ciiAri i:i: xi. 

 PELAGIC SEALING, OR KILLING AT SEA. 



THE NATURE OF PELAGIC SEALING. 



We may iiow pass to a consideration of the second way in which man has come in 

 contact with the fur seals, namely, by hunting and killing them at sea. Pelagic sealing, 

 as it is called, means the taking of seals at sea, either on their migrations or on 

 their food excursions to and from their breeding grounds. It is necessarily indiscrim- 

 inate in its character, animals of both sexes and every age and condition being taken. 

 The animals are killed both by the spear and with firearms. 



THE HUNTING OF THE INDIANS. 



From the earliest times the natives in the vicinity of Cape Flattery and Vancouver 

 Island have been accustomed to hunt the fur seal in their dugout canoes, going out 

 from shore for this purpose a distance of 10 to 30 miles. It is probable that this 

 hunting has existed as long as Indians have occupied these regions and fur seals have 

 annually passed their shores. The taking of the fur seals was at tirst doubtless asso- 

 ciated with the hunting of the sea otter, and it has been suggested that the flesh of 

 the seal rather than its fur was the original object of its capture. 



With the decline of the sea otter and the various land furs, the skin of the fur 

 seal came to have a value and found its way into the markets through the hands of 

 the traders. In time the taking of fur seals became the object of special attention, 

 and the plan was developed of transporting the Indians and their canoes to the 

 sealing grounds by means of sailing vessels, thus enabling them to carry on their 

 operations consecutively and over a wider area. 



THE INTRODUCTION OF VESSELS. 



This first use of vessels in hunting the fur seals dates from about the year 1872, 

 and for several years the number employed was small, probably not exceeding five or 

 six before 1879. By their means the hunters were able to reach a distance of from 1~> 

 to 100 miles from shore and to follow the herd on its northward journey to the breeding 

 grounds. From 1879 onward the number of vessels engaged in pelagic sealing 

 increased rapidly. In 1880 the fleet numbered 1(> vessels, making another bound to 

 34 vessels in 1.S8C, this second increase being due to the opening up of Bering Sea 

 in 1883, 'when the schooner City of San Diego took a catch of between 2,000 and 3.000 

 skins there. 



THE EXPANSION OF THE INDUSTRY. 



After the introduction of vessels there was a steady expansion of the territory 

 covered by sealing operations. The fleet gradually began to go south of Cape Flattery 



1 Since this was written there has come into the possession of Mr. Charles II. Townseml the log of 

 the schooner San Diego (often confused with the Cily of San l>icyo, another vessel), which sh<>\\ s that she 

 took a catch of seals in Bering Sea iu 1X80. See Mr. Townsend's paper on Pelagic Sealing, in Part III. 

 1J2 



