The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1893-06-30
ABOUT THE FUR SEALS
u,p s,rnJEcr BEFORE THE TRIBuA
NAL OF ARBITRATIoN'

and no sufn oihoci no
NO Bob Evans - protect the seals IN
Rsr;no Sea tbs summer, the patrol
Act will beStrong enough and quick
on ouob to fake it lively for poachers.
r. 10 fbo fitness of our ships, under
,be nreseT contention of the United
states ksee that nobody save the one
omtbor;s,d company shall take seals
r;tb;nI Iur portion of Bering Sea or in
tho paific Ocean within three miles OF
Inr ~ ,,ssessions. That gives the patrol
AN arena almost half as large as
thelGulf of Mexico to look after. II
the tribunal sitting at Paris shall de-
cid against our claim touching Bering
81, the st bps will then confine their eff
fots to kfping poachers away from
m, PribyAv Islands of st. George and
81 Paul, il Bering Sea-, and to guard
IN, the cast within the three-mile
INIT. Nohdy expects, however, that
fbe decisionN the epurt will be given
sstMss tsMgss8a aaf se sssi;s M much effect ppon
The company to lhich the United
States has sold the Exclusive right to
take seals may take theh only upon
the Pribylov Islaad ansmay not take
more than $500 id any o,e year. Fur
thermore, the coppany' agents maf
kill seals only in the fesence of an
agent of the United SITES, and must
not kill either tho Ifemabs or the old
bulls, but only the baclelors, as the
young males are called! The sealing
OF the company is the tmest kind of
sport, as the bachelors are merely
driven gently apart from The rest of the
herd and are killed with sticks.
The agent of the company counts
the skins in the presence of the
Governments agent, and the latter
sends to San Francisco tally of the
number shipped in each cargo. This
comes to another United States agent
at San Francisco, who makes sure that
there are no more skins than the
Government agent at the Northwest
r'ao--.,s~o nTusKHn waters be-
ieve that the seal must before long
become extinct IL spite of all these
precautions taken to preserve the
species. 1t the sea shall be open to
all comers and seals shall again be
taken with nets, the final destruction
will be fastened.
The sealing season properly begins
about the last of June or the first of
July, when the seals have become well
established in Bering Sea and breeding
has begun. At that time the rocky
Pribylovs, and as well few islands be.
longing to Russia over near the coast
OF Siberia, are crowded with thousands
of seals, and the animals swim the sea
in search of food. The poachers do
not wait SO long, but intercept the
seals on their way from the ocean into
Bering Sea. Our ships cannot inter.
fere with sealing in the Pacific three
miles from our own shores, but We can
watch the passes Of the Aleutian,
through which seals and sealers enter
Bering Sea.
The patrol fleet is on the lookout for
poachers during May, June, July
August, September and October, and
business is liveliest in midsummer,
though the seal islands have been
raided as late as December. By the
last of September, however, things are
pretty squally in Bering Sea, and be-
fore the 1st of November snow storms
are frequent, and sealing is no fun.
Captain Mike Healy, of the revenue
cutter Bear, who knows Bering Sea
from the Aleutians to tho Arctic, and
is known to everybody in that region
as the embodiment of Uncle Sans
power, usually stays about the seal
islands later than any one else, and the
poacher who falls into Mike Healy's
hands is likely to repent of his temerity.
The patrol feet now and then sends
ship far to the east, and occasionally,
even in midsummer, hB q landing
party stationed on one of tho islands
commanding an important pass, but
mostly thework of the patrol is con.
fined to the region about the Priby.
lows. A disguised poacher might enter
the sealing region with vessel of the
patrol feet looking on. Nevertheless,
If q suspicious looking craft should be
found entering the sea, she would Ger.
tainly be overhauled and made to ex.
plain. The seal poacher is usually
recognized by her having great many
small boats, an unusually large com.
plement of men and an abundance of
firearms. Her method when herd of
seals is encountered swimming is to
lower many boats with armed men, who
shoot the seals as rapidly as possible
and then pick them up. Old and
young, male and female, are thus shot,
and many are lost. Some old sailors
estimate that seventy-five per cent. of
seals killed in this way are not recov.
cred by the poachers. Others say that
the loss does not exceed ten per cent.
AS small vessel may take 800, 600
worth of seals in single season, the
temptation to the poacher is strong.
1t is all the stronger from the fact that
the men who ship on poaching vessels
go under an agreement of "no catch,
no pay
Sealing in May and through most Of
June Is rough profession, for Berine
Sea has winter weather fur into June.
and the hills ashore are still snow
clad sometimes as late as July /. Then
comes the heat of the northern sum-
mer. The air is mild, the sea at ordi-
nary times is calm, and ashore a thou.
sand flowers are blooming and the new
grass is shooting up waist high. Then
is the active, time of the patrol feet.
In all ordinary weather the ships of
the patrol fleet can .overtake the swift