Makah Sealers Face Forfeiture
Federal authorities move to seize two schooners owned by Makah sealers for violating international sealing regulations off Cape Flattery.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The schooners Puritan and C. C. Perkins, owned by Makah Indians of Neah Bay, have violated the provisions of the sealing regulations, and the authorities are preparing to take steps for their forfeiture. After being warned, the Indians took the schooners thirty miles west of Cape Flattery and sent crews sealing in open boats. At night they returned the catches to the vessels. This was repeated several days. The Perkins took 239 seals and the Puritan eighty, which were landed and sold at Victoria, B.C. The revenue cutter Corwin is investigating and the district attorney is preparing to prosecute the case.
“The schooners Puritan and C. C. Perkins, owned by Makah Indians of Neah Bay, have violated the provisions of the sealing regulations.”
This incident highlights the intense conflicts over treaty rights, maritime sovereignty, and resource management that defined the late 19th-century relationship between the federal government and Northwest Indigenous nations. The Makah Tribe's long, complicated fight for their ancestral sealing and whaling rights is a cornerstone of modern tribal sovereignty litigation in Washington.
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