USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74
10 When the natives perceived the wound of their comrade they threw off their garments, carried him into the sca, and endeavored to wash off the blood. Khronol. Ist., S; Neue Nachr., 13. See Native Races, vol. i., this series. 11 ' Es gelang ihren auch, ungeachtet der Gegeniwehr, welche die Insulaner mit ihren Knöchernen Spiessen leisteten, selbige herunter zu jagen und einen davon gefangen zu nehmen, der sogleich aufs Schiff gebracht ward. Sie ergriffen auch ein altes Weile, welche sie bis zur Hütte verfolgt hatten, und brachten auch diese, mit dem zugleich erbeuteten Seehundsfett und Fellen, zum Schiff.' Neue Nachrichten, 14, 15.
104
THE SWARMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.
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 con- tinued; 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 fislı. 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,12 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 inaug- urated 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 subordi- nates, Alexeï Beliaief, with ten men to explore. This man discovered several habitations with whose in-
12 'Und fanden sie unter einem Felsen (Utess), Kauften von ihnen ein Baidar (ledernen Kahn) und eine Baidarenhaut, wovor sie ihnen zwey Hemden gaben und zurükkehrten, ohne die geringste Feindseligkeit erfahren zu haben .: Neue Nachr., 15. The bidar was an open skin boat, and the largest of the class.
105
FURTHER OUTRAGES.
mates he managed to pick a quarrel, in the course of which fifteen of the islanders were killed.18 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.14
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.15 Their efforts were successful; but we may easily believe that the interval between December 1745 and the day when the Yerdokia 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
13 There is little doubt that this encounter was wilfully provoked, and the male natives slaughtered for a purpose. Berg merely hints that women were at the bottom of it, but in the Neue Nachr. it is distinctly charged that Beliaief caused the men to be shot in order to secure the women. Some dis- pute about an iron bolt that had disappeared, and which the natives could or would not return, was seized upon as an excuse. Berg, Khronol. Ist., 8, 9; Neue Nachr., 16.
14 In the Neue Nachr., 16, Chuprof is accused of a plan for the destruc- tion of a number of natives, by means of a porridge seasoned with corrosive sublimate.
15 An islander, Temnak, was carried away to Kamchatka on the Yevdokia. He claimed to be a native of At (Attoo?). In 1750 he was sent to Okhotsk with Nevodehikof, after having been baptized at Nishekamchatsk by the inis- sionary Osoip Khotumzevskoi. He was fitted out with clothing at the ex- pense of the government and named Pavel Nevodchikof, the pilot having acted as his godfather, and finally adepting him. 'Schon am 24sten October hatte Czjuprow zehn Mann, unter Anführung des Larion Beajew zu kundschaften ausgeschikt. Dieser fand verschiedene Iurten (Wohnungen), der Insulaner und weil er ihnen feindselig begegnete und die wenigen Insulaner sich daher mit ihren Knöchernen Lanzen zwi Wehre setzten, so nahm er daher Gelegen- heit alle Männer funfzehn an der Zahl zu erschiessen, un die zwrükgebliebe- nen Weiber zur Unzucht gebrauchen zu Können.' Neue Nachr., 11.
106
THE SWARMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.
