THE RUSSIAN FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 121 



3. In the port of Petropaulovsk, tUougli being tho only port of entry in Kamtchatka, such per- 

 mits or licenses shall not bo issued. 



4. No permits or licenses whatever shall be issued for hunting, fishing, or trading at or on the 

 Commodore or Robben Islands. 



5. Foreign vessels found trading, lishiug, hunting, etc., in Uussiau waters without a license or 

 permit from the Governor-General, and also those possessing a license or permit who may infrin"'o the 

 existing by-laws ou hunting, shall bo couliscatcd, both vessels and cargoes, for the benefit of the 

 Government. This enactment shall be enforced henceforth, commcucing with A. D. 1882. 



(i. The enforcement of the above will be intrusted to l.'ussian men-of-war, and also to Russian 

 merchant \'essels, which for that purpose will carry military detachments and be provided with proper 

 instructions. 



(Signed) A. Pelikan, 

 1U8 Imperial Jiiissinn Majesty's Consul. 



Yokohama, A'oremfter 15, IS.Sl. 



This proclamation was di.stributed to all outgoing vessels, and evidently had 

 some effect, as the raids during the j-ears following fell off very cousiderably. A few 

 skippers, more desperate than the others, however, were still taking chances. Thus, 

 on August 12, 1882, the schooner Otome, of Yokohama, with a Japanese crew, but 

 European officers, raided tlie North Eookery on Bering Island, though with disastrous 

 results. After having tried the watchfulness of the uatives during dark and foggy 

 uights for more than two weeks, three boats were sent ashore from the Otomc on the 

 12th of August after dark. AfrKisikof, the southern extremity of the rookery, about 

 350 bachelor seals were clubbed, and the skinning was already far advanced when 

 the natives crept up to the pirates and captured the mate; the next morning the 

 schooner was seized by Mr. Grebuitski on board the steamer Aleksander II. The 

 Olonie was flnally taken to Vladivostok and condemned. The cajitain was charged, 

 with piracy, but Mr. Snow, who had passage in the schooner, was allowed to go, as 

 there was no proof of his connection with the affair as owner or supercargo. 



The fact that the ijroclamation did not entirely stop the raiding, induced the 

 Russian authorities in 1884 to station a detachment of soldiers on the islands for their 

 protection, as related elsewhere in this report, and the schooner Salhalioi, raiding the 

 South Eookery ou Bering T.sland, fell the tirst victim to the regulars. 



The captains of tlie schooners were becoming wary, and, to avoid being captured 

 within the 3-mile limit of the territorial waters, adopted the tactics of keeping some 

 distance at sea, only sending their boats or canoes to kill the seals ou or off the rookeries, 

 as the case might be. 



The first schooner caught in this practice seems to have been the British vessel 

 Araunalt, Captain Siewerd, which was seized off' Copper Island ou July 1, 1888, by 

 Grebuitski, in the Alrknander II. The significant point was that while the schooner 

 Itself was not nearer than C miles, two of its canoes were hunting seals within half a 

 mile of the shore, and, in spite of tlie diplomatic remonstrances by Great Britain, "Sh: 

 Grebuitski was fully sustained by Mr. Giers, the Russian minister for foreign affairs, 

 in his letter of August 10, 1889. However, although caught as a raider, the Araunah 

 was in reality a regular pelagic sealer from British Columbia, with Indian hunters 

 and Indian canoes. 



