Seal Island

“ Here is the main entrance; do you notice anything peculiar about the roof?"
"Yes, sir," replied several of the lads. "There looks as if there's a deep notch cut across it."
"That is where the smugglers used to hang a painted canvas curtain from to deceive the revenue people. Viewed from seaward it was almost impossible to detect the mouth of the cave."
"But how was the tea carried there? There is no place for a boat to land at the foot of the cliffs."
"That was another smugglers' ruse. The contraband goods were brought ashore at the same place as where we first landed on Seal Island. ”

“ Leaving Seal Bay--from the south point of which we saw the principal dangers at this extremity of Bass Strait, Reid's rocks bearing East by South 1/4 South 12 miles--we coasted round the eastern shore and anchored off a sandy bay about the centre of the island. The only remarkable object was a rock, lying one mile from the shore and five from Seal Bay, on which we bestowed a name suggested by its form, Brig Rock. Off the north point of the bay in which we anchored lies a white rock or islet called Sea Elephant Rock, with a reef a mile off its north point. ”

“ This is the metropolis of the Fur Seal Islands, situated on the island of St. Paul—a handsome village of sixty-four neat frame cottages, with a large church, schoolhouse, and priest's residence, and a population of nearly three hundred Aleuts, and from twelve to twenty whites.
It is interesting to find here an isolated group of Alaskan natives wholly under white influence and control, and who have hi great part abandoned their own pursuits, clothing, and mode of life in general, and adopted that of the whites. ”

“ I am sure that, unless a vast abundance of good fishing-ground was near by, no such congregation of seal-life as is that under discussion on the Seal Islands could exist. The whole eastern half of Bering Sea, in its entirety, is a single fish-spawning bank, nowhere deeper than fifty to seventy-five fathoms, averaging, perhaps, forty; also, there are great reaches of fishing-shoals up and down the northwest coast, from and above the Straits of Fuca, bordering the entire southern, or Pacific coast, of the Aleutian Islands. ”

“ We push off, and the little trip to Seal Bay seems almost as exciting for us as the reading of a thrilling novel, for it is such a welcome change. The boat can approach quite near to land, where “Fram” cannot steer, as there are many sand-banks and rocks, unmarked on the charts. Lying in the sound just before we swing round and down the coast to the open sea is a little island no larger than the floor of an ordinary-sized room, ten or fifteen meters from Danskeöen. It is three or four meters high and has a skull-cap of snow, on which is perched a large sea-gull looking down at us. ”

“ Worsley suggested spending the night under the shelter of Seal Rocks, to which I assented, and we crept up under their lee, feeling our way carefully with the hand lead, finally coming to anchor in eight fathoms.
Seal Rocks is the name given to a group of very barren islets lying about a mile from the northern coast of Elephant Island. They are covered on the northern side with lichen, the only form of vegetable life which exists in these regions. They are the resting-place of a number of seabirds, and penguins go there after their fishing to sleep and digest their food. ”

“ A vivid realism of the fact that often truth is far stranger than fiction is strikingly illustrated in the life-history of the fur-seal: as it is the one overshadowing and superlatively interesting subject of this discussion, I shall present all its multitudinous details, even at the risk of being thought tedious. That aggregate of animal life shadowed every summer out upon the breeding grounds of the Seal Islands is so vast, so anomalous, so interesting, and so valuable, that it deserves the fullest mention ”

“ Are we in the Bering Sea?” Arnold sat down with a chuckle.
“The island is,” he told her.
“What islands are they, I mean, what are their names?”
“Don’t believe these have any because they are not very large, but they belong to the Pribilof group. I believe this is the farthest north and it’s a bit over three hundred miles to Alaska.”
“Thanks,” she said with a sigh. “It’s mighty nice to know where one is at. I was207 piloting for a woman called Pollzoff; and she fed me some kind of dope that knocked me out, then tied me up like a chicken ready to roast, and brought me to an island below here.” ”

