The Coolidge examiner., 1934-05-18

l tell girls about the large number
OF seals we get of Newfoundland,
some OF them ask why / don't bring
| them fur coats? | feel like thirty
cents, knowing can't comply with
their wishes. Wei, / am sorry,
tell them, hut the seals we go after
are the hair seals, and all they are
good for is to make soap and pock-
| etbooks."
There are several different kinds
| OF seals around the shores of New
| foundland and the Gulf of st. Law
renee; the square flipper, 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 10 the northward and return
TO their whelping grounds In an un-
nual migration over 1000 miles OF
ocean.
Harp Is the Best Seal.
The seal par excellence is the
harp. AS an adult II carries a gray
colored patch on the back. shaped
| like harp, for which 1t is named
The harp yields more oil than the
hood and the young are easy to
handle. Because IT gathers in close
herds, less time is required in hunt
ing IT,
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 20 the herd
The harp seal seeks new ice
that Is. Ice few inches thick that
forms In the open leads between
the heavier Ice. Only In new ice
can 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
woolly as gosling. Later the
hairs become longer and whittier, un-
! til In about 20 To - 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 It's 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, IL puts on pound to a pound
and n half day.
Sealing is n hard life.
Men on. board a sealer are
| jammed in as tight as sardines In
box. particularly In the smaller
wooden vessels. Going out, every
available bit OF space is filed with
coal. with ice-fghting 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 a half-70 to so
barrels Of potatoes. 100 qulntals of
Goldfish, so 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 shell-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
duff, with little grease in the duff.
No soft bread whatever
The men go overheard in gangs,
or watch crews, 40 to 30 men in
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
marker flag and leaves some men.
and then another flag and more
men.
The mother harp goes down a
| bobbing hole, as the sealer ap-
proaches. Young seals are saucy
and will come for a man until he
snogs them with his bat He turns
| the dead whitecOat on its back and
slits 1t down the belly. Then he
carefully cuts the body away from
the pelt, which is the skin with the
white fat fastened to Il, and then
| cuts off the hinder daddles (blacb
flippers) One or both front flip.
| perS may be removed.