I'm not sure about the time of year. Hunting seems mainly to be during the breeding season in March-April, but that's because they were going for pups -- in the 19th century, that much-prized fur from baby seals was useless as they hadn't worked out how to stop the fluff falling out (though still used the skins). So presumably they hunted more adults in those days? The Irish Times article suggests April-May; even so, I calculated that it must be mid-May by the time of Christine's initial Lapp encounter, and Raoul can hardly have arrived back in Norway any earlier than that.
This article states that the season runs from January to September, although I think that may well refer to shooting on dry land...
Note that a sealer would probably bring the shipwrecked crew back to Tromsø rather than the Varanger Fjord, which might be a lot more convenient!
no subject
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Areas-where-Norwegian-sealers-hunted-for-seals-during-the-period-from-the-late-19th_fig2_284122496
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/norway-s-arctic-communities-lament-the-end-of-the-seal-hunt-1.3401745
I'm not sure about the time of year. Hunting seems mainly to be during the breeding season in March-April, but that's because they were going for pups -- in the 19th century, that much-prized fur from baby seals was useless as they hadn't worked out how to stop the fluff falling out (though still used the skins). So presumably they hunted more adults in those days?
The Irish Times article suggests April-May; even so, I calculated that it must be mid-May by the time of Christine's initial Lapp encounter, and Raoul can hardly have arrived back in Norway any earlier than that.
This article states that the season runs from January to September, although I think that may well refer to shooting on dry land...
Note that a sealer would probably bring the shipwrecked crew back to Tromsø rather than the Varanger Fjord, which might be a lot more convenient!