14 CRUISE OF THE STEAMER COR WIN. 



passage down tlie river to St. Michael's on the steamer Yukon, in the employ of the Alaska 

 Commercial Company. 



Mr. Garland was accompanied l^y Mr. F. R. Beatty, and tfti^^other tliey traveled across the 

 continent from the Great Slave Lake to the Yukon River. Their oidy object in starting on the 

 journey was the pursuit of jileasure, such as was afforded them in hunting;- and fishing, and in 

 the extreme novelty <jf their trip. On rea(dung the Yukon Riven- they als(j totik passage on 

 the steamer to St. Michael's. Tlie iiist steamer of the year liad .sailed from St. Miciiael's 

 .several days in advance of the arrival of the Yukon at that place, and the Vonrin was tlie 

 only vessel on winch Lieutenant Allen and Mr. Garland could hope U< obtain ])assage for them- 

 selves and companions to San Francisco >)efore July of next year. Tliese facts }>eing known 

 to me, I granted tlieii- I'eipiest for transjtortation to ( )unalaska or San Fi'ancisco, as might there- 

 after seem best. 



The addition to our already crowded vessel was five; but as all except Mr. Fickett messed 

 with me, if there was any inccmvenience exjierienced by their coming it came ujion my.self 

 alone. I found, however, that there was ample room and accommodation for them, and I 

 experienced n(j discomfort by their presence; on the contrary, I found them very jjleasant and 

 agi'eeable companions in every way. 



Lieutenant Allen and Mr. Garland slept in the cabin on the transoms and Mr. Fickett 

 occupied a swinging cot in the ward-room. Sergeant Robinson slept in the pilot-house and Mr. 

 Beatty slept in tlu^ steam-launch on deck. Mr. Fickett ate in the ward-room, and the others, 

 as I have before stated, messed with me, and in no way was any expense imposed on the Gov- 

 ernment by reason of their being on board. 



On the 5tli of September we left St. Miciiael's, encoimtered a strong southerly gale and 

 heavy head sea, and three days later anchored off Hall's Island, where a hunting party went 

 on shore for the jjurpose of killing a polar ))ear. A minute description of the hunt as "it 

 appeared to an olxserver, necessarily differing in the extreme from what was exjierienced by the 

 hunting party, would contain too much of the ludicrous U> emlxidy in an official report. Mr. 

 Townsend. who was one of this party, succeeded in killing a large polar bear, which was skinned 

 and brought on board, and will soon be exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution in Wash- 

 ington. 



Another party from the vessel visited the vicinity of the west end of Hall's Island for the 

 purpose of hunting walruses. A large number were seen, but owing to the i-oughness of the 

 sea and the rocky nature of the shore none wei'e captured. 



The following morning we left Hall's Island, rounded the east end of St. Matthew's 

 Island, and shaped a course for St. Paul's. While we were in the vicinity of the seal islands a 

 lookout was kept at masthead for vessels cruising, sealing, or illicitly trading among those 

 islands, b\it no such vessels were seen. 



The next evening we anchored off St. Paul's Island. Second Lieutenant Benham and 

 seamen Thompson and Ericsen rejoined the vessel, having a few days previous gone over to 

 St. Paul's from Otter Island, at whicli place they had been left in June last for duty during 

 the sealing seascm. 



Mr. Townsend left the vessel and went ashore at St. Paul's to complete the work which 

 was begun by him before his jiassage north on the Cor win. 



Mr. Tingle, the Government siaecial agent, with a representative of the Alaska Commer- 

 cial Company, came on board, and both stated that during the absence of the Corwin in the 

 Arctic, ves.sels had been cruising in sight of the island for the purpose of killing seals; but, 

 anticipating the Concin'.s return, and the heavy weatlier incident to the lateness of the season, 

 none had been seen within three weeks of that time. These gentlemen estimated that aboiit 

 fifteen thousand seals had 1)een killed by the marauding vessels. I shall <leal further witb this 

 subject in my repoi-t, treating it as a separate topic. 



At 5 o'clock ill the nioi'ning of Sejilember i:>we left St. Paul's and steamed toward St. 

 George's. Arriving off' that island, we found that owing to the strong winds, which li.-id been 

 bhjwiug sev(n'al days, the sea was too rough to allow a landing on the island. 



Continuing on to the southward in a dense fog, at 'i o'clock of the 1 tth we anchored off' 



