The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-02-05
DESERTING OUR FLAG
Ranks of Victoria "Poachers''
Recruited by Americans.
THE CAPE FLATTERy SEAL
xrfnrs Better Price Than the PribiIof
Fur-Further Testimony as to
the Breeding Habits.

st,out ready for sea are the Sylvia Handy,
Matte Dyer, c. FL. White, Henry Dennis
md City of San Diego. The schooner
Esther has been due from San Diego to ut
out for several days.
It's rumored that the Handy, which is
san Francisco built boat. will sail ont
irom here under the British flag. The
revenue cutter Corwin has returned from
Port Townsend.
PosT TOWNSEND, Feb Al am glad to
zee the interest beginning to be evinced by
ne press taking up the seal question and
giving ii thorough ventilation In or
Der to show the disingenuousness of Mr..
Elliott and his hackers, make the fol-
bxing extracts from my report in 1883 on
| fur seals at Neah bay and the vicinity of
q Cape Flattery, which has been kept
/ tadiousIy in the background from mem
! b<rs Of congress by Mr.. Elliott, who tries
| 10 bluff the public by asking questions
i shgough the press which | have already
1 answered in the government publications
referred to. This is what is in the bulle-
/ fin Of the United States fish commission,
volume 3, 1885. On pages Dol to 207 may
h found my report. On page 201 is the
aasement of William Emanuel GalIick.
trader at Neah bay, made March IS, 1885.
4 Er. Galiick says:
4 hare been engaged in trading here tSeah
by) for fun sealskins for about six years. 1t is
j De general impression and belief among the
\ kzlers, both white men and Indians, that fur
i RAILS do have pups IN the ocean. Some persons
ahers think these seals come from the south
! nd do not go to Bering sea at all
II have shipped fur sealskins to Lon
don, where they brought better
I ree than those from the Pribilof
Hands; the fur is longer on the Cape Flattery
E2s and of better color. ] have no means of
hsaFmstion where these seals have pups, but I
b know that every season towards the close,
pne years in June ard in other years July and
August, there are plenty OF young pups taken
sith the mothers The Indians invariably kill
4tepups when they can, as their bleating cries
&tssm the older seals, who will keep out OF the
SO OF the hunters Young seals taken alive
kpm their mothers are matter OF every day oc-
8nuence in June ana July. These young seals
y tR strong and lively, and will swim as soon as
tken out OF their mothers. / had one brought
n me last summer by one OF our sealing schoon-
~ fed II with milk from nurse bottle, and
grew finely. kept it in the yard, and it would
swim around in tub of water, and used
n take 1t TO have swim in the bay. 1t was
IrFy tame, but one day IL bit me severely, and
teld our Indian to kill it.
But Mr.. Elliott says these pups sink like
kstone.
On April p, 1858, Colonel Henry Landes,
Ihmerly trader at Neah bay and dealer in
{fnrs in connection with the Alaska Com
nercial Company, and now president of
BE First National bank of Port Townsend,
bid
Il have traded in furs many years, particularly
pa and sea otter skins. know the fur seal
Nnk OF the Pribilof islands and the fur seal
k1s OF Cape Flattery. The Cape Flattery seal
n the hancsomesf and longest fur, and used to
nhg the highest price in the London market;
f the Indians OF late Q8S3) have pulled and
Ktehed the skins and allowed so many of them
set what we call pinky that their value
= decreased. The seals from st. Paul and st.
urge islands, being selected young males, are
BR uniform in color, and match better when
sde into robes, but the fur is not as good as the
qe fiatfery seal i have never been interested
learn where the fur seals OF the
pc have their pups, but / do know that
ey are very common and plenty every
eson, but OF little or no commercial value /
nk the fur seals of the cape come from Lower
sliosrnia and ! think they do not 60 TO the
4sip'lof islands There is certainly difference
ne habits Of the seals at each place, which !
= BUD hike TO have explained.
I'll And still Mr. Elliott continues to assert
a. the fur seal pups will sink like
one Mr.. Maesilliot, the second engineer
The United States revenue cutter VOL
ST. IN an interview In my Office in Port
swnsend. April 25, 1ss3-see page 206 of
Ne bHlletin--said:
n IN ISL the fur seals were very plenty on Puget
ana and were taken as far inland as Hoods
bai sometime during the SUMNER think
put the middle OF June. While the cutter was
- Enfhcf fn Drr Tox ha~ a~ff
aftermasters, Mr. Quinn, now master of the
aoeGer Ieaser. OF seattle, saw fur seal pup
slnmg alongside the vessel He caught Ii
~ brought II on board, where we kept IL for
fse'al weeks. II was about the size of q full
p ivEn Kitten when Quinn caught il. We fed il
70 mix, both fresh and canned, and il
sms : great pet with the men. who
ea to let il go overheard every day for
Ia, and i came back regularly TO the
gHsy ladder 60 be taken on board. On one
Anoa the cutter was absent day, and when
feturned 70 eur anchorage the little pup
PC back and was taken aboard again. At last,
Gay when the seal was having q swim, the
Aes was ordered of and we were absent
ana on our return the seal
gone and we more of IL.
mother had probably been killed at the time
~ pup came alongside the cutter, rs there
e. several fur seals shot In the bay and from
Snaryes. have been 10 the Pribilof islands,
have had some observations al the habits
me iur seals there. think the
seals here and at the cape have
X-.tAt ndn1u from the northern seals. i
r II these seals belong 10 the herds seen about
= Wi 81 Ieauantepec and along the Mexican
he iaet OF the pups swimming
soon as they are born, and even
that have been taken alive FROM
mothers, swimming readily, il too well
xnnafed 70 admit Of doubt. The fact
g NJ Elliott states go positively, that the
IL q TIE iur seals of the Pribilof islands will
u hke stone, is an evidence TO my mind
.nese seals differ in their habits from those
sfing sea
&. Aarsiliiot is still on board the VOL
III and Captain Quinn is still IN com
OF the schooner Teaser owned by
- 3 Baxter, of Seattle. They will tes-
inai seal pups will swim. And yet
Elliott says with dogmatic emphasis
they viii sink like a stone
~ STATED IN former article that Mr. FL
~ sa skilled artist. bat is not a natur-
l think You have among the COM
aofs OF the PosT-iNTEIIiGENcER one or
who. know that ivan Petroff got
most OF the text of Elliott's book
81 drew the pictures and Petroff
yt most II not all the text. and between
PAR they have got up series Of fables
y tor seals which have mystified men,
81 congress and induced them TO pass
winch have driven our fishing
e 70 Victoria. where they have
under the British flag 20 get protec-
y &c INTO American waters 20 hunt
= ash, protection denied by their own
rnment. Ii IS about time that men,
congress set their eyes opened to
thls state Of affairs aud
some measures whereby American
rAs can he protected as well as the
0& monopoly OF the pribilof islands.
an 20 develop the fisheries Of the
fscaLc and Boring sea. and we want
aset 81 the North Atlantic 70 come out
~ sesp develop these industries and thus
U our state as well as themselves.
oFtitr 10 encourage cur fishermen