“ The seals come up from the great North Pacific, and hence it will be seen that the rookeries of the south and southeastern shores of St. Paul Island receive nearly all the seal-life, although there are miles of perfectly eligible ground at Nahsayvernia or north shore. To settle this matter beyond all argument, however, I know is an exceedingly difficult task, since the identification of individuals, from one season to another, among the hundreds of thousands, and even millions, that come under your eye on one of these great rookeries, is well-nigh impossible. ”

“ At the present time, it breeds in great numbers in Labrador and Newfoundland, and in the winter migrates as far south as the Middle States. They feed principally upon fish, lay commonly two eggs, of a pale greenish color, overlaid with a white chalky substance.—Vide Cones's Key to Nor. Am. Birds. Boston, 1872. p. 302.
31. A cluster of islands now known as the Tousquet or Tusket Islands. Further on, Champlain says they named them Isles aux loups marins. Sea-Wolf Islands. About five leagues south of them is an island now called Seal Island. ”

“ Thus, in about a month’s time, from the shore right inland, the whole island is covered with male seals. And now the mothers arrive, coming to the islands that their little ones may be born. They are very much smaller, not much more than four feet long, lighter in colour than the fathers, gentle and inoffensive; and as they swim up to the island each father seal tries, by coaxing, pulling, and tugging, to persuade a mate to come on to his rock. If he succeeds he has then to keep her, for the sea lions behind, which cannot reach the sea, are on the watch to steal her. ”

“ Article XII It is agreed on the part of Russia that of the total number of sealskins taken annually upon the Commander Islands, or any other island or shores of the waters defined in Article I subject to the jurisdiction of Russia to which any seal herds hereafter resort, there shall be delivered at the Commander Islands at the end of each season fifteen per cent (15%) gross in number and value thereof to an authorized agent of the Canadian Government, and fifteen per cent (15%) gross in number and value thereof to an authorized agent of the Japanese Government ”

“ From 1803 to 1805 several small vessels visited the south and south-west coasts of New Zealand and carried off many thousands of seal-skins; but even by that date the seals must have been reduced in numbers, and the sealers had turned their attention to the Southern Islands. Thus in 1806 the American ship “Favourite” reached Sydney with 60,000 seal-skins, said to have been obtained on the “east coast of New Zealand.” As a matter of fact, they were taken on Antipodes Island. ”

“ On January 14, 1899, land—Balleny Island—was [Pg 307] sighted in latitude 65° 44' S. and longitude 163° 38' E., and the Southern Cross was soon fast in a pack. Advantage was taken of the opportunity to lay in a store of seal flesh for the dogs. Two varieties were met with on the ice, leopard seals and white seals, both so unaccustomed to the presence of man that the explorers had no difficulty in walking up to them and killing them as they lay on the ice. ”

“ Callocephalus vitulinus, Linn.—The Harbour seal, Freshwater seal, or Ranger (Kassigiak, Eskimo) , is common but not plentiful on all the coasts. It is found usually about the mouths of rivers, and in bays and fiords. It is also found in some of the larger lakes of Labrador and Baffin island. These lakes are often far inland and high above the present level of the sea, and there is no doubt that in a number of them the seals reside permanently. The young, unlike those of the other seals, are produced in July on the rocks about the banks of rivers. ”

“ Cape Barren Island, besides the kangaroo and wombat, is inhabited by the porcupine ant-eater; a rat with webbed feet; paroquets, and small birds unknown at Port Jackson, some few of which were of beautiful plumage. Black snakes with the venomous fangs were numerous upon the edges of the brush. The rocks toward the sea were covered with fur-seals of great beauty. This species of seal seemed to approach nearest to that named by naturalists the Falkland Island Seal. ”

“ The Seal Islands too, which were discovered to the southward of the colony, furnished about the same period, an extensive and lucrative employment for the colonial craft, and contributed not less than the sandal wood trade to the flourishing condition of this port. It was also about this time that the valuable whale fisheries, which the adjacent seas afford, were first attempted; but repeated experiment has proved that the duties which are levied, as well in this country as in the colony, on oil procured in colonial vessels, amount to a complete prohibition. ”

