APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. AT 
Columbia, advising of the seizure of the Canadian schooners ‘‘Caroline” and 
“Thornton,” by the United States Revenue steamer “‘ Corwin,” while engaged in 
sealing in Bebrin g’s Sea. 
Also copy of a letter from Daniel Munroe, master of the Canadian sealing schooner 
“Onward,” which has been already forwarded by his Excellency the Governor- 
General to the Colonial Office, and to Her Majesty’s Minister at Washington. 
The Sub-Committee of Council, to whom the papers were referred, observe that it 
appears that the schooners mentioned were Canadian vessels fitted out for the cap- 
ture of seals in the North Pacific Ocean adjacent to Vancouver Island, Queen Char- 
lotte Island, and Alaska; that they were peaceably pursuing their vocations on the 
high seas at a distance of some 70 miles from the nearestisland, and more than 100 
miles from the nearest mainland; that they were taken possession of by the United 
States Revenue cutter ‘‘Corwin” on the Ist August last, and towed to the port of 
Ounalaska. The crews of the ‘‘ Thornton” and ‘ Caroline” (with the exception of 
the captain and one man on each vessel, who were detained at Ounalaska), were 
sent by steamer to San Francisco, and there turned adrift, while the men of the 
“Onward” were kept at Ounalaska. ‘The schooners and the seals found on board of 
them were also detained by the United States authorities. 
The authority under which these seizures were made is apparently: 
1. A letter of instructions from the Acting Secretary of the Treasury of the United 
States to Mr. D’Ancona, the Collector of Customs at San Francisco, dated the 12th 
March, 1881, with inclosures (A of Appendix). 
2. A letter from the Secretary of the United States Treasury to the Collector of 
Customs at San Francisco, dated the 16th March, 1886, confirming the instructions 
given to Mr. D’Ancona in 1881, and ordering publication of the same (B of Appen- 
dix). 
3. The Revised Statutes of the United States, the 1596th Section of which pro- 
hibits the killing of fur-bearing animals within the limits of Alaska Territory, or in 
the waters thereof, and Sections 1960 and 1961 of which prohibit the killing of male 
seals, except at certain times, and under certain restrictions, and of female seals at 
any time, upon the Islands of St. Paul and St. George, or in the waters adjacent 
thereto. 
The master and mate of the schooner ‘‘Thornton” were subsequently (the 13th 
August last) brought for trial before Judge Dawson, in the United States District 
Court at Sitka. 
The evidence given by the officers of the United States Revenue cutter ‘‘ Corwin” 
was to the effect that the “Thornton” was seized while in Behring’s Sea, about 60 or 
70 miles south-south-east of St. George’s Island, for the offence of hunting and kill- 
ing seals within that part of Behring’ s Sea which was ceded to the United States by 
Russia in 1867. 
The Judge in his charge to the jury quoted the Ist Article of the Treaty of the 
30th March, 1867, between Russia and the United States, in which the boundary of 
Alaska is defined as follows: 
“The western limit, within which the territories and dominion conveyed are con- 
tained, passes through a point in Behring’s Straits on the parallel of 65° 30’ north 
latitude, at its intersection by the meridian which passes midway between the Island 
of Krusenstern or Igualook and the Island of Ratmanoff or Noonarbook, and pro- 
ceeds due north, without limitation, into the same Frozen Ocean. The same western 
limit, beginning at the same initial point, proceeds then in a straight course nearly 
south-west through Behring’s Straits and Behring’s Sea, so as to pass midway between 
the north-west point of the Island of St. Lawrence and the south-east point of Cape 
Choukotski, to the meridian of 172° west longitude, thence from the intersection of 
that meridian in a south-westerly direction, so as to pass midway between the Island 
of Attou and the Copper Island of the Kormandorski couplet or group, in the North 
Pacific Ocean, to the meridian of 193° west longitude, so as to include in the terri- 
tory conveyed the whole of the Aleutian Islands east of that meridian.” Executive 
Documents, 2nd Session, 40th Congress, vol. xiii, document 177. 
The Judge is reported to have gone on to say 
“‘All the waters within the boundary set forth in this Treaty to the western end 
of the Aleutian Archipelago and chain of island, are to be considered as comprised 
within the waters of Alaska, and all the penalties prescribed by law against the 
killing of fur-bearing animals, must therefore attach against any violation of law 
within the limits before described. 
31 “Tf, therefore, the jury believe from the evidence that the defendants did by 
themselves or in conjunction with others, on or about the time charged in the 
information, kijl any otter, mink, martin, sable, or fur-seal, or other fur- bearing ani- 
mal or animals, on the shores of Alaska, or in the Behring’ s Sea, east of the 193° of 
west longitude, the jury should find the defendants ¢ guilty, and assess their punish- 
ment separately, at a fine of not less than 200 dollars, nor more than 1,000 dollars, or 
imprisonment not more than-six months, or by both, such fines within the limits 
herein set forth, and imprisonnitnt.” 
