APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 97 
No. 49. 
Admiralty to Foreign Office.—(Received August 27.) 
[Extract.] 
ADMIRALTY, August 24, 1887. 
I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to 
send you herewith, for the perusal of the Marquis of Salisbury, extract 
from a letter from the Commander-in-chief on the Pacific Station, dated 
the 5th August, reporting the seizure of a sealing-schooner, named the 
“Anna Beck,” by an American Revenue vessel in Behring’s Sea. 
[Inclosure in No. 49.—Extract.] 
Rear-Admiral Culme-Seymour to Admiralty. 
“TRIUMPH,” AT ESQUIMALT, August 5, 1887. 
Since my return I hear that the ‘Anna Beck,” a sealing schooner, has been seized 
by an American Revenue vessel in Behring’s Sea—it is reported 60 miles north-east 
from St. George’s Island; but no reliable information as to the spot has yet reached 
me. As soon as it does [ will forward particulars. 
No. 50. 
Sir L. West to the Marquis of Salisbury.—(Received September 1.) 
[Extract.] 
WASHINGTON, August 20, 1887. 
It would appear from Reports of Captain Shepard, of the United 
States Revenue cutter “Rush,” that the “ Sayward” was captured 50 
miles and the ‘“ Dolphin” 40 miles from Cape Cheerful, while the 
“Grace” was seized 95 miles from Ounalaska. 
Cape Cheerful does not appear on any Map or Chart, but is supposed 
to be the northernmost point of the Island of Ounalaska. 
The Islands of St. George and St. Paul (Pribylov Islands) are distant 
180 miles from Ounalaska, so that at the time of the seizure of the 
“Grace” that vessel would have been 85 miles distant from them. 
To reach the breeding-grounds on the Islands of St. George and St. 
Paul, the seals pass regularly through the channel which separates the 
Island of Ounalaska from the Island of Akutan, and that which sepa- 
rates Akutan from the Island of Unimak, called respectively the Akutan 
and Unimak passes, and it is here that the sealers lay in wait for them 
on their passage. 
It is maintained that the capture of seals in this manner is in viola- 
tion of section 1956 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and 
that ships so capturing them are within the limits of Alaska territory 
or in the waters thereof. 
But, apart from the question of territorial limit and right to seize 
vessels in the open sea, it is argued by impartial persons that unless 
some arrangement is made for the protection of these valuable animals 
on their passage to the breeding-grounds, the genus, as in the case of 
beaver, will gradually become extinct. 
80 It is a known fact that few, if any, seals pass outside the 
Island of Ounalaska to their breeding-grounds, which exist only 
on the Pribylov Islands, and that their passage is as regular as their 
breeding season. 
BS, PT V——7 
