HISTORY
OF ALASKA.
CHAPTER
XIII.
THE
BILLINGS SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.
1785-1793.
The most promising of all scientific
exploring expeditions undertaken by the Russian government for the acquisition
of a more perfect knowledge of its new possessions in Asia and America was that
commanded by Captain Joseph Billings, an Englishman who had served under Cook.
The enterprise was stimulated by the report of La Perouse’s departure upon a
similar errand. The empress issued an oukaz on the 8th of August 1785,
appointing Billings to the command of “A Secret Astronomical and Geographical
Expedition for navigating the Frozen Sea, describing its Coasts, and
ascertaining the Situation of the Islands in the Seas between the two
Continents of Asia and America.”
The
senate and admiralty college confirmed and supplemented the appointments, and
in September Lieutenant Sarychef of the navy was despatched to the port of
Okhotsk with a party of ship-builders, under orders to construct two vessels in
accordance with plans furnished by another Englishman, Mr Lamb Yeames. The
governor general of Irkutsk and Kolivansk had received instructions to furnish
the necessary material.
Captain
Billings set out upon his journey a few weeks later, accompanied by Lieutenant Hall,
Surgeon Robeck, Master Batakof of the navy, and Martin Sauer, secretary of
the expedition.
The
party did not leave Irkutsk until the 9th of May 1786. Two medical officers and
naturalists were added at the last moment—a German, Dr. Merck, with an English
assistant, John Main.
On
the 29th the expedition arrived at Yakutsk, where the necessary arrangements
had been made for supplies of provisions and stores and the required means of
transportation for the different divisions to the mouth of the Kovima or Kolima
river and to Okhotsk. Lieutenant Hall was in command of the latter and
Lieutenant Bering of the former. Lieutenant Hall’s division arrived at Okhotsk
soon after Billings and a few attendants had reached that seaport on the 3d of
July. As it was found that more time would be consumed in building the ships
than had been expected, Billings took some steps with a view of visiting the
Chukchi country first, and to that end placed himself in communication with
Captain Shmalef who was much respected by both Kamchatkans and Chukchi. On the
3d of August all the officers, with the exception of Lieutenant Hall, set out
for the Kovima River, the last named taking the place of Lieutenant Sarychef in
superintending the construction of the ships. Toward the end of September
Billings and his party arrived at Verkhnoi Kovima, but only to find that winter
had already set in with great severity, and to meet with almost insurmountable
difficulties in obtaining shelter and supplies. The sufferings during the
winter were very great on account of the extreme cold as well as the scarcity
of provisions; but better times came with spring.
The
work of preparing for the northward trip was never relaxed, and on the 25th of
May 1787 the main body of the expedition set out on two vessels which had been
constructed during the winter, the Pallas and the Yasatchnoi.
Near the mouth of the river Captain Shmalef was found awaiting them with some
guides and interpreters and a large quantity of dried reindeer meat. The ostrog
Nishnekovima was reached on the 17th of June. There more deer-meat was procured
and then the expedition passed on into the Arctic.
They
steered eastward and on the 21st of June reached the place where Shalanrof had
perished in 1762. A cross marked the spot, and another was found near the
remains of huts erected by Laptief and his party in 1739. Their progress was
continued with many interruptions until the 25th of July, when an observation
showed latitude 69° 35' 56", longitude, 168° 54', and Billings
concluded to give up all further attempts and return to Nishnekovima.
When
the party arrived at Yakutsk it was found that a large quantity of the most
important stores was still awaiting transportation at Irkutsk, necessitating a
journey to that city on the part of Billings and several of his officers. This
little excursion delayed the expedition till September 1788, when the greater
part of the command was once more assembled at Okhotsk. The first and largest
of the two vessels destined for the voyage was not launched until the following
July. She was named the Slava Rossie, Glory of Russia. The second ship,
the Dobraia Namerenia, Good Intent, was launched in August, but was
wrecked while attempting to cross the bar at Okhotsk. In order to get quickly
at the iron work with which to build a new vessel the hull of the Namerenia was burned. On the 19th of September the Slava Rossie sailed at last and
arrived at Petropavlovsk on the 1st of October. Here the ship was unrigged and
the whole party went into winterquarters to await the arrival of a storeship
with supplies in the spring.
