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Rh to make one trip only, and must be back in St. John's by the first part of April. When the fields are entered they run head on into the floe, back away, then steam ahead to crush the "pans" or cakes of ice and force leads. At word from the captain the crew goes on the ice from different positions at day-break of each morning equipped with "gaff or heavy boat-hook, stout rope, 'sculping knife,' skin boots, warm cuffs, close-fitting working suit, and coloured goggles to prevent ice-blindness." The seals may be congregated miles from the waiting vessel. When they have been killed by blows over the head or by shots from a revolver, their fat-laden coats must be dragged over heavy ice to the spots where each vessel's catch is piled, the flag of the ship's owner being thrust into each mound to denote ownership until the lots are picked up and loaded on board. In 1910 one vessel, the Florizel of the Red Cross Line, secured 49,000 seals valued at over $90,000, this being a record catch. The Neptune, commanded by Captain Bob Bartlett, brought in 40,000 seals in April, 1913.

In the event of a blizzard arising when the men are on the ice, they may be isolated from the steamer over-night. Under such conditions forty-eight of the Greenland's crew were lost in March, 1898. In March, 1914, eighty of the Newfoundland's men perished from exposure. On the last day of that month in the same year, the Southern