Pelagic sealing had brought death by starvation to thou- 

 sands of orphan pups on the islands. Now, in the absence of 

 pelagic sealing. Marsh began in 1912 to study mortality factors 

 at the beginning of the new regime. The loss of pups in 1896 

 had been estimated at 7.0% before the 10th of August, pre- 

 sumably of "natural" causes before starvation became effec- 

 tive, and at 13.5% through the entire summer and fall (Jordan 

 and Clark 1898a:95, 214). The early losses in 1908 and 1909 

 (on St. Paul Island only) had been estimated at 7.2 and 8.3%, 

 respectively (Lembkey 1910:40-41). In 1912, however. Marsh 

 found a "total natural loss" up to 22 August on St. Paul Is- 

 land of only 1.25% (Marsh 1912:897). Never again during the 

 period of recovery of the herd was the mortality of pups on 

 land to rise about 3.0% (Kenyon et al. 1954:30). We are unable 

 to explain the high mortality rate in early summer while pelagic 

 sealing was in effect, as compared with the low rate when it 

 had ceased. 



Marsh also found "typical cases of asphyxia neonatorum, 

 or suffocation of the new born, a hitherto unidentified fatal- 

 ity" (Marsh 1912:898). He believed that 18% of the pup 

 deaths before mid-August could be ascribed to this cause. 



After the discovery of Uncinaha lucasi in 1897, no serious 

 effort was made to look for it until 1912, when Marsh found it 

 in 17 out of 175 pups (Marsh 1912:897). Agent Lembkey stated 

 flatly that "Uncinaha has not now, nor has had for several 

 years past, any known existence on the islands" (Lembkey 

 1908:26). Heath stated that "very few cases [1 out of 2 pups 

 examined] were noted by Dr. Chichester in 1909, and not one 

 was detected [in 1910]" (Heath 1911:1223). In the light of 

 modern knowledge, it is significant to read a statement of 

 Marsh in 1906 "Uncinaha has been found by Dr. C. W. Stiles 

 in dead seal pups born in the zoological park of parents from 

 the Pribilof Islands. The parasite is not uncinaha lucasi, that 

 of the seal, but another form" (Marsh 1911:363). 



Also in 1912, a special study was made of the dimensions 

 and weights of sealskins on the killing fields and in the salt 

 kench (Lembkey 1913:85-95). Agents Lembkey and Clark, and 

 naturalist Marsh, carried out the study. The objective was to 

 convince "others that the work of the sealers is in conformity 

 with [age] regulations" (Lembkey 1913:91). It was a fuzzy ob- 

 jective, for although the regulations specified a minimum age 

 limit for killing, no one in 1912 knew how to identify age. 



This shortcoming was realized, and in the fall of 1912 fur 

 seals were first marked for scientific purposes. On 5,529 pups, 

 the letter "T" was hot-iron branded on top of the head 

 (Lembkey 1913:96). 



The following year, the return of branded yearlings was 

 awaited with keen interest. How many were seen, and when 

 they were seen, is not clear from the record. The statements of 

 Lembkey (1914:158-159), Osgood et al. (1915:60-64), and 

 Clark (U.S. Congress, Senate 1926:41) do not agree. Thirteen 

 years later, Elliott was still making political capital of the dis- 

 crepancy. Sufficient to say, about 80 to 90 branded yearlings, 

 some representing repeat observations, had been seen through 

 25 November I9I3, none earlier than 10 July. The fact that 

 many or most yearlings do not return to land but remain at sea 

 became known for the first time. 



Only three yearlings were reported killed (Bower and Aller 

 1917:98). Eventually, several hundred branded seals of the 

 class of 1912 were killed and recovered, the oldest being a 

 10-yr-old male in 1922 (Bower 1923:91). 



Marsh resigned as naturalist in late 1912 or early 1913. He 

 was succeeded by P. M. Chamberlain. Effective 30 June 1913, 

 Congress abolished the position of Pribilof agent and "F. M. 

 Chamberlain, naturalist. . .succeeded to the administrative 

 charge of all affairs on the islands" (Lembkey 1914:140). He 

 arrived at St. Paul on 13 July 1913 (Evermann 1914:10). Ac- 

 cording to Andrews (1929:194), Chamberlain was "sick unto 

 death with tuberculosis." He left the islands on the last rev- 

 enue cutter of the winter of 1913-14. 



In July 1913, G. Dallas Hanna arrived at St. Paul as a 

 schoolteacher (Fig. 4 bottom). He remained almost con- 

 tinuously until September 1918 and returned in the summers of 

 1919 and 1920 (Preble and McAtee 1923:4). He returned briefly 

 in 1960 (Hanna footnote 7). He was keen to learn about nature, 

 and his duties as schoolteacher and storekeeper did not keep 

 him from collecting specimens, photographing, and assisting 

 with research on fur seals in the first decade of direct Govern- 

 ment control of sealing. His contributions to knowledge of the 

 Pribilofs are represented by 41 publications which appeared 

 from 1914 to 1951 (Miller 1962). 



In 1913, Elliott was appointed as "duly qualified expert" 

 and special agent of a congressional committee (Elliott and 

 Gallagher 1913). He visited St. Paul Island in July 1913 to ob- 

 tain "facts which bear upon the commercial ruin and near ex- 

 tinction of our fur-seal herd of Alaska" (Elliott 1913:3). On 

 this visit, he made no scientific studies. The printed minutes of 

 the committee hearings, together with statements inserted by 

 Elliott in the record, amounted to 400 pages. His visit was not 

 mentioned in the annual report of the Alaska Fur-Seal Service 

 for I9I3. 



According to Hanna (1923:47)' "Elliott and an assistant 

 were sent to the islands in 1913 in an irregular manner and the 

 House of Representatives refused to allow their expenses and 

 compensation. Rothermel lost his seat in Congress and nar- 

 rowly escaped being expelled before the expiration of his 

 term." John H. Rothermel was sponsor of the Elliott- 

 Gallagher trip to the Pribilofs, and Chairman of the Commit- 

 tee on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce, House 

 of Representatives. 



Secretary of Commerce Redfield now felt that administra- 

 tion of the Pribilofs was getting out of hand (Elliott and Gal- 

 lagher 1913:3-5). He especially did not approve of Barton W. 

 Evermann speaking, as a biologist, against the Government's 

 closed season on the cropping of seals. In 1914 Redfield re- 

 moved jurisdiction for the Fur-Seal Service from the Division 

 of Alaska Fisheries and placed it under Deputy Commissioner 

 of Fisheries E. Lester Jones. Jones visited the Pribilofs in sum- 

 mer of 1914 and recommended that the Government spend 

 substantially more in improvements there (Jones 1915:140). 

 "As a result of voluntary resignations [including, we suppose, 

 Lembkey and Evermann]. . .there was a considerable reorga- 

 nization of the personnel and methods" (Bower and Aller 

 1915:67). Ward T. Bower, Agent, assumed responsibility for 

 the Fur-Seal Service, a burden which he was to carry until 

 1947. The position of naturalist, last held by F. M. Chamber- 

 lain in 1913, was abolished. 



'Hanna, G.D. 1923. The Alaska fur seal islands. Unpubl. manusrr., 249 p. 

 Intended by Hanna lo be published as a semipopular book; donated by him in 

 1941 lo the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Northwest and Alaska Fish. Cent., 

 Natl. Mar. Mammal Lab., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., NOAA, 7600 Sand Point Way 

 NE., Seattle, WA 98115. 



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