Till! ANTARCTIC SEAL FlSllKKI KS. 427 



of seals lias led to the employment of ordinary schooners. It was formerly customary for materials 

 to lit' taken 1>\ the larger craft for the construction of small vessels of 20 or 30 tons, which \veie built 

 at tlir islands and employed iu cruising along shore, and men were landed at suitable points for 

 the capture of seals. 



At Heard's island, in the sea elephant fishery, the ships were securely anchored iu the har- 

 bors and partially unrigged, and a few men left aboard as ship-keepers. The balance of the crew, 

 and i he furnaces, try-pots, and sealing implements, also casks for the oil, and camp equipage, were 

 transferred to the tenders that landed men and apparatus at convenient points. The tenders 

 then anchored until a supply of oil was secured, or continued cruising about transferring gangs 

 of men from one point to another or searching off shore for whales. 



Several of the sealing schooners were formerly regular fishing vessels. Among vessels of this 

 class were the Charles Shearer, Thomas Hunt, and Florence, which were bought from Gloucester, 

 where they had been employed in the cod and mackerel fisheries. The Florence was refitted at 

 New London, Conn., in 1872, and sailed for the Cape Horn region, where, after a series of hardships, 

 >lie finally succeeded in securing a very valuable cargo of skins and returned home in 1876. She 

 sailed again the same year, and arrived home April 6, 1877, when she was sold to take part in 

 Captain Howgate's Arctic Expedition to Cumberland Inlet. The Charles Shearer was refitted as 

 a sealing schooner in 187-1, and sailed for Cape Horn and South Shetlauds. She arrived home in 

 1S75, having taken 1,600 fur-seal skins, worth about $16,000. On this voyage she lost her entire 

 ground tackling on two occassions near Cape Horn. This vessel sailed on a second voyage in 1875 

 and returned in 1876 with 2,700 skins, worth $16,000. Five men were lost by drowning and two 

 were massacred by Indians. The vessel was with difficulty saved from capture. In 1876 the 

 Charles Shearer sailed again, and returned in 1877 with 400 seal skins and 50 barrels of sea- 

 elephant oil. She sailed on her last voyage in 1877 and never returned. She was valued, with 

 outfit, at $16,000, and carried 22 men. In July she left Stouington, and in October left a sealing 

 crew of seven men, under charge of the second mate, on the island of Diego Kainirez, with camp 

 equipage, apparatus, and provisions for sealing. The vessel took her departure for the South 

 shetlands, but was never heard from. In 1878 the United States Government sent a vessel in 

 search of her, but she could not be found. In 1879 the schooners Express and Thomas Hunt were 

 at South Shetlands, but found no trace of the Charles Shearer. The men left on Diego Eamirez 

 were taken off in March, 1879, by the ship Jabez Howes, jr., and lauded at San Francisco. They 

 had secured 800 skins, that were brought to St.onington by the Thomas Hunt. 



The schooner Thomas Hunt was brought from Gloucester in 1872 and fitted for sealing at 

 Stoniugton. Conn. This vessel has made several successful voyages and is still employed in sealing 

 about (.'ape I lorn. Another sealing vessel, formerly a Gloucester fishing schooner, was the Flying- 

 Fish. This vessel sailed from New London, Conn., in 1870, and after making several sealing voy- 

 ages, on some of them as tender to the bark Trinity, was abandoned off' Cape Horn iu 1878. Since 

 the year 1870 two ships, two barks, one brig, and nineteen schooners have been engaged iu the 

 fur-seal and sea-elephant fisheries. One of the barks was withdrawn from the business in 1874; 

 the other was lost in 1881. The ship Roman was refitted for whaling iu 1876, and the other ship, 

 the Nile, is "hauled up to die" at New London. The brig is still employed in the fishery. 



The bark Trinity sailed from Xew London, Conn., on June 1, 1880, on a sea-elephant voyage 

 to Desolation and Hoard's Islands. Up to November, 1881, no news had been received from her, 

 and as she was expected home in the spring of 1880 it was feared that the vessel had been wrecked 

 at Heanl's Island, though perhaps the crew might survive. Accordingly, the United States steamer 