Early
in March 1790 additional news arrived, warning Billings of the presence of a
Swedish cruiser, the Mercury, Captain Coxe, with sixteen guns, in the
waters he was about to navigate. The Slava Rossie mounted sixteen brass
guns, but they were only three-pounders. Despite the apprehension created, no
change was made in the plans.
On
the 1st of May the whole expedition embarked and stood out to sea on an
easterly course. The voyage was tedious, no land being sighted till the 22d,
when the island of Amchitka appeared in the north. On the 1st of June the
island of Unalaska was made, and on the 3d some natives came on board, followed
in the afternoon by a Russian in an eightoar bidar. The latter conducted the
vessel into Bobrovoi (Beaver) Bay. Here a supply of water and ballast was
procured and on the 13th of June the expedition sailed again to the north-east
and north.
In
a few days Sannakh and the Shumagin Island were reached, where the Slava
Rossie was visited by a large party of Aleuts who were hunting for the
Panof company under superintendence of a Russian. On the 26th of June a Russian
boarded the ship; he was accompanied by two hundred natives and came from
Shelikof’s establishment on Kadiak Island. On the 29th the expedition arrived
in Trekh Sviatiteli, or Three Saints Harbor, the site of the
first permanent settlement on the island. Eustrate Ivanovich Delarof was then
in command of the colony. He told Sauer that he had despatched that year six
hundred double bidarkas, each manned by two or three natives, to hunt
sea-otters, sea-lions, and fur-seal; they were divided into six parties, each
in charge of a Russian peredovchik.
The
establishment at that time consisted of about fifty Russians, including
officers of the company and Master Ismailof, the same whom Cook met at Unalaska
in 1778. He was stationed at Three Saints to look after the interests of the
government. The buildings numbered five of Russian construction, the barracks,
offices, and counting-house, besides storehouses, blacksmith, carpenter, and
cooper shops, and a ropewalk. Two vessels of about eighty tons each stood upon
the beach, armed and well guarded, serving as a place of refuge in ease of
attack. Several gardens planted with cabbage and potatoes, and some cows and
goats, added to the comfort of the settlers.
In
the report of Billings’ visit to Kadiak mention is made of the water-route
across the Alaska peninsula by way of Iliamna Lake. The natives persisted in
calling the peninsula an island, kikhtak, because they could pass in their
canoes, without portage, from Shelikof Strait into Bristol Bay, their main
source for supplies of walrus ivory for spear-heads, fish-hooks, and various
implements.
The
astronomical tent, and another constituting a portable church, had been pitched
as soon as the expedition arrived, and remained standing till the 6th of July,
when the Slava Rossie once more set sail. Delarof accompanied Billings
for the purpose of visiting a Spanish frigate reported by the natives to be
cruising at the mouth of Cook Inlet. The commander of the expedition also
intended to visit the Spanish ship, but the wind was unfavorable, and by the
8th of July they had only reached the island of Afognak where a settlement had
already existed. On the 12th of July, in the neighborhood of Barren Islands,
Delarof left the Slava Rossie in a canoe, giving up all hope of reaching
Cook’s Inlet with the ship. He was intrusted with messages for the Spaniards
and the vessel was headed for Prince William Sound.
On
the 19th of July the Slava Rossie was anchored in the same bay of
Montague or Tzaklie Island where Cook passed some time in 1778. The
astronomical tent was at once erected on shore under a sufficient guard, while
boat parties set out to explore. The natives were quite peaceable in view of
the formidable armament of the Slava Rossie, but they made bitter complaints
against Russian traders who had formerly visited them, especially the party
under Polutof in 1783. They were assured that they need not apprehend any
ill-treatment from government vessels carrying the same flag as the Slava
Rossie. It was found necessary, however, to exercise the greatest vigilance
to prevent them from stealing.
