Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/83

Rh shore than the Hooded Seals, and Capt. Adams, of the 'Esquimaux,' whose gunners made excellent practice, got something like 7600 old Harps and "Bedlamers" off Bonavista Bay.

Mr. Thorburn attributes the comparative failure of the fishery to the combined influence, first, of the gale on March 5th and 6th, which smashed much of the whelping ice (then very thin), drowning many young Seals and driving the heavy ice towards the shore in a compact body; and secondly, to the westerly winds accompanied by severe frost, which prevailed from March 10th to the end of that month, and forced the solid ice again off the shore, forming a barrier through which many of the steamers were unable to make headway until too late in the season for them to do much good.

Three vessels, the 'Iceland,' 'Nimrod,' and the 'Harlaw,' went to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but did not do very well, the bulk of the northern patch of Harp Seals in that locality having, it is presumed, been driven through the Strait towards Belle Isle by the strong westerly winds; what young Harps were got by the steamers are believed to have been taken from the southern patch, which is generally found inside St. Paul's and other islands in that neighbourhood, and as the large sheets of ice on which the young are whelped do not there, as a rule, break up until late in the season, it frequently happens that they cannot be got at. (See remarks on this subject in last season's notes, p. 42.)

Twenty-two steamers in all went to the Newfoundland sealing this season, but two of them were wrecked, leaving the number twenty, as last year. Of these the most successful was the 'Neptune,' which took 22,946 Seals; followed in succession by the 'Greenland,' with 20,197; the 'Labrador,' 16,973; 'Newfoundland,' 15,900; 'Walrus,' 13,038; 'Vanguard,' 12,593; and the 'Iceland,' 11,666; the remaining thirteen vessels were all under 10,000, the total catch being 187,516 Seals (as compared with 270,058 in the previous season), and the average of the twenty vessels, 9375. In addition to these some 22,000 Seals were taken by the schooners. No second trips were made. The estimated value of the produce landed from the steamers was £55,362 (compared with £74,712 in the previous season, not £77,824 as incorrectly stated).

The result of the fishery, notwithstanding a slight increase in the value of the produce, thus shows a deficiency of £19,350. The