124 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN 
[Inclosure 2 in No. 70.] 
Neport of a Committee of the Honourable the Privy Council for Canada, approved by his 
Lxcellency the Governor-General in Council on the 21st September, 1887. ; 
The Committee of the Privy Council have had under consideration the annexed 
Report of the Minister of Marine and Fisheries with reference to the seizure and 
detention of Canadian sealing-vessels by the United States authorities in Behring’s 
Sea. 
The Committee concur in the said Report, and they advise that your Excellency be 
moved to transmit a copy of this Minute and the annexed papers to the Right Hon- 
ourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies. 
All which is submitted for your Excellency’s approval. 
(Signed) JOHN J. MCGEE, 
Clerk, Privy Council, Canada. 
[Inclosure 3 in No. 70.] 
Report of the Minister of Marine and Fisheries. 
With reference to previous correspondence concerning the seizure and detention of 
Canadian sealing-vessels by the United States authorities in Behring’s Sea, the Min- 
ister of Marine and Fisheries begs to submit, for the consideration of his Excellency 
the Governor-General in Council, the following papers: 
105 (a) A letter from Collector Hamley, of Victoria, British Columbia, dated the 
1st September, 1887, inclosing certain papers in reference to the seizure of the 
Canadian sealing-schooner ‘Alfred Adams” in Behring’s Sea. 
(b) The Declaration of William Henry Dyer, of Victoria, British Columbia, master 
of the Canadian schooner ‘‘Alfred Adams.” 
(c) A certificate of seizures of the ‘‘Alfred Adams,” signed by L. G. Shepard, 
captain of the United States Revenue steamer ‘‘ Rush.” 
(d) A sealed and unopened letter directed to the United States District Attorney 
and United States Marshal, Sitka, Alaska. 
(e) A letter from Collector Hamley, of Victoria, British Columbia, dated the 26th 
July, relating to the detention of the Canadian schooners ‘‘Onward,” ‘ Carolina,” 
and “‘ Thornton,” seized in August 1866, by the United States cutter “Corwin,” in 
Behring’s Sea. 
(f) Copy of a telegram and order purporting to befrom the United States Attorney- 
General and Judge Dawson respectively, relating to the release of the above-named 
vessels; and : 
(g) A letter dated the 3rd September, 1887, from the law firm of Drake, Jackson, 
and Helmcken, of Victoria, containing additional information relating to the same. 
From the above-mentioned papers, it appears that on the 6th August, 1887, the 
Canadian schooner ‘“‘ Alfred Adams,” whilst engaged in catching seals in the open 
sea, more than 50 miles distant from the nearest land, was forcibly seized by an 
armed vessel of the United States, her ship’s papers taken, her cargo of seal-skins, 
1,386 in number, together with all her arms, ammunition, and fishing implements 
transferred to the United States cutter, and her captain ordered to proceed with 
sealed orders to Sitka, and to deliver himself, his vessel, and men into the hands of 
the United States Marshal at that place. 
This treatment of the ‘“‘ Alfred Adams” whilst peaceably pursuing her lawful call- 
ing on the high seas is but a repetition of the unjustifiable seizures of Canadian ves- 
sels made by the United States authorities in Behring’s Sea, and which have been 
dealt with at length in previous Reports to Council. 
The Minister, therefore, does not consider it necessary in this instance to traverse 
the ground already so fully covered, and recommends that a copy of this Report with 
the papers attached be forwarded to Her Majesty’s Government for their earnest and 
immediate consideration, and that a copy thereof be sent to the British Minister at 
Washington, together with the sealed letter given by Captain Shepard to the master 
of the “‘ Adams,” with the request that it be forwarded to Mr. Secretary Bayard. 
With reference to the attached papers (e), (f), and (g), the Minister observes that 
from the first (e) it appears that inquiries made by the Collector of Customs at Vic- 
toria, British Columbia, in July last, resulted in his obtaining the information that 
Judge Dawson had up to that date received no orders for the release of the Canadian 
sealing-vessels seized in 1886, that the vessels had not been sold, and remained still 
under seizure, and that Judge Dawson, when questioned as to the report that a tele- 
gram had been sent to him by the Attorney-General of the United States, ordering 
the release of the vessels, had replied that he had heard of this report before, but 
that noting of the kind had reached either himself or the United States Marshal 
at Sitka. 
