PELAGIC CATCH IN 1892. 



191 



vessels crossed over to the Eussian side after having completQ,d their coast catch. 

 In additiou, there seems to have been 5 British schooners sailing from Japan, 

 consequently altogether 37 British vessels. To these must be added a few American 

 schooners, of which I have no detailed account at hand. Capt. Charles Lutjens, in 

 the Kate and ^wwa, caught about 150 seals "between from 40 to 100 miles south of the 

 Commander Islands, and these were seized and confiscated" (Fur Seal A.rb., viii, p. 

 714). The Henry Dennis obtained 189 seals, as detailed elsewhere in this report. 



These facts are shown in more detail in the following table, which is extracted 

 from the record of the entire British Columbia sealing fleet, as given in the 

 Twenty-fifth Annual Eeport of the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries 

 (pt. II, pp. 60-61). 



Report of British Columbia sealing fleet sealing in "Asiatic" waters in the season of 1892. 



Schooner. 



Annie E. Paint 



Ajinie C. Moore — 



Arietis 



Agnes McDonald. 



Brenda 



Carlotta Gr. Cox . - . 



C.H. Tnpper 



Carmolite 



CD. Band 



Dora Siewerd 



B.B. Marvin 



Enterprise 



Eavoiirite 



Geneva 



Henrietta 



Maria i. 



Mascot 



MandS 



May Belle .... 



Lower 

 coast 

 catch. 



186 



436 

 308 



174 



270 



44 



107 

 185 

 149 



Upper 

 coast 

 catch. 



412 

 379 

 418 

 591 

 409 

 1,605 

 967 

 705 



224 



1,434 



450 

 420 

 108 



220 

 769 

 145 



Asiatic 

 catch. 



421 



447 



738 



373 



512 



696 



542 



(seized.) 



(seized.) 



673 



430 



507 



202 



600 



(seized.) 



(seized.) 



119 



748 



230 



Total. 



1,019 

 990 



1,156 

 964 

 921 



2,737 



1,817 

 879 

 28 

 897 



2,045 

 507 

 652 



1,290 

 152 



446 



1,702 



524 



Schooner. 



Mary Ellen 



Mermaid 



Mountain Chief. . . 

 Ocean Belle 



Oscar and Hattie . 



Penelope 



Kosie Olsen 



Sea Lion 



Sadie Turpel 



Teresa 



Thistle (str.) 



Triumph 



Umbrina 



Victoria 



W. P. Say ward.... 

 Walter A. Earle . . 

 Walter L.Eich ... 

 W.P.Hall 



Lower 

 coast 

 catch. 



128 

 25 



79 



143 

 23 

 180 

 100 



-Upper 

 coast 

 catch. 



507 

 164 



687 

 186 



284 

 707 



Asiatic 

 catch. 



304 



238 



•) 



^46 



261 



1,362 

 (seized.) 

 833 

 244 

 175 

 4 

 257 

 623 

 558 

 900 

 541 

 204 

 416 



1,461 

 /(seized.) 

 \ 472 



1,707 



Total. 



846 

 402 



1,934 

 695 

 564. 

 ■ 83 

 541 



1,473 

 681 



1,080 



1,866 

 386 

 416 



The total catch by the Canadians alone amounted to about 17,000 skins.' Out of 

 this number probably no less than 14,000 were skins of female seals. Adding to this 

 the number of seals killed, but lost, those captured by the United States schooners, 

 and those shot during the northward migration during the spring of that year, it is 

 easy to conceive how enormous and irreparable must have been the blow inflicted 

 upon the breeding seals of the Commander Islands during the year 1892. 



With over 40 vessels scouring the seas around the islands, their boats and canoes 

 following the female seals as they went to and from the feeding grounds, no wonder 

 that the latter were discovered by the sealers, and in these places undoubtedly most 

 of the damage was done. 



But not all the schooners were satisfied with taking the seals outside of the 

 territorial waters of Russia ; they adopted the tactics of sending the boats inshore to 

 hunt off the rookeries, and as a consequence many of them had to feel the claws of 

 the bear. The Russian authorities, evidently in anticipation of what would happen, 

 had several cruisers patrolling her seas, and no less than seven schooners, one hailing 



I Total of the "Asiatic catch" in the above table 14, 804 



Seized by Russian war vessels 2, 418 



Total 17,222 



Some of the skins seized by the Russians were taken on the northwest coast. 