While
at this anchorage, Captain Billings, who thought he had reached the Cape St
Elias discovered by Bering, assumed, in accordance with his instructions, an
additional rank, the customary oath being administered by the priest attached
to the expedition. Sauer ridiculed this theory and located Cape St Elias to
his own satisfaction on Kaye Island.
Lieutenant
Sarychef went out with a boat’s crew, and during an absence of three days he
met several parties of natives and saw the cross erected by Zaikof under
Shelikof’s order. On one occasion the crafty natives endeavored to entice him
into a shallow channel where his boat would be left grounded by the tide and
his party exposed to attack. The device did not succeed, however, and Sarychef
heard of the danger he had escaped only after his return to Okhotsk, from the
Aleut interpreter. After Sarychef’s return to the ship a very old native came
on board and stated that his home was on Kaye Island which he plainly
described. With regard to the number and nationality of ships that had visited
his people, he was not positive, but remembered well that when he was a boy a
ship had approached Kaye Island for the first time. When a boat was sent ashore
the natives fled into the interior, returning only after their visitors had
departed. They found their domiciles despoiled of many articles and some
provisions, while some beads, tobacco, and iron kettles had been deposited in
their place. As this account corresponds altogether with Steller’s report of
Khitrof’s landing in 1741, Sauer and Sarychef came at once to the conclusion
that Kaye Island must be the locality of Bering’s discovery.
Sauer
conceived a wild plan of remaining alone among the natives of Prince William
Sound to carry on explorations, with a faint hope of discovering the long
sought for passage into the northern Atlantic. Billings very properly refused
to sanction the plan, mush to the chagrin of his Quixotic secretary.
A
few good spars were secured for the ship and a small supply of fresh fish, and
on the 1st of August a council of officers came to the conclusion that it was
best to return to Kamchatka. The stock of provisions was not sufficient to maintain
the whole company during the winter in a country apparently without any
reliable natural resources; the season was far advanced and it appeared
scarcely safe to continue the work of surveying in an almost unknown region
with a single vessel. A south-westerly course was adopted, but the winds were
adverse, and by the beginning of September the Slava Rossie was still tossing
about in unknown seas, unable to obtain any correct observations. A squall
carried away the foremast and other spars and it was found impossible to touch
at Unalaska to replenish the water-casks and land the Aleut interpreters. On
the 24th of September one of the latter attempted suicide by cutting his
throat, despairing of ever seeing his country again. The supply of water and
provisions was almost exhausted and they
had reasons to believe themselves still many hundred miles from the coast of
Kamchatka; but in spite of the many evils threatening him on every side
Billings continued upon his course, and at last, on the 14th of October, the Slava
Rossie entered the Bay of Avatcha, with a large part of her crew suffering
from scurvy.
The
remainder of the expedition had arrived from Okhotsk during the summer,
bringing the iron and other material saved from the wrecked Dobraia
Namerenia, and the first thing to be done was to build another ship. The
ship-carpenters and a force of men were at once despatched to Nishnekamchatsk,
where suitable timber was more abundant, and the work progressed vigorously
under superintendence of Captain Hall. The other officers passed most of their
time at Bolsheretsk in the enjoyment of social intercourse with the families
of government officers and merchants.
One
of the navigators attached to the expedition, named Bronnikof, having died
during the summer, Billings engaged in his stead Gerassim Pribylof, who in the
service of the Lebedef-Lastochkin company had recently discovered the islands
of St George and St Paul, the annual retreat of the fur-seals.
Early
in April 1791 the members of the expedition once more assembled at
Petropavlovsk, and orders were forwarded to Captain Hall, who was to command
the new vessel, to meet the Slava Rossie at Bering Island between the
25th and 30th of May. In case of failure to meet, a second rendezvous was
appointed at Unalaska.
On
the 19th of May the ships sailed out of Avatcha Bay after a long detention by
baffling winds. On the 28th Bering Island was made, but the weather being
boisterous it was concluded not to wait for the consort, but to go on to
Unalaska. The first landing was made on the island of Tanaga, where they found
a village inhabited by women and a few old men, who explained that all the
able-bodied hunters had been carried off to the eastward by Lukanin and his company.
