The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1883-03-21
SEAL HUNTERS.

A motley and curious lot are the men who
for few weeks in the YssS hunt the zeal,
says letter writer at st. Johns, N. F.
Stalwart in frame, used to the sea until they
have absolute contempt of its terrors, bold
III adventures on the treacherous ice foes
and marvelously skilled in seal lore, they
make up body OF men in some respects
not to be matched on the globo. Crowded
like pigs on sealing steamer, they cultivate
a positive affection for dirt, and regard it as
kind of honorable badge for their adven.
turous calling. During voyage of several
weeks they never take of their clothes, even
to sleep. The oil from seal blubber fairly
drips from their garments, dirt SCOT and tar
adhere 10 their faces in steadily thickening
strata, and when they finally enter port to
strut the street in unwashed glory they are
iHcarnato emblems of filth and odor. A
night in st. Johns after the arrival Of two or
three lucky seal crews means bedlam for the
city. Honest burghers ily the streets and
look well to the doors and shutters o. night
On the ice the endurance sure-footedness
and daring Of the seal hunters are well-nigh
incredible. They leap from cake to cake
where it seems even child could not be
sustained, drag their heavy boats long dis
tances through the hammocks and think
nothing of passing night on the ice far
from the steamer, provided only seal are
near Their cold hands they warm by
thrusting them in the gashes cut in the still
palpitating carcass of the SEAL and one in
stance is recorded where freezing sealer
saved his life by heaping up the CORY car
casses for night over his own body.
When hunting, the sealers go by twos, so
that one can aid his companion should he
fall In the water between the foes Though
the finding of the seal herds is largely q
matter of luck, considerable depends on the
ssgacity of the captain, who, if up to his
business, watches carefully the winds of late
February and early March, SO as to know
where aud when the ice can best be met
Curious and isolated facts gathered from
sealing experiences are related here without
number. Some years ago, during an other
wise bad season, the seals struck in " on
the ice near the Newfoundland coast, while
the steamers were away. Women and chill
dren, leaving the shore, engaged in the
slaughter, and during few days 1000
head were killed within a few miles of st.
Johns. The hippers of the seal, by the
way, when fried are reckoned rare dainty
by the islanders, aud are often brought back
from the ice in long strings to be kept for
food When, as rarely happens, more seals
are found than single steamer can load,
the surplus are killed and the pelts heaped
on the ice, to be marked with the steamers
flag. In that case an unloaded vessel can
bring in the pelts aud demand certain
large percentage of their value On their
second voyage out the steamers seek the full
grown animals, which weigh some 200
pounds. They are fierce fellows, who force
their way 10 the water and have to be shot,
making the process of collecting pelts slow
and Improbable as compared with the cap
ture of now horn herd
When the steamers arrive the pelts are
unloaded aud transferred to the oil factories
which line tse border of 81. Johns harbor
The blubber is separated from the pelt to be
tried into oil. which is used for lubricating,
for the fine soaps and dozen other pur-
poses, The skins are sailed, then sent to
Europe, where they are tanned into coarse
but handsome leather, particularly beautiful
for its granting, and worked up for purses,
costly bookbiudins aud like uses As stated,
tho sealing business of the North Atlnnhe is
almost monopolized by thu Newfoundland.
ers. fleet of steamers belonging to firm
81 Dundee, Scotland, come every year to st.
Johns, but they take their crews on here
and here also is the factory of the owners.
The monopoly is now and promises to be
for all time a natural one, founded on prox-
Unity to the ice, and stu flrmer on the long
traditions, the trained experience and the
almost reckless enterprise of the bold
island sealers.