METHODS OF CAPTURE NEWFOUNDLAND SEALING. 539 



from the hold into the cabin and forecastle, floating over every- 

 thing and forcing the crew to remain on the deck. They got 

 up some bags of bread, and by putting a i)ump down through 

 the oil into the water-casks they managed to get fresh water. 

 After being in this state some days himself and his crew were 

 taken out of the vessel by a ship they luckily fell in with, and 

 carried to St. John's, [N'ew Brunswick ; but his own vessel, with 

 her once valuable cargo, and almost all the valuable property 

 of himself and his crew were necessarily abandoned to the 

 mercy of the winds and waves, and what became of her was 

 never known. This was a good practical lesson as to the proper 

 method of stowing a cargo of seals, and one not likely to be 

 forgotten. In the present iu stance, therefore, the pounds were 

 both numerous and strong." * 



In a few days more they completed their cargo and returned 

 to St. John's with the vessel loaded with between 4,000 and 

 5,000 Seals. ''It was a very good season," Professor Jukes fur- 

 ther remarks; "one vessel in two trials brought in eleven thou- 

 *sand Seals, and the total take this year [1840] must have been 

 considerably upwards of five hundred thousand." t Mr. Reeks 

 states that in 1866 one vessel, which made two successful trips 

 to the ice, brought into St. John's harbor 25,000 Seals.| 



To complete the j)icture here partially drawn of the seal 

 fishery as pursued by the jSTewfoundland seal-hunters, I quote 

 still further from the same author respecting the scenes in- 

 cident to a sealing voyage of forty years ago. Under date 

 of March 5, Mr. Jukes writes : " This morning was dark and 

 foggy, with the wind at southeast. At seven o'clock, after mak- 

 ing a tack or two about an open lake and finding no channel, 

 we dashed into the ice with all sail set, in comj^any with two 

 other vessels on a north-northwest course. The ice soon got 

 firmer, thicker and heavier, and we shortly stuck fast. ' Over- 

 board with you ! gaflfs and pokers ! ' sung out the captain, and 

 over went, accordingly-, the major iDart of the crew to the ice. 

 The pokers were large poles of light wood, six or eight inches 

 in cu*cumference, and twelve or fifteen feet long. Pounding 

 with these, or hewing the ice with axes, the men would split 

 the pans near the bows of the vessel, and then, inserting the 

 ends of the pokers, use them as large levers, lifting up one side 

 of the broken piece and depressing the other, and several get- 



* Excursions iu Newfoundlaud, vol. i, pp. 272-2b0. 



tibid., p. 322. 



t Zoologist, 2d Ser., vol. vi, 1871, p. 2548. 