The people complained that this party had also taken with them many women. The
Aleuts carried to Kamchatka against their will, during the last voyage, were
here set ashore with no other compensation than a few articles of clothing, a
little tobacco, and a brief document exempting them from compulsory services
with the trading companies.
On
the 25th of June the harbor of Illiuliuk on Unalaska Island was reached, but
nothing had been heard of Hall and his vessel. Billings at once declared that
he would give up his former intention to make a thorough exploration of Cook
Inlet and vicinity, and proceed at once to St Lawrence Bay, in the Chukchi
country, after depositing at Unalaska some provisions for Captain Hall with a
few men to guard them. Instructions were also left for the consort
to immediately follow the Slava Rossie to St Lawrence Bay. The officers,
especially Sarychef and Sauer, were greatly disappointed at this change of
plans, and the latter in his journal expressed the opinion that too rapid
promotion had an evil effect on Captain Billings, who seemed to have lost all
ambition to make discoveries, and haughtily refused advice from the most
experienced of his companions.
After
landing the men and provisions for Hall, the Slava Rossie put to sea on
the 8th of July. Passing through the Pribylof and St Matthew islands, they made
land on the 20th of July, which turned out to be Clerke Island (St Lawrence).
Billings landed in person; the natives who had been discerned walking on the
beach disappeared as soon as the boat approached the shore. The party returned
in the evening, having visited some abandoned habitations and met some
domesticated dogs. A party of natives crossing a lake in the direction of the
ocean beach was frightened back by a musket-shot fired to warn Billings, who
had strayed some distance by himself.
On
the 27th of July the explorers at last caught sight of the American continent,
in the vicinity of Cape Kodney. Billings, with the naturalist, draughtsman,
and two other officers were landed in boats. The party made a fire of
drift-wood on the beach and then dispersed in search of inhabitants. A few were
found, and friendly intercourse was established by means of an Anadir Cossack
who spoke the Chukchi language. The natives conducted their visitors to a
temporary dwelling and treated them hospitably. The following day some trading
was carried on and the explorers returned to the ship with considerable
difficulty owing to stormy weather.
On
the 2d of August the expedition reached its highest latitude, 65° 23' 50",
sighting: the islands in mid-channel of Bering Strait, and the following day
the Slava Rossie anchored in St Lawrence Bay. From this point Billings
proposed to set out overland, with a small party, in the direction of the
Kovima, while Sarychef was to take the vessel back to Unalaska. Two guides and
interpreters, Kobelef and Dauerkin, had been on the coast ever since 1787,
awaiting the expedition, and Billings lost no time in perfecting preparations
for his dangerous journey, taking his final departure on the 13th of August.
The
commander appeared confident of his purpose, but those be left on the ship by
no means shared that feeling. They considered the large quantity of goods
carried as presents an additional danger, which proved true according to the
report of the journey. As soon as they left the coast they found themselves completely
in the power of the Chukchi who were to accompany them across the country. They
were led over a round-about route and systematically robbed at every
opportunity. As their store of goods decreased the insolence of the natives
increased and on more than one occasion they narrowly escaped slaughter.
On
the day after Billings’ departure Sarychef sailed for Unalaska. The Slava
Rossie was now but ill provided with food, water, and firewood, but
anxiety on account of Hall with the consort made it necessary to steer for the
Aleutian isles instead of proceeding to Petropavlovsk for supplies. The passage
was comparatively short, however, and on the 28th of August they anchored once
more in Illiuliuk harbor. Captain Hall had arrived there a few days after
Billings’ departure and sailed for St Lawrence Bay in accordance with
instructions; thence he returned, arriving three days later.
