The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1921-02-11
The Northern Home
OF the Seal

The principal hair seal fisheries are
those of Newfoundland and Labrador,
the Gulf of st. Lawrence, the White
Sea and Arctic Ocean, the Caspian
and the North and South Pacific
The most valuable and important
fur seal fisheries are those carried on
at St. Georges and st. Pauls Islands,
belonging to the Pribylov group, one
thousand miles north of Sitka, Alaska,
as the crow flies; those at the Com
mander Islands, in the Boring Sea,
and those in the same sea seven hun
dred miles west of the Alaskan sea
islands. 1t is around the discovery
of ST. Georges and st. PauPs Islands
that so much romance clusters.
Long before the year 1886, when
those islands were discovered, the
haunts of the fur seals were known
only to the Esquimaux. The attempt
was often made to persuade them to
answer questions on the subject, but
| it always failed. They were as secre-
tive as Indians, and nod or shrug
of the shoulders was all the answer.
which they would make.
For hundred years the keeis of
Russian vessels plowed the waters of
the North Pacific and the Boring Sea
in search of these mysterious islands;
but the quest, like that of Jason seek
ing the Golden Fleece, seemed des-
tined to be in vain.
Kamschatka had been annexed to
Russia; the intrepid explorer Boring
had discovered the sea, the strait and
| the island which bear his name; Rus
sian companies of traders and fishers
built their stations on the Aleutian
Islands, and pursued their calling;
Alaska was added to the possessions
of Russia, and government was es-
tablished there. Hundreds of vessels
| and thousands men were engaged in
the capture of the sea otter, but the
fur seal was as elusive as if his ex-
istence were a fable.
At certain seasons of every year
the channels of the Aleutian Islands
swarmed with bur seals. Like migra-
tory birds, they passed north in the
spring and south in the fall, but not
one of them was ever known to stop
and rest on the Alaskan shore. Where
their northward journey ended the
Aleuts claimed to be ignorant of. 1t
was somewhere north, they said, but
neither they nor their fathers had
ever ventured to launch their frail
canoes and follow these ttrange trav-
elers into unknown seas.
Fabulous wealth was represented by
| those great armies of seals, and the
search for them became more eager
and persistent, but each vessel re-
hopeless.
| But the hour came, and with 1t the
man., Gerassim Pribylov was mate
on Russian vessel which cruised in
northern seas and often came TO the
Aleutian Islands. He talked with the
natives about the passage of the seals
to the north, and one day an old Aleuit
told him an Alaskan legend about GER
tain islands which were said to be in
Boring Sea.
Pribylov listened eagerly, and
though being superstitious, as all sail
ors are, and also feeling that the mi
grafton of the seals could be accounted
for in this way, he determined to find
out what truth there was in the story.
So the next spring-that of 1882
he fitted up little sloop, the St.
George, and sailed from OunaIaska,
the largest of the Aleutian Islands, out
into~the mists and fogs of the north
ern seas.
| AS the vessel sailed On il passed
thrc--e5..i great swarms of seals, but
gradually they all vanished in the fog.
Throughout all the summer, Priby-
low sailed hither and thither, without
seeing friendly sail or speck Of
land, and he decided to return to Ouna-
laska for the winter.
On the homeward voyage, it was
tantalizing to find the seals also COM
ing back, on their way to their winter
hiding place in the south.
The next spring, Pribylov followed
the seals back to the north, but again
they disappeared. He kept this up for
three seasons, and finally, in 1885, the
reward for this patience came. For
weeks his vessel had been in dense
foz, and progress was slow. Suddenly
one day in July, he heard a roaring
sound coming through the wall of