418 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 13, 1889. 



THE FUR FISHERIES OF THE NORTH- 

 WEST SEAS. 



[By a Staff Correspondent.] 



I.— THE SEALING GROUNDS. 



r pHE profitable fur sealing grounds of the world to-day 

 JL are in the North Pacific Ocean. The fur seals have 

 their breeding ground in the Bering and Okhotsk seas, 

 and for eight or nine months of the year they are either 

 on these breeding grounds or are traveling' to or from 

 them. 



The range of the fur seal was not always thus limited. 

 During the latter part of the last and the earlier years of 

 the present century, these! animals were found in great 

 numbers In the South Seas. More than two hundred 

 years ago. Dampier. who in 1683 spent a few days on the 

 Island of Juan Fernandez, or as he quaintly terms it, 

 "John Fernando,'' saw them there in great abundance. 

 He says: "Seals swarm as thick about this Island as if 

 they had no other place in the World to live in: for there 

 is not a Bay nor Rock that one can get ashore, on but is 

 full of them." He goes on to say that they "have a fine, 

 thick, short Furr; the like I have not taken notice of any- 

 where but in these Seas. Here are always thousands^ I 

 miglit possibly say millions of them, either sitting on the 

 Bays or going and coming in the Sea round the Island, 

 which is covered with them (as they lie at the top of the 

 Water playing and sunning themselves) for a mile or two 

 from the shore. When they come out of the Sea tbey 

 bleat like Sheep for their young; and though they pass 

 through hundreds of others' young ones before they come 

 to their own, yet they will not suffer any of them to suck. 

 The young ones are like Puppies, and' lie much ashore: 

 but when beaten by any of us, they, as well as the old 

 ones, will make toward the Sea, and swim very swift and 

 nimble, though on shore they lie very sluggishly and 

 will not go out of our way unless we beat them, but 

 snap at us," 



The earlier history of fur pealing has to do altogether 

 with these animals in the Southern Seas. They were 

 then found on both the east and west coasts of South 

 America, about its southern extremity, 

 and as Allen says, "on all outlying 

 islands, including not only the Falk- 

 lands, the South Shetland and South 

 Georgian, but at other small islands 

 more to the eastward, at Prince Ed- 

 wards, the Crozets, Kerguelen, St. Paul 

 and Amsterdam, the southern and west- 

 ern shores of Australia, Tasmania, New 

 Zealand, and at the smaller islands south 

 of the two last named. They have been 

 found, in fact, at all the islands making 

 up the chain of pelagic islets stretching 

 somewhat interruptedly from Cape Horn 

 and the Falkland Islands eastward to 

 Australia and New Zealand, including 

 among others those south of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, so famous in the annals of 

 the seal fishery." 



From 1800 to 1830 the seal fi-hery in 

 these seas was at its height, but sueth 

 vast numbers of the animals were taken 

 that the fur market was glutted, and 

 the pelts ceased to bring a price which 

 paid for their transportation. Besides 

 this, the pursuit had been so relentless 

 that the seals had been exterminated on 

 many of the islands, where once they 

 had been abundant, and even whero 

 they still existed, their numbers were 

 bo dlminisbed that a long voyage was 

 necessary to secure a cargo of their 

 skins. Before this time seals had been 

 discovered on the Aleutian Islands, and 

 were killed there for several seasons at the rate of 

 200,000 a year. There are still seal rookeries in the 

 South Pacific Ocean about Cape Horn, but the animals 

 are scarce and hard to find, and for many years the seal 

 fishery in these waters has been practiced only in a 

 desultory fashion. 



Up to twenty years ago the principal sealing grounds 

 of the North Pacific were owned by the Russians, who 

 carefully guarded these valuable possessions. They 

 owned the Pribyloff and Komandorski Groups and Rob- 

 ben Island, as well as certain other Asiatic islands on 

 which the fur seals "haul." With the sale in 1867 of 

 Alaska, the Pribyloff Islands, including St. Paul and St. 

 George, passed into the possession of the United States. 

