CHAPTER VI.
THE
SWARMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.
1743-1762.
One would think that, with full knowledge
of the sufferings and dangers encountered by Bering’s and Chirikof’s expeditions, men would hesitate before risking their lives for otter-skins.
But such was not the case. When a small vessel was made ready to follow the
course of the Sv Petr and the Sv Pavel there was no lack of men to join it,
though some of them were still scarcely able to crawl, from the effects of
former disaster. As the little sable had enticed the Cossack from the Black Sea
and the Volga across the Ural Mountains and the vast plains of Siberia to the
shores of the Okhotsk Sea and the Pacific, so now the sea-otter lures the same
venturesome race out among the islands, and ice, and fog-banks of ocean.
The
first to engage in hunting sea-otters and other fur-bearing animals, east of
Kamchatka, was Emilian Bassof, who embarked as early
as 1743, if we may believe Vassili Berg, our best authority on the subject. Bassof was sergeant of the military company of lower
Kamchatka, whose imagination had become excited by the wealth brought home by
Bering’s crew. Forming a partnership with a merchant from Moscow, Andrei Serebrennikof, he built a small shitika which he called the Kapiton, sailed to Bering Island, passed the winter
there, and returned to Kamchatka in the following year. A second voyage was
made the following July, with Nikofor Trapeznikof as partner, the same vessel being employed.
Besides Bering Island, Bassof also visited Copper
Island, and collected 1,600 sea-otters, 2,000 fur-seals, and 2,000 blue Arctic
foxes. From this trip Bassof returned on the 31st of
July 1746. A third voyage was undertaken by Bassof in
1747, from which he returned in the following year, and embarked for a last
voyage in 1749.
All
was still dark regarding lands and navigation eastward. But when Bassof’s reports reached the imperial senate an oukaz was forwarded at once to the admiralty college
ordaining that any charts compiled from Bering’s and Chirikof’s journals, together with their log-books and other papers, should be sent to the
senate for transmittal to the governor general of Siberia. The admiralty
college intrusted the execution of this order to the
eminent hydrographer Admiral Nagaïef, who finally
compiled a chart for the guidance of hunters and traders navigating along the
Aleutian Islands.
Bassof was scarcely back from his first voyage and it was noised abroad that he had
been successful, when there were others ready to follow his example. A larger
venture was set on foot early in 1745, while Bassof was still absent on his second voyage, under the auspices of Lieutenant Lebedef, he who had married Croyère’s widow. While in command at Bolsheretsk he issued a
permit for a voyage to the newly discovered islands, on the 25th of February,
to the merchants Afanassi Chebaievskoi of Lalsk and Arkhip Trapeznikof of Irkutsk. Their avowed purpose was to hunt sea-otters and make discoveries
eastward of Kamchatka. Associated with them were Yakof Chuprof, Radion Yatof, Ivan Kholchevnikof, Pavel Karabelnikof, Larion Beliaief,
Nikolai Chuprof, Lazar Karmanof, and Kiril Kozlof. They built a large shitika and named it the Yevdokia. As morekhod, or navigator, they engaged a Tobolsk peasant named Mikhail Nevodchikof,
who had been with Bering, and who was even credited by various authors with the
discovery of the Aleutian Islands. In these expeditions the bold promyshleniki were ever the mainstay. Nevodchikof was doubtless aware that Bassof had collected his
furs at Bering and Copper islands, but trusting to his memory, or perhaps
following the advice of other companions of Bering, he passed by these islands,
shaping his course south-east in search of the land named by Bering Obmannui, or Delusive Islands. The Yevdokia had sailed from the mouth of the Kamchatka on the 19th of September 1745, and after a voyage of six days the adventurous promyshleniki sighted the first of the Blishni group of the
Aleutian isles. Passing by the first, Attoo, Nevodchikof anchored near the second, Agatoo,
about noon of the 24th. Next morning over a hundred armed natives assembled on
the beach and beckoned the Russians to land, but it was not deemed safe in view
of their number; so they threw into the water a few trifling presents, and in
return the natives threw back some birds just killed. On the 26th Chuprof
landed with a few men armed with muskets for water. They met some natives, to
whom they gave tobacco and pipes, and received a stick ornamented with the head
of a seal carved in bone. Then the savages wanted one of the muskets, and when
refused they became angry and attempted to capture the party by seizing their
boat. Finally Chuprof ordered his men to fire, and for the first time the
thundering echoes of musketry resounded from the hills of Agatoo.
