Canada

1899 · réf. 52956 — Victoria BC: Victoria Sealing Co. Dec. 27 1899. One albumen photo sized 3.75 x 4.75 in. mounted on thick board sized 4.25 x 5.25 in. sepia-tinted image minor scuffing edgewear very minor dustsoiling back still VG image. Scarce original albumen photograph of the sealing Schooner Penelope which began sealing voyages on the Pacific Coast in 1885 and continued till foundering off Clallam Bay WA in the Straits of Juan de Fuca in 1904. The image shows the Victoria Sealing Company schooner under full sail leaving Kyuquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island with buildings in the background. The sealing industry in British Columbia was under great pressure from the U.S. Government as it wished to protect its’ sealing monopolies in Alaska. See: Stephen Lunsford Agreement and Account of Crew for Schooner Penelope Univ. of British Columbia Library; Wright Lewis & Dryden’s Marine History of the Pacific Northwest pp. 210 450-51. Victoria Sealing Co., unknown