The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-09-13
A Seal-Hunter Who Prefers New
Order Of Things
DANGERS OF HIS CALLING.
Maas Crews, Beats .nd sshsosers lest
Dsraax the s@v.re sssrms en-
Cesss sf y.paa-


aess THAI was the frat 80 use spears instead
OF guns. Ia accordance with the terms OF
the Paris arbitration. and according 20 ar.
Emery the showing /. decided irnpFove-
msnt. and With little practice Spears wtli
prove much more profitable 10 the seaisrs
than guns Mr.. Emery also gives some
interesting news relative to the losses
among tue sealing feet Of men and boats
Mr.. Emery was one Of the hunters OF
the schooner Olsen. that sailed from As
toria. Or. January 1. 1894 for the Japan
coast. and arrived yesterday from VIC
toria. where the schooner landed septsn-
Der 8 With |. - skins. which Is considered
little above IA average CATCH Mr..
Emery Il on his way to Spokane 10 see his
fanasly. which Is there. though his home Is
in Portland. Mr.. Enery's trip Was an
unusually rough enc. When they iefi
Astoria they went TO the south Of the
Hawaiian islands in order 70 avoid
The storms of the northern passage and
catch toe northeast trade. These xinds
carEire them throagh to the japan
coast. but just before reaching that coast
they we're struck by the heavy gale Of Feb
ruary - that nesriy foundsred the United
States msn-of-wsr Marion- After reaching
Yokohama reports were received there
daily Of the losses OF boats. and many
schooners came IN there in disabled con-
dition- This gale was forerunnsr of what
the season was on the Japan coast Mr.
Emery said.
@Oar schooner encountered ten heavy
gales during that season. which - some
thing extraordinary. This rough weather
was the cause OF the loss of several schoou-
II hat tasf NGif
all hands on board. The first was the
Mascot, . San Francisco schooner. We
sighted here about March y or y. bottom
slide up. with her boats al dashed
or deck. ns far as we could tell. was
alongside of her and could plainly make
out her name and see her boats on her
sides We atterward spoke whaler. the
g. w. Morgan. of New Bedford. which.
after getting her latitude from us, went
and attempted TO right the wreck. They
succeeded IN getting her around sufficient
10 identity her aud found that everything
was on deck, showing tn ut none of her
crew had succeeded in escaping. While
We were working with her the tackle broke
loose and the wreck saRk out OF sight.
The Mascot was new schooner. about
seventy-six tonnage gross. haliing from
San Francisco, and Capt. Charles Hage-.
man Was her master. | know for certain
that among her hunters she had William
Croker. Of San Francisco, the others am
not certain of.
The second schooner was the Mathew
4. Turner of San Francisco. She was
capsizcd during the typhoon OF April "a
the most severe ever experienced By the
seaiers on III at coast She was sighted up
side down by the Willard Ainswo-th, a
Seattle boat, which reported Ii To Us. None
of her crew have ever been heard of since.
The third schooner was the Unga / am
81.
port. Wrsckage bearing this name was
found by number OF schooners In the
track of this typboon and nothing has
ever been heard of her crew. Several more
schooners are known 20 have LEFT Tor the
Japan coast that have never been spoken
or heard of by the sealing fleet, but il is
not known for sure what their fate L. The
three mentioned are the only ones known
as lost for certainty. The rnmors in re-
gard 90 the Rather and Sadie Turpin, of
san Francisco, and the Enterprise of
Victoria. having been lost. were errone-
Gus. These schooners were spoken by us
after the date Of their reported loss.
The evil of such Wild rumors 10 best
illustrated by the sad tragedy that fol-
lowed the receipt Of such q rumor The
wife of one OF tbs hunters who lived in
Victoria committed suicide ON hearing the
report that her husband had been lost
while in truth her husband was alive and
well. In addition 20 the iosses Of these
schooners many boats sere lost while
away from their schooners hunting.
Some succeeded in making land after en-
during great hardships for as much as five
or six days, while one crew composed of
the captain of the Retriever and his two
men spent eight days in an open boat be-
fore being picked M Others succeeded IN
being picked up BY other schooners We
picked up one boat, capsixed, that be-
a 80 H. IN
Of Victoria, whose hunter was Charley
Williams. OF Nietoria. He and two sailors
were lost Many other such were.reported
lost and I think IL would he safe 10 say
that eight or ten crews we're entirely lost
IS they have never been heard from since
after this and on April ~. myself and
y. l. 69iliiams, another hunter from our
schooner. each with = boat and crew,
started oas and became lost through a
haze. We lest the bearing OF our schooner
aud after sailing around ali night we were
fortunate enough TO be picked up BY an
other schooner. the Penelope. of Victoria
towards morning, and we remained on her
for exactly one month before We picked up
our own schooner. This goes 10 show how
cautiously reports Of losses should be con-
sidered.
AFTER hunting along the Japan coast as
far as Scoian island We started for Copper
stand, in Russian waters. bat were blown
BY a gale so miles 30 the eastward Of her.
ard cur water tanks spFinRing y leak we
put In for WAFER at Attu, she most western
part u the United States on the Al~pttan
islands While there we were informed
by = naval ofheeF stationed there that we
would be allowed TO hunt IN the. Berinr
seA according TO the terms Of the Paris
arbitration after JAY |. with spears only.
the same aS the siwashes do. We pfo-
eeeded - Jnalsssa, prepared our SPEAR.
oUt Of tsensy-eight days we were ia
Boring sea the wind was 50
strong thai we're only able 20
l0zer boats during hve DAYS, in
which tiras we succeeded in spearlne
nia<ty-f0ar seals Had ws had gooa
weather the seal were pieatifal eaouEa 70
have given as az least 100 skins - the boat.
The result OF this spearinE experleyfce has
convinced me that the whits man can
stla a Little practice become superior 60
tas Indian IA handling tie spear. one
afternoon we got tn1rEy-fvc. which wanld
not be bad bali day : wors wita a shot
gan. The spear has many advantages,
nrst. eAeannesss second. certainty. -
Nhen . sea- Is once hooked Il cannot nos
sshiv ges awav. whils With a gau. II we
aoa't lose thesa We have = harsl chase. g.
pee5ziiy Il tasy are sitEhtsv crippieA and
lasf. saietg. as fseze - 40 danger 81 any
aeeldent S0eh a. Is babe 10 haprsn .gs
handing EFearE&
Joe kaapp. one ef the hunters on the
wrecked schooner Heary Dennis. 81 sat
tIe. shsrpn4 sroard of us A. nakosiatw
Aaoat The middle 81 May. aud remained
tie balAnes q tie season wifh us. Hei.
n0x ia toSa- he had an experisnce
spsariag large aa.a weighing sosse 80
poGnas. thFoagh TIE hlna sssnper. Tas
SEA- Eogeas hiaa some seven o. eight niles
before BE s1ecSedss1 ia Eeiuag him iato
the hoaE
All TIE other schooners we spoke en-
r<rsear@d the sane weAsh~< We as .ns