56 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
p. 724) when he states that he “was on the lirst sehooiier that raided Eobbeii Island, 
the Matinee^ fitted out by H. Liebes, T. P. H. Whitelaw, and Isaac Leonard,” of San 
Francisco. 
In 1881 a number of schooners again hovered around the island, waiting for the 
guard- shii) to leave, even as late as November. About the first of that mouth Mr. E. 
P. jMiner arrived in the Annie Cashman and met three other schooners there. “We 
went ashore and clubbed the seals. Our schooner’s share Avas 800 skins.” (Fur Seal 
Arb., YiH, p. 701.) Those four schooners, therefore, probably secured about 3,200 skins. 
This feature of tlie schooners raiding in concert is well worth noticing. Oaptaiu 
Folger corroborates it: “ We Avorked together, ami the schooners Avould divide U]).” 
The latter also mentions how the schooners succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the 
guard-ship and making raids during its absence: 
AVe liiid the guard [i.e.,the Aleut workiiieu] iu our pay, and wlioii tlie Leon, wliicli had heen sent 
there to guard tliei)lace, would go away, lights would he put out, aud we would come over from Cajie 
Patience, where we had men on the lookout constantly, or if wo got impatient the fastest sealer in 
the fleet would go there and be chased hy the Leon (a sailing vessel), aud the others would make the 
raid. (Fur .Seal Arh., Ann, p. 603.)' 
The experience of the authorities Avith the raiders in 1881 led to more vigorous 
attempts to protect the rookeries. The first step Avas the issue of the consular Avarning 
referred to in detail elsewhere in this report (chapter on Eaids of Commander Ishtnd 
Eookeries, p. 120), aud to enforce it a stronger force of natives Avas sent to the island 
in 1882. They were Avell armed and under the command of a non-commissioned kossak 
officer. The proclamation and the presence of patrolling men-of-Avar had evidently 
some restraining effect upon the pirates in so far as the Commander Islands were 
concerned, but the result Avas only that the raiders concentrated their efforts on 
Eobben Island. At least 13 schooners hovered about that rock in 1882, and, embold- 
ened by the iirevious success, they actually carried tlie island by armed force. As 
the greatest loss to the island usually was indicted after the guard-ship had left iu 
autumn, most of the raided seals being females and young ones of both sexes, it was 
determined that the guard should Avinter there, and the men consecpiently remained 
Avhen the Leon s:iiled. Shortly after, 6 schooners anchored off the island and each 
landed 10 well-armed men. The Aleuts, thus outnumbered, did not dare resist, and 
AA^ere locked up in the house. The creAvs of the schooners then quite leisurely went 
about the clubbing of the seals. It is probably to this raid that E. P. Miner, schooner 
(Home, refers when stating that the raiders “landed and killed about 12,000 seals” 
(Fur Seal Arb., viii, p. 701). The natives, being thoroughly intimidated and seeing the 
smoke of a steamer, took to their boat and made for it. It proved to be Philippeus’s 
supply steamer Kanwhail'a, on its return tri)) along the Okhotsk coasts. TOe men 
Avere taken to Korsakovski, a port near the south end of Sakhalin, and Avintered there. 
Tins is the story of the kossak and natives. On the other hand, it has been 
asserted that they Avere bribed. So far as the result is concerned, it matters very little 
which story is the true one. The rookery Avas now becoming so depleted by illegal, 
reckless, and indiscriminate slaughter that it was seriously considered by the authori- 
1 So bold did the scboouers become that when Lientenaiit Sliamof, of the cruiser Ilasboinik, in 1884 
sent to guard Robbeu Island, landed near Cai>e Patience, Sakhalin, on May 21, be found there two 
sheds containing about 1.5,000 pounds of salt, etc., three skid's, and a wlialehoat, and six Japanese, 
the whole outdt belonging to a schooner from Japan, of which a certain .Johnson was said to be the 
captain (Auslaud, 1885, pp. 536-537). 
