THE ANTARCTIC SEAL FISHERIES. 427 



of seals has led to the employment of ordinary schooners. It was formerly customary for materials 

 to be taken by the larger craft for the construction of small vessels of 20 or 30 tons, which were built 

 at the islands and employed in cruising along shore, and men were landed at suitable points for 

 the capture of seals. 



At Hoard's Island, in the sea-elephant fishery, the ships were securely anchored- in the har- 

 bors and partially unrigged, and a few men left aboard as ship-keepers. The balance of the crew, 

 and the furnaces, try-pots, and sealing implements, also casks for the oil, and camp equipage, were 

 transferred to the tenders that landed men and apparatus at convenient points. The tenders 

 then anchored until a supply of oil was secured, or continued cruising about transferring gangs 

 of men from one point to another or searching off shore for whales. * . 



Several of the sealing schooners were formerly regular fishing vessels. Among vessels of this 

 class were the Charles Shearer, Thomas Hunt, and Florence, which were bought from Gloucester, 

 where they had been employed in the cod and mackerel fisheries. The Florence was refitted at 

 New London, Conn., in 1872, and sailed for the Cape Horn region, where, after a series of hardships, 

 she finally succeeded in securing a very valuable cargo of skins and returned home in 1876. She 

 sailed again the same year, and arrived home April 6, 1877, when she was sold to take part in 

 Captain Howgate's Arctic Expedition to Cumberland Inlet. The Charles Shearer was refitted as 

 a scaling schooner in 1874, and sailed for Cape Horn and South Shetlands. She arrived home in 

 1875, having taken 1,600 fur-seal skins, worth about $16,000. On this voyage she lost her entire 

 ground tackling on two occassions near Cape Horn. Th's vessel sailed on a second voyage in 1875 

 and returned in 187G with 2,700 skins, worth $16,000. Five men were lost by drowning and two 

 were massacred by Indians. The vessel was with difficulty saved from capture. In 1876 the 

 Charles Shearer sailed again, and returned in 1877 with 400 seal skins and 50 barrels of sea- 

 elephant oil. She sailed on her last voyage in 1877 and never returned. She was valued, with 

 outfit, at $16,000, and carried 22 men. In July she left Stonington, and in October left a sealing 

 crew of seven men, under charge of the second mate, on the island of Diego Ramirez, with camp 

 equipage, apparatus, and provisions for sealing. The vessel took her departure for the South 

 Shetlands, but was never heard from. In 1878 the United States Government sent a vessel in 

 search of her, but she could not be found. In 1879 the schooners Express and Thomas Hunt were 

 at South Shetlands, but found no trace of the Charles Shearer. The men left on Diego Ramirez 

 were taken off in March, 1879, by the ship Jabez Howes, jr., and landed at San Francisco. They 

 had secured 800 skins, that were brought to Stonington by the Thomas Hunt. 



The schooner Thomas Hunt was brought from Gloucester in 1872 and fitted for sealing at 

 Stonington, Conn. This vessel has made several successful voyages and is still employed in sealing 

 about Cape Horn. Another sealing vessel, formerly a Gloucester fishing schooner, was the Flying 

 Fish. This vessel sailed from New London, Conn., in 1870, and after making several sealing voy- 

 ages, on some of them as tender to the bark Trinity, was abandoned off Cape Horn in 1878. Since 

 the year 1870 two ships, two barks, one brig, and nineteen schooners have been engaged in the 

 fur-seal and sea-elephant fisheries. One of the barks was withdrawn from the business in 1874 ; 

 the other was lost in 1881. The ship Roman was refitted for whaling in 1876, and the other ship, 

 the Nile, is " hauled up to die" at New London. The brig is still employed in the fishery. 



The bark Trinity sailed from New London, Conn., on June 1, 1880, on a sea-elephant voyage 

 to Desolation and Heard's Islands. Up to November, 1881, no news had been received from her, 

 and as she was expected home in the spring of 1880 it was feared that the vessel had been wrecked 

 at Heard's Island, though perhaps the crew might survive. Accordingly, the United States steamer 



