The following is my translation of an article called: Seehunde und Seehundsjagd von H. Philippsen. It appeared in a German popular science magazine, Kosmos Handweiser für Naturfreunde 1924, Heft 5, Seiten 120-124. The original version comes complete with some delightful illustrations, but this translation doesn't. However, you could always draw some. I'm not aware of any previous translation.
Trevor Dykes.

Seals and seal hunting by H. Philippsen
A visit to the sandbanks of the North Sea is especially interesting for hunters and nature lovers, and a hunter, who has never been to the North Sea and seen no seal in its natural environment, or killed one, can report nothing about the thrill of a seal hunt. The empty sandbanks and mudflats of the North Sea are the places where one can meet seals. However, their real home is in the sea. That is where they find their element. They only visit the land to sun bathe or give themselves up to quiet. They are common in the whole North Sea, namely in the eastern part on the German coasts, where the many sandbanks spread. But the Baltic Sea also houses seals. In the western Baltic they are very rare; but one hears, now and then, of fishermen, whose nets have been torn by seals. The coasts are quieter east of Rügen, and they seem to find that preferential; they are commonest there. They are not very shy of the proximity of people; one sees them lying quietly on the North Sea banks despite the large steamships passing very closely by.

Should seals be spoken of, then one usually accepts the Common seal as a representative, Phoca vitulina; but there are two further species living in the North and Baltic Seas: the Ringed seal, Phoca annellata (Additional note: P. hispida is now more generally used.), and the Grey seal, Halichoerus gryphus.

As far as I am aware, the Greenland seal has not been caught here in historical times, but it was during prehistoric time, as the remains from rubbish piles on the Baltic coasts attest. -The Grey seal is very rare but it reaches a significant size, and this means it cannot be mistaken for either of the other species.

The seals are fundamentally different from other aquatic mammals. Their spindle-shaped body is excellently suited for swimming, and their limbs have been adapted to swim feet. The eyes have a special membrane, ears and nostrils can be closed when diving. Sight and hearing are not well developed, the sense of smell, however, is exceptionally sharp. The dentition immediately denotes a predator. The canines are powerful, the cheek teeth are all similar, diagonally positioned with one large and a small cusp. The nose is peculiarly built. A light blow to the nose is enough to kill the animal. The head is round. If a swimming seal stretches its head out of the water and looks curiously around the area (Illustration 1), despite the round head and dark colour, it would require a very active sense of fantasy to imagine having seen a mermaid, let along a tempting siren. That was only possible for superstitious sea folk in earlier times, who willingly enjoyed enhancing their adventures. Today, nobody could believe it.

The seal could serve as well as the donkey for a symbol of laziness. Unless excited by matters of fertility, they will only leave the sandbanks when the rumbling of the stomach makes itself noticeable. Their greatest pleasure is to lie on the sandbanks, roll from one side to the other, and let the sunshine warm their fat bodies from all directions.

It would be incorrect, if one were to want to assume that their clumsiness and laziness gave signs of their mental talents; they are actually extremely clever. How they must be estimated was shown earlier by a visit to von Hagenback's zoo in Stellingen near Hamburg. Despite all, seals are unusually observant, but this perhaps first becomes apparent through personal experience. But already this adaptation speaks about their intelligence. As they lie so peacefully on the safe sandbank, there is always at least one taking on the duties of holding watch, and there will be an immediate warning at the slightest danger; if danger approaches, then they will all quickly flee, with a strange creeping movement, into the water. They will always select the parts of sandbank as resting places (Ill. 2) from which they can take flight into deep water within a few moments; this they could never do from a damp place. They all lie in the same direction on a bank, and always with the end of the tail towards the wind, and this means that they are always ready to recognise any approach of danger with their excellent noses. They see and hear very poorly in water, and keep themselves always at a safe distance, and swim around until the wind tells them of safety; and then they will also instantly leave.