 These islands have a history, and as they give shelter in 

 the height of the breeding season to a multitude of seals, 

 estimated at nearly five millions, it is worth while to de- 

 vote a few words to that history and to a review of the 

 seal life on them. 



The discovery of St. George in 1786 and St. Paul in 1787, 

 was at once followed by then- occupation by sealers, and 

 a reckless and indiscriminate slaughter was carried on up 

 to the year 1805, which resulted in a corresponding dim- 

 inution in the number of seals which visited the island 

 each season. During the years 1806-7 no seals were 

 killed, but in 1808 the work of destruction again began, 

 and was continued without restriction up to 1822. In 

 this year orders were issued by the Russian Government 

 to spare enough young seals to keep up the breeding 

 slock. This was the beginning of a government super- 

 vision over the islands which has continued up to the 

 present time. The check put upon the killing of the 

 seals was followed by a great increase in their numbers, 

 and it is stated that in the four years following 1822 the 

 number of seals on St. Paul increased tenfold. The good 

 results which folowed this supervision were so apparent 

 that the conditions which governed seal life on these 

 islands were each year more closely investigated, and the 

 killing was so regulated that there was a constant increase 

 in the number of seals which visited the island each year. 

 This increase continued from 1834 to 1857, when the 

 animals were as numerous, or nearly so, as they are at 

 present. 



Thus, when the Pribyloff Islands passed under the con- 

 trol of the United States, there was a large stock of seals 

 on them. These seals were ferae, natura, and would be- 

 long to whomsoever should succeed in reducing them to 

 possession. Heretofore they had belonged to a govern- 

 ment which had carefully protected them, now they 

 would pass into the hands of a government which had 

 never been known to protect any wild creatures. It 



seemed probable, therefore, that whoever should be first 

 on hand to begin the work of extermination might slay 

 and skin all that he could carry away. The skins were 

 very valuable, and there were enough on the islands to 

 load many ships. 



There were not wanting men who stood ready to take 

 advantage of such an opportunity as this, and one of 

 these was a Mr. Hutchinson, the private secretary of 

 General Rousseau, the United States Commissioner who 

 had gone to Alaska to receive from the Russian Governor 

 the public property to be turned over to the United 

 States. 



Hutchinson succeeded in making the bargain with 

 Prince Matsukoff, by which all the property of the Rus- 

 sian Fur Company was to be turned over to him, and 

 under this bargain he proposed to take possession of the 

 seal islands and the Alaska fur trade. Accordingly, he 

 went to Victoria, British Columbia, and there entered 

 into partnership with a Mr. KohJ, who owned a British 

 steamship called the Fidelitor. On the plea that this 

 was a Russian vessel at the time of the session, she ob- 

 tained an American registry, and was thus enabled to 

 carry on the coasting trade. Up to the time of their 

 arrival at the islands in 1868, Hutchinson & Co. believed 

 that by virtue of the bargain with Prince Matsukoff they 

 possessed the exclusive right to take seals on the Priby- 

 loff Islands, but when they got there they found thein 

 already occupied by a crew of Connecticut sealers under 

 Capt. Morgan, who also claimed them by the stronger 

 right of possession. For a time it looked as if the rival 

 claims would have to be decided by a battle, but after- 

 long wrangling an amicable arrangement was arrived 

 at, and it was agreed to divide the season's catch, which 

 amounted to 250,000 skins. About this time the Russian 

 vice-consul at Honolulu reached the islands, which he 

 supposed to be unoccupied, intending to take possession 

 of them, but his force was obliged to withdraw before 

 the combined crews of Hutchinson and Morgan. The 

 combination between these men continued, and ulti- 

 mately resulted in the formation of the Alaska Commer- 

 cial Company, which in 1870 obtained a twenty years' 

 lease of the Pribyloff Islands. By their lease this eorpo- 



l atioii alone has the right to take seals on the islands of 

 St. Paul and St. George and "in the waters adjacent 

 thereto." 