The
anchorage chosen for the two vessels during the winter was a longitudinal cove
on the west side of Illiuliuk Bay, protected by a low island, now connected
with the adjoining shore by a narrow neck. Some shops and huts for officers
were erected, but the greater part of the crews remained on board of the Slava
Rossie and the Chernui Orel, or Black Eagle, as Captain Hall’s vessel had
been named. Sauer intimates that the principal reason of the sailors for remaining
on board was, that while on the ships they were entitled to a daily allowance
of brandy which could not have been issued to them on shore. The officers
doomed to pass a wretched winter in this desolate place were captains Robert
Hall and Gavril Sarychef, Lieutenant Christian Bering, Surgeonmajor Robeck,
Surgeon Allegretti, and Bakof, Bakulin, Erling, Pribylof, and Sauer. Billings’
orders had been to collect tribute from the Aleutian isles, and Hall took the
necessary steps to notify the natives of his purpose. The Aleuts came
voluntarily with contributions of fox and sea-otter skins, especially after it
became known that the government officers generally returned the full value of
the skins in trinkets. In the expectation that at least one of his ships would
winter at Unalaska, Billings had given orders that stores of dried fish should
be prepared, and this order had been generally obeyed by the natives; but with
all that the crews of the two vessels were but poorly provided for the long,
cold winter. The knowledge of the dreadful sufferings of their predecessors in
that harbor, Captain Levashef and his crew, of the Krenitzin expedition, in
1768, may have hastened the coming of the scurvy; at all events, a month had
not passed before several men were attacked with it, and before the end of the
year one victim was buried. With the new year the disease became more violent,
and toward the end of February 1792 they buried as many as three in one day. In
March a change for the better set in, after seventeen of the best men had found
their graves. With the greatest difficulty the two ships were brought into
condition to undertake the return voyage to Petropavlovsk, but the task was at
last accomplished on the 16th of May.
During
the winter tribute had been collected from about five hundred natives,
amounting to a dozen seaotter skins and six hundred foxes of different kinds,
and in return for these all the trinkets and tobacco, quite a large quantity,
had been distributed. A party consisting of some Russians from Shelikof s
establishment at Kadiak and some natives had paid a visit to the
winter-quarters of the expedition in search of syphilitic remedies, brandy, and
tobacco. The former they obtained from the surgeons together with proper
directions for using them. The natives with this party made many complaints of
ill-treatment at the hands of Russian promyshleniki, which Sauer considered
well founded.
The
return from Unalaska was accomplished with better despatch than might have been
expected from the miserable condition of the vessels. On the 7th of June the
Slava Rossie lost sight of the Chemui Orel, and on the 16th the former
vessel entered Avatcha Bay. An English ship, the Halcyon, Captain
Barclay, was in the harbor, with a cargo of ironware and ship-chandlery much
needed on the coast, but the stupid port authorities would not allow the
captain to dispose of any of his goods.
The
explorers were anxious to proceed to Okhotsk, but deeming it impracticable to
enter that port with the Slava Rossie it was concluded to despatch the Chemui
Orel, with as many members of the expedition as she could carry, while the
remainder awaited the arrival of the annual transport vessel from Okhotsk.
Shortly after the sailing of the first detachment news was received from
Captain Billings and his party. They had undergone the greatest sufferings,
but were then, in February 1792, on the river Angarka within a few days’ march
of the Kovima. The object of the dangerous journey had to a great extent been
frustrated by the restrictions imposed upon the helpless explorers by the
impudent Chukchi. They had destroyed the surveying outfit and would not allow
any notes to be taken or calculations to be made. Captain Billings communicated
his intention of proceeding to Yakutsk with all possible speed and desired
Sauer to join him there as soon as practicable.
Letters
from St Petersburg were received about the same time, announcing that a French
vessel, under the flag of the republic, had sailed for Petropavlovsk, and
ordering that every facility of trade should be afforded to the supercargo, a
M. Torckler. A few days later the ship arrived and was found to be the La
Flavia—also heard of on the American coast—with a crew of sixty men besides
the officers. Her cargo consisted chiefly of brandy. One cannot but note the
difference in official action with regard to the useful cargo of iron-ware
brought by Barclay the same year, and that of the La Flavia, consisting
of the chief element of destruction and ruin among the half-savage inhabitants
of that region. The French ship remained during the whole winter, retailing the
cargo, for nobody in Petropavlovsk had the means to buy it in bulk. She sailed
June 1, 1793, for Canton.
