Ten Gales, Three Lost Schooners, and a Widow Who Wasn't

The many dangers attending the life of a seal hunter in the Japan and northern waters are graphically set forth in an interview of a Post-Intelligencer reporter with W. G. Emery, a seal hunter just returned from an eight months' voyage in Bering Sea. His schooner belonged to the fleet that was the first to use spears instead of guns, in accordance with the terms of the Paris arbitration, and according to Mr. Emery the showing is a decided improvement, and with a little practice the spear will prove much more profitable to the sealers than the gun. Mr. Emery also gives some interesting news relative to the losses among the sealing fleet of men and boats.

Mr. Emery was one of the hunters of the schooner Ora, that sailed from Astoria, Or., January 1, 1894, for the Japan coast, and arrived yesterday from Victoria, where the schooner landed September 6 with 1,256 skins, which is considered a little above an average catch. Mr. Emery is on his way to Spokane to see his family, which is there, though his home is in Portland. His trip was an unusually rough one. When they left Astoria they went to the south of the Hawaiian islands in order to avoid the storms of the northern passage and catch the northeast trades. These trades carried them through to the Japan coast, but just before reaching that coast they were struck by the heavy gale of February 22 that nearly foundered the United States man-of-war Marion. After reaching Yokohama, reports were received there daily of the losses of boats, and many schooners came in disabled. This gale was a forerunner of what the season was on the Japan coast.

Mr. Emery said: "Our schooner encountered ten heavy gales during that season, which is something extraordinary. This rough weather was the cause of the loss of several schooners. I know of three that were lost with all hands on board. The first was the Mascot, a San Francisco schooner. We sighted her about March 22 or 23, bottom side up, with her boats all lashed on deck, as far as we could tell. I was alongside of her and could plainly make out her name and see her boats on her sides. We afterward spoke a whaler, the C. W. Morgan, of New Bedford, which, after getting her latitude from us, went and attempted to right the wreck. They succeeded in getting her around sufficient to identify her, and found that everything was on deck, showing that none of her crew had succeeded in escaping. While we were working with her the tackle broke loose and the wreck went out of sight. The Mascot was a new schooner, about seventy-six tonnage gross, hailing from San Francisco, and Capt. Charles Hageman was her master. I know for certain that among her hunters she had William Crocker, of San Francisco; the others I am not certain of.

"The second schooner was the Matthew E. Turner, of San Francisco. She was capsized during the typhoon of April 24, the most severe ever experienced by the sealers on that coast. She was sighted upside down by the Willard Ainsworth, a Seattle boat, which reported it to us. None of her crew have ever been heard of since. The third schooner was the Unga. I am not certain whether San Francisco was her port. Wreckage bearing this name was found by a number of schooners in the track of this typhoon, and nothing has ever been heard of her crew. Several more schooners are known to have left for the Japan coast that have never been spoken or heard of by the sealing fleet, but it is not known for sure what their fate is. The three mentioned are the only ones known as lost for a certainty. The rumors in regard to the Rattler and Sadie Turpin, of San Francisco, and the Enterprise, of Victoria, having been lost, were erroneous. These schooners were spoken by us after the date of their reported loss.

"The evil of such wild rumors is best illustrated by the sad tragedy that followed the receipt of such a rumor. The wife of one of the hunters who lived in Victoria committed suicide on hearing the report that her husband had been lost, while in truth her husband was alive and well. In addition to the losses of these schooners many boats were lost while away from their schooners hunting. Some succeeded in making land after enduring great hardships for as much as five or six days, while one crew, composed of the captain of the Retriever and his two men, spent eight days in an open boat before being picked up. We picked up one boat, capsized, that belonged to the schooner Agnes McDonald, of Victoria, whose hunter was Charley Williams, of Victoria. He and two sailors were lost. Many other such were reported lost, and I think it would be safe to say that eight or ten crews were entirely lost, as they have never been heard from since.

"After this, on April 19, myself and N. L. Guttormsen, another hunter from our schooner, each with a boat and crew, started out and became lost through a haze. We lost the bearing of our schooner, and after sailing around all night we were fortunate enough to be picked up by another schooner, the Penelope, of Victoria, towards morning, and we remained on her for exactly one month before we picked up our own schooner. This goes to show how cautiously reports of losses should be considered.

"After hunting along the Japan coast as far as Scotan island we started for Copper island, in Russian waters, but were blown by a gale 300 miles to the eastward of her, and our water tanks springing a leak we put in for water at Attu, the most western part of the United States on the Aleutian islands. While there we were informed by a naval officer stationed there that we would be allowed to hunt in the Bering sea according to the terms of the Paris arbitration after July 1, with spears only, the same as the siwashes do. We proceeded to Bering sea, prepared our spears, and on the first of August entered the sea.

"Out of the twenty-eight days we were in Bering sea the wind was so strong that we were only able to lower boats during five days, in which time we succeeded in spearing ninety-four seals. Had we had good weather the seals were plentiful enough to have given us at least 100 skins to the boat. The result of this spearing experience has convinced me that the white man can, with a little practice, become superior to the Indian in handling the spear. One afternoon we got thirty-five, which would not be a bad half day's work with a shotgun. The spear has many advantages: first, cheapness; second, certainty, as when a seal is once hooked it cannot possibly get away, while with a gun, if we don't kill them, we have a bad chase, especially if they are slightly crippled; and last, safety, where there is no danger of any accident such as is liable to happen in handling firearms.

"Joe Knapp, one of the hunters on the wrecked schooner Henry Dennis, of Victoria, who reported overboard at Hakodate about the middle of May, had remained with the vessel until the latter part of the month. He is now at home. He had an experience in an open boat, with only a small supply of provisions, before he succeeded in making the land."