Evening star., 1914-11-15

the true story in Kipling's rhyme you
must switch the name Baltic TO READ
silver Fleece" There never was a
third ship. said Herman, and the affair
happened in the middle eighties.
Johnny Herman told of the happening
in this wise:
The Arctic. with Capt. Pine. stole off t
Robben Bank, Il rookery in the Okhots
sea She anchored off shore until the
Russian guard started for the fort at
Kamschatka and then putting crew
ashore. Capt. Pine began a wholesale
slaughter of the breeding seal.
There were 1,500 skins abeach. cool
pelt and proper fur" wrote Kipling. Il tie.
Johnny Herman had told him about H.
"when the Northern Light drove into thl'
blight, and the sea mist drove with her
That is exactly what happened. Before
the Arctic's crew could finish their work
and get the skins aboard, the Silver
Fleece on a like mission arrived. saw the
Arctic and quietly withdrew into the mist.
Johnny Herman was on the Silver
Fleece His was the bluff SO success
fully worked by Capt. Snow. 1t was the
same trick later used by Rich e on tie
Kinsei Maru Hastily constructing fun
mel of black paper, the crew Of the Sil-
yer Fleece set it up abaft the mainmas't-
Through a forward port they stuck a
section of Stovepipe and then heaie
back to the bay. The Arctc's crew. pc
lieving her to be the Russian patrol,
scurried aboard and fled, for, as kipllns
said:
The Baltic called her men and weighed-she could
not choose but .
For a stovepipe through the closing MIST II
shows like fourin gun.
Four dark -browed Japanese s".;..tt"'i
in a house in one of Hakodate:. viii
smelling alleyways one night in the
spring of 1906. Their talk was of seal
ing, and in particular they spoke of
the rich ST. Paul rookeries, the prize
of American properties. Thirty thous-
and seals, the remnant of herd of four
million, they knew would be upon the
rocks by the time that hulks of
schooners, flying the Japanese flag,
could cross to Bering sea.
The day of the early raidinG shippers.
to which free-hand brotherhood Nc
Lean, Hansen, Richie and "Audacious
Dan" belonged. had gone. The place of
were already anchored in Victoria, had
been taken by evilsmelling oriental
craft, for existing pacts between Rus
sia Great Britain and the United
states, had killed out poaching. There
was then no treaty with Japan.
The four conspirators were "pelagic'
sealers, and even then the Dai Nj Toyai
Maru, with crew of thirty-two sea-
and hunters, ana the Mel NldTu,
with a crew of thirty, were tugging at
their moorings along the water front.
The Dai Nj Toyai Maru raised anchor
and her head across the Pacific on May
20. Three days later the Mel Maru fol-
lowed in her wake.
This was the prologue to the raids on
ST. PauIs rookery, July 16 and II, 1905.
in which five were killed, two wounded
and twelve Japanese taken prisoners.
But this was not accomplished before
one hundred and eighty thousand seal,
nearly all protected females, had been
clubbed to death on the rocks and
hundred and twenty skins taken.
Little fog hung over ST. Paul on the
morning of July Is. Northeast point.
the richest rookery of them all. jutted
out into placid sea. A native guard
patrolled the beach.
Many miles out he deserted speck
Oh the sea. 1t was the Towai Maru
heading in for the raid. She hove TO
when about three miles Off Shore and
small boat was put oversize.
1t was 1890 o'clock when the boat
hegnn creeping toward the rookeries
of Northeast point Thirty minutes
later her course was changed toward
the rookery on liutchinsons hill. The
native guard hurried to the post and
gave the alarm. The small United
States government force. hurriedly
arming themselves. rushed to the
beach, crouching behind great powders.