Thus
came to an end, as far as concerns the Russian possessions in America, an
expedition inaugurated on a truly magnificent scale after long years of preparation.
The geographical results may be set down at next to nothing, with the exception
of the thorough surveys of Captain Bay in Illiuliuk Harbor on Unalaska Island.
Every other part of the work had already been done by Cook. The knowledge
obtained by Billings during his march from St Lawrence Bay to the Kovima proved
of no great importance, based as it was to a great extent on hearsay from the
treacherous Chukchi, who would not allow any member of the band to make
personal observations. An important feature, however, was the preliminary experience
gained by Sarychef, who subsequently published the most complete and reliable
charts of the Aleutian Islands, a work upon which, as far as the territory
included in Sarychef’s own observations is concerned, even Tebenkof could make
few if any improvements. Their reliability stands acknowledged to the present
day. But few corrections have been made in his special charts of harbors by
modern surveys. As far as it is possible to judge now, it seems that Martin
Sauer’s estimate of his commander was nearly correct, and we may concur in his
opinion that the failure of the expedition in its chief objects was due to the
leader’s incapacity and false pride, which prevented him from accepting the
advice of others well qualified and willing to give it; but there were also
other reasons, as we shall see. It was almost a miracle that he did not furnish
a tragic finale to a series of blunders by losing his life during his foolhardy
journey through the country of the Chukchi.
The
principal benefit derived from this costly undertaking was the ventilation of
abuses practised by unscrupulous traders upon helpless natives. The authorities
in Siberia and St Petersburg became at last convinced that an end must be put
to the barbarous rule of the promyshleniki. The cheapest and easiest way to
accomplish this was to grant control of the whole business with American coasts
and islands to one strong company that might be held responsible to the
government for its conduct. Those members of the Billings expedition who
revealed the unsatisfactory state of affairs in these outlying possessions of
Russia did not intend to aid Shelikof and his partners in their ambitious
schemes, but such was the effect of their reports. Another result was to
abolish the custom of collecting tribute from the Aleuts; the method introduced
by Sarychef—to return the full value in tobacco and trinkets for skins tendered
as tribute—would have effectually prevented the government from deriving any
benefit from that source.
If
the expedition revealed-abuses it also gave rise to others. Many private
individuals enriched themselves by contracts for supplying the expedition at
the different stages of its progress, especially at Irkutsk, Yakutsk, and
Okhotsk. Sauer mentions in his journal that on his return voyage he found the
officials at Yakutsk, whom be had left in comparative poverty, in much improved
circumstances, bordering upon affluence, and he ascribes the change to the
fact that these people had been engaged in furnishing horses for the
transportation of stores to the Kovima and to Okhotsk.
The
experience gained in the way of navigation and management of similar
expeditions was of some value; and in this connection it is rather a
significant fact that during the first voyage of the Slava Rossie, under the
immediate command of Billings, the scurvy was successfully combated, yet in
the following year the two ships had been anchored in Illiuliuk harbor but a
few weeks when the dreaded disease broke out with such violence that the
combined efforts of Sarychef and Hall, two medical men, and Martin Sauer failed
to arrest its ravages.
With
regard to the supplementary instructions relative to the Swedish cruiser Mercury,
nothing was done by Billings, though the vessel did visit the Aleutian Islands
according to the report of Pribylof. The apprehensions on this account seem to
have been great. A set of minute instructions was furnished to traders on the
islands, to regulate their conduct in case the privateer appeared, but in
Pribylof’s intercourse with Captain Coxe, the former did not use any of the precautions
enjoined.
The
hand of the future monopolists can be discerned, shaping events, from a period
preceding that of Billings’ expedition, though perhaps Martin Sauer was not
able to see it. Notwithstanding his belief to the contrary, the members of the
Shelikof Company, already in virtual possession of their exclusive privileges
of trade, were then making strenuous efforts to extend operations instead of
drawing out of the business. Shelikof, Baranof, and Delarof knew far better
than Billings’ sanguine secretary what wealth was in the country. Where he saw
nothing but indications of quick decline, energetic preparations were in
progress for a healthy revival of business. For many years after the period set
by Sauer even the vessels of small opposition companies continued to visit the
islands and portions of the mainland.