The love life of the seal occurs on the sandbank. Pairs build here, mating takes place here, and here is where the pup first sees the light of the world and enjoys the first maternal attentions. A pup usually has milk teeth before the birth. The long hair of the young animals is gradually lost. The love of the mother for her heavy child is touching. Should danger threaten, then she pushes, pressures and encourages it into the water, and even knows, in some cases, to take it onto her back and carry it off to safety. The young seal does not know any danger. Should it have lost the mother, then it will walk bleatingly behind any being, even a person. One can very easily tempt it out of the water and even lead it home. His cries will then disturb the peace of the house, and the large, sad, pain filled eyes move even the hardest of hearts to sympathy. Should one have succeeded in suddenly overrunning a herd of seals, then it is easy to catch the young animals. Helped by a few, fleet footed boys, I once managed to catch three live young seals on a single sandbank near Föhr.

As clumsy as a seal may be on land, then the more so elegant it is in its element, in the water. It swims and dives superbly, lives swimming beneath the surface, and can cover long distances before having to come back to the surface again to breathe. It searches for its nourishment in the water, and this includes a very significant amount of fish. A seal requires several kilos of fish per day, so one can readily grasp why, if in the company of fishermen, the extinction of seals would be considered desirable. It catches its prey while swimming, and consumes it in the water. Once, I was able to observe the head of a seal from a ship, as it bobbed up from the water with a sole. The sole, however, was not conveniently positioned for the mouth: Therefore, it was tossed high, caught again and then consumed.

In the North Sea, the territory of the seal in particularly concentrated around the sandbanks of Amrun, Föhr and Sylt. Should one travel the narrow, winding seaways in this part of the sea on a sail boat, then it would not be rare, and often close to the ship, to see the black head of a seal appear and, with curiosity, to look up at the vehicle. The sandbanks here get completely flooded by high water.

The flat hairs of the fur immediately reflect the rays of the Sun, and this makes the animal appear to shine. Therefore, seal hunting is particularly successful in this area of the Sea; here, there are not only professional seal hunters about whom, as with lovers of hunting ways on the mainland, there are many legends and stories, which have lent them an indestructible glamour; sport hunters and Sunday shooters must also dare their way here from among the visiting bathers, so that they might, under the experience and supervision of a native hunter, fire an expensive and safe shot.

Given the watchfulness and intelligence of the animals, hunting seals is in no way always easy, and it requires an exact knowledge of the animals and their habits. Depending upon the circumstances, they are driven in a number of ways. With the simplest but least sporting hunt, one cruises through the seal area on a sailing ship, and waits until a head comes out of the water. A bullet can then quickly secure the prize. This form of hunting, however, is not very successful; then firstly, an inexperienced shot will mostly misjudge the distance, and the bullet will miss. And should it hit, then the seal will often sink before it can be recovered; only young animals float on the water.

The real seal hunt, as practiced by an experienced seal hunter, happens very differently. This takes place on the sandbanks. The hunter is also a capable sailor, who knows precisely how to handle their cutter in the dangerous shallows. They arrive at the sandbank with high water and drop anchor, but somewhat downwind so that the animals will not sense them. As soon as a bank is exposed from the water, they will row to the bank in a small boat, and lie down on the sand. One really has to have seen such a seal hunter as this cannot be described. He is dressed in an old, multi-coloured, restiched and grubby oilskin: with a cap on his head which hardly leaves his face free, his legs stuck into long sea boats or completely bare-footed. So he lies on the sandbank, and if it were not for the weapon, then one could mistake him for a seal. Such, however, is his intention. This is precisely what should tempt the animals out of the water. Sometimes, he will make adventurous leaps and movements imitating, in every way, a seal, and he knows that should the wind be favourable, he will quickly obtain his objective. Soon, a black head appears and the eyes inspect the bank; it sees a compatriot is already lying there. But bitter experience urges caution. The seal swims around coming gradually closer, no scent can be obtained, it feels itself to be safe and hurries to join its compatriot. The hunter lies completely quietly, the weapon cocked, but he does not shoot as long as the animal remains in deep water, where it would be killed and sink, but rather first when it has come onto the shore of the bank. A shot to the head is enough to be deadly. When the animal is injured, but still able to move (Illustration 3), then the hunter runs quickly to it and kills it with a blow from the boathook. Usually, a lad will soon arrive in a boat from the ship and take the prey off. Should the hunt have been unsuccessful, then attraction attempts will begin again. The tar smell of the clothing can confuse the seal; but if the sand is covered with the blood of a despatched animal, then no other animal will come near it during the ebb; it is necessary to quickly go to another sandbank to seek further hunting fortune (Illustration 4); but the best chance of success comes with teaching a sandbank directly as it is freed from the flow. The killed seal will usually be skinned immediately, work which an experienced hunter can rapidly take care of. The thick layer of fat is left on the skin, and first cut into chunks for cooking so as to obtain blubber oil; the skin becomes a pelt and, cleaned of fat and then tanned in the workshop, it is ready to be used as a bedside carpet. One gets an interesting view when the outstretched skin is washed in the sea; the oil causes the waves to flatten and, should the wind be blowing in the opposing direction, an area of glass-flat sea stretches far out, but with the waves piling high to its sides. A skilful seal hunter can take a number of animals during a single ebb. For a shooter from the mainland, it is the first priority to acquire a good seal hunter; no expense should be spared and no complaint is due if, as well as day money, a shooting bonus and target bonus must also be paid. The bedside carpet will later be rich compensation for all costs, and it will provide the evidence at home for an otherwise unbelievable sea yarn.