One bullet took effect in the hand of a native; the crimson fluid gushed forth
over the white sand, and the long era of bloodshed, violence, and rapine for
the poor Aleuts was begun. As the natives had no arms except bone-pointed
spears, which they vainly endeavored to thrust through the sides of the boat,
shedding of blood might easily have been avoided. At all events the Russians
could not now winter there, so they worked the ship back to the first island,
and anchored for the night.
The
following morning Chuprof, who seems to have come to the front as leader, and
one Shevyrin, landed with several men. They saw
tracks but encountered no one. The ship then moved slowly along the coast, and
on the following day the Cossack Shekhurdin, with six men, was sent ashore for
water and to reconnoitre. Toward night they came
upon a party of five natives with their wives and children, who immediately
abandoned their huts and ran for the mountains. In the morning Shekhurdin
boarded the ship, which was still moving along the shore in search of a suitable
place for wintering, and returned again with a larger force. On a bluff facing
the sea they saw fifteen savages, one of whom they captured, together with an
old woman who insisted on following the prisoner. The two natives, with a
quantity of seal-blubber found in the hut, were taken on board the Yevdokia. A storm arose shortly after, during which
the ship was driven out to sea with the loss of an anchor and a yawl.
From
the 2d to the 9th of October the gale continued; then they approached the
island and selected a wintering-place for the ship. The natives were less timid
than at first, though they found in the hut the bodies of two men who had
evidently died from wounds received during the scuffle on the bluff. The old
woman, who had been released, returned with thirty-four of her people; they
danced and sang to the sound of bladder-drums, and made presents of colored
clay, receiving in return handkerchiefs, needles, and thimbles. After the first
ceremonial visit both parties separated on the most friendly terms. Before the
end of the month the same party came again accompanied by the old woman and
several children, and bringing gifts of sea-fowl, seal-meat, and fish. Dancing
and singing were again indulged in.
On
the 26th of October Shevyrin, Chuprof, and Nevodchikof, with seven men, set out in search of their new
friends and found them encamped under a cliff. On this occasion they purchased
a bidar with an extra covering of skin, for two cotton shirts. They
found stone axes and bone needles in use among the natives, who seemed to
subsist altogether upon the flesh of sea-otters, seals, and sea-lions, and upon
fish.
The
reign of violence and bloodshed already inaugurated on the island of Agatoo was quickly established on Attoo.
Two days prior to his visit to the friendly natives, Chuprof, anxious to
acquire a more minute knowledge of the island, sent out one of his subordinates,
Alexei Beliaief, with ten men to explore. This man
discovered several habitations with whose inmates he managed to pick a quarrel,
in the course of which fifteen of the islanders were killed. Even the Cossack
Shekhurdin, who had accompanied Beliaief, was shocked
at such proceedings and went and told Chuprof, who said nothing, but merely
sent the butchering party more powder and lead.
These
and like outrages of the promyshleniki were not known
in Russia until after several years, and if they had been it would have made
little difference. Their efforts were successful; but we may easily
believe that the interval between December 1745 and the day when the Yevdokia departed, which was the 14th of September
1746, was not a time of rejoicing to the people of Attoo.
To this day the cruelties committed by the first Russians are recited by the
poverty-stricken remnants of a once prosperous and happy people.
The
return voyage was not a fortunate one; for six weeks the heavily laden craft
battled with the waves, and at last, on the 30th of October, she was cast upon
a rocky coast with the loss of nearly all her valuable cargo. Ignorant as to
their situation the men made their way into the interior, suffering from cold
and hunger, but finally they succeeded in finding some human habitations. On
questioning the natives they learned to their consternation that they were not
on the mainland, but on the island of Karaghinski off
the coast of Kamchatka. The Koriaks were already
tributary to the Russians, and treated their visitors kindly until Beliaief made advances to the wife of the yessaul, or chief, whose wrath was with difficulty
assuaged. Finally in May 1747 a descent was made on the island by an armed
party of Olutorski, a warlike tribe living near the
mouth of the Olutorsk river on the mainland.
