The Ice Hunters: A History of Newfoundland Sealing to 1914

Olaf Uwe Janzen is an associate professor of history at Sir Wilfred
Grenfell College at the Memorial University of Newfoundland.

This detailed history of the 19th-century Newfoundland seal fishery
argues that the industry was instrumental in defining Newfoundland’s
modern political and economic development. A lengthy introduction
surveys Newfoundland’s evolution as a fishing station and the origins
and early character of the seal “fishery.” Six chapters then focus
on markets, the Newfoundland economy to 1914, the vessels and ports
engaged in the seal fishery, the men who participated, the risks they
faced, and finally the significance of sealing in shaping
Newfoundland’s culture and identity. A conclusion recapitulates
Ryan’s findings, while an appendix provides extensive tables in
support of his conclusions.

The book says both too much and too little about its subject. Too much,
because Ryan’s description of the industry and trade is excruciatingly
detailed and is supported by an excess of overlengthy quotations; proper
editing would have shortened the book significantly without diminishing
Ryan’s analysis. Too little, because for all its detail, the book
raises numerous questions that are not answered and offers contentions
that are not convincingly supported by the evidence. For example, when
Ryan describes the eight companies that would eventually dominate the
sealing industry, he ventures no explanation as to why half of them were
Scottish by origin. Furthermore, when he defines the sealing
industry’s political impact, he says flatly that without the seal
fishery Newfoundland “would not have acquired representative
government.” It is a conclusion reached by reducing the complexities
leading to that acquisition in 1832 to a simple equation—“Merchants
not involved in sealing were, in almost all cases, opposed to
representative government in the 1820s, while the sealing interests
supported it.” Supporting analysis for this conclusion is not only
thin but brings the author dangerously close to a monocausal
interpretation of 19th-century Newfoundland history.

There are numerous other instances where the significance of the
sealing industry to the social, economic, and political history of
19th-century Newfoundland is overstated. As a detailed description of
the way in which the sealing industry functioned, The Ice Hunters is
truly impressive. As an interpretation of the industry’s significance
to Newfoundland history, the wise reader will it is a book that warily.