The Washington herald., 1909-03-14

st. Johns, N T., March 13.-Equipped
with a wireless telegraph outfit and man.
ned by 1000 men. the Newfoundland seal
ing fleet Of twenty-three steamships sailed
at sunrise yesterday on its annual cruise
among the ice foes of the North Atlantic.
Prospects for a successful season are
brighter this year than in 1908, when sew
eral vessels were lost and others were Sc
riously damaged by the heavy ice Little
ice has been reported thus far and the
weather is good.
Seventeen of the vessels will 90 to the
Grand Banks and the remaining six viii
enter the Gulf OF St Lawrence. In the
fleet are five new steamships, four OF
which cost $4,000 each The fifth. the
Floritzel. was recently turned out from
the builders yards at cost Of $4,000.
This vessel Is equipped with a wireless
outfit. and it is expected that much of the
anxiety of past years viii be absent, as
daily reports from the sealers are expect
ed Al the close OF the sealing season the
Floritzel will run from New York to this
city by way Of Halifax. carrying passen-
gers and freight
sails Every Year.
Regularly every year, at the turning Of
the season. when the seal herds begin to
ccme south TO pup on the ice foes. In the
neighborhood of Funks Island. In latitude
50 to "a north, the sailing feet sails from
St Johns. It has been sailing every year,
in pleasant weather or bad ever since
white men have lived in Newfoundland
How long ago that was It would De bard
to say. because. before Sir Humphrey Gil
bert established his colony on its wrinkled
coast. il was the custom Of thousands OF
sturdy Cornish hsherfolk and adventurous
ren from Devon 10 sail across the track
less Atlantic to fish on the prolific Grand
Banks. One OF the firms now in the seal
ing trade Will soon celebrate its cente-
nary. That gives an idea Of how impor-
tannt a part of the cOlOny's life the seal-
ing industry has become.
In the old days, before the advent Of
steam, the sailing OF the seal fleet was a
much more picturesque occasion than it Is
to-day. IN that day some 300 schOOners
would drop out past the frowning rocks
Of St Johns TO take up the trail OF the
herds The harbor would flash with the
CLEAN Of canvas. and the tangle Of Spars
and eordage must have looked like the
forest OF masts- OF which chrOniclers
like 10 speak On the quay stool the
wives and sweethearts. staring under
their hands at their menfOlk bound oT--
ward for the dreaded northern waters
thick with foe and berg.
For the seal feet has been particularly
exposed 10 the perils Of the sea Never a.
year has gone by without the taking Of
the oceans toll Last season three Of the
powerful steamships were lost. Stanchly
built as they are. the Newfoundland ships
have succumbed now and then 10 the
merciless grip Of the pack.
Few Lives Now Lost.
It is comparatively seldom that lives are
lost nowadays. TO be sure. and the time
has passed when days and weeks go by
and no news reaches St. Johns Of the men
who sailed away; but a season Ike the
last leaves its impress OF poverty and dis
tress on the population.
Until three years ago the small stedm-
ships which had gradually replaced rhe
schOoners in the trade were built OF wood
Then the steel steamship Adventure was
designed and built for Harvey & Co. The
Adventure was an experiment. She had
double the tonnage OF any of her COM
petitors and more powerful engines, and
her lines were modelled after those of the
Russian ice-brealIers and vessels Of me
same type owned by the Canadian gov
ernment, the Lady Grey and Montcalm.
That is to say, her bow was cut away
a the water line sharply, so that when
she encountered ice the tendency Of the
hull was to ride up over the cakes aud
This scheme has worked so well, indee T.
that four new steel steamships have been
constructed on much the same model as
the Adventure.
One Of these vessels was built for Job
Brothers, two for Harvey & Co, and one
for Bowering Brothers. the three firms
engaged in the industry The FloritZel
The new Bowering boat. is unlike any Of
the others, inasmuch as she is twice as
large as the ships Of even the Adventure
class. and is equipped with engines capa-
bic OF driving her at fourteen knots an
hour. one knot faster than the Adventure
can make Besides, she has passenger
cabins, in order that her owners may op-
crate her as a regular liner between New
York and Newfoundland in the summer
months, when tourist travel Is profitable
But these cabins are shut of entirely
be used on the sealing expeditions. The
FloritZel has a net tonnage Of 1850: she is
S05 feet long. 429 feet in beam, and has a
nodded depth Of 80 feet.
Big killing Gangs.
Ships Ike the Adventure and the Florit-
Eel, equipped with wireless telegraph. car
~ crews OF 2Os men Other than an en-
gine-room force Of twenty and a few
deckhands. all these men are included in
the killing gangs, varying in size and
number according to the size OF the crew
Each gang has boss, who directs its OF
eraticns
In February the seal herds always begin
10 come south TO the ice foes of New
foundland and in the Gulf Of ST. Law
renee, where the young seals are born.
BY waiting until March 10 before sailing
the seal hunters allow the pups, as they
are called, TO grow large enough to be
valuable. The young seals-young ''harps.
'bedlamers," and "hoods"-are of great
value. The older seals are killed. but not
until all the young ones procurable have
been stowed in the holds Of the sealing
feet
Killing the baby seals IS pitiablv easy
work. They are all too young to iake 10
the water. because the sealers aim 10 get
them when they are from six weeks to
two months old. Just before they have
learned 10 swim After a Newfoundland
sea! has been IN tile water his fur drops
out and he is only valuable for his blub-
ber and the leather than can be made
from his hide The killing gang walk out
on the Ice. where the babies have been
left by their parents while they obtain
food for them, and simply knock them en-
The head with gaffs.
Dead Seals often Lost.
When all the seals in sight have been
killed the work OF picking them up and re-
moving them to the shin is undertol,an