In
a bloody fight during which many natives and several Russians were killed, the
invaders were defeated, and as they left the island the Olutorski declared their intention to return with reenforcements and to exterminate the Russians and all who paid tribute to them. The promyshleniki were anxious to be off, and the islanders
freely assisted them in constructing two large bidars. On the 27th of June they
departed, and arrived at the ostrog of Nishekamchatsk on the 21st of July with a little over three
hundred seaotter skins, the remnant of the valuable cargo of the Yevdokia.
Immediately
upon receiving information of the discovery of the Aleutian isles, Elizabeth
issued a special oukaz appointing Nevodchikof to their oversight with the rank of a master in the imperial navy, in which
capacity he was retained in the government service at Okhotsk. In accordance
with the old laws which exacted tribute from all savage tribes, Cossacks were
to be detailed to make collections during the expedition that might be sent
forth.
Meanwhile
the several reports, and the rich cargoes brought back by Bassof’s vessels, had roused the merchants of Siberia. In 1746 the Moscow merchant
Andrei Rybenskoi, through his agent, Andrei Vsevidof, also Feodor Kholodilof of Totemsk, Nikofor Trapeznikof, and Vassili Balin of Irkutsk, Kosma Nerstof of Totma, Mikhail Nikilinich of Novo Yansk, and
Feodor Shukof of Yaroslavl, petitioned the commander
of Bolsheretsk for permission to hunt, and two
vessels were fitted out. The navigator selected for Kholodilof’s vessel was Andrei Tolstykh, a merchant of the town of Selengisk, who was destined to play a prominent part
in the gradual discovery of the Aleutian chain. The two vessels sailed from
the Kamchatka River within a few days of each other. One, the Sv Ioann, commanded by Tolstykh,
sailed the 20th of August manned by forty-six promyshleniki and six Cossacks. They reached Bering, or Commander, Island, and wintered
there in accordance with the wishes of Shukof, Nerstof, and other shareholders in the enterprise. After a
moderately successful hunting season Tolstykh put to
sea once more on the 31st of May 1747. He shaped his course to the south in
search of the island reported by Steller on June 21, 1741. Failing in this he
changed his course to the northward, and finally came to anchor in the roadstead
of Nishekamchatsk on the 14th of August. During the
voyage he had collected 683 sea-otters and 1,481 blue foxes, and all from
Bering Island. Vsevidof sailed from Kamchatka the
26th of August 1746, and returned the 25th of July 1749, with a cargo of over a
thousand sea-otters and more than two thousand blue foxes.
About
this time a voyage was accomplished over an entirely new route. Three traders
in the north, Ivan Shilkin of Solvichegodsk, Afanassi Bakof of Oustioug, and one Novikof of
Irkutsk, built a vessel on the banks of the Anadir River and called it Prokop i Zand. They
succeeded in making their way down the river and through the Onemenskoi mouth into the gulf of Anadir.
From the 10th of July 1747 to the 15th of September these daring navigators
battled with contrary winds and currents along the coast, and finally came to
anchor on the coast of Bering Island. On the 30th of October, when nearly the
whole crew was scattered over the island hunting and trapping and gathering
fuel, a storm arose and threw the vessel upon a rocky reef, where she was soon
demolished. Bethinking themselves of Bering’s ship, with remnants of that and
of their own, and some large sticks of driftwood, the castaways built a boat
about fifty feet long. In this cockle-shell, which was named the Kapiton,
they put to sea the following summer. Despite their misfortune the spirit of
adventure was not quenched, and the promyshleniki boldly steered north-eastward in search of new discoveries. They obtained a
distant view of land in that direction, and almost reached the continent of
America, but the land disappeared in the fog, and they returned to Commander
Islands. After a brief trip to Copper Island they reached the coast of
Kamchatka in August 1749.