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 as- suaged. Finally in May 1747 a descent was made on the island by an armed party of Olutorski, a war- like tribe living near the mouth of the Olutorsk river on the mainland.16
In a bloody fight during which many natives and
16 The origin of the word aleut may perhaps be referred to these people. The first mention of the Olutorski tribe was in a report of the Cossack Atlas- sof, the conqueror of Kamchatka, in 1700. He states that on the coast of Kamchatka the Liutortzi are called strangers by the surrounding Koriaks, whom they much resembled. Morskoi Sbornik, ci. 4-73. In 1714 Afanassi l'etrof, a nobleman, built on the Olutorsk river an ostrog of the same name; he was freely assisted by the natives. In the following year Petrof forwarded all the tribute he had collected, consisting of 141 bundles of sables, of 40 skins cach, 5,640 red foxes, 10 cross foxes, 137 sea-otters, two land-otters, and 22 ounces of gold taken from a wrecked Japanese junk. Subsequently the natives revolted and killed Petrof and nearly all his followers. Morskoi Sbornik, ci. 4-82, 296. It is probable that when the Russians first enconn- tered the natives of the Aleutian Islands, being already acquainted with the Olutorski, they applied that name, pronounced by them Aliutorski, to a race that certainly resembles the latter. On the whole coast of Kamchatka these Olutorski were the only whale-hunters, a pursuit followed also by Aleuts. Russian authors generally derive the name from the Aleut word allik, What dost thou want? If this phrase ever was in general use it has entirely dis- appeared, and it certainly is no nearer the word Aleut, or Aleutski, as the Russians pronounce it, than is Olutorski. C'horis, pt. vii. 12. Engel, in Geo- graphische und Kritische Nachrichten, i. v. 6, 7; vi .- vii., refers to an article in the Leydener Zeitung, Feb. 26, 1765, where it is said that 'the traders from the Kovima (Kolima), sailed out of that river and were fortunate enough to double the cape of the Chukchi in latitude 74°; they then sailed southward and discovered some islands in latitude 64°, where they traded with the natives and obtained some fine black foxes of which some speci- mens were sent to the empress as a present. They named these islands Alcyut, and I think that some of them adjoined America.' Engel then goes on to say : 'These sailors called these islands "Aleyut;" the word seems to me to be somewhat mutilated. Müller says that the island situated half a day's journey from Chukchi land, is inhabited by people named Ak- hyukh-Alial, and it appears that these traders actually come to this island, or perhaps to another one also situated in that neighborhood, the people of which Müller calls Peckale; he also speaks of a great country lying farther to the east named Kitchin Aliat. I believe, therefore, that the said Aleyut is nothing but the Aliat or Aeliat which forms the ending of both of the above- mentioned names.' It is evident that Engel confounds the voyages of the promyshleniki to the Aleutian Islands with the discovery of the Diomede Islands in Bering Straits. The Kitchin Aliat may bear some relation to either the Kutchin tribes of the American coast or more probably to the Innuit or Eskimos.
107
NEVODCHIKOF, SUPERINTENDENT.
several Russians were killed, the invaders were de- feated, and as they left the island the Olutorski declared their intention to return with reinforcements 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 sea- otter skins, the remnant of the valuable cargo of the Yerdokia.17
Immediately upon receiving information of the dis- covery of the Aleutian isles, Elizabeth issued as pecial 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 expedi- tion 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.18 In 1746 the Moscow mer- chant Andreï Rybenskoi, through his agent, Andreï
17 Some discrepancy exists in our authorities with regard to dates and de- tails of the latter part of this expedition. Berg briefly states that Nevodchikof sailed from Attoo Sept. 14, 1746, and that his vessel was wrecked the 30th of Oct. on an island, where he was obliged to pass the winter. Khronol. Ist., 10, 11. A few lines farther on we are told that the party returned to Kanı- chatka in July 1746, with 300 sea-otters and with but a small portion of the original crew, having lost 52 men on the voyage. The same author states that on the strength of a report of the outrages committed upon natives, pre- sented by the Cossack Shekhurdin, all the survivors were subjected to legal process. To add to the confusion of dates and data, Berg subsequently tells us that the value of the cargo brought back to Kamchatka by Nevodchikof was 19,200 rubles (much more than 300 sea-otters would bring at that time), and that the Yevdokia was wrecked in 1754! Khronol. Ist., 11, 12. In the Neue Nachr., 17, 18, the dates are less conflicting, and we are informed that Nevodchikof 's party returned in two bidars with 320 sea-otters, of which they paid one tenth into the imperial treasury. The number of lives lost during the voyage is here placed at only 12 Russians and natives of Kamchatka.
18 Making due allowance for the low prices of furs at that time, and the comparatively high value of money, Bassof 's importations cannot be consid- ered over-estimated at half a million dollars. Berg, Khronol. Ist., 11.
