348 TESTIMONY 



ness. Vessels are usually fitted out for a sealing voyage in the month 

 of January or February for a cruise of eight months or 

 ^outfitting of seal- a vear> it w i\\ cost to outfit a vessel of forty ton reg- 

 ister, with three sealing boats and carrying a crew of 

 twelve or thirteen men for an eight or nine months' cruise, about two 

 thousand four hundred dollars. Jn making my estimate I allow eight 

 hundred dollars to each sealing boat. One of a hundred and sixty tons 

 register usually carries six boats and twenty-four men, and it would 

 cost about forty-eight hundred dollars to outfit her. These estimates 

 are very liberal ones and are based upon everything being new and 

 first-class in every particular, with an abundant supply of everything. 

 It includes everything but the vessel and advanced wages to the sea- 

 men. If the supplies are of an ordinary quality and portion of the amount 

 second hand, having been in use in former voyages, as is the case in 

 many instances, then it will cost very much less. New 

 CoBtofBhot-gnns. s h t-g uns cos t about twenty-five dollars apiece; good 

 second hand ones can be bought froin eight to ten dollars each, and 

 rifles for twelve and a half dollars. Good new sealing boats cost about 

 a hundred dollars each, second hand ones can be bought 

 boate 8t ° un 1Dg for forty dollars, and a like discount should be made on 

 other parts of her outfit if it is not new. The cost of 

 Outfitting in Vic outfitting vessels in Victoria is fully twenty per cent 

 toria - less than in San Francisco; chiefly because the outfit 



is inferior in quality and less in quantity than those furnished American 

 vessels at this port. Occasionally a Victoria vessel is fitted out in San 

 Francisco, and I have noticed that they scrimp in their supplies, and 

 buy much cheaper articles than Americans. This is especially true of 

 old vessels that are sent out on sealing voyages from that port. The 

 usual allowance in estimating for subsistence is fifty 

 Cost of subsistence cen t s a day for each man on board the vessel, but the 

 actual cost is only about twenty-five cents per man. 1 

 am told that the big steamers running between here and China subsist 

 their crews at about twelve and a half cents a day for each man. I 

 have never had any experience in fitting out vessels 

 with Indian hunters, but as they furnish their own 

 canoes, and their food largely consists of fresh and dried fish which 

 they themselves furnish, it must be but a fraction of the cost that it 

 takes to fit out a crew of white men. There is but little difference, if 

 any, in outfitting vessels now and what it was in 1886 and 1887 — a few 

 things a little more and some things less. The cost of chartering 

 in ir schooners depends on the demand, but usually they can 

 iar enng sea ers ^ e Xiad. from two to three dollars a ton per month. I 

 have just chartered a good vessel of seventy tons register for a hundred 

 and fifty dollars, or two hundred and fifty dollars a month including 

 wages of the captain. All estimates are based upon the registered ton- 

 nage of a vessel. 



John A. Magkee, Jr. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 20th day of October, A. D. 

 1892. 

 [seal.] Clement Bennett, 



Notary Public. 



