ALASKA INDUSTRIE 357 



there at public anction in the usual manner, and the amount realized for the said 

 seal skins was much below the cost attached to the catching of the same, and in each 

 case left a loss to the company; that he personally superintended the fitting out of 

 the above-named schooners for both years above stated; that the same was done as 

 economically as possible, and at as low a cost as anyone else could have fitted out 

 said or similar vessels for, either in this port or in any port in British Columbia; 

 that the parties engaged as hunters, etc., on above vessels were fully competent and 

 equal to any engaged on any other vessel out of this port or any port in British 

 Columbia; that during the present year (1896) the schooners Bonanza, Webster, and 

 Herman have been withdrawn from the sealing business for the reason that the same 

 has proven decidedly unprofitable, and for the further reason that there is a prospect 

 that their catches would be decreased in consequence of the diminution of the seal 

 herd, which would undoubtedly leave a larger loss than in former ye;irs; that from 

 statistics gathered through his own experience in this business in the past years it 

 is shown that the average cost of each seal taken in the waters of the North Pacific 

 Ocean and Bering Sea in the usual manner, computed on an average catch of the 

 entire sealing fleet, is from $10 to $11.50 landed in London; that such cost varies 

 according to the size of the vessel's catch ; that as the per capita catch of these ves- 

 sels must necessarily be largely reduced from now on the se;ils so taken will natu- 

 rally cost comparatively more, making the business of catching seals still more 

 undesirable and unprofitable. 



In witness whereof the said A. P. Lorentzen has hereunto set his hand and seal 

 this 20th day of February, 1896. 



A. P. LORENTZEN. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 20th day of February, 1896. 



HENRY B. MADISON, Notary Public. 



MARCH 6, 1896. 



SIR: I Lave the honor to state for your in formation that in the last 

 annual report of J. B. Crowley, special agent in charge of the seal 

 islands, it appears that by actual count 28,000 seal pups died in the 

 Pribilof islands during the last season from starvation, their mothers 

 having been killed at sea. A careful estimate, based upon a partial 

 count, placed the number of pups which died from starvation during 

 the season of 1894 at 20,000. The count for 1895 was carefully verified 

 by an agent of the North American Commercial Company upon the Prib- 

 ilof islands. The report of Agent Crowley, above referred to, with 

 other papers, was recently transmitted to the Senate, in compliance with 

 a resolution of that body, and is now in the hands of the Government 

 Printer, its publication having been ordered. I desire to call your 

 attention also to the unprecedentedly large catch of seals in Bering 

 Sea during the past season. The total was 44,169, as compared with 

 31,585 during the season of 1894. This is by far the largest catch ever 

 made in Bering Sea, and it is believed that another catch of similar 

 size for the coming season will almost completely exterminate the fur- 

 seal herd. The greater portion of seals killed at sea were females. The 

 total catch during the last season in the North Pacific and Bering Sea 

 from the American herd was 56,991, as compared with the total for 1894 

 of 61,838; the small falling off being due to the fact of the inclemency 

 of the weather between January and May along the northwestern coast, 

 and also to the diminution of the seal herd. On the other hand, the 

 catch in the Bering Sea increased very largely, as the inclosed figures 

 show. 



I would respectfully call these figures to your attention, in the hope 

 that the British Government may consent for the coming season to some 

 further regulation of the fur-seal fishery in order to save the herd from 

 extermination. 



I have Mie honor, etc., 



S. WIKE, Acting Secretary. 



The SECRETARY OF STA.TB. 



