NOTES ON THE SEAL AND WHALE FISHERY. 83 



possible for the vessel to reach them. 371 young and 181 old 

 Hoods were the only reward for a very arduous voyage. 



The total number of Seals brought in by the fleet of nineteen 

 steamers, of the aggregate register of 6053 tons, and manned by 

 crews numbering 3760 men, was 353,276 (against 268,787 in the 

 previous season), of an estimated net value of ;£96,720 (against 

 ^68,527 in 1899). To these must be added some 10,000 taken 

 by the schooners and by the inhabitants of the Magdalene 

 Islands, which would bring the value of the produce up to nearly 

 ^100,000. This was very equally distributed, all but three or 

 four of the vessels making paying voyages, and the majority 

 doing exceedingly well. The ' Neptune ' took the lead with 

 36,255 Seals, followed closely by the ' Terra Nova ' and the 

 'Aurora,' with more than 32,000 each ; eight others had over 

 15,000 each, and five more above 10,000; the 'Kite,' for the 

 reasons already named, brought in the produce of 452 Hooded 

 Seals only. The average of the whole nineteen vessels was 

 18,594, eleven of them having cargoes above that average, and 

 eight below it. The price of produce was fairly remunerative, 

 oil fetching, say, £23 per tun ; and Mr. Thorburn tells me that a 

 new market has been found for oil in Italy, which promises to be 

 of great assistance to the sealing industry. No casualty has 

 been reported to mar the success of the voyage. 



In the ten years, 1871 to 1880, inclusive, 218 vessels killed 

 2,434,063 Seals, and in the decade, 1891 to 1900, there fell to 

 the lot of 181 vessels 2,422,125 of these animals. But these 

 enormous numbers by no means represent the whole reckoning, 

 for they are only the produce of the steam fleet, and do not in- 

 clude (i) those killed and lost on the ice, (ii) those taken by the 

 schooners, or (iii) those killed from the shore, or on the Labrador 

 coast. Even the total number of skins exported from Newfound- 

 land would not give the exact number killed, for they would not 

 include the first mentioned shrinkage, and I have not the full 

 statistics of the two periods at hand; but my object in making 

 the comparison was to ascertain, if possible, what eff'ect this 

 enormous destruction of the old and young Seals has had upon 

 the numbers frequenting the ice-floes of the North Atlantic in 

 the breeding season. The result is rather surprising, for it will 

 be seen that in the first period the catches averaged 11,165 per 



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