CUAPTER XL. 
PELAGIC SEALING, OR KILLING AT SEA. 
THE NATURE OF PELAGIC SEALING. 
We may now pass to a consideration of the second way in which man has come in 
contact with the fur seals, namely, by hunting and killing them at sea. Pelagic sealing, 
as it is called, means the taking of seals at sea, either on their migrations or on 
their food excursions to and from their breeding grounds. It is necessarily indiscrim- 
inate in its character, animals of both sexes and every age and condition being taken. 
The animals are killed both by the spear and with firearms. 
THE HUNTING OF THE INDIANS. 
From the earliest times the natives in the vicinity of Cape Flattery and Vancouver 
Island have been accustomed to hunt the fur seal in their dugout canoes, going out 
from shore for this purpose a distance of 10 to 30 miles. It is probable that this 
hunting has existed as long as Indians have occupied these regions and fur seals have 
annually passed their shores. The taking of the fur seals was at first doubtless asso- 
ciated with the hunting of the sea otter, and it has been suggested that the flesh of 
the seal rather than its fur was the original object of its capture. 
With the decline of the sea otter and the various land furs, the skin of the fur 
seal came to have a value and found its way into the markets through the hands of 
the traders. In time the taking of fur seals became the object of special attention, 
and the plan was developed of transporting the Indians and their canoes to the 
sealing grounds by means of sailing vessels, thus enabling them to carry on their 
operations consecutively and over a wider area. 
THE INTRODUCTION OF VESSELS. 
This first use of vessels in hunting the fur seals dates from about the year 1872, 
and for several years the number employed was small, probably not exceeding five or 
six before 1879. By their means the hunters were able to reach a distance of from 75 
to 100 miles from shore and to follow the herd on its northward journey to the breeding 
grounds. From 1879 onward the number of vessels engaged in pelagic sealing 
increased rapidly. In 1880 the fleet numbered 16 vessels, making another bound to 
34 vessels in 1886, this second increase being due to the opening up of Bering Sea 
in 1883,’ when the schooner City of Sun Diego took a catch of between 2,000 and 3,000 
skins there. 
THE EXPANSION OF THE INDUSTRY. 
After the introduction of vessels there was a steady expansion of the territory 
covered by sealing operations. The fleet gradually began to go south of Cape Flattery 
1 Since this was written there has come into the possession of Mr. Charles H. Townsend the log of 
the schooner San Diego (often confused with the City of San Diego, another vessel), which shows that she 
took a catch of seals in Bering Sea in 1880. See Mr. Townsend’s paper on Pelagic Sealing, in Part III. 
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