FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 317 



\vere executed the rookeries would be safe?— A. Yes, sir; Itbiuk they 

 would be. 



Q. How many cutters ought the Government to have in those waters 

 in view of what is expected next summer ? — A. I should think two ves- 

 sels of the class that have been plying in these waters for the last two 

 years would be all that is really necessary. 



Q. That is, two cutters to patrol Bering Sea! — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. If forty or fifty vessels should be captured, what would they do 

 -with the crews ? — A. It would be necessary to send the captured ves- 

 sels, with an officer in charge of each, to Siika, or wherever they might 

 be sent. That is the way they have been doing. 



Q. What do you say as to the propriety of having a man-of-war or 

 some vessel at Oonalaska on which to transfer these crews and send 

 them to Sitka and go back and patrol the seal islands? — A. It would 

 be a great expense, but no doubt it is a pretty good idea. 



By Mr. Dingle y: 



Q. You alluded once or twice to a non-enforcement of the law during 

 the last season. Do 1 understand from that that there was a particular 

 laxity in regard to the enforcement of the laws last season in compari- 

 son with previous seasons ? — A. I know of no vessels having been capt- 

 ured last season, though there were some in the waters. I am not 

 familiar with the reason why or anything about it. 



Q. There was seizures before this last season, but this last season 

 there were none?— A. There were no seizures last season. 



Q. Not of any kind of vessels ? — A. No, sir ; not that I know of. 



Q. You do not know the reason? — A. No, sir. 



Q. Are you familiar with the execution of the law before this last sea- 

 son ? — A. Yes, sir; it was pretty thoroughly carried out, and they were 

 successful in breaking up this marauding. That summer fourteen ves- 

 sels were captured, and there was also quite a number that were not 

 captured, as there was only one revenue-cutter at a time in the waters. 



Q. There was the same number, however, this season as the previous 

 seasons ? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. There were the same revenue-cutters one season as another ? — A. 

 One at a time were stationed there. 



Q. And in 1887 there were a number of seizures made, and the Bering- 

 Sea was successfully protected ? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. In 18^8 there were no seizures ? — A. None that I know of. 



Q. Do you know there were no seizures ? — A. No, sir ; I do not know 

 of any seizures having been made. 



TESTIMONY OF C. A. WILLIAMS— Recalled. 



C. A. Williams, recalled. 

 By Mr. Jeffries:- 



Q. Will you please state to the committee what information you may 

 have as to the number of illicit sealers that are expected in Bering Sea 

 next season, either from the United States or British Columbia, from 

 the reports you may have heard or from your own knowledge ? — A. 

 Such information as I have is derived from correspondence from San 

 Francisco and Victoria. Letters from San Francisco inform me that 

 by reason of the non-seizure of vessels in Bering Sea last year the num- 

 ber that are now being outfitted preparatory to going there is very 



