SEALS 177 



A wound, even though it be mortal, even 

 though the bullet penetrates to the heart, does 

 not prevent a dying seal from diving. The 

 bullet must either enter the brain or sever the 

 spinal column near the neck. 



The impossibility of surprising a seal, com- 

 bined with the difficulty in shooting it, lends 

 all the charm to this sport which I have found 

 so fascinating. 



Although seals are nervous and very vigilant 

 when on ice, in the sea they display, on the 

 contrary, extraordinary confidence, and are 

 remarkably imprudent. It is a common thing 

 for them to come quite close to a ship to examine 

 it. On one occasion in the Ice Fjord, an enormous 

 serac fell from the Nordenskjold Glacier into 

 the water with a report like that of an exploded 

 gun. Even before the waters had resettled, 

 numerous seals appeared on the surface, 

 attracted rather than frightened by the noise, 

 and immediately commenced to swim round the 

 huge block of ice, inspecting it curiously. There 

 are few sights more stirring than that fall into 

 the sea of a mass of ice weighing perhaps several 

 hundred tons ! 



In the year 1907, when we were suffering 

 severely from ice pressure in the Kara Sea, huge 

 bergs crushing against the ship and almost 