All the known rookeries in the North Pacific are leased 

 by the Alaska Commercial Company. These are the 

 Pribyloff Group: the Komandorski Group, consisting of 

 Bering and Copper islands and some small rocks; some 

 of the Kurile Islands, as Mush, Strednoy and Raikoke, 

 and Robben Island, which lies off the southeastern end of 

 the larger island of Saghalin. It is quite possible that 

 there may be rookeries as yet undiscovered on some of 

 the Aleutian Islands and on others of the Kuriles, but our 

 present information goes no further than I have men- 

 tioned. All of these rookeries are carefully guarded, but 

 they are deserted for a considerable portion of the year, 

 when the seals are in the open sea, and at this time the 

 animals are wholly without protection from man. 



The seals are taken in two ways; (1) on the land when 

 they are at their breeding grounds, at which time the 

 legitimate killing is confined to the young non-breeding 

 males, which are always in excess of the females, and (2) 

 in the water, either during their migrations or while 

 journeying to and from their feeding grounds, when 

 they are killed indiscriminately, the number of females 

 slain being largely in excess of the males, 



II — LAND SEALING. 



To explain the method by which the fur seals 

 are taken while on their breeding ground, some brief 

 account must be given of their habits. Early in May 

 the first old bull seals arrive at the islands, and take 

 up their stations on the rocks near the shore. Each 

 animal selects his position and endeavors to hold his ter- 

 ritory against all comers. At first this is an easy matter, 

 but after the shore line is filled up and as the arrivals 

 become more and more numerous, a constant warfare 

 goes on between those which are coming out of the sea 

 and those which have taken up their positions. The 

 battles which take place all over the rookery are fierce 

 and long-continued, and terrible wounds are inflicted and 

 received by the combatants. The conqueror in the strife 

 drives his enemy only off his own territory, and the 

 weaker takes up another position further back from the 

 sea, which he again endeavors to hold. Each bull is 

 master of a small piece of ground averaging over the 

 whole rookery p< rhaps a square rod. By the middle of 

 June all the breeding bulls have arrived, fought out their 

 battles, and for the most part established themselves, 

 though there is always a large number which fail to 

 secure an available station, and take up their positions 

 behind, or on the landward side of the rookery. None of 

 the bulls leave their own territory after they have estab- 



lished title to it, so to speak: if they did they could only ■ 

 regain the possession by fighting for it again. They: 

 remain on this little piece of ground without eating or 

 drinking for three months. Their courage is something: 

 extraordinary and admirable. They are ever ready to 

 defend their stations against all comers, whether brute or 

 human, but their tactics are purely defensive, and under 

 no provocation do they pursue their enemy. 



By this time all the male seals except | 

 have reached the islands. As the bulls do not breed 

 before they have attained the age of six years, there is a j 

 vast herd of young males which have no place in the 

 rookeries, but "haul up" on the beaches and rocks, where | 

 they spend the time in playing like puppies and in sleep- 

 ing. It is from these young males that the animals are 

 selected for killing, those which are three years old 

 being chosen on account of the superior quality of their 

 fur. 



When it is desired to secure them the natives carefully 

 approach one of these herds of "bachelors," and getting 

 between the seals and the sea, drive the frightened ani- 

 mals from the beaches or rocks on to the upland, and 

 thence very slowdy — in cold damp weather at the rate of 

 half a mile an hour— to the "killing ground," which may 

 be two or three miles from the point from which they 

 started. If the weather is unfavorable, i. e., warm and dry, 

 a good many die on the way, for though the seals can 

 travel quite rapidly on land for 100yds. or so. a longer 

 journey is very exhausting to them. Mr. Elliott esti- 

 mates that the loss is as much as 3 or 4 per cent, on the 

 longer drives. When the killing ground is reached, the' 

 seals are allowed to cool and rest, and then a number— 

 from one to two hundred— are separated from the main 

 body, driven a short distance and then huddled up close 

 together, and the natives, armed with heavy clubs, kill 

 them by a single hard blow upon the head. Thpy are 

 then separated and stretched on the ground to cool. If 

 the weather is damp and cool, perhaps a thou and are ■ 

 killed in this way before the work of skinning is begun, 

 but if it is warm, each "bunch" is skinned as soon as 

 killed. 



