The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-02-20
BABYHOOD OF SEALS.
Statements Made by Expert
enced Hunters at Victoria.
NO INFANTS IN THE WATER.
The Seals Now on Cape Flattery Will
Soon Move North to the Prib-
ilof Breeding Grounds.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE, WAsHrNGToN
CRY. Feb. l3.-Again let me call the at
tention of the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES read
crs to the following statements, which
emphatically deny Swans silly theory of
pelagic birth Of fur seals. These state
ments are made by men who are total
strangers to myself and unsolicited:
FREDERICK GILBERT.
am a seal hunter. have been four
years on board sealing vessels: one year I
was boat rover and three years a hunter.
j have always been with white hunters,
and have used the shotgun and rifle for
shooting seals.
In 1857 l got SIS seals and lost IA; in 1883
j got pa and lost s.; in 1850 got 454 and
lost Is; or in the three years got 1, 2l6 and
lost IS, or 2 As per cent. l never shot or
saw pups with the cows in the water, nor
have ever heard of such n case Some
hunters lose n few more than do, but the
most unlucky hunters have met with did
not lose twice as many. FRED GILBERT.
Victoria. b. c., Sept. II, 1850.
CAPTAIN WILLIAM o'LEARY
! am a master mariner and have been
seal hunting on the Pacific coast four
years, three of which was in Bearing sea
only and the three years l had white hunt
ers only-all on the schooner Pathfinder.
My experience with Indian hunters is that
they lose none-at most a few-of the seals
they spear. The spears are bearded, !"
some with one, some with two boards and
once the seal is struck, capture is certain.
White hunters use shotguns and rifles,
according to distance and state of water
On smooth water and at long ranges the
rifle is generally used, but the majority of
hunters use the shotgun, and the great
majority of seals are shot with guns.
The number Of seals lost by white hunt
ers does not exceed six in 100, and many
hunters lose much less than that number.
About halt of the seals taken along the
coast are cows, and perhaps two-thirds of
the cows arc with young. Putting YES
sells catch at 400, and from $50 to LIS
might be cows with young. In Bering
sea the average Of cows with young killed
will not average one in 100, for the reason
that as soon as the cows reach the sea they
so to the breeding islands, where their
young are born.
never saw cows in the water with their
young with them. l do not think there is
any decrease in the number of seal enter
ing Boring sea. l never saw so many seal
along the coast as there were this year,
Gus than l ever saw before. This year
shot forty-four seals and lost one.
WILLIAM o'LEARy.
Victoria, B. c., Sept. IL. 1889.
CAPTAIN STEWARD.
l have been a master sealer for two
years. In iSSSI commanded the Araunah
and in 1850 the Walter l.. Rich, and during
both years sealed along the coast from off
Point Northward 10 Bering sea. In Isss
had Indian hunters and this year white
hunters. The Indians lose very few
seals, for if the spear strike the seal is got,
and If the spear misses the seal of course
escapes unhurt. The white hunters use
rifles and shotguns, the latter much more
than the former. Rifles are only used by
good shots. and then at only long range.
The seals lost by white hunters after being
coast, exceed six in one hundred, and on