TAKEN IN SAN FRANCISCO. 421 



Subscribed and sworu to before me tliis 22d day of April, A. D. 1892 

 [l. s.] Clement Bennett, 



Notary Public. 



Deposition of Feter Duffy, sealer [Jjoat-imllcr). 

 pelagic sealing. 



State of California, 



City and County of San Francisco, ss : 



Peter Duffy, haviug been duly sworn, deposes and vsays : I am by 

 occupation a seaman. I reside in San Francisco. I 

 was in the Bering Sea in 1884 and 1885, on board the Experience. 

 Sea Otter, of wliicli Captain Williams Avas master, I was ^^^ ^^^^^ .^ Bcrinc 

 a boat-puller. We left San Francisco and fished up the Sea^lu issT-'ss. '^'^"^ 

 coast until we entered the Bering- Sea, in July, and 

 sealed about the sea until we were driv^en off by the Driven off by tiie 

 revenue-cutter Corwin. From there we went to the °'"^"^- 

 Copper Islands. Our whole catch amounted to 900 wasteonife,mostiy 

 shins, and we killed most of them with rifles. We only milking or pregnant 

 got about one out of eight that we shot at, and they 

 were most all females giving milk or in pup. When we cut the hide off 

 you could see the milk running from the breasts of the seals. Tlie sec- 

 ond year we got over 1,300 skins; some of them were cows with pups in 

 them, and most all the rest were cows giving milk and some of the lat- 

 ter we killed as far from the rookeries as Uuimak Pass. I can not tell 

 tlie sex of the seal in the water. Our hunters were 

 ordinary, average hunters. We tried to make a raid Raid on st. George 

 on St. George Island, but the Corwin was after us and ^^^'""^• 

 Ave kept out of its way. 



Peter Duffy. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 6th day of April, 1892. 



fL. S.J Clement Bennett, 



Notary Fuhlic. 



Deposition of M. G. Frslcine, master mariner for ficentyfour years. 



pelagic sealing and pribilop rookeries. 



State of California, 



City and County of San Francisco, ss: 



M. C. Erskine, having been duly sworn, deposes and says: I am 55 

 years of age. I reside in San Francisco. I am a mas- 

 ter mariner by occupation. I have been going to the Experience 

 Bering Sea twenty-four years. I went first to the seal islands in April, 

 1868, and have been going there ever since, visiting the 

 islandseveryyearuntill890. I have been cruising along ^gf^-'^^ '^^'^^'^^ ^^^^ 

 thecoastfrom here to the Aleutian Islands, and havehad 

 an opportunity of ascertaining the habits of the seals. A year ago last 



