226 



THE FUE SEALS OF THE PRIBILOP ISLANDS. 



On page 211 of the British commissioner's report referred to above the catch of 

 the British Columbia sealing fleet in 1889 is given as 27,868 seals for 22 vessels. 



In certain original records loaned me by Capt. N. Hodgson, of San Francisco, I 

 find the catch of Canadian vessels for 1889 stated by vessel and corresponding very 

 closely with the figures given on page 211. Three additional vessels are named, how- 

 ever — the Triumph, with a catch of 72 seals on the Northwest coast j the Venture, -with 

 a catch of 317 seals for the same region, and the Mollie Adams, with 1,553 seals from 

 Bering Sea. 



On page 209 of the British commissioner's report the Northwest coast catch of, 

 the schooner Favorite is given as 1,726 seals. This vessel was reported by the revenue 

 cutter Gorwin as sealing in Alaskan waters in 1885, with 2,065 seals. (See Cruise of 

 the Corwin, 1885, House Doc. 153, 49th Cong., p. 18.) The catch of this vessel, with 

 other vessels reported by the Gorwin, in Alaskan waters during the same season is as 

 follows : 



Catch of certain vessels sealing in Alaskan Waters in 1886. 



In the Cruise of the Gorwin in 1884 (House Doc. 153, 49th Cong., pp.8 and 16) 

 the schooners Favorite and Alexander are both referred to as sealing in Alaskan waters. 



No complete oflBcial records having been kept for the American sealing fleet, the 

 statements of catches up to 1890 are only approximate. There are many reasons for 

 believing that the accepted figures are below the number actually taken. 



On the Japan coast seals have long been taken by the boats of Japanese fisher- 

 men, but the first vessel to engage in pelagic sealing m Japanese waters was the 

 G. G. White, which in 1890 secured 680 seals in Japanese and Russian waters. In the 

 following season this vessel again visited the Japanese sealing grounds and the catch 

 of the preceding season was nearly trebled. By 1892 there were on the Japanese 

 sealing grounds 9 vessels, which made a catch of over 14,000 seals. In 1893 the 

 number of vessels in Japanese waters had reached 53 and the catch of seals amounted 

 to 53,526. In 1894, owing largely to restrictions in the award area, sealing in these 

 waters reached its greatest height, a fleet of 70 vessels taking over 71,667 seals. Less 

 than half that number were taken in 1895 and less than one-third in 1896, while in 

 1897 the Japanese catch was only 13,843 seals for a fleet of 27 vessels. In Japanese 

 waters the average of over 1 ,000 seals per vessel for 1893 and 1894 decreased to 512 

 in 1897. Vessels under the Japanese flag are now supplanting those sealing under 

 other flags. 



Pelagic sealing in the waters adjacent to the Commander Islands was of no 

 special importance until about 1892, when, by reason of the modus Vivendi, the 

 operations of the sealing fleet were transferred from American waters. 



Prior to that time the desultory sealing carried on about the Commander Islands 

 virtually amounted to sealing on the rookeries, the seals having been taken in foggy 

 weather close to the shores, or, when opportunity afforded, on unguarded rookeries. 



