Show hunt for seals one of ahr thrills 11 S giants of newfoundland get ready to sail on uncertain quest st johns newfoundland frecking little of small profits or disasters the husky giants of tile the northern outposts have cast their fortunes again with the sealing fleet that sails away each march to the Ice fields they find this annual search tor for the wealth of 0 the ice pans the chief outlet for a spirit of adventure inherited from their seadog sires of elizabethan days eleven steamers carry the battalion of seal killers this year slow and clumsy these them men appear r as they walk along the waterfront streets selecting from the shops their scanty requirements for the voyage a sheath heath knife a steel a pair of skin boots a cap with ears and little else excited as schoolboys their prosaic mien reveals little either ot of agility or thought of adventure but when uben the word Is passed to cast off and made tor for sea they are as full of excitement as a crowd of schoolboys as active as acrobats they must be active and alert tor for sure and quickness to act means life this year an airplane piloted by colln colin caldwell a canadian aviator has been enlisted to operate from the land hind aud and help the ship locate the seal herds first in the gulf ot of st lawrence later on the Nor northeast theat coast year after year the main patch comes jut of the north on tile the breast of tile the arctic current the aviators findings are sent to the fleet by radio seals some square flippers ten and twelve feet ion long and weighing as much as aa 1500 1100 pounds others harps and hoods whose young weigh as little as aa 45 pounds are the game of the hunters wido wide variation in profits fortunes vary last year the shares of men on different ships ranged from 85 to the year before it varied fro a down to 1228 depending upon the amount of tat fat brought into port the hazards the men run for their uncertain reward include blizzards treacherous trails arld and destruction of ships by storm and ice in 1898 1803 a blizzard brought death to 48 43 men of the crew of the greenland in 1914 the southern cross returning to port was lost with men in the same year 77 of the crew of the S S newfoundland were unable to regain their ship when a blizzard overtook them and next nest day they were found frozen to death such disasters however prove no deterrent to this race of men for generations they have found the call of the frozen seas irresistible |