The
first effort to obtain a monopoly of traffic with the newly discovered islands
was made in February 1748, by an Irkutsk merchant named Emilian Yugof, who obtained from the senate for himself and
partners an oukaz granting permission to
fit out four vessels for voyages to the islands “in the sea of Kamchatka,” with
the privilege that during their absence no other parties should be allowed to
equip vessels in pursuit of sea-otters. In consideration of this privilege Yugof’s company agreed to pay into the imperial treasury
one third of the furs collected. A special order to this effect was issued to
Captain Lebedef, the commander of Kamchatka, from the
provincial chancellery at Irkutsk under date of July 1748. Yugof himself, however, did not arrive at Bolsheretsk till
November 1749, and instead of four ships he had but one small vessel ready to
sail by the 6th of October 1750. This boat, named the Sv Ioann, with a crew of twenty-five men and two Cossacks, was wrecked before
leaving the coast of Kamchatka. Over a year passed by before Yugof was ready to sail again. He had received permission
to employ naval officers, but his associates were unwilling to furnish money
enough for an expedition on a large scale. The second ship, also named the Sv Ioann, sailed in October 1751. For three
years nothing was heard of this expedition, and upon the statement of the
commander of Okhotsk that the instructions of the government had been
disregarded by the firm, an order was issued from Irkutsk, in 1753, for the confiscation
of Yugof’s property on his return. Captain Cheredof, who had
succeeded Captain Lebedef in the command of
Kamchatka, was at the same time authorized to accept similar proposals from
other firms, but none were made. On the 22d of July 1754, the Sv Ioann unexpectedly sailed into the harbor
of Nishekamchatsk with a rich cargo which was at once
placed under seal by the government officials. The leader of the expedition did
not return, but the mate Grigor Nizovtzof presented a
written report to the effect that the whole cargo had been obtained from Bering
and Copper islands, and that Yugof had died at the
latter place. The cargo consisted of 790 sea-otters, 7,044 blue foxes, 2,212
fur-seals.
It
is evident that the authorities of Bolsheretsk did
not consider this first monopoly to extend beyond Bering and Copper islands, as
even before Yugof sailed other companies were granted
permission to fit out sea-otter hunting expeditions to “such islands as had not
yet been made tributary.” Andrei Tolstykh, who had
served as navigator under Kholodilof, obtained
permission from the chancellery of Bolsheretsk to fit
out a vessel, and sailed on the 19th of August 1749, arriving at Bering Island
the 6th of September. Here he wintered, securing, however, only 47 sea-otters,
and in May of the following year he proceeded to the Aleutian Islands, first
visited by Nevodchikof. Here he met with better luck,
and finally returned to Kamchatka the 3d of July 1752, with a cargo of 1,772
sea-otters, 750 blue foxes, and 840 fur-seals.
The
enterprising merchant Nikofor Trapeznikof of Irkutsk also received permission to sail for the Aleutian Islands in 1749
under promise of delivering to the government not only the tribute collected
from the natives, but one tenth of the furs obtained. Trapeznikof built a ship, named it the Boris i Gleb, and
sailed in August. He passed four winters on various islands, returning in 1753
with a cargo valued at 105,736 rubles. The Cossack Sila Shevyrin acted as tribute-gatherer on this adventure. During the same year, 1749, the
merchants Rybinskoi and Tyrin sent out the shitika Sv Ioann to
the Near Islands, the vessel returning in August 1752 with 700 sea-otters and
700 blue foxes.
Late
in 1749 Shilkin built the Sv Simeon i Anna and manned her with fourteen
Russians and twenty natives of Kamchatka. The Cossack Alexei Vorobief, or Morolief, served as
navigator; Cossacks Ivan Minukhin and Alexei Baginef accompanied the ship as tribute-gatherers. They
left the coast of Kamchatka the 5th of August 1750, but after sailing eastward
two weeks the vessel was wrecked on a small unknown island. Here the party
remained till the following autumn, during which time Vorobief succeeded in constructing a small craft out of the wreck and drift-wood. This
vessel was named the Yeremy and carried the castaways to Kamchatka in
the autumn of 1752, with a cargo of 820 sea-otters, 1,900 blue foxes, and 7,000
fur-seals, all collected on the island upon which they were wrecked.
By
this time the merchants of Siberia and Kamchatka had gathered confidence
regarding the traffic, and ship-building became the order of the day. Unfortunately,
even the first principles of naval architecture were ill understood at
Kamchatka, and so late as 1760 the promyshleniki made
exceeding dangerous voyages in most ridiculous vessels—flatboats, shitikas, and similar craft, usually built without iron and
often so weak as to fall to pieces in the first gale that struck them. As long
as the weather was calm or nearly so, they might live, but let a storm catch
them any distance from land and they must sink. We should naturally suppose
that even in these reckless, thoughtless promyshleniki,
common instinct would prompt greater care of life, but they seemed to flock
like sheep to the slaughter. We must say for them that in this folly their
courage was undaunted, and their patience under privations and suffering marvellous. Despotism has its uses.