108
THE SWARMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.
Vsevidof, also Feodor Kholodilof of Totemsk, Nikofor Trapeznikof, and Vassili Balin of Irkutsk, Kosma Nerstof of Totma, Mikhaïl Nikilinich of Novo Yansk, and Feodor Shukof of Yaroslavl,19 petitioned the com- mander of Bolsheretsk for permission to hunt, and two vessels were fitted out. The navigator selected for Kholodilof's vessel was Andreï Tolstykh, a merchant of the town of Selengisk, who was destined to play a prominent part in the gradual discovery of the Aleu- tian chain. The two vessels sailed from the Kam- chatka 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 Com- mander, Island, and wintered there in accordance with the wishes of Shukof, Nerstof, and other shareholders in the enterprise. After a moderately successful hunt- ing 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, 1741.20 Failing in this he changed his course to the northward, and finally came to anchor in the road- stead 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. 21
19 Neue Nachr., 18, 19; Berg, Khronol. Ist., 11, 12. These merchants de- sired to build two vessels at their own expense 'to go in pursuit of marine animals during the following year;' they also asked for permission to employ native Kamchatkans and Russian mariners and hunters, and to make tempo- rary use of some nautical instruments saved from a wreck. Neue Nachr., 20. This Trapeznikof was evidently the same who was in partnership with Bassof the preceding year.
2) Steller's Journal, i. 47.
21 Bery, Khronol. Ist., app. It is probable that Vsevidof passed the winter following his departure on Copper Island, as on the earliest charts a bay on the north-eastern side of that island is named Vsevidof's Harbor. In a descrip- tion of Copper Island, published in the Sibirski Viestnik, it is stated that on the 2d of March 1747 two promyslileniki named Yurlof and Vtoruikh fell from a cliff and died of their injuries, These men could only have be-
109
EFFORTS TOWARD MONOPOLY.
About this time a voyage was accomplished over an entirely new route. Three traders in the north, Ivan Shilkin of Solvicbegodsk, Afanassi Bakof of Oustioug, and one Novikof of Irkutsk, built a vessel on the banks of the Anadir River and called it Pro- kop i Zand.22 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 Be- ring 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 demol- ished. Bethinking themselves of Bering's ship, with remnants of that and of their own, and some large sticks of drift-wood, 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 Au- gust 1749.23
longed to Vsevidof's vessel. Berg says that Ivan Rybinskoi of Moscow and Stephen Tyrin of Yaroslaf in 1747 despatched a vessel named Ioann, which sailed for the nearest Aleutian Islands and returned in 1749 with 1,000 sea- otters and 2,000 blue foxes, the cargo being sold for 52,590 rubles, which is but another account of Vsevidof's voyage. Khronol. Ist., 14.
22 Berg, Khronol. Ist., 16. This name is given in the Russian edition of Berg, Perkup i Zant. The latter will be remembered as one of the sailors with Bering's expedition, and the former is a common Russian name. The men of that name were probably employed to build the vessel.
23 The cargo of the Kapiton was valued only at 4,780 rubles, and it is diffi- cult to understand how they could carry furs representing even this small value in a vessel of that size. On account of the rigging, artillery, and ship's stores of various kinds left by Bering's companions on the island named after him, an order had been issued from Okhotsk prohibiting traders from landing
·
110
THE SWARMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.
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 partners24 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 Ir- kutsk under date of July 1748. Yugof himself, how- ever, 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 un- willing 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 noth- ing was heard of this expedition, and upon the state- ment 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 con- fiscation of Yugof's property on his return.25 Captain
there until the government property could be disposed of. The craft con- structed by Bassof and Serebrennikof was consequently seized by the govern- ment authorities immediately after entering port. The confiscated vessel was subsequently delivered to the merchant Ivan Shilkin, with permission to make hunting and exploring voyages to the eastern islands. Nene Nachr., 30. The prohibitory order concerning Bering Island was disregarded altogether by the promyshleniki, who made a constant practice of landing and wintering there. Berg, Khronol. Ist., 16.
