PELAGIC SKATJNPt. 



231 



by unknown currents. The spring sealing oif tUe coast of southeast Alaska has 

 been attended with fre(|uent loss of vessels, and many vessels have been lost on the 

 coast of Japan and iu the Kuril Islands. Quite a number of vessels have been 

 capsized and lost with all hands during gales. Sealing in Bering Sea has not been 

 accompanied with disasters to the same extent as in the North Pacific Ocean. This 

 is probably due to the fact that sealing in these waters has been carried oji during the 

 summer and restricted to a shorter season. The following list of vessels lost during 

 the past nine years is incomplete, but probably includes nearly all the losses that 

 occurred during that i)eriod : 



Tear. 



Vessel. 



Kemarks. 



1889 



A.niii6 - . .. ..... 



Lost with all hands 



1892 



Lottie .- 



W^recked on the northwest cojist 



1892 



I^aura 



W^recked. 



1892 







1892 





Do. 



1893 





Capsized and lost off' Japan coast. 



1893 



Mary Parker 



1893 





Wrecked Japan coast. Eventually repaired as Japanese schooner, Kaio Maru. 

 Wrecked. 



1893 



Narwhal 



1894 



George K. AVbite. ... 



Lost with all liands Berin"" Sea 



1894 



Mascot 



Capsized and lost oJi' Japan coast. 



1894 





1894 





Lost. (Built JJ'ew York, 1850.) 

 Lost. 



1894 





1894 





Do. 



1895 



Walter A. Earle 



Capsized, all hands lost. (Originally the Sylvia Handy, built 1886.) 



1895 





1895 . 



Mattie T. Dyer 





1895 . . 



Dart 



Vessel lost. 



1895 



Oeor'^e I*eabody 



Lost with all hands. 



1895 



liosie Olsen 



Vessel wrecked on Japan coast. 



1895 



C. Gr. White 



1896 



May Belle 





1896 







1896 







1896 







1896.-. 







1897 



Agnes McDonald 



Wrecked on Japan coast. 



Wrecked on Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. 



Burned at sea oft' nortlijirest coast. 



1897 



Mauds 



1897 



Sapphire . . . 



1897 





Lost, Skotan Island, Japan. 



Lost off' Japan coast. 



Lost with all hands. Bering Sea. 



1898 





1898 









In addition to the loss of vessels, there are few vessels in the sealing fleets that 

 have not lost boats and hunters. This is a constant danger connected with pelagic 

 sealing. On the Japan coast, where there are many strong currents setting iu 

 different directions, the hunting boats are frequently carried long distances from the 

 vessels, and, being sometimes unable to regain the vessels, are lost if not picked up 

 by other vessels of the fleet. Fortunately, on the principal sealing grounds the 

 sealing fleet is of considerable size and the chances for boats being picked up by other 

 vessels are good. On the Japan grounds killer whales are abundant and a number 

 of the losses of boats and men have been attributed to this cause, as in several cases 

 killers have been seen to attack and overturn hunting boats. On the northwest coast 

 sealing grounds boats are frequently lost from their vessels, but they have in most 

 cases managed to reach some i>art of the mainland. This is also true of the Bering 

 Sea sealing grounds. The lost hunters have at times remained for days in their boats 

 and subsisted on the flesh of seals that they picked up, while heavy gales have been 

 ridden out by keeping the boat lying to a drag made from the carcasses or skins of 

 seals. Indian hunters have, on a few occasions, been lost in their canoes from vessels 

 in Bering Sea, and. finally reached some of the Aleutian Islands greatly exhausted. 