He who would adventure here in those days must first collect
the men. Then from the poor resources at hand he would select the material for
his vessel, which was usually built of green timber just from the forest, and
with no tool but the axe, the constant companion of every Russian laborer or
hunter. Rope for the rigging and cables it was necessary to transport on
pack-horses from Irkutsk, whence they generally arrived in a damaged condition,
the long hawsers being cut into many pieces on account of their weight. Flour,
meat, and other provisions were purchased at Kirensk and Yakutsk at exorbitant prices. In such crazy craft the promyshleniki were obliged to brave the stormy waters of the Okhotsk Sea and navigate along
the chain of sunken rocks that lined the coast of Kamchatka.
Nikofor Trapeznikof had been very fortunate in his first venture with the Boris i Gleb, and therefore concluded to continue. In 1752 he
sent out the same vessel in command of Alexei Drushinnin,
a merchant of Kursk. This navigator shaped his course for Bering Island, but
wrecked his vessel on a sunken rock when approaching his destination. No lives
were lost and enough of the wreck was saved to construct another craft of
somewhat smaller dimensions, which they named the Abram. In this vessel
they set out once more in 1754, but after a few days’ cruising in the immediate
vicinity another shipwreck confined them again to the same island in a worse
predicament than before.
Meanwhile Trapeznikof had fitted out another shitika, the Sv Nikolai, with the Cossack Radion Durnef as
commander, and the Cossack Shevyrin as
tribute-gatherer. Durnef called at Bering Island and
took from there the greater part of the crew of the Boris i Gleb, leaving four men in charge of surplus stores
and the wreck of the Abram. The Sv Nikolai proceeded eastward and made several new discoveries. Durnef’s party passed two winters on some island not
previously known to the promyshleniki, and finally
they returned to Kamchatka in 1757 with a cargo valued at 187,268 rubles. This
was the most successful venture of the kind undertaken since the first
discovery of the island.
In
1753 three vessels were despatched from Okhotsk, the
respective owners of which were Andrei Serebrennikof of Moscow, Feodor Kholodilof of Tomsk, and Simeon Krassilnikof of Tula. They expressed their intention to
search for the Great Land, as the American continent was then called by these
people. Serebrennikof’s vessel was commanded by Petr Bashnakof, assisted by the Cossack Maxim Lazaref, as tribute-collector, and carried a crew of
thirty-four promyshleniki. Serebrennikof sailed in July 1753, shaping his course directly east from Kamchatka, and
arrived at some unknown islands without touching any of those already
discovered. The ship was anchored in an open bight not far from shore, when an
easterly gale carried it out to sea. During the storm four other islands were
sighted, but as no one on board was able to make astronomical observations the
land could not be located definitely on the chart. For some time the heavy sea
prevented the navigators from landing, and the wind carried them still
farther to the east. At last three islands suddenly appeared through the fog,
and before the sails could be lowered the ship was thrown upon one of them.
When the mariners reached the shore they were met by armed natives, who threw
spears and arrows at them. A few discharges of fire-arms, however, soon
scattered the savages.
The
wrecked hunters remained on the island till June 1754, and then sailed for
Kamchatka in a small boat built out of the remains of the other. The cargo
landed at Nishekamchatsk was of too little value to
be registered in the official lists of shipments.
Kholodilof’s vessel sailed from
Kamchatka in August 1753, and according to the custom generally adopted by the promyshleniki was hauled up on Bering Island for the
winter, in order to lay in a supply of sea-cow meat. Nine men were lost here by
the upsetting of the bidar, and in June of the following year the voyage was
continued. A serious leak was discovered when running before a westerly gale,
but an island was reached just in time to save the crew. There they remained
till July 1755. This expedition returned to Kamchatka late in 1755 with a cargo
of sixteen hundred sea-otter skins.
