Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-08

fortunate one may come back log-1oaded The in
dustry is therefore much of gamble for both ship
owners and sealnen. The former has to suffer not
alone the loss his capital, but also his outfit
tor the particular cruise, while the have also
to lose month or two in the hunt and their pros
pect1ve earnings for that period Yet keen is
the interest in the business that hundreds and
thousands of men gather at St. Johns before the
ships leave seeking berths or places board,
though the unlucky ship may not earn them any
thing, while the fortunate may give them sixty
dollars, and though they endure the greatest dis
comforts from overcrowding, unsantary cond
tons and lack of ventilation, we'll from poor
food and the perils incident to the fishery as pur-
sued upon the foes. The ship is crowded with
coal and provisions when she goes out and the
have often to sleep about the decks The
same thing occurs under accumulated con-
ditons when she is loaded; for the sleeping quar-
tiers piled full of seals and they have no shelter
Tor the two or three days and nights occupied in
the home.
Frequently the seals are driven by continuous
winds against the land and the residents along the
coast swarm off on the foes and kill them by hun
dreds. Even women, boys, and girls participate in
this novel hunt; so that there cases on record
where family made much as five hundred dollars
in week from the spoils of this chase. In the
extreme northern section of the island upon which
the foes impinge every year, the residents reap
substantial harvest through this means.
The seals killed with clubs, known as gaffs
The pelt de- skin and fat is stripped from the
cass, which latter is discarded as valueless. The
creamy fur the best prizes, they Weld the finest
oil and skins and are the most easily killed They
make no resistance, being helpless, baby seals.
The Probable Catch
Each skipper of sealship steers according to his
- own ideas of where the ice and the seals Some
almost all the ships miss the herds and re-
turn with poor success. On one or two occasions
ships circumnavigated the island in their quest At
other times vessels which when loaded would carry
forty thousand peltS have come back with as few as
twelve not enough to grease the engines brand
new ship year had only ninety SEALS and another
sent her entire catch, twenty-sx pelts, ashore in
boat on returning to ST. Johns few years ago.
But in years when it is possible to take the ships
right in among the herds catches made with
amazing rapidity. Two years ago the first ship
home had been out only nine days, and she secured
a full load of eighteen thousand seals. But that
season was most favorable one, and the next year
the first returning ship out twenty days, having
met foes of unusual thickness which she was ur-
able to force through. The largest load ever
brought back from the ce-felds was that of the
Neptune in 1892, which had forty-one thousand nine
hundred and eighty three pelts on board Other big
catches in point of number, made in 1865 the
year of the CATS (the word
applied to immature seals)
s--------@ On arriving at St. Johns,
the cargo is unloaded, and
the fat is separated from the
skin by expert operatives.
r.ro