136 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
all sail set. That was the last ever seen or heard 
of her. It was thought she had “ carried on ” too 
long, and then, in attempting to “ heave to,” had 
got swamped. Her captain was notorious for his 
recklessness in carrying sail. I saw his schooner 
once, when struck by a squall off Yetorup, on her 
beam ends, her sails lying flat on the water. The 
great breeze now gradually increased to a gale, 
which developed into a typhoon. We ran before 
it, and got into Muroran Harbour for shelter, where 
we anchored under the lee of a small island. 
On the 22nd the weather moderated, and we left 
for Hakodate, entering that port on the following 
evening. Our catch was sixty-four large and twenty- 
four small otters, a very good catch considering 
the short season we had, and that we were short of 
a hunter. Poor “ Old Joe ” was of no use as a 
hunter; he did not get one otter the whole season. 
Notwithstanding this, we kept nearly even with all 
the other vessels while we were on the grounds, they 
having secured quite half their catch before we got 
there. 
“ Old Joe,” whose picture is here given, was quite 
a character in his way. He came to Yokohama in 
the early days, when the foreign settlement was first 
located there (it was originally in Kanagawa). He 
often told the story, in his quaint way, of how he 
once owned a lot of land in Yokohama, it having 
been given to him when the Japanese were disposing 
of pieces of land to any foreigner who applied for 
one. The best lots were sold, whilst others were 
given away. He “ squatted ” on his lot, and ran a 
coffee-stall, which was on wheels, and “ Old Joe ” 
used to take it down to the hatoba (landing-place), 
