ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 203 



Had Captaiu Abbey, with the revenue cutter Coricin, cruised arouud 

 tlie seal islauds until the loth of August he no doubt would have cap- 

 tured several valuable prizes which escaped with large catches of seal 

 owiug to the absence of the cutter. 



On St. George Island, in charge of acting assistant Treasury agent 

 Dr. L. A. Noyes, soon after the departure of the cutter a schooner 

 was sighted. She sent her men in small boats direct to a rookery to 

 kill seals. Under orders from Dr. Noyes, the natives watching the 

 rookery ired on the men as they landed, causing them to retreat to 

 their boats and i)ull for their vessel. Two of the men were wounded, 

 according to their own admission, one shot through the arm and the 

 other in the foot. This warm reception and impressive lesson was not 

 without beneficial results, as it became generally known last fall and 

 winter among the profession, and may serve to keep them a safe dis- 

 tance from the shore line of the rookeries this season. 



I understand the captains of British vessels had great difficulty this 

 spring shipping their crews of Indian sealers, owing to the few captures 

 of last year. After their experience of this season, I am quite sure 

 British Columbia Indians will be hard to secure for Bering Sea sealing 

 in the future. 



So far this season four schooners have been operating around this 

 island, at times within a mile or two of the land, their ritle shots being 

 distinctly heard from the sliore, a dense fog concealing the vessel from 

 view. One schooner remained around Northeast Point from the loth to 

 the 26th, then came down near the village. On the 28th instant, at 3 

 p. m., I sighted her near Otter Island, close to the land. The Alaska 

 Commercial Company's steamer St. Paul having arrived early the same 

 morning, I, in company with their general agent, Mclntyre, their 

 physician. Dr. W. S. Hereford, and Captain Loud, assistant Treasury 

 agent, boarded the steamer St. Paul. At my earnest request her cap- 

 tain, M. C. Erskin, got under way and followed the schooner, Avhich 

 was then standing away from us. She changed her course suddenly 

 and stood directly for the steamer. When near enough to see with the 

 glass, we discovered she was in distress — flying the American flag, 

 union down. When we come up to her she proved to be the schooner 

 Angel Polly, of San Francisco. I hailed her from the bridge of the 

 steamer, and was answered by the men on the schooner with calls for 

 help, saying the captain was shot and dying and one man wounded. 

 I directed Capt. A. P. Loud, assistant Treasury agent and an experi- 

 enced navigator, to board the schooner in the boat towing astern of 

 the steamer, with the native crew, which he did, Dr. H. H. Mclntyre 

 and Dr. Hereford accompanying him. A high cross sea with strong 

 northwest wind made it dangerous to get to the vessel, which was at 

 the mercy of the elements. All got safely on board and Captain Loud 

 took command of the schooner and brought her to a smooth anchorage 

 east side of St. Paul Island, where I boarded her a few minutes after 

 she anchored. Captain Loud was in charge, with the revenue flag 

 flying, he having seized the schooner and cargo for violation of section 

 1950, Eevised Statutes. 



The captured schooner's captain, Alfred IST. Tulles, with three of his 

 men, had been on Otter Island, 5 miles from St. Paul Island, during 

 the afternoon and killed four fur seals on the land. Returning to his 

 vessel, he picked up a rifle on the house of his cabin and drew it toward 

 him, when the hammer of the gun caught, discharging the contents 

 through the body of the captain, killing him and wounding Joseph 

 Spooner, one of the crew, who was at the wheel, behind the captain, 



