410 TESTIMONY 



at the Pribylov Islands. I'went sealing for eight years 



San Diego seized in iu the schoouer tSitii Diec/o. She was seized by the 



^^^' revenue cutter in 1886 in Bering Sea, about 120 miles 



from the seal islands and north of Uualaska. She was taken with her 



cargo of about 581 seal skins to Sitka and forfeited by the court. 



The year following I went in the schoouer Sylvia Ilandy, a new and 



elegant vessel. She was also seized in Bering Sea. 

 sefzllMsi. ^"""^^ about 170 miles from St. Paul Island and 17 miles from 



Unalaska She was taken to Sitka and condemned 

 with her cargo of nearly 1,700 skins on board. These seizures, with the 

 cost of litigation which followed, broke up the firm of L. N. Handy & 

 Co. and myself, and we had to quit the business, as I iierceived the G ov- 

 ernment was condemning American vessels for sealing and releasing 

 British vessels for the same offense. They treated us very badly. I 

 am still in hopes we will be paid by it for our losses. In the Sylvia 

 Handy I had also 20 seal skins which I had bought from a native hunter 

 whose wife was sick and he wanted medicine for her. I gave him med- 

 icine and bought his skins to accommodate him. There could be no 

 doubt but they were legally caught, but they were taken from me and 

 finally sold. The judge (Dawson) of the court afterwards told me they 

 should not have been condemned, and had he known it sooner he would 

 not have permitted them to have been taken fi'om me and sold on ac- 

 count of the Government. Most of the sealing fleet is now absent from 

 this port in the hands of sealers of experience, having been so engaged 

 for several years. So far as I know, their views, if they could be ob- 

 tained, would be in harmony with my own opinions as herein expressed. 



James L, Cathcut. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this Gth day of April, A. D. 1893. 

 [seal.] Clement Bennett, 



Notary Public. 



Deposition of Charles Ghallall, sealer, 1888-1890. 



pelagic sealing. 



State op California, 



City and County of San Francisco, ss : 



Charles Challall, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I reside in San 



Francisco; my occupation is that of a sailor; I have 



Ex erience. bccn Sealing up the coast and in Bering Sea three sea- 



^^ ' sons, commencing in 1888 and ending in 1890. In 1888 



Yanderbiit 1888 • ""- ^^^^^ ou thc VanderUlt. We did not go into the Ber- 



whiu.'^iml Bamii- ing Sea that year. In 1889 I went on the White, and 



ton, 1890. j^ 1890 I went on the Hamilton. They were all sealers. 



We generally left San Francisco in March or April, and we sealed 



along the coast up to Queen Charlotte Sound. The largest catch we ever 



made between San Francisco and Queen Charlotte Sound was iu 1888 



D crease wlicu wc caught 300 seals. There was much less number 



of seals to be seen in the North Pacific and Bering Sea iu 



1890 than in 1888. We were hunting in the Bering Sea most of the 



time off Seventy-two and Unamak Pass, and we caught the seals as they 



Females feediiKr wcrc goiug to and from the Pribilof Islands to feed on 



ema es ee ng. ^^^ fishing grouuds. We caught a great many seals on 



