SEALING ON EOBBEN ISLAND. 73 



fifties. In a recent statement Capt. G. Mebaum alludes to these early visits as 

 follows : 



Prom information gathered from various sources I learn that Robben Banh was first visited and 

 exploited by whalers about 1852 or 1853, and that in two seasons they obtained some 50,000 or 60,000 skins, 

 almost completely " cleaning it out." I understand that for several years thereafter the occasional 

 vessel which touched there found the rookeries practically deserted. (Fur Seal Arb., in, p. 203.) 



Captain Scammon (Marine Mammalia, pp^ 150-152) gives au account of a visit 

 of a New London bark to Kobben Island in 1854 or 1855, which it may be well to 

 reproduce here: 



In the midst of the Crimean war an enterprising firm in New London, Conn., fitted out a 

 clipper bark, which was officered and manned expressly for a sealing voyage lu the Okhotsk bea. 

 The captain was a veteran in the business, and many thought liira too old to command, but the result 

 of the voyage proved him eqnal to the task. The vessel proceeded to Robben Island, a mere volcanic 

 rock, situated on the eastern side of the large island of Saghalien. Many outlying rooks and reefs 

 are about it, making it dangerous to approach and affording but slight shelter for an anchorage. 

 Here the vessel (of about 300 tons) lay, with ground tackle of the weight for a craft of twice her 

 size. Much of the time fresh winds prevailed, accompanied by the usual ugly ground-swell, and in 

 consequence of her being long, low, and sharp the deck was at such times frequently flooded; never^ 

 theless, she "rode out the whole season, though wet as a lialf-tide rock," and a valuable cargo of skins 

 was procured, which brought an unusally high price in the European market on account of the 

 regular Russian supply being cut off in consequence of the war. 



The exact facts, however, have been kindly communicated to me by Mr. C. A. 

 Williams, of ISew London, Conn., who is familiar with all the details from intimate 

 X^ersoual knowledge with all concerned. In 1853 Capt. Guarden Allyn, an experienced 

 whaling captain then about 70 years old, returned from the Okhotsk Sea with the 

 first account of the seal rookery on Eobben Island. The firm of Perkins & Smith, of 

 New London, then built for him the bark N. 8. Perlcins, in which he went, accompanied 

 by his wife, to Eobben Island in 1854.- In much the mauner described by Captain 

 Scammon a cargo of skins was secured, which, according to Mr. Williams's recollection, 

 amounted to about 20,000. These were brought to the Hawaiian Islands and from 

 there shipped to the TJniti-d States and London. The following season the bark 

 returned to Eobben Island and secured 15,000 skins, while the brig Zoe, Captain 

 Eodgers, obtained 13,000 skins. 



Capt. Daniel Webster, in 1896, also told me that a Captain Fisher, a year or two 

 after, only got 300 skins. 



Eobben Island was thus "practically cleaned out;" the whaling industry also came 

 to an end, and the very existence of seals on the lonely rock was almost forgotten. 



At the breaking up of the great Eussian-American Company in 1869, many 

 enterprising citizens of California and Alaska turned tbeir attention to the Pribylof 

 Islands and the Commander group; the Kuril Islands and the Okhotsk Sea attracted 

 the attention of Captain Limachevski. With a schooner manned by Aleuts (Kadiak 

 Islanders'?) from Urup Island, the station of the Eussian-American Company on the 

 Kuril Islands, he sailed, in 1869, to Eobben Island. During the 14 years of rest since 

 the Crimean war the seals had again multiplied to such an extent that they were 

 occupying the entire beach all around the rock, as in the days when first discovered. 

 Capt, D. Webster has even assured Mr. C. H. Townsend that the bachelors in 1870 also 

 invaded the top of the plateau. The Urup Aleuts, who had never had any experience 

 with the driving of fur seals, were afraid of the vast numbers which blocked the 

 way so that no landing was effected, and Limachevski had to sail away. 



