Show newfound landsea le ra 1 t A dragging pelts to a sealing vessel prepared by national geographic society washington D C service the late spring each D DURING year st johns newfoundland Is a beehive of activity f for or the vessels of the famous new found land sealing fleet are returning from the northern seal hunting grounds sailing dates for sealing vessels are fixed by law and not by weather no killing Is permitted before march 14 nor after may L 1 at eight 0 clock in the morning march 7 st johns Is black with men on that day the sealing fleet weighs anchors and sails for the annual hair seal hunt the second most valuable fishery of newfoundland st johns men line water street and crowd the piers where the ships lie the heartfelt wishes of st johns and the whole island go with these men and ships as they move out of the harbor whistles scream godspeed bells ring out cannons fire salutes bunting flies on ship and shore boys and men race along the battery road cheering the ships to the narrows and beyond the sealing hands come from varl ous parts of the island some of them starting nv for st johns late in february it Is ahe the worst time of the year rough rough weather the men bid good by to their families and start out many on snowshoes enow shoes walking to trunk line railway stations st johns begins to fill up with them the first days of march they wear canvas jumpers over homemade guern sweaters moleskin or homespun trousers one to four red or white flan nel shirts and home knit heavy draw ers some wear sealskin caps and some e elsinore elsi nors or whalers which are leather wool lined caps with ear flaps their mittens are also homemade husky men are needed captains like to sign up men who frequent the open bays fishing and hunting birds and who are seasoned in the woods A man who has been drag ging a sled and lugging wood all win ter Is in fine fettle for the job ahead of him he hes S got good wind to go after the seals A man slogging ging seals has to be light footed running and jumping over the ice tee like a deer A big fellow with broad shoulders has to be followed around with a life belt he will be falling into the water all the time they want men light and nimble raw boned fellows small sometimes to get light the men take off every thing except their underwear and boots in order to follow fa fast st after the seals which can go as fast or taster faster than a good man running the day la Is appointed for the sign ing of the men the john doe will sign her crew at nine 0 clock says a placard on the office of the ship own ers men fill up the room and the clerk reads the where ases the wherefores the whys and the shares then the sealers put down their names or make male their crosses if they cant can t write each sealer then receives a ticket with his number and name on it and also a crop A crop Is an advance of a small sum of money some men send the money home others don dont t use it and others buy tea sugar belt sheath and knife skin boots oll oilskins skins or tobacco it if they think they are getting something for nothing some of the sealers will buy anything anything from a needle to an anchor the ship clears channel head and hauls up for cape ray the tee fee Is about ten miles offshore and the lop big sea hoves down from the north west the ship with engines wide open takes them green over the forecastle clean over the bridge in about 20 minutes she Is one solid block of ice with the coming of night the wind drops enabling the vessel to make the ice that is get under the weather edge of ice where the water smoothes here the craft lies iles until daylight next morning at the first crack of dawn it Is under way following the leads and open water ater and at length meeting the big level sheets of slob new I 1 ice ce for a while the ship makes good ress but on working in the leads begin to narrow and close up and the sheets get heavier not fur seals at last the lookout reports seals ahead where do these sells come from what kind of seals are they the seals on bilof islands in bering sea are different from the harps and hoods that are hunted off newfoundland the bilof Is a fur seal near relative of the sea lion and its skin is used for making ful coats worn by fair lad es to give them an air of distinction it hauls out on the land it pups or whelps on the land malle the harp and the hood haul out on the ice tee to give birth to their puppies newfoundland fisher men call it sea seal fishery because the atlantic seals live as much in the water as cod and haddock during the season of lent the sealers eat the hair seals just as they would fish capt hobert robert A bob bartlett a veteran sealer once said when I 1 tell girls about the large number of seals we get off newfoundland some of them ask why I 1 don dont t bring them fur coats I 1 fee like thirty cents know ing I 1 cant comply with their wishes well I 1 am sorry I 1 tell them but the seals we go after are the hair seals and all they are good for Is to make soap and pocketbook pocket bool s there are several different kinds of seals around the shores of newfound land and the gulf of st lawrence the square flipper the horsehead or gray seal the jar or ringed seal the bay or shore seal the harp and the hooded seal the harp and the hood are the two kinds that the new found land sealers hunt in their sealing vessels the first four varieties men cloned hang about newfoundland and other northern waters in small groups i but only the hood and the harp herds beat away to the northward and return to their whelping grounds in an an nual migration over 2000 miles of ocean harp Is the best seal the seal par excellence is the harp As an adult it carries a gray colored patch on the back shaped like a harp for which it Is named the harp yields more oil than the hood and the young are easy to handle because it gathers in close herds less time is required in hunting it after having been down to the banks the harps work northward to a vast sea eddy eastward of belle isle strait and also in to the gulf of st law rence to the west of the magdalena Magd alens now they are the sport of wind wd and weather of stormy march and ano until the coming of the airplane spotter the seal skippers had nothing but their own judgment and experience to bring them to the herd the harp seal seeks new ice tee that Is ice tee a few inches thick that forms in the open leads between the heavier ice tee only tn in new ice can tte the harp b bore 0 re bobbing holes and get to its young which are born on the new ice lee it the baby harp looks like a fluffy white muff with with two large liquid brown eyes peering out it Is as woolly as a gosling later the hairs become longer and whiter until in about 20 to 25 days the young seals roll the white coats off in their movements around the ice tee and become ra ragged razed zed jackets this white woolly coat is replaced by a hair coat covered with dark spots the size of an american quarter dollar in its first days the puppy seal Is helpless and dependent on its mother it whines like a baby the weight at birth is about seven pounds drink ing its mother s rich milk it puts on a pound to a pound and a halt half a day sealing Is a hard life men on board a sealer are jammed in as tight as sardines in a box par ticul arly in the smaller wooden vessels going out every available bit 0 of space Is filled with coal with ice fighting equipment sealers chests dunnage e bags and sealing gear and men as thick as flies around a molasses puncheon A sealer carries provisions for two months and a half 70 to 80 barrels of potatoes quintals of codfish 80 barrels of flour 35 barrels of pork many pounds of tea molasses to swe sweeten aten the tea butter turnips and beans contrast in menus could some of the old sealing crews take a look at what s going on now they would be shell shocked with won der they d think the fishery was ruined on account of luxurious living they had nothing but hard biscuit and tea pork and duff with little krease grease in the duff no soft bread whatever the men go overboard in gaps or watch crews 40 to 50 men in a watch the master watch is responsible for the working of the men and their safety each crew tries to beat the other crew and each man tries to beat the other man where the seals seau are fairly plentiful the master watch vatch raises a marker flag and leaves some men and then another flag and more men the mother harp goes down a bing hole as the sealer approaches young seals are saucy and wih come tor for a man until he snags them with his bat he lie turns the dead on its back and slits it down the belly then he carefully cuts the body away avay from the pelt which Is the skin with the white fat fastened to it and then cuts off the binder hinder daddies black flippers one or both front flippers may be removed |