392 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
An average catch per vessel at, say..-.-..----------20----se-e-eee- 2,000 skins. 
Walueipernsiain, WdolsUlC eee can chee es eae (pee ene ete ete eee 15, 000 dollars. 
Vialnedor twenty Vessels. <..0. te seeioes he eae erence Peete eee 300,000 * 
357 Two thousand skins is a low estimate per vessel, and were it not for the 
interference of the United States cutters in Behring’s Sea, the catch per vessel 
would average quite 3,000 skins. 
— 
Captain William O’ Leary. 
I am a master mariner, and have been seal-hunting on the Pacific coast four years, 
three of which I was in Behring’ s Sea as well. One. year I had Indian hunters only, 
and the three years I had white hunters only—all on the schooner ‘‘ Pathtinder.’ 
My experience with Indian hunters is that they lose none—at most a few—of the 
seals they spear. The spears are ‘‘ bearded,” some with one, some with two beards, 
and once the seal is struck, capture is certain. 
White hunters use shot-guus and rifles, according to distance and state of water. 
On smooth water and at long ranges the rifle is generally used, but the majority of 
hunters use the shot-gun, and the great majority of seals are shot with guns. 
The number of seals lost by white hunters does not exceed six in 100, and many 
hunters lose much less than that number. About half of the seals taken along the 
coast are cows, and perhaps two-thirds of the cows are with young. Putting a 
vessel’s coast catch at 400, from 150 to 175 might be cows with young. In Behring’s 
Sea the average of cows with young killed will not average one in 100, for the reason 
that as soon as the cows reach the sea they go to the breeding islands where their 
young are born. 
I never saw cows in the water with their young with them. I do not think there 
is any decrease in the number of seal entering Behring’s Sea. I never saw so many 
seal along the coast as there were this year, and in Behring’s Sea they were more 
numerous than I ever saw before. This year I shot forty-four seals and lost one. 
(Signed) Wm. O’LEary. 
VicroriIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, September 12, 1889. 
Frederick Gilbert. 
Tam aseal hunter. Ihave been four years on board sealing-vessels, one year I 
Was a boat rower, and three years a hunter. I have always been with white hunt- 
or and have used the shot- gun and rifle for shooting seals. 
In 1887 I got 518 seals and lost 14; in 1888 I got 244 and lost 5; in 1889 I got 454 
and lost 16; or in the three years I got 1,216 seals, and lost 35, or 24 per cent. I 
never shot or saw pups with the cows in the water, nor have I ever heard of such a 
case. Sume hunters lose a few more than I do, but the most unlucky hunters I have 
met with did not lose twice as many. 
(Signed) FRED. GILBERT. 
Victoria, BRITISH COLUMBIA, September 12, 1889. 
George Howe. 
My first year’s sealing, 1886, was on board the ‘‘Theresa” from San Francisco to 
Victoria. We left San Francisco on the 20th January, and arrived at Victoria on 
the 7th April. I got 159 seals, of which I lostabout7. I used ashot-gun principally, 
the rifle only for long range shooting, say, from 30 to 60 yards. At Victoria I left 
the ‘‘ Theresa” and joined the ‘‘ Pathfinder.” The ‘‘ Pathfinder” left Victoria on the 
4th May for Behring’s Sea, and that trip I got 442 seals and lost about 20. In 1887 
I joined the ‘* Penelope,” ‘and left Victoria on the third February. I got 618 seals 
during the season and lost 31. In 1888I did not go sealing, but in 1889 I was 
engaged on the schooner ‘‘ Viva;” we left Victoria on the 19th January, and I got 
734 seals duri ing the season and lost 37. I never saw a young pup alongside its cow 
in the water. 
About one-third of the seals taken on the coasts are cows with pup or capable of 
being with pup. In Behring’s Sea I got four cows with pups in them. 
(Signed) GEORGE HOWE. 
