big fellows—nine and eight feet, respectively. Others ranged 
at six feet eight inches, six feet six inches, and less. 
“The hunting of seal in the ice is interesting and excit¬ 
ing,” Mrs. Bettie F. Holmes recounts, in The Tog of the 
Laura. “When a seal is located on a floe, the ship at once 
stands by. Rifles and ammunition are always in readiness; 
the hunters and sailors get into the seal boat, as she hangs 
FLENSING THE SEAL 
on the davits ready for lowering at a moment’s notice in 
pursuit of game, and are down and away into the ice with 
wonderful rapidity. The seal boat carries three hands, is 
twenty-one feet long by five feet six inches beam, and is 
strong and swift to row. A strip of zinc sheeting about two 
feet wide covers the boat from the water-line up, to resist 
[51] 
