402 HISTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



" The American vessels employed in the [fur] seal voyages usually pass round Cape Horn, 

 and visit the islands of Juan Fernandez and Mas-a-Fuera, at the last of which the seal are said 

 most to abound. A few seal are also taken at the Falkland Islands, at Tristan d'Acuuha, at 

 Saint Paul's, and Amsterdam ; but of late years they have been found to have almost entirely 

 abandoned these islands; and even at Mas-a-Fuera and the islands in its vicinity they are no longer 

 to be found in that abundance they were met with, when these voyages were first undertaken. 

 For the last ten or twelve years, however, there have been many American vessels engaged in this 

 business. In 1800 and 1801 not less than ten vessels, principally from New York, Connecticut, and 

 Massachusetts, were thus employed. Some of the ships are represented to have been very suc- 

 cessful in their voyages, and to have carried sixty thousand, and, in some instances, as far as one, 

 hundred thousand, seal-skins to the Canton market. The oil of the seal (though it is said to be 

 equal to whale oil, and it would command a great price if brought to the United States) is not 

 usually saved, as it will not sell at Canton, or, at least, would not afford a profitable sale. The 

 skins, however (but few of which are brought to the United States, unless where a ship fails in her 

 voyage, and is thence induced to return home), are sold at Canton, and the proceeds invested in 

 teas, silks, nankeens, &e., which are brought to the United States, where they pay a higher or 

 lower duty, according as they are imported in bona fide American vessels or those of a different 

 description."* 



After the extermination of the fur-seals at Mas-a-Fuera and other islands on the west coast of 

 South America, vessels cruised throughout the southern seas in search of new grounds. Many 

 large cargoes were obtained at South Georgia, at the Aucklands, Crozets, Border's Island, and 

 other places. In 1819 the great rookeries at South Shetlauds were discovered, and during the 

 next three years there was an indiscriminate slaughter of the animals there. 



From 1825 to 1845 a few vessels made good fur-seal voyages, but the attention of sealers was 

 more especially given to the capture of sea elephants, and these animals continued to be the chief 

 object of sealing voyages until the year 1871, when the merchants of New London sent a fleet of 

 three schooners to the South Shetlands for fur-seal. These vessels returned in 1872 with about 

 eight thousand skins of the choicest and richest quality. Their success led to the fitting out of 

 another fleet, and the next season eight vessels secured 15,000 skins. In 1874 six vessels arrived 

 home with 10,000 skins. A very successful voyage was made to the Cape Horn region by Captain 

 Athearn in the schooner Florence. He arrived home in 1876, having secured skins valued at over 

 $100,000. From 1870 to 1880 the sealing fleet brought home 92,756 fur-seal skins, nearly all of 

 them from the South Shetlands and the vicinity of Cape Horn and Terra del Fuego. 



The sea-elephant hunting was prosperous from 1840 to 1870, but since the latter date it has 

 decreased in importance. The quantity of sea-elephant oil brought home between 1850 and I860 

 was 1,976,751 gallons; from 1860 to 1870, 1,536,664 gallons, and from 1870 to 1880, 1,071,472 gallons. 

 In the season of 1880 the fleet engaged in the capture of fur seals and sea-elephants comprised one 

 bark, one brig, and eight schooners, aggregating 1,277 tons. Three of these were owned at Ston- 

 ington, Conn., six at New London, Conn., and one at New Bedford, Mass. During the season of 

 1881 the fleet secured 4,170 fur-seal skins and 1,320 barrels of oil, and during 1882, 5,100 skins, but 

 no oil. 



* American State Papers, vol. i, p. 574. 



