The Wasp — 1892 — page 266: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts an elderly bearded man in 19th-century dress watering a small sailing ship labeled "CANADIAN SEAL POACHER" as if it were a garden plant. The title "Apprehensions" likely refers to fears about Canadian seal hunting practices. The figures in the background—including men at a fence and observers—appear to be witnesses or officials. The man's exaggerated care in nurturing the "poacher" ship suggests dark satire: he's deliberately cultivating or protecting illegal seal-poaching activity. The image critiques what The Wasp apparently viewed as someone's complicit involvement in or tolerance of Canadian seal poaching, a contentious 19th-century resource and conservation issue. The gardening metaphor implies deliberate, sustained nurturing of an illicit practice.