156 The Frederick G erring, Jr. 



going after. As they have kept her so long and have taken no 

 care of her, she is now ruined. Her seines are completely ruined, 

 and her boats have lain in the water until they are good for 

 nothing. Her stores are all ruined and her cooking utensils and 

 stoves are a mass of rust. They unbent the sails while they were 

 damp and put them in a store. I told them that they would spoil 

 if left in that condition and they have lain there ever since. There 

 were one hundred and twenty barrels of mackerel on board the 

 vessel when she was seized, which were worth Thirteen dollars 

 a' barrel at the time. They allowed these mackerel to spoil and 

 some of them brought only Four Dollars a barrel. The whole lot 

 brought only Eight Hundred and Ten Dollars which they do not 

 mention. This vessel, her fish and fishing gear were worth Eight 

 Thousand Dollars, and if the vessel and fishing gear were sold, 

 to-day they would not bring One Thousand Dollars. The Can- 

 adian Government knows this and that is why they want me to 

 take her back. They are ashamed of what they have done, as 

 they never had any case against the vessel. They admit that the 

 vessel caught her fish outside of the three mile limit, but claim 

 that she drifted across the three mile limit while bailing out the 

 fish, and she had just as much right to do that as she has to sail 

 across the line with the fish on deck, and Chief Justice Strong, 

 one of the greatest learned judges Canada ever had, sat on this 

 case and said the same. He has been appointed since to the Privy 

 Council in England. 



If the vessel was inside the three mile limit as they claimed 

 she was, why did not the Captain of the Cruiser let my Captain 

 measure the distance to Gull Ledge with the log when he said, 

 "Take my boat, my men, your officers and my log or your own 

 and measure the distance to Gull Ledge as I know that I am more 

 than three miles off." Could anything be fairer than that? When 

 they went to tow the vessel to Liscomb, which was six miles and 

 a half away, my Captain wanted to tow the log but the Captain 

 of the Cruiser would not allow him to. Don't you think that if 

 the Captain of the Cruiser was sure he was inside the three mile 

 limit he would have allowed him to tow the log quick? If I had 

 been aboard of the vessel at the time I should have anchored her 

 right where she was. 



