Seals congregating on ice floes are difficult to reach from land or open water. Many lives and ships were lost trying.

arly hunters killed seals near the shore, but in 1793 a St. John's merchant sent two schooners to the ice fields off Newfoundland. The success of that venture, and the demand for oil and skins in Europe led to the establishment of the commercial hunt.

Reduced seal stocks meant navigators had to penetrate deeper into the ice to allow hunters to reach the main seal herds. Ships were frequently trapped and crushed, even after steam-powered vessels with reinforced hulls were introduced. These "wooden walls" were in turn supplanted by steel-hulled icebreakers whose use for such purposes was pioneered in Newfoundland.

Sealing captains and crews became expert ice mariners and assisted in the exploration of polar regions.