Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1888-06-29
WITH THE SEAL HUNTERS.
A TRIP TO THE FROZEN NORTH ON
A SEALING VESSEL.
A Seal Hunters Outht-Ice Floes
Covered with Seals-Siaughter
ing and Skinning the Animals.


The Newfoundland sealing feet, con-
sisting of a number of steel-plated steam
ers and numerous heavy built sailing yes
sells have recently taken their departure
from the leading island ports for the
Northern ice foes AS the operations OF
the hunters vary little from year to year,
writes Edmund Collins In the New York
Lndependeat, l shall transcribe from my
note book a record of an expedition
made by myself to the cold and ghostly
foes.
The captain of the - invited me to
accompany him, and L at once pro,
ceeded to equip myself with the usual
seal-hunter's outfit. This consisted of
heavy wooden clothes, seal-skin top-boots,
the legs being hairy and the feet e-sed.
These are called skin" bats by the seal
ers. and YOU wear in them two or three
pairs of heavy stockings. l got gail,
the chief weapon of the hunter; this IS
a short wooden pole with a steel spike
in one end. My belt and long sheath
knife, called "skulping knife" by the
hunters, and large sealing gun COM
pleted my outfit.
Besides the regular ships company
the sealing crew consisted of over three
hundred men, all strapping fellows who
sing in the bitter cold. and pause before
no danger if duty calls them.
l was awakened in the early dawn OF
the fifth day by much hustle and shout
ing on deck, and when put my head up
l heard such expressions as these:
"There's more swiies (seals) there!"
'There's another bunch yonder" "The
ice be crawlin' with EN-" Mounting
into the cross-trees [ got a good view
with my field glass. Almost every
where l looked l saw cOvey of white
coat seals. They were disposed mostly
in family groups and some of them were
engaged in the harmless occupation, APP
parently, of sucking little spurs of ice.
Where the enormous congregation OF
animals got breakfast upon this compact
foe was puzzle that | could not solve.
When the hunters began to pour out
on the ice the sun was Just out. The
hunters took with them only their gaffs:
/ took my gaff and set ont, accompanied
by a hunter who kindly volunteered to
break me in. Round about me every
where | saw gaffs uplifted and descend
ing, and then a red spot on the blue
white ice cover here" the hunter
said, pointing to pan or ice-cake where
half dozen white coats lay basklng In the
light AS we drew near the old ones be-
turned upon their backs like puppies.
their f1ippers pointing upward. had
not the heart to strike, but the hunters
gait came down with deadly force upon
the head of each in turn. He first dis
patched those who were trying to escape,
then killed the young ones. Having
done this he unsheathed his knife, bid
ding me note his method. Then he
opened the animal down the body, cut
ting through the heavy coating OF
~'blubber," or fat, till he reached the
lean; cut it round at the throat and at
the tail, and then stripped off the entire
pelt. This he did to each in space
almost as brief as it takes me to relate 1t
in. | lost my tenderheartedness pretty
soon, and when we went away, looking
for another cOvey, was keen to Kill and
%'skulp' for myself. The three hundred
and odd men had soon scattered every
where around the ship within radius
of mile, and by noon there was not
live seal within that space. sThe glare
from the ice was very painful to the I'M
protected eve, but some of US had smoked
glasses. My companion remained with
me- and we came upon several other
groups of seals Before | returned to the
Ship my gaff was as merciless and as sure
as anv, and | killed and ''skulped" for
my first day no less than fifteen seals.
At two o'clock l was ''foundered,"
owing to the peculiar step one has to
adopt walking over the slippery ice.
The laborious part of a seal hunters
work is not the slaughter, but collecting
the pelts If the ice is not too close, the
steamer pushes her way from heap to
heap; but this foe was so compact about
three miles in from the open sea that the
hunters had to drag the pelts, even on
the first day a distance of nearly two
miles. In the evening there was scarce y
a man whose shoulder was not bleeding
from the strain of the tow rope.
We discovered the next day that there
were other vessels in the foe, and this
made it necessary to put miniature flag
with our ships colors over each of our
heaps of pelts that were not dragged to
the ship. 1 think we were about week
in the foe when the Captain announced
that if we had our pelts on board we
should be loaded. He had taken ta'e
and found that about twenty eight thou
send seals had been killed by our gatfs.
During the next week the hunters were
employed entirely in dragging the pelts
to the ship.
When at last our ship was loaded
every heart was glad, but there was
grievous labor in saving and chopping
before the ship could move. Neverthe
less three weeks after our entry into the
vuo 1roro onaiu in tho Onan Goa The