TAKEN IN SAN FRANCISCO. 433 



Deposition of George Grady, cooTc on scaling vessel. 



PELAGIC SEALING. 



State of California, 



City and County of San Francisco, ss : 



Geoi\^e Grady, having been duly sworn, deposes and says : I am 28 

 years of age. I reside in San Francisco. My occupa- 

 tion is that of cook on board of vessels. I went to the Experience. 

 Bering- Sea in 1889 upon the Laura, from Victoria, as ^^^,.^ ^ggg 

 a cook. We had three small boats and caught 1,400 

 seals on that voyage. We caught some a little ways from Victoria, 

 and on the way up to the Bering Sea, but the most of them, about 

 1,200, we caught in the Bering- Sea. I was told by 

 the men that they were nearly all females, and I mStiy^emafei"" ^''* 

 thought so too, from the milk that I saw in their breasts 

 when they were on the deck. I saw over a hundred little pup seals 

 taken out of the seals, which they threw overboard. ^^^ ^ 

 Our hunters used rifles and shotguns. I have heard "'^^' 

 the hunters say that they lost more seals then they 

 got. I also heard them say, if they got all the seals ^■''«*« "^ ^f«- 

 they shot at, they would have been home three months ahead of time, 

 with a great deal larger catch. 



his 



George x Grady. 



mark. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 13th day of April, A. D. 1892. 

 [l. s.] Clement Bennett, 



Notary Fuhlic. 



Deposition of James Griffin, sealer (boat-puller). 



pelagic sealing. 



James Griffin, being duly sworn, deposes and says: lam 22 years 

 old, and live in San Francisco. I hunted seal last year ^^ ^. 

 in the schooner La Nymplia as boat-puller. First seal ^penence. 

 seen and taken were off Cape Flattery, about April 15, LaNympha, isoi. 

 and followed the seal into Bering Sea, where we 

 arrived about July. The shotgun a^id rifle were both Migration. 

 used. About 75 per cent are lost when shotgun is used. Have never 

 seen but three seal killed by rifle secured. If you siioot a seal in the 

 throat it is hard to secure him although each boat carries a long gaff 

 to hook them out of the water. About nine out of ten 

 seal killed in a season are females with pup. But a Nine out of ten 

 very few males were taken, their ages ranging from 1 J,'^"'^ ^"'""^''^ ^'^^ 

 to 4 years. But one old bull was taken in the sea- 

 son. Every seal is shot that comes near the boat, regardless of sex; 

 hunters use no discrimination. Have never heard of 

 pups being born iu the water or anywhere else on the ^,.ft"J'^ o^^lisewhelo 

 coastoutside of the Pribilof Islands. Havenever known vmt'^on Viibfiof'is- 

 seal to haul up on the land along the coast, except on ^'""^^■ 



the Pribilof Islands. Have killed female seal 90 miles uo not ham tip ex- 

 from the seal islands that were full of milk. I think unl?'' ^'"'''^"^ ^^ 



cejit on I'libilu 

 V>ClCi iUH Ul lUiili., X tiuuiv ■ 



2710— vol n 28 



