SCHOONERS SEIZED IN 1892. 

 The number of skins taken from the British schooners was as follows : 



193 



The confiscated skins were sold by auction, part in Petropaulski, part in London. 



The prize moneys from the sale of the schooners and outfits were distributed 

 among the captors. 



It will be seen that all of the British schooners were captured outside of the 3-mile 

 limit, and diplomatic remonstrances and claims for damages were at once made by 

 Great Britain. The Russian Government appointed a special commission to investigate 

 the seizures, and found that the Marie, Bosie Olsen, Oarmolite, and Vancouver Belle 

 were properly seized, as their boats had been sealing in territorial waters, while 

 the proof that the Willie McGowan and Ariel, or their boats, had been sealing inside 

 the 3-mile limit was considered insufiftcient. The findings of the commission are 

 rendered in detail in the Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the Canadian Department of 

 Fisheries. The Russian Government accordingly signified their readiness to proceed 

 to an assessment of the indemnity to be paid to the owners of these two vessels. 

 (Twenty-eighth Ann. Rep., Can. Dept. Pish., p. 79.) 



The experience of 1892 was conclusive proof that it was feasible for the schooners 

 to stay 20 miles away from the islands and yet send in their boats to the rookeries to 

 prey upon the breeding seals going to and fro. It was also m^ade plain that there would 

 be very little chance of stopping the traffic by means of large cruisers patrolling the 

 sea. The Russian authorities therefore were very anxious to establish a prohibitive 

 zone around the islands wide enough to make it impossible for the boats to raid the 

 rookeries independently, the mere presence of the schooner inside of this limit being 

 evidence of illegal sealing. HJTegotiations were progressing during the winter of 1892 

 and 1893 between the two Governments, and finally, in May, 1893, a provisional 

 agreement was entered into between Russia and Great Britain establishing a protective 

 zone of 30 miles around the Commander Islands and Robben Island. It is evident 

 that the Russian authorities at that time were unaware of the fact that the great 

 bulk of the skins taken by the British Columbia sealing fleet were obtained on the 

 feeding grounds of the breeding females, and were also ignorant of the exact location 

 of these grounds, or they would not have rested satisfied with the zone of 30 miles, 

 which has been of but very little protective value to the seals. In view of the r6Ie 

 which the Russian acceptance of this 30-mile zone played in the establishment of the 

 60-mile zone around the Pribilof Islands, it is important to remember that in accepting 

 the 30-mile zone the Russians had a much more limited object in view, viz, to make it 

 impossible for the pelagic sealers to raid the rookeries. 

 15183— PT 4 13 