One
proof of the confidence of Shelikof in the stability of the business for many
years to come is furnished by his efforts to establish a settlement in the
vicinity of Cape St Elias and to begin ship-building there. “I have made
representations to the government,” he wrote to Baranof, “with regard to
ship-building and agriculture at Cape St Elias. During my sojourn at Kadiak it
was known to me that the mainland of America from Unga Island to the regions
inhabited by the Kenai enjoys better climatic conditions than the island of
Kadiak. The soil is fit for cultivation, timber is plentiful,” etc. Baranof
wrote in reply that he entertained no hope of succeeding in agricultural
experiments at Yakutat, especially near the coast, as the place was situated
between 59° and 60° north latitude. He also stated that the shores of the gulf
of Chugachuik and portions round Kenaï were composed of very high and rugged
mountains.
The
peculiar search for agricultural lands outside of Kadiak shows plainly that the
wily traders were not in earnest in their search. Kadiak is the spot most
favored by nature as far as climate and soil are concerned. No other place in
all that vast region can furnish feed for cattle or boast of rich fisheries,
useful timber, and fertile vegetable-gardens in close proximity to each other.
But all this was carefully hidden from the knowledge of the government and
attention was drawn toward a region where failure was a certainty, in order to
obtain the services of such laborers and mechanics as might be forwarded from
Siberia in conformity with Shelikof’s representations to the imperial court. It
was a wily scheme and proved successful with regard to the introduction of skilled
labor into the colonies without much expense to the company, who obtained the
privilege of selecting useful men among Siberian exiles and convicts. The best
of these picked men, as we shall see in a succeeding chapter, never reached the
proposed settlement at Yakutat, and the few who did perished or were captured
during the sacking of the place by the Thlinkeets.
It
is safe to presume, also, that Billings had reasons for not doing anything
against the men who were preparing to assume supreme control over the Russian
possessions in America, despite a little episode with his Russian secretary at
Petropavlovsk, who was sent back to Okhotsk in irons, because he had revealed
some of the secret instructions of his commander to members of the Shelikof
Company. His strange apathy in the matter of making new discoveries or surveys
in the vicinity of Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound may have been due to
influence brought to bear from that direction, and not, as Sauer intimates, to
mere superciliousness and pride engendered by rapid promotion.
In
the case of subsequent government expeditions and inspectors visiting the
colonies the same influence became more perceptible and undeniable, a circumstance
which justifies us, to a certain extent, in viewing in a similar light the
results of this expedition and the events recorded in this chapter.
An enterprise that objected to general competition, and
especially one with unscrupulous men at its head, was sure to bring about the
employment of questionable means in its furtherance. Bribery was the easiest
and perhaps the most innocent means employed to secure immunity from
interference by either government or rival traders, and there is ground for
suspicion that it was brought into play during the cruise of the Slava
Rossie.
The
subordinate members of the expedition, captains Sarychef and Hall, the medical
men and Sauer, appear to have taken the side of the suffering natives against
the grasping traders, but in the official reports to the government these men
had no voice. Billings’ report has never been published, and we can only
conjecture its tenor. The journal and notes of Martin Sauer were published
nearly ten years later, and could in no way have influenced the Russian
government.
That
the traders did not like the presence of government officers among them was
but natural. The officers belonged to a class far above any of the traders in
social standing as well as rank, and they took no pains to conceal their
contempt for the semi-barbarous plebeians. Individuals of some education, like
Delarof, met with a certain degree of consideration, but all others were
treated like dogs. Even Baranof, after he had been in supreme command of the
colonies for many years, was snubbed by lieutenants and midshipmen of the
navy, and it was found necessary to obtain for him a civil rank in order to
insure even common respect from government officials. Under such circumstances
the merchants considered themselves justified in resorting to any means by
which officers might be disgusted with the country and exploring expeditions
made to appear unnecessary to the government.
