412 ORAL ARGUMENT OF FREDERICK R. COUDERT, ESQ, 



"Now with recjard to catcliiiig seals and where they are generally 

 caught in Bering Sea. This bears rather ui)on the question to which 

 I called the attention of the Court a few days ago — the question of 

 Kegulations; and this High Tribunal may remember that I stated that 

 any discussion was irrelevant on the question of Kegulations, except 

 in so far as the facts connected with the Pribilof Islands and what was 

 done there might have some bearing on the general facts of the Case. 

 I think the High Tribunal is entitled to know all the facts in the Case, 

 to know all about the seals, to know what is done on our islands, as 

 well as what is done on the high seas; but as I stated then, any Regu- 

 lation that is made must be exclusive of our territory, because, by the 

 very terms of the Treaty, no liegulation affecting our jurisdiction or 

 the jurisdiction of Great Britain can be promulgated. 



A very few brief extracts further. Ca])tain William Petit, Master of 

 the British schooiu^r "Mischief", says this (and this is from theEeport 

 of the British Commissioners, page 221): 



Were you in Beliriiig's Sea last year, aiul were you ordered out?— (A) Was ordered 

 out by the United States ship Cor win. (Q) IJel'ore biuug ordered out what was your 

 usual fishing distance from land? — (A) 60 to 100 miles. (Q) You found seals all 

 along that distance from land? — (A.) Yes, in lai-ge numbers. 



And let me call attention again to this; I have done it before, and it 

 may be wearisome to the Court, but it is a matter of very great impor- 

 tance when you consider the recommendations and advice of the British 

 Commissioners that there should be a zonal protection of 20 miles 

 round the islands. They had the testimony before them of all these 

 witnesses showing that there Avas no slaughter there and that these 

 men all kept outside. When I said to the Court (and I say now) that 

 their recommendations are plainly intended to protect pelagic sealing 

 and not the seal, I am founded upon the rock of the evidence that they 

 themselves quote. 



Then 



Captain William Cox, Master of the British schooner Sappfnre. 



Q. What has been the general distance you have sealed — the distance from the 

 seal islands? — A. From 100 to 140 miles. I was within 80 miles of them last year; 

 that was the nearest I was to theui. 



Q. Your principal ground for sealing you found where? — A. About 100 miles west- 

 ward of the Islands of St. George and St. Paul. I took 1,000 in four days there. 



Then 



Captain W. E. Baker, Master of the British schooner C. R. Tupper; this is also 



from the lieport of British Commissioners, page 224. 



Q. While in Behring's Sea last year, what would be your usual sealing distance 

 from the land? — A. I was not in IBehring's Sea last year, bnt in previous years it 

 would be from 30 to 90 miles from land. The usual distance is about 68 miles. 

 Sometimes we are inside of that, sometimes outside of it. 



Now Andrew Laing has testified. I do not quote it. It will be found 

 at page 232. 



In the British Case, Appendix, vol. Ill, ( f7. 5. No. 2, 1890), p. 143, we find a Report 

 of a Committee of the Privy Council for Canada, stating the positions of six of the 

 sealing schooners which were seized in 1887. They are as follows: 



1. The W. P. Saywahd, .July 9, at 58 miles from nearest land. 



2. The Grace, .July 17, at 92 miles from nearest land. 



3. The Anna Bkck, July 2, at 66 miles from nearest land. 



4. The Dolphin, July 12, at 42 miles from nearest land. 



5. The Alfred Adams, Augnst 6, at 62 miles from nearest land. 



6. The Ada, August 25, about 15 miles northward from Ounalaska Island. 



The foregoing declarations and Report corrohorare the statements of numeroiis 

 witnesses cited by the United States to show that the best pelagic catches are often 

 made at great distances from the Pribilof Island. 



