euro pean ships, however, generally
separate the fat at once and stow it III
| ooSko