196 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



The provisional agreement as given above was renewed in 1894 and 1895 for 

 those years. Owing to the threatening political aspects, as a consequence of the 

 Japanese-Chinese war, the Eussian Government had only one ship patrolling the 

 30-mile limit in 1895. The British cruiser Caroline did patrol duty early in the season, 

 and was relieved by the Porpoise, Oapt. Francis E. Pelly, commanding. ISo seizures 

 were made in that year. 



As schooners flying the flag of the United States were also among the fleet 

 preying upon the Commander Islands herd, it was found necessary to establish a 

 modus Vivendi with the United States similar to the provisional agreement with Great 

 Britain. An arrangement, differing only in a few verbal changes from the latter, was 

 drawn up by the Imperial minister for foreign affairs, Mr. Giers, and signed in 

 Washington by the representatives of the respective Governments on May 4, 1894. The 

 exact text of this arrangement, which " shall only be in force until further orders," 

 is found in Executive Document No. 67, Senate, Fifty-third Congress, third session, 

 being the President's Message regarding the Enforcement of Eegulations respecting 

 Fur Seals, page 82. 



The Twenty-seventh Annual Eeport of the Canadian Department of Fisheries 

 contains an account of the Canadian pelagic sealing operations on the Asiatic side 

 during 1894, by Mr. E. N. Venning, from which we quote the following abstracts : 



The vessels this year operating in the vicinity of the Eussian seal islands are reported to have 

 kept well outside the protective zone, principally working about 100 miles southeast of Copper Island. 

 As a consequence, the present year's operations are marked by an almost total absence of interference 

 with the Canadian fleet by Russian authorities. 



The only instance reported is that of a sealing boat of the schooner May Belle, of Victoria, British 

 Columbia, manned by Joseph Morrell, Charles K. Leclaire, and James Costin, which lost the vessel in 

 a fog, and after remaining out all night and failing to find the schooner on the following morning, 

 the occupants, fearing a storm which was threatening, made for the shore of Copper Island for shelter. 

 They were discovered and arrested before landing. 



The boat and her equipment were retained at Copper Island and the three men were taken to 

 Petropaulovski, on the mainland of Kamchatka, where, after a detention of 32 days, they were 

 handed over to Her Majesty's ship Daphne, taken to Yokohama, Japan, and delivered to Her Majesty's 

 consul at that port. 



They were imprisoned, but released some four hours later, and informed by the consul that the 

 charge agaiust them was not sufficient for their detention. They were accordingly sent by Her 

 Majesty's consul to Victoria, British Columbia, by Canadian Pacific Railway steamship, where they 

 arrived on the 20th November, 1894. 



Claims for damages have been filed by the parties and by the owners of the sealing boat, and 

 representations have been made to Her Majesty's government on the subject. 



