The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-04-24
SELL killing II
THE ICY North.



tong Knives. Nor does the hunter by any
means have II all hiD own way. So agile
soo powerful are these heavy beasts that
tney VIII jump clear out Of the water
onto . pan six TO ten feet high without
touching the edge. when In no other way
could they climb onto II. and many .
man has been badly mauled and bitten.
ana dragged into the water in endeavor-
ing TO capture the valiant old fellows.
Bsood-statned roads lay now in every
direction, and In many places high pima
ctes. RED with hood. marked Ike mile
seoneo the way SOME hunter wished to re-
turn n order TO pick up the pet Of some
solitary -swfse' he had Killed. Rows and
rows o( men we're returning and going,
each hauling behind him tow OF four or
ave Scala laced like = caterpillar. with
the last skin nat like . raw beefsseak. to
keep the whole from rolling over. BY the
way. man once sneering At q fisher
mans pronunciation. asked: How do
You spell swiles:'" I'VE don't spell 'em.
SIR. we mostly hauls EN-" was the reply.
Tor ''spear' in Newfoundland means TO
carry on your back. The czvilier did not
Understand that. % that the bystanders
laughed at his expense
The steam winch was hard at work
when reached the ship again. and by
night some 400 pe,ts were safely slowed
The long lines Of wearied, blood stained
men were early home. for all the after
noon the southeast wind had been stead
lily Increasing in violence, and had now
risen to . hurricane, whirling up dense
black clouds
The snow fell 90 thick that one could
not Sc the bow from the stern Of the
ship. and 1t soon ob.iterated both paths
and pannacles- By o'clock the gangs
were aboard. every gang Of ten men be-
Ing under . master. who keeps tally on
the seals they kin. But on calling the
roll. one man was found missing, . young
fellow Of q years, whose father had been
lost the very same way years before.
Seven O'Clock came, half past seven.
eight. An inpenetrable veil Of thick
darkness covered the ship like a shroud,
while the bowling Of the storm through
the cordage made most dismal music, and
seemed to chant q death dirGe for the
missing man. Do fierce was the storm
thai volunteers were not allowed to leave
the ship. for torches could have been Of
no use and the Ice In places was very
to put up big light and 20 set up steam
to keep tbs siren going every few min
utes, it, dismal shrek being whirled away
into the storm. At 90. after eli hope had
been given up that We should find him
before morning. the wanderer turned UP.
BY good fortune he had been to leeward
OF the vessel. and not Tar away. He had
heard the first blast OF the siren. and had
been ever since feeling his way along
with the gan, advancing . few yards
every time he heard the siren sound
The 'dwey." or snowstorm. held al
night. and. in spite OF the thousands OF
seals around us. II was impossible TO
work on the ice till midday. Then We
were all out till nightfail. "panning"
seals. This means dragging the pets to
the most convenient place. and. when all
the sea3 near are killed. putting up a
'houss-daS'' with the name OF the ship
on the top. The frat layer must be
placed flesh down, or the hair viii freeze
to the 3ce and the skin be spoiled: the
rest hair down. when a nag ID struck,
the gangs move on ahead. repeating the
process. Thus time Is saved. which IL Of
great importance II several vessels are
at the same patch Of seals. But panning
Is at best bad system. for often many
pans are lost altogether In bad weather.
and a vessel may have to kill three loads
to get one. or else the ice may crack up
and the ue.ts after all be lost In the
water.
1t is terribly cold work to ones hands
sculping seals. for they get soaked with
blood. which at once freezes in the wind.
and II gloves are used they very soon be-
come a block Of frozen blood, so that II
Is impossible to get ones hands into
them The rough Ice snd deep snow had
been vary hard on the men. who were
now fairly up to the waist In the snow.
now slipping OK a high pinnacle. and all
the time dragging 20 pounds weight be-
hind them. s
A glorious sunlight lighting up the
cleaning ice found W all ready again for
work in the morning. and showed our
blue Tags with white centers waving their
silent watches over heaps OF slaughtered
innocents. Having now several patients
to tend. could not leave with the crowd.
who went on In two gangs, half going on
the old tracks ana the other half from q
point two miles farther westward. 1t
was impossible an yet to get to our pans
for an were on IN enormous field OF ice.
20 We would have TO wait until that broke
up. At midday the barrel men called my
attention to the very large surge back.
wards and forwards OF the ship a. we
lay. One could only notice it standing or,
the ice and hooking closely. but ne warned
US the Ice would commence 70 break up
In a couple OF hours. and that II certain
!y did. though apparently without any
rhyme or reason. Huge splits began to
run in every direction to doiefui groan-
ing accompaniment. ana soon we were
buiting. II was only some hours later
We noticed the sulien heavs OF the swell
which had done US . good turn. Pan
after pan Of seals we reached and took
In. and at night had 10000 pelts safely
slowed on deck and below. The hot peits.
l. e. those recently taken. must lie on
deck a hours to freeze. or they VIII heat
In the holds and the oil will run away
Openings IN the ice had occurred under
two pans We picked UP today. March IL.
and the pei,s falling into the water had
attracted many large sharks. l put q
bullet through one big fellow. and the
men caught three more swimming on the
surface with their gaffs- These were
about twelve feet long. but. az they were
well gorged. they made little resistance
After pulling them out onto the Ice their
tails were cut OF as the only sure way
TO XIII them. They viii continue 10 feed
after being repeatedly stabbed. and, az
thu men declared even when dixem bow