The
vessel fitted out by Krassilnikof did not sail until
the summer of 1754, immediately after Captain Nilof assumed command of the military force at Okhotsk, and temporary command of the
district. Bering Island was reached in October, and after laying in
a stock of sea-cow meat and preparing the vessel, Krassilnikof set out once more in August of the following year. A stormy passage brought him
to an island that seemed densely populated, but he did not deem it safe to land
there; so he faced the sea again, was tossed about by storms for weeks and
carried to the westward until at last Copper Island came in sight again, on
which a few days later the ship was totally wrecked. The crew was saved and a
small quantity of provisions stored in a rudely constructed magazine. The
ship’s company was then divided into several small hunting parties, five men
remaining near the scene of the wreck to guard the provisions. Three of the men
were drowned on the 15th of October. And as a crowning disaster a tidal wave
destroyed their storehouse, carrying all that remained of their provisions into
the sea. After a winter passed in misery they packed up their furs in the
spring, a poor lot, consisting of 150 sea-otters and 1,300 blue foxes, and
managed to make the crossing to Bering Island in two bidars, which they had
constructed Of sea-lion skins. From Bering Island a portion of the company
returned to Kamchatka in the small boat Abram, built by Trapeznikof’s men.
In
1756 the merchants Trapeznikof, Shukof,
and Balin fitted out a vessel and engaged as its commander the most famous
navigator of the time, Andrei Tolstykh. The ship was
named after the commander and his wife, who accompanied him, Andreian i Natalia,
almost the first departure from the established custom of bestowing saint’s
names upon ships. Tolstykh sailed from the Kamchatka
River in September, with a crew of thirty-eight Russians and natives of
Kamchatka, and the Cossack Venediet Obiukhof as tribute-collector. The usual halt for the
winter was made on Bering Island, but though an ample supply of meat was
obtained not a single sea-otter could be found. Fifteen years from the first
discovery of the island had sufficed to exterminate the animal. Nine men of the Krassilnikof expedition were here added to the crew,
and in June 1757 Tolstykh continued his voyage,
reaching the nearest Aleutian island in eleven days. They arrived at a
favorable moment; Trapeznikof’s ship, the Sv Nikolai, was on the point of sailing for Kamchatka and
several chiefs had assembled to bid their visitors farewell. Satisfactory
arrangements were at once entered into for the collection of tribute and a
continuation of peaceful intercourse. The most influential chief, named Tunulgasan, was received with due solemnity and presented
with a copper kettle and a full suit of clothes of Russian pattern. This
magnificent gift induced him to leave several boys in charge of the Russians,
for the avowed purpose of learning their language, but really to serve as
hostages.
In
accordance with instructions from the Okhotsk authorities Tolstykh endeavored to persuade the chief of Attoo to visit
Kamchatka in his vessel, but in this he failed. After living on this island in
peace with the natives for over a year, Tolstykh departed with 5,360 sea-otters and 1,190 blue foxes, and reached Kamchatka in
the autumn of 1758.
An
unfortunate voyage was made about this time by a vessel belonging to the
merchant Ivan Shilkin, the Kapiton, which it
will be remembered was built out of a wreck by Bakof and Novikof. Ignaty Studentzof was the Cossack accompanying this expedition,
and upon his report rests all the information concerning it extant. They sailed
from Okhotsk in September 1757, but were forced by stress of weather to make
for the Kamchatka shore and pass the winter there, to repair a damage. Setting
sail again in 1758 they touched at Bering Island, passed by Attoo where Tolstykh was then trading, and went on to the
eastward, finally bringing up near an unknown island. A party sent ashore by Studentzof to reconnoitre were
beaten off by a band of natives, and immediately afterward a sudden gale drove
the ship from her anchorage to sea. The mariners were cast upon a
rocky island in the neighborhood, saving nothing but their lives, a small
quantity of provisions, and their fire-arms. While still exhausted from
battling with the icy waves they beheld approaching a large bidar with natives.
There were only fifteen able to defend themselves, but they put on what show of
strength and courage they could command and went to meet the enemy. One of the
men, Nikolai Chuprof, who had “been to the islands” before and spoke the Aleut
language, implored the natives for assistance in their distressed condition,
but the answer was a shower of spears and arrows. A volley from the
guns, however, killing two, put them to flight as usual. Starvation followed,
and there were seven long months of it. Sea-weed and the water-soaked skins of
sea-otters washed ashore from the sunken vessel were their only food. Seventeen
died, and the remainder were saved only by the putrid carcass of a whale cast
ashore by the sea. Rousing themselves they built a boat out of driftwood and
the remains of their wreck, killed 230 seaotters within a few days prior to
their departure, and succeeded in reaching the island where Serebrennikof’s vessel was then moored, and near which they anchored. But a gale arising, their
cables snapped, and the boat went down with everything on board save the crew.
