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III
'1,'/0
1919 - THo MAIN PATCH _ 1919
IS IT THE ONLY ONE?
( By H. F . Shortis. Hi~toriofrrapher)
We kno w from experience during the past six or seven years thHt vben the
eteaner-e str ike the se als a nd secure frOl'l one hundred e nd sixty to. one hundred
and eighty t housand the news froll t he f ront invariably vfnd e up 'oIit h t he r e mar k
that "the main patch is cut up" . Thu e t he question presents itself: Are those
the only seals on the oceen-c-de this the only large patch, and, acr-e i:Dporhnt
stl1l, do all the seals vhe'Ip at the one date and on the same i ce ?
This is the point that I
sha ll endeavor to unravel, my i nf ormat i on bAing
received froo the 1II0st experienced eeaLklLler-e of the paat. , and froll other
pract ical and experienced sealers vho are still 1n t he I 'Ienh Q!lIongst us . I n my
boyhood days I visited the hen sea of the old eea Idng maet.er-e end
lis t en ed loIith
the greatest attention to the Viking~ as they dfecuaeed the aovenent.e a nd lulbitl'
of the $e819 .
Many of those old See Kings ver-e vej.L educated, intelligent, as
well as practical men in their noble avocation i n life, and aede the sealfishery
a point of study . I t 18 true very few of the", placed their . i d ea ~ in 'Jr1ting,
which 18 much t o be r egre t t e d , a nd , beeadea, W8 had very fe y nev epa pe r-a published
in t.he c oun try in t hose days" even if they ve r-e ddapoeed to do !"I0 • They talked
OV~~ ~atter3 a t their own~-fu~~ide:oi and -:i·h61r-~onve~~ tlin --and P1c ttC~ 1 i deas
would be invaluable today, i f we only poeaeseed them in vr-Lt Lng ,
One old Sea King
in part icular cOm:Bitted hi e Ldea e a nd practical knovkedge to vri ting , but after he
retired f roo the prosecution of the sealfillhery his invaluable r e c or d dlsappeQred ,
and I could never a ecer-t.edn what had become of them . Thh old Viking JIl8intained
that the se a I vhe Iped t .vfce a year J on the Labr ador and Newfou ndland coaet, about
the . last of Febr-uar-y, a nd in the ne i ghborhood of Neve ZCMbla i n the f a r North,
durinp, t he summer . He l aughed 5lt the ideQ that the feraa Ie se a L would carry her-
~(A;pl"(bn/'; O~rr) t;:jl-!,~ ~ 0-P0-"J . ':£ 1/ (:' ,,;SIuxb~ /
III) :39D U.tt.- tIt& r 'km~ ~) ~ ·rfltJk.tUJ .