In
the case of Sarychef, Hall, and Sauer, who passed a winter on Unalaska Island,
this plan seems to have worked satisfactorily, as not one of them had anything
good to say of a country where they suffered intensely from scurvy and lack of
provisions. The fact that a party of Russians and natives from Kadiak visited
the expedition in its winter-quarters demonstrates the possibility of carrying
on the work of exploration and surveying on Unalaska and neighboring islands
during the winter, but no such attempt was made, though the whole company
suffered from the effects of inactivity. With the example before them of the
Kadiak party, already referred to in the earlier pages of this chapter,
strengthened by that of Martin Sauer, who almost alone retained comparatively
good health by constantly moving about, it is difficult to find any valid
reason for the apathy shown by the officials in command. The work actually accomplished
by Sarychef must have been completed before the appearance of the scurvy.
Sauer’s original ambition, which caused him to make the foolhardy proposition
of remaining alone among the Chugatsches, seems to have cooled, and after
returning to Kamtchatka he confined his visionary plans to the exploration of
the Kurile Islands and perhaps Japan or China. We have no record, however, that
any of his plans reached the stage of execution.
In
support of his schemes Shelikof had been the prime mover in the request to have
a missionary establishment appointed for the colonies, and in his reports he
claimed to have converted large numbers of natives to Christianity. It is safe
to presume, however, that his success as a religious teacher was not
sufficient to prepare the field for the priest attached to Billings’
expeditions, who evidently considered that his whole duty consisted in holding
services for his companions once a week, and in administering the customary
oath to Captain Billings whenever the latter assumed an additional rank in
accordance with the imperial oukaz containing his instructions. On the second
voyage from Petropavlovsk the commander did not expect further promotion, and
we find no mention of the priest. He was probably left behind as one whose
earthly work was done. Sauer gave him a bad character and called him
half-savage.
The
stay of the Slava Rossie was besides too short at any one place during
the first voyage to allow of missionary work on the part of the priest, though
a portable church—a large tent—was set up at every anchorage. Shelikof had not
hesitated to perform a primitive rite of baptism, but he could not legally
marry people, and the ceremony performed on Kadiak Island, as before mentioned,
was consequently the first that ever took place in the country. The wife of
Shelikof had accompanied him on his visit to America, but from that solitary
example the natives could not have acquired much knowledge of the institution
of Christian marriage.
Shelikof’s
application for missionaries had great weight with the commission intrusted to
consider the demand of his company for exclusive privileges, but the first
members of the clergy who landed upon the islands of the American coast in
response to the call did not meet with the hearty cooperation they may have
expected at the hands of the traders. Taking time and circumstances into
consideration, this was but natural. All the Russians, from the chief trader
down, were laboring ‘on shares,’ and shared alike in the scanty provisions
furnished at very irregular intervals, while every man was expected to eke out
additional supplies by hunting and fishing whenever he could obtain a few days
from other pursuits. The clergymen, who had certainly every reason to look for
supplies of food to the traders who had desired their presence, were,
therefore, considered as an undesirable element by lawless individuals, long
removed from all association with even the forms of civilization. Idlers were
not wanted in the camps of the promyshleniki, where scant fare was the rule,
and for some years after their arrival among the race with whose language they
were unacquainted, the missionaries could do little. Complaints of
shortcomings’ and even ill-treatment were at first quite numerous, and by some
priests it was alleged that the commanders of stations, where they had taken up
their residence, made them work for their living. This may well have been the
case in instances where agents were compelled to give way to popular demand;
the semi-barbarous hunters perhaps had another ground for harboring
ill-feeling toward their clerical guests—the latter interfered to a certain
extent with the more than free use made of native women by the promyshleniki.
Still, the arkhemandrit, or prior, Ioassaf, sent out to superintend the
missions, was treated with respect, as the managers of the companies
recognized the. necessity of restraining their subordinates in his case. A man
in his position could and did do good service in settling difficulties between
rival firms and individuals.
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