The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-03-11
Of S[ALRUNT[RS
Their Occupation Is Fraught
With Perils and HardshipS.
OF LONG EXlSTANCE

No Marine Industry in These Days
Brinqs Such Hazards-Oaily Dur
lnq the Sealing Season Hundreds
of Men Risk the Dangerous Ice
Flows.
There is a seal fishery which has
had a far longer existence than the
fur-seal fishery Of the Pacific, n en-
Joys greater vitality, and mat is the
hair-seal fishery of Newfoundland n
Labrador. No marine industry in
these days brings such hazards to
crews and ships as this n Daily
during the sealing season hundreds OF
men risk their lives on the foes, n
the vessels face arctic 'nips' which
often crush them. When the hunt op-
ems, stout steamers, built for this
fishery and carrying 5000 men, sail
from various ports in quest of mighty
foes swept south from Greenland.
Somewhere amid these the herds Will
be found, the mothers having mounted
the ice to drop their young, which
are Graded there, the parents fishing
In the adjacent waters for their SUD-
sistence. The seal-ships must ven
ture amid the foes for their quarry,
and the seal-men must hunt these
"pinnipeds," as scientists call them
across the frozen wastes, subjected to
all the perils of such a pursuit, with
out tents or other shelter, fire, or
the means of making any, and no
chance Of retreat to their ships II a
blizzard besets them when they are
far from the vessels, and often they
go six or eight miles across the crys-
tai wastes in the excitement OF the
hunt.
The crews always start of at day.
break and remain out till night. They
are clad in flannel underwear and an
vas outer garb, but carry no over
coats, that they may travel tue easier,
and take along only a little food, for
the same reason. Hence, when bliz-
ards assail, they are i'll provided to
defy them, and If the storm is pro-
longed, they cannot withstand the RI
gors Of q night on the foe, with its
benumbiRg cold and gnawing hunger
Never a year passes but some seal
ship will shelter ten or twelve hun-
dred men for a night or two, the
whole assemblage on the foes making
for the nearest steamer when storm
or fog threatens. lest they lose their
way In trying to reach their wi and
fall victims to the perils with which
they are engirt.
One Of the most serious tragedies In
the annals of this industry befell the
crew of the steamer Greenland on
March 20, 1898. UP off Labrador at
this time winter has by no means
spent its fury, and on this ~eventful
day, while her two hundred men were
scattered over the foes. a binding
snowstorm began, with. a startling
QTOp Ill tuO ICluPCi oIuAS, IL WV
was driven ~helplessly seward, and
the hapless crew were LETT to their
fate, no other ship being near and
they being far from land. When lie
tempest ended, after two days an"
nights, 1t was found that forty-seven
had perished and sixty-three were Sc
verely frostbitten, some 81 severely
as to be MANNED for life. The story
Of the sufferings of the wretched par
ty was appalling. A few years age
the steamer Huntsman was penneL
In a foe off Labrador and driven
against a rocky islet, where she went
to pieces, forty-two men perishing
within an hour amid the %contending
ice, reefs, and fragments of the yes
sci. The rest Of the crew crossed the
foes to the land; but n man, named
French, had been left behind. uncon-
scious. AS the ship struck, he was
flung against the rocks, having his
shoulder, two fingers and two ribs
broken and his head badly gashed.
But he was wedged in a ~crevice, and
when consciousness returned he
crawled, with the aid Of his uninjureu
hand, to the top of the rock, where
he lay for forty-two hours drenchec
by the spray and battered by chunks
Of ice, lacking drink and food, All
agonized from the pain of his wounds
till the ice closed In solid and enabled
him to make his way to the coast,
which he did safely and ultimately
recovered. That same man, aged ~.
was seal-nunting this year, it being
his 54th consecutive season.