This photo of the sealing schooner Diana, was taken in Quatsino Sound in about 1896 by Ben Leeson of Winter Harbour/Quatsino. Until the start of the first world war there was a thriving sealing industry in the Bering Strait, and about 50 vessels engaged in the fishery had their home port in BC. Many of the crews were Japanese Canadians. Indigenous people from the North Island were also recruited as crew on the sealing ships because they were good hunters with excellent ocean experience. West Coast Indigenous peoples generally were also experienced whalers.
Sealers would sometimes be away for months at a time, and could travel as far as to Japan on a seasonal trip. There are stories about some of the first people of European heritage to attend a potlatch in Quatsino Sound who were quite surprised to find Indigenous women dressed in kimonos, which had been obtained by men working in the sealing industry.
BC Archives H-04069
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