201: SEIZURES BY, RUSSIA IN 1892 



herein. On said day I as master, as aforesaid, did in and with said 

 schooner set sail and depart from the said port of San Francisco, bound 

 for the North Pacific Ocean, said vessel being at that time, and at all the 

 times hereinafter mentioned, seaworthy and in all respects fit for the 

 voyage which it took as herein mentioned; I proceeded with said ves- 

 sel and crew on my voyage without disaster of any kind until the 15th 

 day of July, A. D. 1892, and prior to said day and in the open Pacific 

 Ocean, more than 30 miles south of the Aleutian Islands, and not in 

 Russian waters, had caught eight barrels of mackerel and one ton of 

 codfish, and had killed twenty seals, all of which were caught and killed 

 on the voyage from San Francisco and more than 30 miles south of the 

 Aleutian Islands, and not in Russian waters ; I, with said vessel and crew, 

 on or about the 12th day of July, A. D. 1892, being then fishing about 

 40 miles south of Agattou Island, one of the Aleutian Islands, set 

 sail for the Kuril Islands off the coast of Japan, intending to fish there, 

 and knowing that my chronometer was out, wanted to sight land to 

 correct the chronometer, and accordingly deviated toward the Copper 

 and Bering islands for the purpose of sighting them, or one of them, 

 and correcting my chronometer, as aforesaid, and on the 15th day of 

 July, arrived at latitude 54° 18' north, longitude 167° 19' east, by cor- 

 rect observation, and had not fished or sealed in said place, nor at 

 any place within 50 miles thereof, or in Russian waters at all, and the 

 wind being light, but the vessel sailing on its course, as aforesaid, and 

 no boats being out from said vessel, either for hunting or fishing, and 

 no one from said vessel being either hunting or fishing. 



Said latitude 54° 18' north, longitude 167° 19' east is, by correct ob- 

 servation measured by me, on the United States Coast 

 seizure of schooner. Survey Chart, No. 900, more than 80 miles from Cop- 

 j)er or Bering islands on the high seas, and not in 

 Russian waters; when at said time, and in the latitude and longitude 

 above mentioned, on the 15th day of July, A. D. 1892, as aforesaid, and 

 not being at the time hunting or fishing, and not having at any time 

 fished or hunted seals in Russian waters, but being at said time on my 

 course for the Kuril Islands, as aforesaid, the said schooner was boarded 

 by an officer from the Russian war cruiser Zabiaca, which said war 

 cruiser Zabiaca was at all times herein mentioned, a regularly commis- 

 sioned war cruiser belonging to the Russian Government, armed for 

 offensive and defensive warfare, and acting under the authority and by 

 the directions of the said Russian Government; and I was by said Rus- 

 sian officer ordered to come on board of said cruiser with all the schooner's 

 papers; I accordingly went on board, and the captain of said cruiser, 

 after examining the schooner's papers, arrested me, and then had all 

 the crew of said schooner, except the mate, brought on board of said 

 cruiser, and I and the crew of the schooner were kept 

 in^ C se l i£ure Ces foUow ' on said cruiser as prisoners. The said Russian cruiser 

 then and there seized said schooner G. H. White, and 

 towed it to Nichelovsly Bay, Bering Island, and then placed said 

 schooner under a prize crew and sent it to Petropaulovsky, and the 

 cruiser, with me and the crew of said schooner as prisoners, sailed to 

 Petropaulovsky and arrived there on the 20th day of July, A. D. 1892; 

 and while on board of said cruiser, I was by the captain of said cruiser 

 forced to sign a paper in Russian, which I did not understand, the said 

 captain threatening to send me to Siberia unless I signed said paper, 

 and I only signed said paper under protest in consequence of said threat 

 and the duress exercised by said captain of said cruiser. 

 The Russian Government seized said schooner G. R. White, as herein- 



