The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-03-14
THE SEA HUNTERS
A. D. 1872

Inc japanese have heroes ana al
venturers just as fine as our own, most
valiant and worthy knights. Unhap-
PLY / am too stupid to remember their
honorable names, TO understand their
motives, or to make out exactly what
they were playing at. 1t is rather a
pity they have to be left out, but at
least we can deal with one very odd
phase Of adventure in the Japan seas.
The daring seamen of old Japan
used to think nothing of crossing the
Pacific TO raid the American coast for
slaves. But two or three hundred
years ago the reigning shotgun made up
his mind that shaving was immoral.
So he pronounced an edict by which
the builders Of junks were forbidden
TO fiji in their stern frame with the
usual panels. The junks were still
good enough for cOastwise trade at
home, but If they dared the swell of
the outer ocean a following sea would
poop them and send them to the bot
tom. That put stop to the slave
trade; but no king can prevent storms,
and law or no law, disabled junks were
sometimes swept by the big black cur
rent and the westerly gales right
across the Pacific ocean. The law made
only one difference, that the crippled
junks never got back to Japan; and
If their castaway seamen reached
America the native tribes enslaved
them. / find that during the first half
of the Nineteenth century the average
was one junk in forty-two months cast
away on the coasts of America.
Now let us turn to another effect
of this strange law that disabled jap
anese shipping. NOrthward of Japan
are the Kuril islands in region Of
almost perpetual fog, bad storms and
bitter cold, ice pack, strong currents
and tide rips, combed by the fanged
reefs, with plenty Of earthquakes and
eruptions to allay any sense of mo-
notony. The large and hairy natives
are called the Ainu, who live by fish,
ing, and used TO catch sea otter and
fur seal. These furs found their way
via Japan to China, where sea-otter
fur was part Of the costly official win
ter dress Of the Chinese mandarins.
As to the seal, their whiskers are
worth fifty cents set for cleaning
opium pipes, and one part of the car
cass sells at fifty cents for medicine,
apart from the worth of the fur.
Now the law that disabled the junks
made it impossible for Japan to do
much trade In the Kurils, so that the
Russians actually got there first as
colonists
But no law disabled the Americans,
and when the supply of sea otter
failed on the Californian coast in 1872
a schooner called the Cygnet crossed
the Pacific to the Kuril islands. There
the sea offers were plentiful in the
kelp beds, tame as cats and eager to
inspect the hunters boats. Their skins
fetched from eighty to ninety dollars
apiece.
When news came to Japan Of this
new way Of getting rich, young Eng
lishman, Mr.. H. ]. Snow, bought a
schooner, a hog-backed relic called the
Swallow In which he set out for the
hunting. Three days out, gale dis
masted her, and putting in for shelter
she was cast away in the Kurils. Mr..
Shows second venture was likewise
cast away on desert Isle, where the
crew wintered my vessels" he says,
''were appropriately named. The Swal-
low swallowed up part Of my finances,
and the Snowdrop caused me to drop
the rest"
xufn nj
white men were in quarters on a dis
tant headland Of the same Island Yet
urup, and were cooking their Christ
mas dinner when they met with an
accident. A dispute had arisen between
two rival cooks as how to fry fritters,
and during the argument pan of boif-
ing fat capsized into the stove and
caught alight. The men escaped
through the flames half dressed, their
clothes on fire, into the snow-clad will
derness and a shrewd wind. Then they
set up a shelter Of drfftwood with
the burning ruin in front to keep them
warm, while they gravely debated as
TO whether they ought to cremate the
cooks upon the ashes of their home
anu their SuTISltildS
To understand the adventure of the
sea hunters we must follow the story
of the leased islands. The Alaska
Commercial company Of San Francisco,
leased the best islands for seal and
otter fishing From the United States
the company leased the Pribilof islands
in Boring sea, great fur-seal me-
tropolis with a population of nearly
four millioR seals They had armed
native gamekeepers and the help Of an
American gunboat. From Russia the
company leased Boring and Copper is
lands of Kamchatka, and Cape Pa
thence on Saghalian with its CUTLER
Robber island There also they had
native gamekeepers, patrol ship, and
the help Of Russian troops and gun
boats. The company had likewise
tame newspapers to preach about the
wickedness of the sea hunters and call
them bad names. AS a rule the sea
hunters did their hunting far out at
sea where it was perfectly lawful. At
the worst they landed on the forbidden
islands as poachers. The real differ