The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-03-27
THE CHASE OF THE SEAL.
HUNTERS ON TIE NEw FOUND
LANO ICE FOES.
PecuIiarities of the Seals there Found
and the Profits Made on the oil
and Hides.

ChNf 49, oNeA
hunter, to a New York Times representa-
tive, ''are the greatest ocean fisheries in
the world, a statement which will no
doubt astonish nine-tenths of the people
of this country. For the past fifty years
the catch of seals on the Newfoundland
coast has averaged more than 450, 900
every year, and over 600, 900 have been
taken some years, the largest catch on
record being 6S7, 900, in 1881.
"About 10, 900 men find profitable
employment in the seal fisheries of New
foundland. There are between 300 and
400 vessels engaged in the trade, many
of them steamers. Steam vessels were
not introduced in seal fishing until 1866.
The vessels are chartered from nearly
every port in the Province, and start on
the voyage on the 1st of March. AS
a general thing they make two
trips between that time and the last of
May, when the profitable season is over.
Some steamers make three voyages, but
weather and all conditions must be very
favorable in such cases. These New
foundland fisheries are not those in
which the fur seal trade is interested, as
that variety of seal is not found there.
The Newfoundland seal is hunted for
its oil and hide, the former being used
in England and other European coun-
tries as an illuminating oil in mines, and
the latter being made into leather for
shoes, trunks, and similar articles. The
owners of sealing vessels equip them
with everything and pay all the expenses
of the voyage. The captain of each YES
sci is paid a royalty on every seal put
aboard his ship, and royalty will aver.
age him So, COO fer his two months work.
The men on each ship engaged in the
seal hunting receive one-half the catch,
which is divided up equally among each
crew. The vessels carry crews some
times numbering 1925 men, yet it is a
poor season when each man does not re-
turn home well paid for all the risk and
hardship he has undergone among the
ice foes. They are obliged to pay the
vessel owners from four to six dollars
for their berth on shipboard for the voy-
age. The profit to the owner on each
vessel is seldom small.
''The largest seal taken on the New
%foundland coast is the square tlipper, so
called on account of its tlippcr being
square on top, a popularity not known
in any other variety. A sixteen-day. old
square ripper whelp will weigh nearly
200 pounds, almost half as much as the
mother, who will weigh about 500
pounds. His father would tip the beam
at 900 pounds, and measure from ten to
twelve feet in length. The square flip
per is very scarce, and, like the dotard,
congregates only with its kind. They
give birth to their young about the mid
die of March, on the ice, but keep so
much to themselves and in isolated spots
that if 200 are killed in any season the
number 10 recorded as exceptionally
large.
1T is rather amonotonous pursuit, the
killing of seals, the only excitement
being the chase in the water of some
fierce old he hooder, who is apt to give
you a long and lively chase before his
vulnerable part is brought to sight.
There is something pathetic in the hunt
ing of the female hood with her young
for she will make every effort to get it
out of harms way, and then seeing that
escape is impossible, will protect it with
her body from the blows of the hunter,
uttering her low, appealing murmur,
until she herself is killed and can protect
her whelp no longer. 1t is believed by
all seal hunters that a mother seal can
distinguish the cry of its young among a
thousand Others. 1t is Il curious sight
during April to watch the seals. They
come out on the ice, yearlings, two-year-
Odds, and old seals, about the middle of
that month for the purpose of scrubbing
themselves. If the sun is shining their
skin will be sure to burn so that some
times it may be pulled off with the
fingers. At such times to return TO the
water will subject the seals to intense
pain, and so well do they know when
they are in this condition that they will
remain on the ice and be killed rather
than enter the water and submit to the
pain. If a sun-burned seal is forced into
the water it will utter sharp cries oil
agony and try to climb back on the ice
in spite of the men threatening them
with gaff and guns. Seals have relent-
less enemies in sharks and s~wordfsh, and
they will rush from the water to the ice
place themselves behind a hunter, or run
between his legs, for safety, shaking
with fear like a frightened human being.
1.-The skins Of all seals are weighed
with the fat, and are calculated at fifteen
per cent. OF the WnOle. A barrel OF
young harp seals lat will weigh 225
pounds and produce twenty-five gallons
of oil, there being only fifty-two pounds
of residue. A young hood seal will
yield only twenty,one gallons of oil to
the barrel, although it weighs five pounds
more. Old harp will yield twenty-five
and a half gallons of oil to the barrel.
The fat is now rendered by steam, but
formerly it was rendered by exposure to
the sun in wooden watts. Miners prefer
the sun-drawn young seal oil, as it
smokes less. 1t has a bad odor, how
ever, while the steam rendered has not.
1t is a curious fact that when seal oil is
drawn from the watts the oil of the Young
seal will come first and it is readily known
when that is all out, for it is of a pale
yellow, and the old oil runs a deep straw
color. Seal milk is a curious feature
about this useful animal, for it is as thick
almost as white lead. Fishermen have
in an emergency stopped leaks in boats
with seals milk. Not less than %, O00,-
900 seals have been taken from the New
foundland ice fields by the seal fleets