21 These were Ignatiy Ivanof and Matveï Shchorbakof of St Petersburg, and Petr Maltzof, Arkhip Trapeznikof, Feodor Solovief, and Dmitri Yagof of Irkutsk. Neue Nachr., 20.
26 Kamchatka Archives, 1754.
111
NIKOFOR TRAPEZNIKOF.
Cheredof, who had succeeded Captain Lebedef in the command of Kamchatka, was at the same time author- ized to accept similar proposals from other firms, but none were made. On the 22d of July 1754, the Su Ioann unexpectedly sailed into the harbor of Nishe- kamchatsk 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.26
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." Andreï 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 Kam- chatka the 3d of July 1752, with a cargo of 1,772 sea- otters, 750 blue foxes, and 840 fur-seals.27
The enterprising merchant Nikofor Trapeznikof of
26 The furs were subsequently released on the payment of the stipulated one third. Neue Nachr., 33.
27 Tolstykh reported that he came to an island the inhabitants of which had not previously paid tribute; they seemed to be of Chukchi extraction, as they tattooed their faces in a similar manner and also wore labrets or orna- ments of walrus ivory in their cheeks. According to his statement these 'Aleuts' had killed two natives of Kamchatka without the least provocation. On another island the natives voluntarily paid tribute in sea-otter skins. Neue Nachr., 26. It is difficult to determine from this report which island Tolstykh visited; the description of the natives would point to St Lawrence Island, but the tribute paid in sea-otter-skins can only have come from the Aleutian chain. Probably he had sailed to the northward first and then changed his course to the Aleutian Islands. See Native Races, vol. i. this series.
1
112
THE SWARMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.
Irkutsk also received permission to sail for the Aleu- tian 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. Tra- peznikof built a ship, named it the Boris i Gleb, and sailed in August. He passed four winters on vari- ous islands, returning in 1753 with a cargo valued at 105,736 rubles. The Cossack Sila Shevyrin acted as tribute-gatherer on this adventure.28 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 foxcs. 29
Late in 1749 Shilkin built the Sv Simeon i Anna and manned her with fourteen Russians and twenty natives of Kamchatka. The Cossack Alexeï Vorobief, or Morolief, served as navigator; Cossacks Ivan Mi- nukhin and Alexcï 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 un- known island. Here the party remained till the fol- lowing 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.30
28 It seems that the island of Atkha was first discovered during the voyage of Trapeznikof. Cook and La Perouse call it Atghka, and Holmberg I Acha. C'artog. Pac. Coast, MS., iii. 470. Shevyrin acknowledged that he had re- ceived tribute to the amount of one sea-otter each from the following natives: Igja, Oeknu, Ogogoetakh, Shalukiankh, Alak, Tukun, Ononnshan, Kotog- sioga, Oonashayupu, Lak, Yoreshugilaik, Ungalikan, Shati, and Chyipaks. Bolsheretsk Archives, 1754; Neue Nachr. 24-5; Berg, Khronol. Ist., 18.
29 She was a lucky craft, making continuous voyages till 1763, and bring- ing over 5,000 sea-otters from the islands. Berg, Khronol. Ist., 18, 19.
30 Neue Nachr., 19. Berg states that the Simeon i Anna carried a crew of 14 Russian and 30 natives of Kamchatka, and that the party returned with 1,980 sea-otters, collected on one of the small islands adjoining Bering Island. Khronol. Ist., 24. The fact that fur-seals formed a part of the cargo would confirm the assumption that the locality of the wreck was one of the group of the Commander Islands.
113
THE BENEFITS OF DESPOTISM.
By this time the merchants of Siberia and Kam- chatka had gathered confidence regarding the traffic, and ship-building became the order of the day. Un- fortunately, even the first principles of naval archi- tecture were ill understood at Kamchatka, and so late as 1760 the promyshleniki made exceeding dangerous voyages in most ridiculous vessels-flatboats, shi- tikas, 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 mar- vellous. Despotism has its uses.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.