In this way about 95,000 seals are killed on St. Paul 

 between the middle of June and the 

 last of July, the work usually occupy- . 

 ing not more than forty days. 



In the meantime the female seals 

 have reached the islands, have been 

 fought over by the bulls and passed 

 along from one to another, until they 

 are pretty well distributed over the 

 rookery, those bulls nearest the water ' 

 having usually more females than those 

 further back, but the average being ; 

 about fifteen females to one male. The l 

 females give birth to a single young one I 

 soon after landing, and having been im- 

 pregnated are free to come and go as I 

 they please. The young soon get to- 

 gether in swarms, paying no attention : 

 whatever to then." mothers, who seek ! 

 them out from time to time to let them 

 nurse. Early in August, the pup for the I 

 first time ventures into the water, and 

 at first makes awkward work of his I 

 attempts at swimming, but before long ; 

 he become s very expert. 



By the early part of September, the i 

 breeding bulls, which for three months ■ 

 have so steadfastly held their position 

 on the breeding ground, have all retired 

 to the water in a condition of leanness ; 

 and weakness which is truly pitiable; 

 the boundaries of the rookeries are 

 broken up, and they are invaded by a 

 concourse of young bulls, cows and 

 pups. The seals begin to leave the 

 islands in October, and by the end of November by far i 

 the greater number have gone. A few linger tip to 

 December, January and, in mild seasons, even into 

 February, 



This very briefly is the history of seal life and seal kill- 

 ing on the Pribyloff Islands. 



The method of taking the seals described above is legit- 

 imate land sealing, as practiced by the lessees of the Seal 

 Islands. There is another form of sealing, which is in 

 fact a modified sort of piracy, and which is carried on to 

 some extent on the Asiatic coast. This is nothing less 

 than the stealing of seals off the "hauling grounds," aad 

 is sometimes attempted under the very noses of the own- 

 ers or lessees. Formerly it was carried on quite success- 

 fully, and with only moderate risk, but it is more difficult 

 nowadays, and only four or five vessels, of which a part 

 hail from British Columbia ports, are now engaged in 

 the trade. The schooners set sail for Yokohama, Japan, 

 late in the winter, and there fit out for their cruise. The 

 crew usually consists of four white men, .the eaptain and 

 three hunters, and of fifteen or sixteen Japanese, who are 

 hired for from eight to ten dollars per month. These 

 Japanese are good sailors and fine men. active, willing, 

 obedient, never making any trouble, and ready to follow 

 a good leader anywhere. 



The rookeries which have been most troubled by the 

 seal stealers are on Robben Island just south of Saghalin, 

 and those on some of the Kurile Islands, especially on 

 Musir, Strednoy and Raikoke. The latter is a rocky 

 pinnacle of considerable area, while Musir and Strednoy 

 are mere rocks, sticking up out of the sea. All these 

 grounds are leased by Russia to the Alaska Commercial 

 Company. 



The vessels leave Yokohama early in April, and pro- 

 ceed north, ostensibly to hunt sea otters among the Kurile 

 Islands. This they do for a part of the season, but they 

 are always ready to take advantage of an opportunity 

 to descend upon the seal islands and make a catch. Cop- 

 per and Bering islands, of the Komandorski Group, 

 where there are large rookeries, they rarely trouble, be- 

 cause there is always a considerable garrison of Cossacks 

 stationed on them, but until recently Robben Island has 

 not been well guarded, and this has been a favorite 

 ground for the operations of the seal stealers. 



The seals here "haul" upon a fairly smooth beach, and 

 back of this the land rises in a precipitous wall. When 

 the crew lands, it "cuts out" from the seals on the beach 

 as large a bunch as it can conveniently handle, and drives 

 them back against the bluff, up which they cannot climb. 

 The frightened animals in their efforts to escape their 

 pursuers hurry toward this wall, which stops those in 



