430 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
The Minister recommends that this claim be forwarded through the proper chan- 
nel to Her Majesty’s Government for transmission to the Government of the United 
States. 
The Committee advise that your Excellency be moved to forward a copy of this 
Minute to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, together 
with the papers mentioned herein. 
All which is respectfully submitted for your Excellency’s approval. 
(Signed) JOHN J. McGurx, 
Clerk, Privy Council. 
{Inclosure 3 in No. 270.] 
Declaration of Samuel W. Bucknam. 
CANADA, Province of British Columbia, City of Victoria. 
I, Samuel W. Bucknam, of the city of Victoria, in the Province of British Colum- 
bia, and Dominion of Canada, master mariner, do solemnly and sincerely declare as 
follows: 
1. The hereinafter-mentioned schooner ‘‘Ariel” is a British vessel registered at the 
port of St.John, in the province of New Brunswick, one of the provinces of the 
Dominion of Canada. 
2. The registered owners of the said schooner ‘‘Ariel” are John M. Taylor 
394 and Bela R. Lawrence, both of the city of St. John aforesaid, who each own 
twenty-four shares thereof, and myself, who own the remaining sixteen shares 
thereof. 
3. I am the managing owner and master of the said schooner ‘‘Ariel.” 
4. On the 9th day of February, 1889, A. D., I cleared the said schooner ‘‘Ariel” at 
the Customs at the said port of Victoria for a fishing and seal-hunting voyage in the 
North Pacific Ocean and Behring’s Sea, and on the 11th day of said month sailed from 
said port of Victoria on such voyage. 
5. On and for said voyage I was master of said ‘‘Ariel” and one Herman Smith 
was mate, and said ‘‘Ariel” on said voyage carried a crew of twenty-two men all 
told. The said schooner ‘‘Ariel” was equipped and provisioned for a full season’s 
voyage. 
é On the 12th day of July following, the ‘‘ Ariel” entered Behring’s Sea. The 
sealskins which had been taken by the hunters on said schooner in the North Pacific 
Ocean had been shipped to Victoria before entering Behring’s Sea, and no skins were 
on board on said 12th July. 
7. The hunters on the ‘‘Ariel”’ began sealing on the 14th day of said July, and in 
the sixteen days following captured about 400 sealskins. 
8. On the 30th day of said month of July, at about 6 o’clock in the morning, the 
United States Revenne cutter ‘‘ Richard Rush” came alongside the ‘‘ Ariel” and three 
officers from said ‘‘ Richard Rush” boarded the ‘‘Ariel.” The said officers examined 
and searched the ‘‘Ariel,” asked the number of my crew, when I entered the sea, 
and how many sealskins I had on board, and warned and threatened me that if I was 
caught taking seals, or with fresh sealskins on board, the ‘‘Ariel” would be seized, 
and myself and mate placed under arrest. The said officers also told me that they 
had seized the schooners ‘‘ Pathfinder,” ‘‘ Black Diamond,” and ‘ Minnie,” and 
searched other vessels in the sea. ‘The officers then left, and shortly after the cutter 
sailed away. 
9. Fearing to remain in Behring’s Sea lest I should lose my vessel and be myself 
put in prison, I at once sailed for one of the passes leading from the sea. On the 31st 
day of July I lost a boat with three men, and remained some days in the immediate 
vicinity in order to pick them up. On the 21st August the ‘‘Ariel” sailed out of 
Behring’s Sea, homeward bound, with 844 sealskins on board. On the 2nd day of 
September thej‘‘Ariel” arrived at Victoria aforseaid, fully one month earlier than 
the usual time of arrival for sealers from Behring’s Sea. 
10. From the actual number of seals captured by the ‘‘Ariel” before being boarded 
as aforesaid and from the number actually captured by other sealing vessels, with 
about the same equipment of boats and men as the “Ariel,” I believe that had the 
“Ariel” not been molested in Behring’s Sea (and but for such boarding and threat- 
ening as aforesaid she certainly would have remained the full season) the said “‘Ariel” 
would have made a total catch of not less than 2,000 sealskins. 
11. The selling price of sealskins at said Victoria on the said arrival of the ‘‘Ariel” 
and on the Ist October, about which time sealing vessels usually arrive at Victoria 
from a full season’s voyage, was 8 dollars per skin. 
12. I for myself, the said John M. Taylor, and the said Bella R. Lawrence, my 
co-owners in said schooner ‘‘Ariel,” and likewise for the crew of the said ‘‘Ariel” on 
said yoyage who were and are entitled to share in the total catch of sealskins by 
seteker sate 
