Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-05-16

of seals we get off Newfoundland.
some of them ask why I don't bring
them fur coats7 feel like thirty
cents, knowing | can't comply with
their wishes. Well, | am sorry, /
tell them, but the seals we go after
r the hair seals. and all they are
good for Is to make soap and peck
etbooks."
There are several different kinds
of seals around the shores of New
foundland and the Gulf of st. Law
renee; the square fiipper. the horse
head or gray seal. the jar or ringed
seal, the bay or shore seal, the harp
seal. and the hooded seal. The harp
and the hood are the two kinds that
the Newfoundland sealers hunt In
their sealing vessels. The first four
varieties mentioned hang about
Newfoundland and other northern
waters, in small groups, but only
the hood and the harp herds beat
away to the northward and return
to their whelping grounds In an I'M
nual migration over 1000 miles of
ocean.
Harp Is the Best Seal.
The seal par excellence is the
harp. AS an adult 1t carries a gray
colored patch on the back, shaped
like a harp. for which 1t is named.
The harp yields more oil than the
hood and the young r easy to
handle. Because 1t gathers In close
herds, less time Is required In hunt
Ing 1t.
After having been down to the
Banks, the harps work northward
to a vast sea eddy eastward of
Belle Isle strait. and also In to the
Gulf Of st. Lawrence to the west
of the Magdalens. Now they are the
sport of wind and weather of
stormy March. and until the coming
of the airplane spotter the seal
shippers had nothing but their own
judgment and experience to bring
them to the herd.
The harp seal seeks new ice
that Is, Ice a few inches thick that
forms In the open leads between
the heavier ice. Only In new ice
al the harp bore bobbing holes
and get to Its young, which are
born on the new ice.
The baby harp looks like a fluffy
white muff with two large, liquid
brown eyes peering out. 1t is as
woody as a gosling. Later the
hairs become longer and whittier, un-
til In about 20 to Is days the young
seals roll the white coats Off In
their movements around the ice and
become ragged jackets" This
white, woolly coat Is replaced by a
hair coat covered with dark spots
the size Of an American quarter
dollar.
In Its first days the puppy seal
is helpless and dependent on its
mother. 1t whines like a baby. The
weight at birth Is about seven
pounds. Drinking It's mothers rich
milk, 1t puts on a pound to a pound
and a half a day.
Sealing is a hard life.
Men on board a sealer are
damned in as tight as sardines In
a box, particularly In the smaller
wooden vessels. Going out, every
available bit of space Is filled with
coal, with ice-fighting equipment,
sealers' chests, dunnage bags and
sealing gear. and men as thick as
flies around a molasses puncheon.
A sealer carries provisions for
two months and q half-70 to 80
barrels of potatoes, 100 quintals of
Goldfish, 80 barrels of -four, 80 bar
rels of pork, many pounds OF tea,
molasses to sweeten the tea, but
ter, turnips. and beans.
Contrast in Menus.
Could some of the old sealing
crews take a look at what's going
on now, they would be sh~ell-shocked
with wonder. They'd think the fish
cry was ruined ON account of lux
urious living. They had nothing
but hard biscuit and tea, pork and
with little grease in the duff.
No soft bread whatever.
The men go overheard in gangs.
watch crews, 40 to 80 men in a
watch. The master watch Is re-
sponsible for the working Of the
men and their safety. Each crew
tries to beat the other crew, and
each man tries to beat the other
man. Where the seals are fairly
plentiful, the master watch raises
a marker flag and leaves some men,
and then another flag and more
men.
The mother harp goes down a
bobbing hole, as the sealer an
proaches. Young seals are saucy
and viii come for a man until he
snogs them with his bat. He turns
the dead whitecoat on it's back and
Sits II down the belly. Then he
carefully cuts the body away from
the pelt, which is the skin with the
fat fastened to 1t, and then
of the hinder daddles (black
nippers). One Or both front flip
pers may be removed.