Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

STATE OF NEW YORK,

NEW YORK, December 6, 1892.

City and County of New York, 88:

On this 6th day of December, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two, before me personally appeared Alfred Fraser, to me known and known to be the individual described in and who executed the foregoing instrument, and he acknowledged to me that he executed the

same.

[SEAL.]

EDWIN B. WOODS, Notary Public, Kings Co., Certificate filed in N. Ý. Co.

Alaska fur-seal skins sold for account of the Alaska Commercial Company.1

[blocks in formation]

Looking over the invoices of sealskins shipped by the Alaska Commercial Company from 1872-275, I find the smallest number of skins in any one cask in each of these years of—

1872, 46 skins, weighing 568 pounds, or 12 pounds per skin.

1873, 39 1874, 46 1875, 54

[ocr errors][merged small]

144

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

66

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

6614

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

677

[ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]

The gross weights above given include cask, skins, salt, and string. The annexed memorandum shows the average weight of all skins shipped by the Alaska Commercial Company.

There may have been, especially in the early years of the lease, a few bundles of skins from the Pribilof Islands weighing as much as 60 lbs., although I never remember seeing any of this weight.

ALFRED FRASER.

Average weight of Alaska salted fur-seal skins shipped to London.

[blocks in formation]

This is compiled from the press copy referred to in the foregoing statement of Alfred Fraser.

CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW YORK, 88:

On this 28th day of December, 1892, personally appeared before me Alfred Fraser, the person whose name is signed to the foregoing, and acknowledged to me that he executed the same.

[SEAL.]

EDWIN B. WOODS,

Notary Public, Kings Co.; Certificate filed in N. Ý. Co.

STATEMENT OF C. W. MARTIN & SONS, LONDON, ON THE COMPOSITION OF A CERTAIN PELAGIC CATCH OF SEALSKINS.

[C. W. Martin & Sons; telegraphic address, Tinmar, London.]

4 LAMBETH HILL, QUEEN VICTORIA ST., E. C.,

London, December, 1892.

We have made a careful examination of the sex of each one of the fur-seal skins designated in the annexed report and hereby certify the correctness of the results given therein. We are of [the] opinion, based upon the numerous holes found in them, that almost all, if not all, of these skins were taken from seals which were killed in the sea by shot or spear. We are informed by Messrs. C. M. Lampson & Company that these skins were received by them for account of the Russian Government through their Mr. Fraser, to whom they were consigned, in the latter part of the summer of 1892, at San Francisco, from Petropavlovsk by the Russian Sealskin Company. The casks in which they were received, were numbered one to twenty-one, and were marked as follows: "R. S. S. Co. G"

C. W. MARTIN & SONS.

Report on 1,028 salted fur-seal skins as to sex, examined November 16th, 22d, and 23d, 1892.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

REPORT OF SPEECH MADE BY ONE OF THE BRITISH BERING SEA COMMISSIONERS.*

SIR GEORGE BADEN-POWELL AND THE BEHRING SEA QUESTION.

Speaking last night at a meeting of his constituents in the Kirkdale Division of Liverpool, Sir George Baden-Powell gave an account of his mission to the Behring Sea. He said that Lord Salisbury told him it was a very difficult, complex, and delicate question; that, above all things, he wanted to avoid war with the United States, but that at the same time he wanted to be strong, to show no fear in his policy, but to show that he was not going to yield one jot or tittle of British rights. [Loud cheers.] But Lord Salisbury had an additional purpose in sending him there. Three or four years ago the Americans seized some British vessels, imprisoned the captains and crews, and fined them for taking fur-seals out of the high seas. This country, of course, promptly denied that these vessels were acting illegally, and last summer and autumu, by their work in the Behring Sea, he thought they had finally brought that awkward dispute, which might have resulted in war, to arbitration, and it was his conviction that this country would win in that arbitration. [Cheers.]

He spent three months in the Behring Sea investigating the full facts. When he arrived there he found three British men-of-war and seven American Government ships, the latter with instructions to seize the British sealers if they attempted to seal; but the British Commissioners were able, without any breach of the peace, to make satisfactory arrangements which enabled the British sailors there to take home what seals they had got. [Cheers.] He had some difficulty in getting at the full facts of seal life on the American islands, but he managed to become good friends with the Americans, and parted with them affectionately after finding out all the facts. He discovered that no one knew where the seals went to after leaving these American islands, and he accordingly arranged that the three men-of-war placed at his service and the transport steamer which carried himself should explore all these seas. He thought they acquired, as a result of that exploration, all the facts as to the migration of the seals-facts never before known. To do this they had to go through a great deal of rough work; the weather was cold and there was usually fog, except when there was a gale, but somehow or other he found his body thoroughly suited to these elements, perhaps more so than to the House of Commons. [Laughter.]

Lord Salisbury had been good enough to say more than once that what was done in the Behring Sea greatly exceeded his expectations and those of her Majesty's Government. [Cheers.] The investigations they had made were important, but the friendliness they had estab lished with the Americans and the Russians had yet to bear fruit, and Lord Salisbury was now very anxious that he should go back at once to Washington, there to consort with officials of the American Government, and to come to a joint agreement with them in view of the approaching arbitration. He was to leave on Saturday next, but he hoped to go back after two or three weeks' work in Washington, and to be able to report that the negotiations were as successful as the investigations. He was happy to say that both sides had not only

* Extract from the London Times of January 6, 1892.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

agreed to leave the question to arbitration, but had agreed on the details of the arbitration, and he was convinced that all right-thinking public men, both in America and this country, were delighted to find that this serious bone of contention was to be put out of sight in such a happy and peaceful manner.

DECLARATION OF SEIZURE OF THE BRITISH SCHOONER MOUN-
TAIN CHIEF.

BY THOMAS NELSON, Commander, U. S. Navy.

I, Thomas Nelson, commander, U. S. Navy, commanding U. S. S. Adams, 3rd rate, do hereby declare that, on the twenty-ninth day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, in latitude 54-57-09 N., longitude 170-18-30 W., I seized and took possession of the schooner named Mountain Chief, of Victoria, B. C., whereof Julius Mohrhouse is master, and James Newasscunis, the registering managing owner, with all her crew, equipment, stores, and every article of whatsoever nature on board of her; the said schooner and her crew being then and there employed in taking seals in Bering Sea.

On the arrival of the boarding officer, Lieutenant D. W. Coffman, U. S. N., on board the schooner, he found seven seals on her deck, which had not yet been skinned, and six of which were females, a number of skins in the schooner's hold, and implements for taking seals, including two Indian boats or canoes; and further, that at the time of boarding the said schooner Mountain Chief one of her boats, with two Indians, was out and did not return to the schooner until after the seizure had been decided.

(Signed)

THOS. NELSON, Commander, U. S. Navy, Commanding U. S. S. Adams. True copy from the records of the Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department, Dec. 27, 1892.

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

F. M. RAMSAY,

Chief of Bureau.

« AnteriorContinuar »