THE ZOOLOGIST 



No. 230.— February, 1896. 



NOTES ON THE SEAL AND WHALE FISHERY, 1895. 

 By Thomas Southwell, F.Z.S. 



The severe financial crisis through which our colony of New- 

 foundland passed in the winter of 1894-5 caused the important 

 harvest of the Seal Fishery to be looked forward to with unusual 

 anxiety, and it was hoped that a successful voyage would, to some 

 extent, alleviate the distress which had weighed so heavily upon 

 all classes, and rendered that memorable winter the blackest in the 

 colonial history. To this end some special regulations were 

 passed, and the steamers which sailed on March 9th (the 10th 

 being Sunday), were allowed to extend their voyage to May 10th 

 instead of April 20th (the usual closing day), and second trips 

 were permitted. The result, as will be seen, was most satisfac- 

 tory from a commercial point of view, and highly beneficial to all 

 concerned. 



Of the twenty steamers which prosecuted the fishery in the 

 past season, seventeen turned their attention to the East Coast, 

 and three to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. During the entire winter 

 westerly winds prevailed, and the ice was off the land ; the Seals 

 were struck by the first section of the fleet on March 14th, some 

 sixty miles eastward of Belle Isle, and about eleven of the 

 steamers did well, the other six being beset with ice near Funk 

 Island, and eventually they came off badly. The * Aurora ' was 

 the first to get amongst the Seals, and returned to St. John's on 

 March 26th with 29,916 pelts. On May 8th the same vessel 

 returned from a second trip, with another catch of 3896, making 



ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL, XX. FEB. 1896. E 



