The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1893-06-30
ABOUT TIE FUR SEALS
TIE suBJEcr BEFoHE THE TRI1US
MAI. OF ARBTTRATIoN.


Rob Evans 4, protect the seals in
Darino Sea tbs summer, the patrol
at will be6trong enough and quick
nnouob On Jake it lively for ponchers.
~ 10 tbo l,,einess of our ships, under
the prese,G contention OF the ohiteu
states. u see that nobody save the one
...l,o-;yd company shall take seals
,v;th;n ur portion of Berin8 Sea or In
tho poific Ocean within three miles OF |
.,nr ,,ssessions. That gives the patrol
aoot.n arena almost half as large ~
tho'iulf OF Mexico to look after. IL
tbs tribunal sitting ut Paris shall de-
cid, against our claim touching Bering
Se, the I'd bps will then confins their et-
fonts to k4ping poachers away from
tls Pribykv Islands Of st. George and
81 Paul, il Bering Sea, and to guard
in, the cast within the threc-mile
limit. NorNy expects, however ina.
the decisionAt the epourt will be gwen
:ssimsss daf sAs sealis M much effect V'""
The company to Ihich tho United
States has sold thct ,xclIsivc right to
take seals may take thcn only upon
tho Pribylov Islands, antmay not tako
more than 1900 in any oie year. Fur
thermore, tho coppany' agents maf
Kill seals only i'll the presence of an
agent of the United Sttcs, and must
not kill either the fcmahs or the old
bulls, but only the bachelors, as the
young males are called. The sealing
OF the company is the tmcst kind of
sport, ns the bachelors are merely
driven Bcntly apart from the rest of tho
herd and arc killed with sticks
Inc agent of the company counts
the skins in the presence of tho
Governments agent, and tho latter
sends to San Francisco tally of the
number shipped in each cargo. This
comes to another United States agent
Mt San Francisco, who makes sure that
there arc no more skins than tho
Government agent ,at the Northwcst
liovo that the seal must before long
become extinct i'll spite of all these
precautions taken to preserve tho
species. 1t the sea shall be open to
all comcrs and seals shall again he
taken with nets, the final destruction
will be hastcned.
The scaling season properly begins
about the last of June or the first of
July, when the seals have become well
established i'll Bcring 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
Boring Sea. Our ships cannot inter-
fere with scaling in the Pacific three
miles from our own shores, but we can
watch the passes Of the Aleutian,
through which seals and scalcrs enter
Bering Sea.
The patrol fleet is ON the lookout for
poachcrs during May, June, July.
August, September and October, and
business Is livclicst in midsummer,
though the seal islands have been
rnided as late rs December. BY the
last of September, however, things ure
pretty squnlly in Boring Sea, and be-
fore the lst of November snow storms
arc frequent, and scaling is no fun.
Captain Mike Hcaly, of the revenue
cutter Bear, who knows Bcring Sea
from tho Alcutinns to tho Arctic, and
liz 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 tho
poachcr who falls into Mike Heni, y
hands is likely to repent of his tcmcrity.
The patrol feet now and then sends
. ship far to the east, and occasionally.
even i'll mid-summcr, iEs landing
party stationed on one of the islands
m important pass, but
mostly the work of tho patrol is con-
fined to the region about the Priby.
lows. disguised poacher might enter
the sealing region with vessel of tho
patrol fleet looking on. Nevertheless,
II snsricio"" hooking cruft should bo
found entering the sea, she would Ger.
tamly be overhnuled and made to cy.
plain. The seal poachcr is usually
recognized by her having great many
small boats, an unusually large com.
plemcnt of men and an abundance of
firearms. Her method when II herd of
seals is encountered swimming is to
lower many boats with armed men, who
''''' WV ''"i" IN tS lDOSSlbID
md then pick them up. Old and
young, male and female, arc thus shot,
and many are lost. Some cid sailors
estimate thai sevcnty-tivc per cent. of
seals killed iii this way are not rccov-
cred by the poachers. Others say that
the loss does not exceed ten per cent.
AS small vessel may take 500, 600
worth of seals in II single season, the
temptation to tho poachcr is strong.
1t Is nll the stronger from the fact that
the men who ship on poaching ycsscls
go under an agreement of "no catch,
NO pay
Sealing i'll May and through most OF
June Is rough profession, for Bcrino
Sea ms winter weather f,r into June.
ana the hills ashore nro still snow
ci"n sometimes rs late as July |. Then
comes the heat of tho northern sum-
lner The air is mild. the sea at ordi-
nary times is calm, and ashore n thou.
sand ilowers are blooming and the new
grass Is shooting up waist high. Then
Is the active time of the patrol fleet.
In all ordinary weather the ships of
thc patrol fieet can overtakc the swift |
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