A. E. Nordenskiöld

The latter statement however is undoubtedly incorrect; for, in the course of the many inquiries I made of the natives, I obtained distinct information that living sea-cows had been seen much later. A creole (that is, the offspring of a Russian and an Aleutian), who was sixty-seven years of age, of intelligent appearance and in the full possession of his mental faculties, stated “that his father died in 1847 at the age of eighty-eight. He had come from Volhynia, his native place, to Behring Island at the age of eighteen, accordingly in 1777. The two or three first years of his stay there, i.e. till 1779 or 1780, sea-cows were still being killed as they pastured on sea-weed. The heart only was eaten, and the hide used for baydars. In consequence of its thickness the hide was split in two, and the two pieces thus obtained had gone to make a baydar twenty feet long, seven and a half feet broad, and three feet deep. After that time no sea-cows had been killed.”

There is evidence, however, that a sea-cow had been seen at the island still later. Two creoles, Feodor Mertchenin and Stepnoff, stated, that about twenty-five years ago¹ at Tolstoj-mys, on the east side of the island, they had seen an animal unknown to them which was very thick before, but grew smaller behind, had small fore-feet, and appeared with a length of about fifteen feet above water, now raising itself up, now lowering itself. The animal “blew,” not through blowholes, but through the mouth, which was somewhat drawn out. It was brown in colour with some lighter spots. A back fin was wanting, but when the animal raised itself it was possible, on account of its great leanness, to see its backbone projecting. I instituted a through examination of both my informants. Their accounts agreed completely, and appeared to have claims to be regarded as trustworthy. That the animal which they saw was actually a sea-cow, is clearly proved both by the description of the animal’s form and way of pasturing in the water, and by the account of the way in which it breathed, its colour, and leanness. […] As these natives had no knowledge of Steller’s description of the animal, it is impossible that their statement can be false. The death-year of the Rhytina race must therefore be altered at least to 1854.