Only thirteen of this unfortunate company of thirty-nine finally returned to
Kamchatka on Serebrennikof’s vessel. After an absence
of four years in search of a fortune they landed destitute even of clothing.
Thus
from year to year the promyshleniki pushed eastward
step by step. A merchant of Turinsk, Stepan Glottof, was the first to visit and carry on peaceful
traffic with the inhabitants of Umnak and Unalaska. He commanded the small
craft Yulian, built at Nishekamchatsk by Nikoforof, in which he sailed on the 2d of September 1758,
accompanied by the Cossack Savs Ponomaref,
who was instructed to persuade the Aleuta to become
Russian subjects and pay tribute. Nikoforof intended
the vessel to go at once in search of new islands without stopping at any of
those already known to the promyshleniki; but
long-continued contrary gales compelled Glottof to
winter at Bering Island, where he remained till the following August. Thence he
sailed eastward for thirty days and landed on an unknown island. There the
hunters concluded to spend the winter; but they found the natives so friendly
that three seasons passed before Glottof thought of
returning to Kamchatka. The Yulian arrived at Bolsheretsk on the 31st of August 1762, with a large and valuable cargo containing besides
cross and red foxes the first black foxes from the Aleutian Islands.
Two
other vessels are said to have been despatched to the
islands in 1758, by the merchant Simeon Krassilnikof,
and Nikofor Trapeznikof,
but only of one of them, the Vladimir, have we any information. The
leaders of this expedition were the peredovchik,
Dmitri Paikof, and the Cossack Sava Shevyrin. They put to sea from Nishekamchatsk on the 28th of September, with a crew of forty-five men, made the passage to
Bering Island in twenty-four hours, and there hauled up their vessel for the
winter. On the 16th of July 1759 Paikof set sail once
more, taking at first a southerly course.
It
is not known how far Paikof pursued his southerly
course, but he discovered no land and returned to the north, arriving in the
vicinity of Atkha Island the 1st of September.
Finding no convenient harbor he went on to Umnak Island and made preparations
to pass the winter. The ship’s company was divided into three artels, or
parties, the first of which was commanded by Alexei Drushinnin and stationed on the island of Sitkhin. The Cossack, Shevyrin, took ten men to Atkha and the remainder of the crew established their winter-quarters in the
immediate vicinity of the vessel under command of Simeon Polevoi. Paikof was evidently only navigator and had no
command on shore. The first season passed in apparently peaceful intercourse
with the natives.
At
first the Russians believed the island of Amlia to be
uninhabited, but during a hunting expedition a boy of eight years was
discovered hidden in the grass. He was unable or unwilling to give any
information, but was taken to the Russian camp, baptized and named Yermola, and instructed in the Russian language.
Subsequently a party of four men, two women, and four children were discovered
and were at once employed by the promyshleniki to dig
roots and gather wood for them. In time other natives visited the strangers in
canoes, and exchanged seal-meat and fish for needles, thread, and glass beads.
In
the spring of the following year, when the detached hunting parties came back
to the ship, it was found that only one Russian on Atkha Island had lost his life at the hands of the natives, and that he met his fate
through his own fault. Polevoi was much pleased with
the quantity of furs obtained and concluded to send the detachments again
immediately to the same localities. Shevyrin had only
just returned to Atkha with eleven men when the
natives, who doubtless had suffered at the hands of the Russians during the
winter, fell upon the party and killed them all. Drushinnin heard of this through the natives on Sitkhin Island
and returned at once to the vessel at Amlia. The crew
of the Vladimir was now reduced to such an extent that the hunters felt
serious apprehensions as to their safety, and consequently they began to make
the necessary preparations for returning to Kamchatka at once. These
preparations were interrupted, however, by the unexpected arrival of the Gavril,
a vessel belonging to the merchant Bechevin.
The Gavril had passed through the Kurile Islands in July and arrived at Atkha on the 25th of September. The fears entertained by
the Vladimirs weakened crew vanished at once, and a written agreement was
entered into by the members of the two expeditions to hunt in partnership.
Strong detachments were sent out to the stations occupied during the previous
season, and also to the island of Signam, north-east
of Atkha. The result of the season’s work proved
gratifying; about 900 sea-otters and 400 foxes of various kinds, and 432 pounds
of walrus-tusks were ready for shipment.
