The morning call., 1892-09-06
THOSE SEIZED SEALERS.
High-Handed Treatment of
the Ships Crews.
Russian Officers Plunder the Cabins and Steal
Wearing Apparsl-The American Prison
ers 0verworked and Half Starved.

The steamer KeweeDaw, which arrived
from Seattle yesterday morning, brought
down two members Of the crew OF the
American sealer c. Ii. White. The men
had come down from Port Townsend, to
which point they with eighty-seven others,
captured on British and American sealers,
had been conveyed from PetrOpauloysky at
the expense of the Russian Government.
The c. H. White was seized at 10 o'clock
p. NJ. on July 10. by the Russian cruiser
Sabinka.
From the written statement furnished by
Captain l.. n. Feurman of the c. II. White
to Henry Prien OF this city, president OF the
Eagle Fishing Company, II Is clear that the
crew have been subjected by the Russians
TO such outrage Gus aud inhuman treatment
as TO make strung case in court OF in ter
national law If nothing more. A specific
protest by Captain Feurman. with the sworn
statement OF the members OF the crew, has
been lodged with the customs authorities
at Port Townsend. and separate statement
of facts will undoubtedly be submitted 10
the Department of State at Washington. Ii
Is the privilege OF country claiming jurls-
diction over certain waters to seize vessel
condemn her, and, If desired, appropriate or
sell her, but the precedent has yet to be JUS
tilted OF officers on cruiser acting as COM
mon thieves and robbers.
This is one of the items in the complaint {
made by Captain Feurman. He recites the
details of the seizure Of the vessel by the
Russian cruiser Sabinka In latitude "a is
north and longitude l67 10 east, and goes on
TO say that after seiZing the vessel the Rus
sian officers took from him his watch, books,
charts, and even his wfe's photograph.
Not only this. out Russian officers strutted
shoes stolen from the crew OF British
sealer which was seized day or
two; later. In all cases the captains
and crews of the seized vessels were treated
and fed worse than pigs in the United
States" When they were set ashore they
were put in an old prison, with leaky roof
and no floor, though 1t ralned all the time
The prison was only ten feet by eighteen
feet and there were by this time over eighty
prisoners, so that many OF the men had to
sleep out in the open air and contracted dan
gerous colds and rheumatism. One of the
crew OF the {. II. White is permanently
disabled from this cause. The Russian
authorities made not the slightest attempt
TO stop the system Of pillaging and plunder-
ing the captured ships. Everything except
what the men stood up in was stolen from
them by the Russians openly and unblush-
ingly. Captain Feurman says that he and
two other captains who belonged 10 British
sealers had to walk from place TO place
begging their meals, and when four cap
tans united in protest the captain of the
Russian cruiser threatened to send them TO
Siberia. The captains and crews of the
seized vessels were finally driven on board
the American bark Majestic at the point of
the bayonet by Cossacks and Russian man
of-warsmen.
The e. Ii. White was formerly the crack
yacht of that name which raced with the
America about three years ago. She was
then owned by Charles II. White. who
built her, and sold her to private sealing
concern. which in turn sold her to Mr..
Henry Prien on behalf of the Eagle Fishing
Company. She is not to be confounded
with the G. g. White Of the Japan sealing
feet. which belongs to Captain Lorentzson
of Steuart street, this city, and has not yet