Our crew were of the worst type.1 The nerves of the steersman were entirely
destroyed with whisky, the second man was just recovering from a 1 bout,’ and
the third half an idiot, and although professing to know all about Seal we found
they knew little or nothing. Where the beasts lay up or on what islands was
quite unknown to them. Haskeir is divided into two groups— Haskeir Mor (Big
Haskeir), one big island, and Haskeir Beig (Little Haskeir), a clump of five little
isolated rocks which stand up out of the Atlantic like jagged teeth.
We rowed hard over a heavy ground swell for seven miles, and then, the
wind rising rather suddenly, we set sail and approached the big island, which
stands up like a great rock cathedral out of the ocean. With a little difficulty
Captain Skipwith and I landed, and after spying along the rocky ledges and
seeing nothing we started up the face to explore the rock. Enormous boulders are
strewn and littered round the base of the cliff; above, to some two hundred feet,
is a stretch of turf, riddled by puffin holes until it seems rotten to its foundation.
The birds, whose name is legion, came up in dense clouds from the sea, swirled
round above us, or swept seawards from their nests, dropping diagonally towards
the water, their red legs outstretched on either side of their stumpy tails. After
more climbing we passed over a wonderful rock bridge which overhangs a bore
of water which cuts the island almost in two. Ascending another hill we looked
into the west bay, where on occasion the Ron Mor were said to lie. N o ; nothing
there but a screaming colony of kittiwakes, guillemots, and shags; so we made
for the boat again and were within three hundred yards of it when I saw
a splendid old grypus come swimming along the side of the rock in perfectly still
water. Seeing one of the men leaning on the boat, and thinking the others were
ready to leap in and come at once if I made a successful shot, I got into position
to fire, and as soon as the Seal reappeared, as he presently did about eighty yards
off directly beneath me, I pressed the trigger, and there he lay on the surface with
the blood pouring in a jet from his big head. Mr. ‘ Pip,' as my brother-in-law
is called, at once stood up and yelled for the men. The callous individual who
had been indifferently leaning against the gunwale certainly awoke to a semblance
of activity, but where were the other two who had promised faithfully not to
budge an inch from the boat ? They were both far away up on the rocks taking
! The boatmen, half crofters, half lobster-catchers, of the Outer Hebrides are certainly the most indifferent seamen
I have seen in the British Isles. They are neither seamen nor hillmen, but hillmen forced to the sea and deteriorated by
living under insanitary conditions and intermarriage. - Yet in justice to the place there was one Macintosh who with his
crew were honest and trustworthy fellows, but unfortunately he was not discovered till too late to be o f any use.
a ‘ wee drappie’ and ‘ a bit smoke.’ I was nearly beside myself with excitement,
for the Seal continued to float high and well. He was a big fellow, about nine
feet, I should say. It was only after my active relation had nearly broken his
legs in rushing over the boulders and had hustled the men into the boat that
a start was made, just as the Seal began to settle down. The precious seconds
flew and the lumbering boat came along as the water lapped further and further
over the back of the dead animal and then met. Would they reach it in time ?
No. It has already commenced to sink— and that was the last we ever saw of
my first grypus.
With good boatmen this Seal would, of course, have been easily recovered, so
we just had to swallow our disappointment and try the southern rocks, where
there were sure to be Seals. As we left the big island another grypus followed
us for some distance, and several times came up within ten yards of the boat as
we sped along.
While we lay close to the three more northern islands of the southern group,
it was easy to see from their steepness that there was no lying place for Seals
there, so we sailed on expecting to find them on the western point of the southernmost
island, where the rocks were said to shelve. The boatmen were now
getting anxious because the wind was rising, and they said it would be impossible
to land near the desired spot, but I had no intention of going there at once, as
I had resolved to first spy the place from the neighbouring island, the ascent of
which looked and was quite easy. What a sight greeted my eyes from this point
of vantage. Twenty-five huge Grey Seals, nearly all big males, were lying huddled
on the western shore of the south rock, and well above where the surf was
breaking. No time was to be lost, as the sea was rising with the tide. Hurrying
down to the boat I told ‘ Pip ’ of my good fortune, and we resolved to land
and climb the southern rock from the east end, if possible, in spite of the
boatmen’s protests that no one had ever ascended the face before. There was
only one point where a landing was possible, and from there, so as to proceed
without showing ourselves or giving the Seals the wind, we must cross over the
top of the island and then descend on our game. The point of difficulty consisted
in ascending about eighty feet of sheer rock, and up this my brother-in-law went in
the manner of the born climber which he is. Once at the top it was not difficult
to say, ‘ Come along, Johnny, it’s quite easy’ ; and though I reached within ten
yards of the summit without experiencing any unusual sense of funk, yet on
meeting with one of those horrible projections that bend outwards instead of