EXHIBIT F.
United States of America.
State of California, city and county of San Francisco, ss:
To all people whom these presents shall or may concern:
I, Harry J. Lask, a public notary in and for the State and city and county aforesaid, by letters patent, under the great seal of the said State, duly commissioned and sworn, dwelling in the city and county of San Francisco, send greeting:
Know ye that on the 18th day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two, before me, the said notary, at my office, in the city and county of San Francisco, personally appeared Charles Lutjen, master of the schooner Kate and Anna, belonging to the port of San Francisco (the said master having previously noted, in due form of law, his intention to protest), who, together with Daniel Clanssen, hunter and third mate, and Frank Morean hunter and second mate, belonging to the aforesaid vessel, being by me duly sworn on the holy evangelists of Almighty God, voluntarily and solemnly did declare and depose as follows, to wit:
That they, the said appearers, on the 1st day of March, A. D. 1892, set sail and departed in and with the said vessel from the port of San Francisco, having on board a hunting and fishing outfit, aud bound for the North Pacific Ocean, the said vessel being then stout, staunch, and strong, her cargo well and sufficiently stowed and secure, well masted, manned, tackled, victualled, appareled, and appointed, and in every respect fit for sea and the voyage she was about to undertake; that we proceeded on our voyage without disaster of any kind, and had been hunting seals until the 12th day of August, A. D., 1892, at which time we had on board 124 seal skins, which had all been taken in the North Pacific Ocean more than 30 miles south of the Copper and Bering islands, when on said 12th day of August, 1892, being then in said North Pacific Ocean, on the high seas, in latitude 54° 9′ north, longitude 168° 21′ east, by correct observation, we were ordered by the Russian cruiser Zabiaca to heave to, and the captain of our vessel was ordered to come on board of said cruiser, and to bring his papers with him.
I, the undersigned, captain of said Kate and Anna, then went aboard of the said cruiser; the captain of the Zabiaca told me that I could not prove by my log book that I had not got the sealskins in Russian waters, and he then took all my sealskins, 124 in number, confiscated them, and ordered me to stop sealing and go home.
I then protested against the seizure of the sealskins, and the captain of the cruiser then forced me to sign a paper in Russian, which I did not understand. I signed said paper under protest.
Captain Deleveron, of said Russian cruiser, signed a statement in my log book, of which the following is a copy:
“Schooner Kate and Anna was arrested in 54° 9′ north latitude and 168° 21′ east longitude, though not in Russian waters exactly, but she has been sealing at the sealing grounds of Commander Islands. The contraverse could not be witnessed by the log book, so the seals are confiscated; but the vessel was not taken, and got free.
“B. de Liveron,
”Captain of H. I. M. Russian Cruiser
‘Zabiaca.’
“August 12, 1892.”
I then, with my vessel and crew, sailed for the port of San Francisco, in accordance with the orders of said captain of the said Zabiaca, fearing that should I remain fishing in said North Pacific Ocean I would be further molested by said cruiser, and arrived in said port of San Francisco on the 23d day of September, A. D. 1892.
And the said appearers further declare that as all the damage and injury which already has or may hereafter appear to have happened or accrued to the said vessel, her freight and cargo, has been occasioned solely by the circumstances hereinbefore stated, and can not, or ought not to, be attributed to any insufficiency of the said vessel, the neglect or default of him, this deponent, his officers or crew. He now requires me, the said notary, to make his protest and this public act thereof, that the same may serve and be of full force and value, as of right shall appertain. And thereupon the said master protested, and I, the said notary, at his special instance and request, did, as by these presents I now do, publicly and solemnly protest against winds, weather, and seas, and against all and every accident, matter, and thing had and met with as aforesaid, whereby, or by means whereof, the said vessel, her freight, or her cargo already has, or hereafter shall have, suffered or sustained loss, damage, or injury, and for all losses, costs, charges, expenses, damages, and injury [Page 275] which the said vessel, or the owner or owners of the said vessel, or the owners, freighters, or shippers of her said cargo, or any other person or persons interested or concerned in either, already have been or may hereafter be called upon to pay, sustain, incur, or be put unto by or on account of the premises, or for which the insurer or insurers of the said vessel, her freight, or her cargo, is or are respectively liable to pay or make contributions or average, according to custom, on their respective contracts or obligations, so that no part of any losses, damages, injuries, or expenses already incurred, or hereafter to be incurred, do fall on him, the said master, his officers or crew.
Thus done and protested in San Francisco, Cal., this 18th day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two.
In testimony whereof, as well as the said appearers, as I, the notary, have subscribed these presents, and I have also caused my seal of office to be hereunto affixed the day and year before written.
Frank Morean, Second Mate and Hunter.
Daniel Clanssen, Third Mate and Hunter.
[seal.]