486 TESTIMONY 



Affidavit of Adolph W. Thompson^ sealer fmatej. 



pelagic sealing. 



State of California, 



City and County of San Francisco^ ss : 



Adolpli W. Thompson, having beeu duly sworn, deposes and says: 1 



reside in San Francisco. My occupation is that of a 



Experience master mariner. I went sealing in 185)0, when 1 was 



Aiiie Alger, 1890. jjjyte of the AlUe AJge)'. We sailed from Seattle in the 



Sealing oft' coast. latter part of January, and sealed oft' the coast until 



July, and then entered the Bering Sea. The catch that season along 



. ^ , the coast was *J0 per cent females, and the greater pro- 



eung.ea. p^^j^^j^^jj ^f them wcre females iu pup. We entered the 



Bering Sea about the middle of July, and we got about 1,600 seals 



there. That was the best catch of the whole fleet for that season, the 



total catch, I think, being about 2,000. Those we killed in the Bering 



Sea were mostly fenuiles in milk. We never went 



^ri'Veu^""'"'*^^ nearer to the islands than between 25 and 30 miles. 



""'^^ ^ **"■ We killed most of them while they were going to or 



^ returning from the fishing banks. We used mostly 



se 8 otguns. giiotguus iu killing seals. We carried rifles, but did 



not use them much. The most of the seals that we killed were asleep on 



the water. The female seal has more curiosity than the male seal. We 



catch more seals after two or three days of rongh weather, because 



they are tired, and when it is calm the next day they are tired and lie 



asleep on the water. We had seven boats on the Allie Alger, each boat 



having three men, a boat-puller, a steerer, and hunter. 



In 1891 I went out in the schooner C. H. White. We left here about 

 the 5th of February, and sealed along the coast and 

 Se^ii^otfcoasJ^*"' ^^^ "^* enter the Bering Sea that season. We caught 

 about 438 seals, and a large proportion of them were 

 females with young ones in them. They werenot nearly 

 as plentiful that season as they were in 1890. The best 

 hunter will fire about twenty cartridges, and they get 

 Decrease. ^^^^ ^^ twclvc scals, whilc a huuter of less experience 



will fire one hundred rounds and get nothing, but will wound and dis- 

 able them. If a seal is shot dead he will sink at once. 

 Sink when killed, you havc got to get to tlicm at once, or else you will 

 lose them. The object is to wound them so that they will flop around 

 on the water. On my first voyage I think we got two 

 Waste of life. ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^l,.^^ ^.^ \^{\\q({. That docs uot take 



into consideration the unborn pup, or the pup of the mother that dies 

 on the rookery. I have taken unborn pups from their mothers and fed 

 them on condensed milk, and kept them for quite a time. I refer to 

 cases where the mother is about ready to deliver her pup. I am satis- 

 tied from my experience that they must i)rotect the 

 sary"*''^'"" °''''^^' ^^^Is iu Bering Sea. If not they will soon be killed 

 off. It may also be necessary to protect them in the 

 North Pacific, for the catch in those waters are nearly all females 

 carrying their young. 



A. W. Thompson. 



Subscribed q,nd sworn to before me this 12th day of April, A. D. 1892. 

 [seal.) Clement Bennett, 



Notary Public. 



