122 UULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



PELAGIC SEALING AT COMMANDER ISLANDS. 



The tactics described in the closiuy paragraphs of the chapter relating to the 

 raiding of the rookeries, of sending the canoes in among the breeding seals off the 

 rookeries, to kill them in the water while the schooner remained at sea, were the fore- 

 runner of i)elagic sealing around the Commander Islands. It was claimed by the crew 

 of the C. G. White, Captain Hagman, who gave themselves up (in 1890) to the author- 

 ities on Copper Island, that they were blown ashore after having lost their vessel; but 

 the natives evidently thought differently, for they fired upon three of the boats as 

 they attempted to land, killing one man and wounding two, while seven bullets went 

 through the boats. However, as the schooner was not captured, the men were sent 

 back to San Francisco in the company's steamer. While it is true that the James 

 Hamilton Lewis (formerly the Ada) was caught right under the South Rookery of 

 IJering Island in 1891, by the Russian war vessel Aleitt, it is certain that manj' of the 

 410 skins (90 per cent of which it has been stated were females) confiscated were killed 

 at sea. 



When but few seals were left on Robben Island and the Kurils to raid, the schoon- 

 ers fitting out in Japan turned their attention to following np the Comnumder Islands 

 herd on its northward migrations along the outer side of the Kuril chain, adopting 

 the regular methods of pelagic sealing. Owing to the necessity of having heavier 

 and stronger vessels on that coast, because of the much more severe weather and the 

 consequent greater risk, the pelagic sealing developed much slower on the Asiatic 

 side than on the American, and played a comparatively unimportant role up to 1892.' 



The latter year saw the total prohibition of sealing in the eastern, or American, 

 part of Bering Sea. according to the modus riveiidi between Great Britain and the 

 United States pending the fur-seal arbiti'ation by the Paris tribunal. The sealing 

 fleet was already on their way when they were informed of the closing of Bering Sea, 

 the result being that (juite a number of the vessels, rather than return home, nuule 

 straight for the Commander Islands to try their luck' there. No less than 32 Canadian 

 vessels crossed over to the Russian side after having completed their coast catch. 

 Ill addition, there seems to have been 5 British schooners sailing from Japan, 

 consequently altogether 37 British vessels. To tliese* must be added a few American 

 schooners, of which I have no detailed account at hand. Capt. Charles Lutjens, in 

 the Kate and Anna, caught about l.~)0 seals "between from 40 to 100 miles .south of the 

 Commander Islands, and these were seized and confiscated" (Fur Seal Arb., viii, p. 

 714). The Henry Dennis obtained 189 seals, as detailed elsewhere in this report. 



These facts are shown in more detail in the following table, which is extracted 

 from the record of the entire British Columbia sealing fleet, as given in the Twenty- 

 fifth Annual lieport of the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries (pt. ii, pp. 

 60-61). 



'The British Bering Se.a ooinmissioners, writing in .Tune, 1892, could tlierefore st.ate as a "(act 

 that pelagic sealing, as understood ou the coast of America, is there [Asiatic coast] practically 

 unknown.'' It is probahle, however, that the real beginning was made already in 1891, though ou a 

 small scale. Capt. Chas. Lutjens, of San Francisco, owner of tlic schooner Kate and Jiina, states (Fur 

 Seal Arb., viri, p. 715) that on going into Bering Sea ou June 6, 1891, he was warned out, and went 

 directly to the Kussian side, wlierc he got 4.50 seals. The Penelope, Capt. .1. W. Todd, of Victoria, 

 was also there that year; also Beatrice, ('apt M. Keefe, who got iiOO seals there; L'mbrina, Capt. J. 

 Matthews, 30 seals; Maud S., Capt. A. Mclveil, and probably several others. 



