318 
• ' " BULLETIN OF THE BUEEAU OF FISHERIES 
these, observing the arrest of the boats, put on all sail in a hurry and were soon 
lost to sight. Nothing can better illustrate the hardihood of these raiders than the 
fact that they continued their depredations inside the Territorial limit with the 
Russian naval guard ship plainly on the horizon. 
The Manzhur then turned toward Bermg Island again and caught up with two 
more schooners. On the Ivaki Maru skins of 13 adults and 1 black pup were 
found, and on the KinJcai Maru 63 adult skins and 4 black pups. The skins were 
seized and the vessels released. On the Konzen Maru only 2 adult sealskins were 
found, and these were restored to the owner. On this schooner the log book proved 
to be in perfect order. However, on all the others the logs were found to be very 
carelessly kept, and the last two days not even written up. 
On this trip the Manzhur searched 6 schooners, seized 3 boats with 10 Japanese 
sailors, and confiscated 3 sea-otter skins, 138 skins of adult seals, and 22 of black 
pups. As a result not ndore than 5 schooners were afterwards observed from Copper 
Island, and that a long distance off, while no more raids took place on shore that 
year. The schooners did not leave the neighborhood, however, for on August 24 
the Manzhur boarded 3 vessels in the sea between the two islands, among them 
the same Hashiman Maru that had been searched three weeks before. As no black 
pups were found, and as it was impossible to prove that the adult skins had been 
takMi inside the Territorial zone, no confiscation could be made. 
Taking into consideration the vastness of the sea, the precipitous nature of the 
islands, the constant fogs and incessant storms, the impudent recklessness of the 
pirates, and the difficulty of chasing a fleet of small schooners in such dangerous, 
uncharted seas with a large naval vessel hundreds of miles from any harbor, it is 
small wonder that it has been almost impossible to protect the islands effectively. 
PERIOD FROM 1912 TO 1917, THE 5- YEAR ZAPUSKA 
With the treaty of 1911 going into effect and a 5-year Zapuska or closed season 
decreed, the Russian authorities began to hope for better times for the Commander 
Islands seals. At the end of the Zapuska in 1917 it was estimated, though without 
any particular pretense whatever at exactness, that the Commander Islands herd 
would number 40,000 seals, and that by 1926 it would be possible to take at least 
18,000 to 20,000 bachelor skins. Unfoi'tunately these expectations were entirely 
too roseate and could only lead to bitter disappointment. 
The available material for a history of the Commander Islands fur-seal industry 
from 1912 to 1917 is rather scanty. The archives on Bering Island gave scarcely 
aiiy information of value. Colonel Sokolnikof continued in charge of the adminis- 
tration during this period, but as he was generally at odds with the officials in the 
Department of Agriculture at St. Petersburg the latter relied chiefly on their own 
"specialists." Finally, in 1915, the fisheries and the fur industry were organized as 
a separate administration with headquarters at Copper Island, independent of the 
district official. In 1917 the department in St. Petersburg again sent Mr. Suvorof 
to the islands for the purpose of taking the necessary steps for the resumption of 
seal killing after the expiration of the five-year closed season. 
These five years were on the whole quiet. The seals apparently were becoming 
more numerous. The increase in the number of bulls and males in general was 