Almost as interesting, although hardly as visually impressive, is a hunt made without a boat and ship, and this requires an effort to reach the outer sandbanks by foot which, when one is not familiar with the muddy conditions, should never be done without a reliable guide. As one can first reach the banks comparatively late, the hunters on ships have often already fetched their prey; but even if there is no seal left to shoot, this method provides the best way of getting to observe the animals and their natural behaviour, and that is worth more than contributions to their eradication. In other respects, this hunt proceeds in a very similar fashion, except that one must pay more attention to the time and the tide, so as to be able to return to the firmer beach. The results of these hunts are often made put into doubt by the birds (Illustration 5), namely the Oyster catchers and terns; then, even should one manage to approach stealthfully enough to be unnoticed by the seals, one could never escape the notice of the shaped-eyed birds. As soon as these recognise a danger, an alarm cry is given and the seals dive into the water. Should birds be sitting near to seals, then the hunt is hopeless; but it is interesting to observe how the different animals in the wild -perhaps unintentionally- communicate with each other. An animal is sometimes obtained through all three of the hunting methods outlined: only the old animals sink immediately they are shot. Some wounded seals suffer greatly before they are fully released through death.

In the course of the summer, it also often occurs that a dead seal will wash up on the beach. The fur of such animals is mostly worthless; but local people will cook the fat to gain oil. In water, as stated, it is not possibly to follow a wounded animal, as can be done on dry land; but every hunter must only discharge a shot when all prospects of success are actually present. The protection of animals also forbids the infliction of unnecessary cruelty on seals.

Another hunting method which, as far as I am aware, is used on the Danish coasts but not on German coasts, involves driving strong poles into the ground in front of the resting places of seals, and fastening them together with interwoven wire. When the animals become accustomed to this new appearance, they will resume using the place but, upon leaving it, they get caught by the wire. These constructions may well sometimes be successful; however, it is to be assumed that these clever animals soon come to recognise the danger, and know how to avoid it.

On the German North Sea coasts there are seal hunters who take over a hundred animals in a year, and this secures them with a very good income, partly because the fishery also pays a premium for every seal killed. With certainty, there are some thousands of animals brought down every summer between the Ems estuary and Sylt. The nature lover will have the worried feeling that, given the slow reproduction of the seal, there could come a time when they will be rare, and the law must ensure the protection of a core population, perhaps by the establishment of a reserve, as has been the case for many species of bird.

Naturally, despite all hunting, the number of seals has not yet become lower; it even appears to have increased. Luckily for the animals, not all hunters are experienced shots, and many tourists, who also try their luck against seals as Sunday shooters, later find they have gained the dubious honour of never having managed to shoot a seal but, at most, a harmless seagull or tern. But it would be impolite to say so, and the main thing is that one 'has been on a seal hunt'. In any case, it would be a great blessing for the protection of nature, if the hunt on the beach and the sea had just as strict controls, as is the case for those on land.

An index of more of my translations of old Kosmos articles can be found at:

Kosmos Translations Archive

A number of Mesozoic (and post-Mesozoic) location summaries can be found at Localities.