214 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



July 5, 18S7. — Out boats at 6.30 a. m. Returued at 11.15 p. m. witli 11 seals, one 

 boat getting 6. 



July 9, 1887. — I am now on the bunting ground, but keep sail on the vessel as we 

 may pick up a'Sleeping seal. 



July 11, i.S'5';.— Caught 7 seals. 



July 13, 1SS7. — Caught 12 seals; they were around the vessel as thick as bees (the 

 seal). Had it been clear we would have caught 100 easy. 



July 16, 1SS7. — Saw 3 sleeping seals from the vessel. Got boat over and got them. 

 I have not seen the sun lor nine days, therefore I have had no observations, yet I 

 know that I am not over 14 miles from St. (ieorge Island. 



July 17, 1887. — Out lioats at 10.30 a. m. The seals were around the vessel in hun- 

 dreds. The boats would not go any distance from the vessel. Had they gone away 

 they could have caught 200 or 300 seals. They M'ere afraid of the fog, yet I told them 

 that it would clear up, which it did at 3.30 p. m., and continued thus all the rest of 

 the day. They are the hardest set of hunters that were ever in Bering Sea, who 

 caught 20 seals and used 250 rounds of ammunition. They get 1 out of every 10 they 

 fire at. Well, I will never be caught with such a crowd again. The head hunter 

 fired 100 shells and got 6 seals. The vessel is lying between the islands of St. Paul 

 and St. George. Just as soon as the fog clears oft" the land I will have to move, as I 

 might have the cutter after me. I came hero to get a load of seals, and by God, if 

 I had any men with me, I would get them, too. They are all a .set of curs, genuine 

 ones, too. 



July 21. 1887. — Out boats at 6.30 a. m., coming back to vessel at 9 p. m. One boat 

 returned at 7 p. m. This was the head hunter. He is out last and first back always. 

 Caught 30 seals; one boat got 14. This is the best day's work we have done yet. 

 From the amount of growling among the boat pullers I conclude that they fired at 

 and missed nearly 200 seals. They had 100 loaded shells each when tliey left the 

 ship, and when they came back all were emptied, so they did some tall firing. 



July 23, 1887. — To-day I asked Daniel McCue, boat puller for Charles Loderstrom, 

 how it was that his boat got only 9 seals. I told him that I had seen 40 sleeping 

 seals from the vessel, and that he must have seen more as he was pulling about. His 

 answer was that if he had a man that knew how to shoot, that the boat could not 

 carry all the seals that were missed. "Why, Captain," said he, ''it is enough 1o 

 discourage a man. You pull up to a sleeping seal to within 10 feet, fire at him and 

 see the shot go 6 feet the other side of him." I then asked J. Linquist, puller for 

 boat two. He said: "Captain, don't ask me how many we have seen, but ask me 

 how many we missed, and I will tell you." I asked him the above question; he said 

 100. I now asked Joe Spooner the same questions as above; his answer was, "We 

 only want hunters, and we would be going home now with 1,500 skins at the very 

 least." 



July 24, 1887. — As fine a day as was ever seen in San Francisco, A flat calm with 

 the sea smooth as glass. Got out the boats at 6.30 p. m., coming back at 7.30 with 

 14 seals. Why, one boat with an ordinary hunter could get that many without going 

 100 yards from the ship. I killed 2 inside of ten minutes, and it was then nearly 

 dark. 



July 25, 1887. — Nice weather. Out boats at 7 p, m. Came back with 4 seals. Big 

 catch. 



July 26, 1887. — There were thousands of seals around the vessel. I shot and killed 

 7 from the vessel, but only got 1, through the tardiness of the hunters. At 4.30 I 

 put the boats out; came back at 7.30 with 1 seal. The water was fairly covered 

 with seals, yet they only caught 1. 



The log closes on the 28th of July, 1887, on which day the captain was killed and 

 his vessel seized for violation of the revenue laws. 



His signals were: (1) Come back to the vessel; (2) want a boat for dead seal; 

 (3) keep near the A'^essel ; bad weather or fog; (4) cutter in sight. 



This paper is a transcript of the log book of the schooner Angel Dolly, captured 

 by Mr. Tingle in July, 1887. 



I introduce this sworn evidence, above quoted, because it may be the 

 honest, and doubtless is the honest understanding" of these gentleiueu: 

 But, as for myself, I do not believe that they, or any man knows how 

 many seals he kills, injures slightly or fatally, or misses outright, after 

 the close of a day's hunting on the water: he can not Mow ; for each 

 and every seal that he fires at, is goiiu/ to instantly disappear ; and he 

 only gets those seals that he kills outright, or dazes or stuns : the others., 

 not hit., or wounded fatally or slightly, all dive instantly and speed away 

 from his retrieving ! 