“ The only person on the island is the light-keeper. The islands are one vast menagerie. Birds of many varieties make their home here by swarms, and thousands of sea-lions and seals cover the rocks.
Sea Lion.—Page 213.
"What are sea-lions?" asked Harry.
A species of seal often as large as an ox, and weighing from two to three thousand pounds each. They make a very loud noise, a sort of moaning cry, like "yoi hoey, yoi hoey." The young seals are of a dark mouse color, but the older ones are of a light-brown. ”

“ There is barely a passage for a boat, and very shallow water outside of the distance of a cable and a half, where the centre drops suddenly into eight fathoms, close to the edge, and deepens fast from that outwards. But I was not particular about sounding far from it, as it came on to rain, and we wanted seal, as our fresh provisions had been out for two or three days; so we landed on the island, and found three mobs of seals asleep. There were from 30 to 40 in each mob, and there were a great many very young calves amongst them. These we wanted to get without killing the old ones. ”

“ For all that has been written concerning the Seal Islands, many very intelligent people have the vaguest ideas of their position, size, and condition, and few women who own sealskin garments even know that the scientist’s name for the animal that first wears that fine pelt is Callorhinus ursinus, or are acquainted 301with any of the other remarkable facts and statistics concerning the sealskin of commerce. ”

“ The seals found here are a distinct variety (Callorhinus alascanus) with much better fur than that of any other variety. Besides the fur seal there are blue and grey foxes (more on St George than on St Paul) , and on St George Island and on the Walrus reef there are great bird rookeries—the breeding places of immense numbers of gulls, sea-parrots, auks, cormorants and arries (Lomvia arra) .
The islands were first sighted in 1767 by Joan Synd, and were visited in 1786 by Gerasim Pribiloff, who discovered the fur seal rookeries for which they became famous. ”

“ In concluding this recitation of that wonderful seal life belonging to those islets of Pribylov, it is well to emphasize the fact that, with an exception of the Russian and American seal islands of Bering Sea, there are none elsewhere in the world of the slightest importance to-day; the vast breeding-grounds of fur-seals bordering on the Antarctic have been, by the united efforts of all nationalities—misguided, short-sighted, and greedy of gain—entirely depopulated ”

“ In the report of 1892 the British commissioners had no intention of indulging in humor when they suggested as one of the most desirable measures the setting apart of at least one of the two seal islands entirely for the purpose of breeding seals for pelagic sealers, no land killing to be allowed there.
Is it not time for the people of the United States to ask whether the game is worth the candle? Two considerations call for the preservation of the Alaska seals, the sentimental and the commercial. ”

“ Amongst such isolated places is the Tristan d’Acunha group; and, to Inaccessible Island as well as the other islets they come in countless numbers every year. Seal fishing is a very profitable concern; for, not only is the oil valuable, but the skins fetch the most extravagant prices in the market, especially those of the finer sort. ”

“ She had been at Preservation Island, where, and among the neighbouring islands, she had been tolerably successful in seal-catching. The master left 14 of his people on the island of Cape Barren, to provide as many skins and as much oil as they could against his return. Those with which he now arrived were in a few days sold by auction. ”

“ By the wise action of the government in reserving the seal islands and leasing them to a responsible company, the seal fisheries have become more and more valuable. The seals are increasing in number yearly, and more than the regular 100,000 could be killed each season without diminishing them to any extent, although to regulate prices the company has often taken less than the maximum number allowed in a season. Alaska seal is now the only seal in the market, since the rookeries of the Antarctic Sea have been so persistently hunted that the seals have become extinct. ”

“ The White Seal Oh! hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us, And black are the waters that sparkled so green. The moon, o’er the combers, looks downward to find us At rest in the hollows that rustle between. Where billow meets billow, then soft be thy pillow, Ah, weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease! The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee, Asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging seas! Seal Lullaby
All these things happened several years ago at a place called Novastoshnah, or North East Point, on the Island of St. ”