A
consultation was held in the following spring, when it was concluded that the Vladimir should remain at Amlia a little longer, and then
return to Kamchatka with as many of the furs as she could carry, while the Gavril would proceed in search of new discoveries. The joint force was equally divided
between the two vessels, and the Gavril set sail once more, taking an
easterly course and touching first at Umnak Island. There they found a vessel
belonging to Nikoforof engaged in hunting,
and consequently they limited their operations to mending the sails and
replenishing their stock of wood and water. They then proceeded to what they
considered to be the island of “Alaksha,” but whether this party actually
wintered on the peninsula of Alaska is not quite clear. As soon as a suitable
harbor had been found the ship was beached, and the crew proceeded to erect
winter-quarters on shore. The inhabitants of the vicinity received the Russians
in a friendly manner; they traded honestly, and gave their children as hostages.
However, this peace and good-will were not of long duration. The lawless promyshleniki of Bechevin’s soon
gave the natives much trouble, fully justifying them in any retaliation.
In
January 1762 Golodof and Pushkaref,
with a party of twenty hunters, coasted in bidars in search of food, and landed
upon an adjoining island. While indulging in their customary outrages they were
surprised by a body of natives who killed Golodof and another Russian, and wounded three more. Shortly afterward the Russian camp
was attacked, four men killed, as many wounded, and the huts reduced to ashes.
In May the Cossack Lobashkof and one of the promyshleniki went to bathe in a hot spring situated about five
versts from the harbor, and were killed by the natives. In return the Russians
put seven of the hostages to death. The islanders again attacked the Russian
camp, but were repulsed.
As
it was evident that the natives had determined upon the destruction of the
entire company, the outlying detachments were recalled. The ship was then
repaired and the whole command returned to Umnak Island. There they took on
board two natives with their families, who had promised to pilot them to other
islands; but as soon as the vessel had gained the open sea a violent gale from
the eastward drove her before it until on the 23d of September the mariners
found themselves near an unknown coast, without masts, sails, or rudder, and
with but little rigging. The land, however, proved to be Kamchatka, and on the
25th the helpless craft drifted into the bay of Kalatcheva,
seventy versts from Avatcha Bay. Bechevin landed his cargo, consisting of 900 sea-otters and 350 foxes, valued at 52,570
rubles. The cove where the landing was effected subsequently received the name
of Bechevinskaia.
Charges
of gross brutalities, committed during this voyage, have been made against
Sergeant Pushkaref. On leaving the Aleutian Isles the
crew of the Gavril, with Pushkaref’s consent,
took with them twenty-five young women under the pretext that they were to be
employed in picking berries and gathering roots for the ship’s company. When
the coast of Kamchatka was first sighted a boat was sent ashore with six men
and fourteen of these girls. The latter were then ordered to pick berries. Two
of them ran away and were lost in the hills, and during the return of the boat
to the ship one of them was killed by a man named Korelin.
In a fit of despair the remaining girls threw themselves into the sea and were
drowned. In order to rid himself of troublesome witnesses to this outrage, Pushkaref had all the remaining islanders thrown overboard,
with the exception of one boy, Moise, and Ivan, an interpreter who had been in
the service of Andrei Serebrennikof. Three of the
women had died before leaving the islands. An imperial oukaz issued from the chancellery at Okhotsk to a company consisting of Orekhof, Lapin, and Shilof. who
asked permission to despatch an expedition to the
islands, enjoins on the promyshleniki the greatest
care and kindness in their intercourse with the natives. The eleventh paragraph
of the oukaz reads as follows: “As it appears from
reports forwarded by Colonel Plenisner, who was
charged with the investigation and final settlement of the affairs of the Bechevin company, that that company during their voyage to
and from the Aleutian Islands on a hunting and trading expedition committed
indescribable outrages and abuses on the inhabitants, and even were guilty of
murder, inciting the natives to bloody reprisals, it is hereby enjoined upon
the company about to sail, and especially upon the master, Ismailof,
and the peredovchik, Lukanin,
to see that no such barbarities, plunder, and ravaging of women are committed
under any circumstances.” The whole document is of a similar tenor and goes far
to prove that the authorities were convinced that the outrages reported to
them had in truth been committed.
From
this time forward the authorities of Siberia evidently favored the formation of
privileged companies, and the Bechevin investigation
may be considered as the beginning of the end of free traffic in the American
possessions of the Russian empire.
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