As early as the ninth century, we have accounts of the walrus being extensively fished for on the western coast of Norway. Prior to the institution of the Spitzbergen whale-fishery, the capture of this animal was an object of some commercial importance. It was at first attacked by the English, on Cherie Island, but being driven from thence, if not extirpated in that quarter, by the great slaughter that was carried on, it was then pursued to Spitzbergen. The earliest attacks made on it were very unsuccessful, but experience rendered the assailants more skilful, and, in one voyage, nine hundred or one thousand sea-horses were killed in less than seven hours. The Russians now, rather than the British, are their enemies.
With the exception of the head, the general form of the walrus is similar to the next animal which we describe, the phoca, or seal.
Several species of seals occur in the Greenland Sea, and resort to the ice in the neighbourhood of Spitzbergen and Jan Mayen, in immense herds; but, as the seal frequents the British coast, and is a well-described and well-known animal, I shall not particularize the well-known species that are met with in the Arctic Seas. Some few general observations only will be necessary.
Seals are generally fat in the spring of the year, and afford several gallons of blubber; even small seals will then yield about four or five gallons of oil. The voice of the young seal when in pain or distress is a whining cry, resembling that of a child. They appear to hear well under water; music, or particularly a person whistling, draws them to the surface, and induces them to stretch their necks to the utmost extent, so as to prove a snare by bringing them within reach of the shooter. The most effectual way of shooting them is by the use of small shot, fired into their eyes; when killed with a bullet they generally sink, and are lost. Seals are often seen on their passage from one situation to another in very large shoals. Their general conduct in such cases is such as to amuse spectators, and the sailors call such a shoal a “seal’s wedding.” The feet of seals are better adapted for motion in the water than on land. They feed on birds, crabs, and small fishes, and are very tenacious of life.
The uses of the seal are various, and to some nations highly important. It yields train-oil, and its skin is extensively employed in making shoes, and, when dressed with the hair, in covering trunks. To the Esquimaux the seal is everything. Its flesh is food, its fat gives light, and its skin, dressed so as to be waterproof, is used for covering for boats and tents, and for garments.
The Phoca vitulina is the common species in the Greenland Sea, especially near Jan Mayen. The hooded seal is common near Spitzbergen. The latter is longer than the former, and is said to grow to the length of ten or twelve feet. It is also much more formidable. Seals are not fond of the water, but, when on the ice, are extremely watchful, and secure their retreat either by reclining at the edge or by keeping a hole in the ice open for them. The young ones, however, are not so wary as the old folks. The best situation for the seal-fishery in the Arctic Sea is in the vicinity of Jan Mayen, and the best season March and April. The capture of the seal is the work of a moment. A blow with a seal-club on the nose immediately stuns it, and affords opportunity of making a prize of many at a time. Ships fitted out for the whale-fishery have accidentally obtained in April from two thousand to three thousand seals, and sometimes more; and vessels sent out for seal-fishery only, four thousand or five thousand, yielding nearly one hundred tons of oil. From the ports of the Elbe and Weser a number of sealers are annually dispatched, but few comparatively on this pursuit alone sail from Britain.
Of the dangers of the seal-fishery, arising from the liability to heavy storms at the season and in the place where seals are taken, the following narrative will furnish full illustration.
Fifty-four ships, chiefly Hamburghers, were, in the year 1774, fitted out for seal-fishery alone from foreign ports. In the spring of the year they met with several English ships on the borders of the ice, about sixty miles to the eastward of the island of Jan Mayen. While the boats of the fleet were in search for seals, a dreadful storm suddenly arose. Almost all the people who were at a distance from the ships perished. The Duke of York, captain Peters, had two boats at that time down. The crews of these by great exertion rowed up to the ship, got hold of the rudder rings, but were unable to make their way alongside; they held fast for some time, but the sea was too strong for them, and they lost their hold and fell astern. The chief-mate of the ship, seeing that they were too exhausted to recover their position, determined to attempt their rescue at the peril of his own life. He manned a boat with six stout seamen beside himself, and went to their assistance. On reaching them he exchanged four of his vigorous crew for two of the fainting men in each boat. Thus reinforced, the three boats, by the exertions of their crews, were brought to the stern of the ship; but while in this critical situation, a sea struck the boats, filled and overwhelmed them, on which the whole of their crews, nineteen men, perished. This was only a portion of the disasters of the storm. One ship foundered in a heavy surge, and all hands were lost. Another was wrecked on the ice, and all hands perished. Many boats and men were washed from several others, and the results were that about four hundred foreign seamen, and two hundred British, were drowned, four or five ships lost, and scarcely any escaped without damage.
To all those who navigate the treacherous ocean, especially to such as do business in such dangerous waters, it ought to be of more than ordinary importance to live in a continued preparation for death and judgment, and to be the servants of that God who
“—— rides upon the stormy sky