Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1902-05-28
SEAL FISHERIES.
Hardships of the Industry ON the
Newfoundland Coast.

The remarkable seal fishing industry OF
I Newfoundland is now in full swing, says
London correspondent. There is
/ probably not in the world another like
Il; 10000 seals were taken at the end of
| March.
| The scaling steamers hurry out from
I the coast, cruise among the foes for few
| weeks, and return with q total OF some
| $50. 900 seals, valued at $4,000.
| This year the beginning of the fishery
was marked by strike among the men
who make up the crews. They demanded
higher prices for the seals brought In,
and the abolishing OF the charges now
imposed by shipowners on the men as
berth money. The scaling fleet consists
| OF twenty steamers. whose crews aggre-
| gate 1000 men, and when these quit work
the owners, after two hours delay, had to
| grant them liberal concessions or risk the
voyage.
The ships usually sail on March 10, and
after about forty-eight hours stcaming,
meet the Ice foes on which the young
| .esls are born. Mothers and babes lie on
the vast white helds, which are carried
rapidly south by the Arctic current to the
warmer ssters of the Grand Banks,
where the young are taught to swim.
At the inset Of the current toward
Labrador, where the foes are DETECTED
By the currents along the northern coas.
OF Newfoundland, the sealers come upon
their prey and day and night are made
hideous with the scenes that ensue. The
mother seals fight gamely in defence OF
their young, but are driven OF by the
sesiers' clubs, and the little ones are
slaughtered In thousands. They are the
best prizes, yielding the finest oil, and
the skin and its adhering mass OF fat
are separated from the carcass (which has
no value) and dragged to the ships.
| The seals are found In immense herds
| or patches, often covering q body OF
ice reaching beyond the range OF vision,
and 1t Is not uncommon to find as many
as $4,000 seals killed In one OF these
herds snd brought into St. Johns. The
seals are to be found also In the Gulf of
ST. Lawrence, and some OF our ships go
there to hunt them, bot the bulk OF the
| fleet operates on the Atlantic sea- face OF
the island, their range extending from
| the Belle Isle Straits to the Grand Banks.
which area OF ocean is more or less COW
cred with the foe and berg ice every
winter, to the great annoyance OF trans
atlantic shipping.
The great slaughter of the young seals
takes place between March 12 and "a
The young ones are then too feeble to
move, and there 10 no escaping the hun
ter's murderous club. Sometimes the
accompanies the onrush of the men,
scramble to the blow holes in the ice
by which they reach the water and thus
escape with their young. Their instinct
Is 30 perfect that mother will leave her
pups" at sunrise and fish all day In the
adjoining ice depths, and though the ice
has wheeled about at the mercy OF winds
and currents, and though there are
thousands Of seals In the herd, she will
make her way back to her own offspring
in the evening.
The fathers are less considerate, though
they fish daily for the domestic circle
and take their share OF watching over
the youngsters, but they will not fight
for the little chap as the mother will,
aud take to the wster on the first APP
pesrsnce OF danger. There is little
sport and no danger Ia hunting the
young seals, but there Is one species of
old seal, the "dog hood" tfrom kind
of eowl behind the head, which affords
abundant excitement.
These old males are very ferccious, and
one Will not only, when attacked, face
two or three sealers, but will sometimes
put them to fight by its savage rushes
upon them. These brutes are usually shot
with rifles, and often weigh four hundred
weight. But they are too full OF muscle
for their fat to yield rich oil, and their
skins are too heavy to hayea prime COM
mercial value, SO they are never sought
unless the young ones are scarce, In which
case they are better than none.
The industry is full OF risks OF the most
desperate character, the men endsngering
their lives almost every day they 90
aboard on the foes. In their pursuit OF
the seals IL is common thing for them
10 wander six and eight miles from
the ship, and II they get benigh ted or
meet with an accident serious eonse-
qoences frequently ensue.
The most horrible tragedy in the his.
tory OF the foes was that OF the steamer
"Greenland" in 1885. This ship was
struck by blizzard while $50 men were
hunting for seals over the ley plain.
They were left helpless while she was
driven TO sea. Two nights and a day
elapsed before she reached them again,
and when she did she found that forty
eight OF them bad persisted from hunger
and cold. Some had gone mad from their
suherings, others had collapsed from
exhaustion and been frozen siin, few
had been killed by fragments of ice tossed
about, while Others fell into the ocean