USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 20
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HIST. ALASKA. 12
178
EXPLORATION AND TRADE.
We may as well take it for granted before proceed- ing further that three fourths of all that Benyovski says of himself are lies; with this understanding I will continue his story, building it for the most part on what others say of him.
In Kamchatka as in Okhotsk through his superior social qualifications the count was enabled to gain the confidence and good-will of the commander, so that the hardships of his position were greatly alleviated. He was not obliged to join his companions in the toilsome and dangerous chase of fur-bearing animals, finding more congenial employment in Captain Nilof's office and residence.7 The count accompanied his patron on various official tours of inspection, in which he came in contact with his numerous fellow-exiles scattered through the interior in small settlements. His origi- nal plan of escape from the Russian domains was ever present in his mind and he neglected no opportunity to enlarge the membership of his secret society. In order to ingratiate himself still more with Nilof he re- sorted to his old trick of forgery, and revealed to the credulous commander an imaginary plot to poison him and the officers of his staff. He claimed in his memoirs that in consideration of this service Nilof formally re- voked his sentence of exile.8
While still travelling with Nilof in the beginning of 1771, Benyovski intercepted a letter directed to the former by one of the conspirators betraying the plot.9
" Benyovski goes out of the way to prove himself a great rascal. He ex- plains how he ingratiated himself with Nilof and his family, claiming that he was employed as tutor to several young girls and boys, and that in his capa- city of clerk to the father he forged reports to the imperial government, prais- ing the conduct of the exiles. He also states that he made use of his fascinations to work upon the fcclings of one of the young daughters, and to gain control of her heart and mind. Sgibnef, however, a careful and industrious inves- tigator, says, first, that the count did not play upon the affections of Nilof's daughter, and secondly that Nilof never had a daughter. Benyovski's Memoirs and Travels, i. 150-2; Morskoi Sbornik, cii. 51-69.
8 Benyovski's Memoirs and Travels, i. 135-7. Sgibnef, however, states that no amnesty or special privileges were granted to Benyovski. Morskoi Sbornik, cii. 69.
9 Benyovski gives the following list of members of the secret society of exiles: Benyovski, Panof, Baturin, Stepanof Solmanof, Windblath, Krustief, and Vassili, Benyovski's servant. Later a large number was added, among them
1
179
REVOLT OF THE EXILES.
The traitor, whose name was Leontief, was killed by order of the court. The plan settled upon for final action was to overcome the garrison of Bolsheretsk, imprison the commander, plunder the public treasury and storehouses, and sail for Japan or some of the islands of the Pacific with as many of the conspirators as desired to go.10
Benyovski's statement of his exploits at Kamchatka, for unblushing impudence in the telling, borders the sublime. Arriving at Bolsheretsk on the 1st of De- cember a half-starved prisoner clothed in rags, he was advanced to the position of confidant of the acting governor before two weeks had elapsed, being also the accepted suitor for the hand of his daughter. During the same time he had succeeded in rousing the spirit of revolt not only in the breasts of his fellow-exiles, but among the free merchants and government offi- cials, who he claimed were ready to rise at a moment's warning and overthrow their rulers. Within a few days, or weeks at the most, this grand conspiracy had not only been called into existence but had survived spasms of internal dissensions and attempted treason, all suppressed by the strength and presence of mind of one man-Benyovski. Then he tells how he cheated the commander and others in games and sold his influence for presents of furs and costly garments. On the 1st of January 1771 a fête took place at the house of Captain Nilof. Benyovski claims that it many who were not exiles: Dumitri Kuznetzof, a free merchant, Afanassiy Kumen, a Cossack captain; Ivan Sibaïef, captain of infantry; Alexeï Proto- pop, archdeacon of the church, free; Leonti Popof, captain of infantry, free; Ivan Churin, merchant, free; Magnus Meder, surgeon-general of the admi- ralty, exiled for 20 years; Ivan Volkof, hunter, free; Kasimir Bielski, Polish exile; Grigor Lobchof, colonel of infantry, exile; Prince Heraclius Zadskoi, exiled; Julien Brandorp, exiled Swede; Nikolaï Serebrennikof, captain of the guards, exile; Andreï Biatzinin, exile. All the members of the Russian church joining the conspiracy were obliged first to confess and receive the sacrament in order to make their oath more binding. Benyovski's Memoirs and Travels, i. 108-9.
10 At that time the province was estimated to contain over 15,000 inhabit- ants classified in the official returns as follows: 22 infantry officers; 422 Rus- sian riflemen; 1,500 Cossacks and officers; 26 civil officers; 82 Russian merchants; 700 descendants of exiles (200 females), free; 1,600 exiles; 8,000 males and 3,000 female natives of Kamchatka; 40 Russian men. Benyovski's Memoirs and Travels, i. 301; Morskoi Sbornik, ciii. 81.
180
EXPLORATION AND TRADE.
had been arranged to celebrate his betrothal to Afan- assia Nilof, to whom he had promised marriage, though already possessed of a wife in Poland. In his diary he states at length how he suppressed another counter-conspiracy a few moments before pro- ceeding to the festive scene, and sentenced two of his former companions to death. Meanwhile Benyovski's cruel and arbitrary treatment of his associates had made him many enemies, and reports of his designs reached the authorities. He succeeded repeatedly in dispersing the growing suspicion, but finally the dan- ger became so threatening that he concluded to pre- cipitate the execution of his plot.
On the 26th of April Captain Nilof sent an officer with two Cossacks to Benyovski's residence with orders to summon him to the chancellery, there to give an account of his intentions. The summons of the chief conspirator brought to the spot about a dozen of his associates, who bound and gagged the captain's messengers. Then hoisting the signal of general revolt, which called all the members of the society together, he proceeded to Nilof's quarters, where the feeble show of resistance made by the trembling drunkard and his family furnished sufficient excuse for a general charge upon the premises. During the mêlée the commander was killed. The murder was premeditated, as the best means of preventing partici- pants from turning back.
Before resolving upon the final attack, Benyovski had secured the services of the commander of the only vessel then in port, the Sv Petr i Sv Pavel, and as soon as the momentary success of the enter- prise was assured his whole force was set to work to repair and fit out this craft. The magazines and storehouses were ransacked, and not satisfied with the quantity of powder on hand, he shipped a supply of sulphur, saltpetre, and charcoal necessary for the manufacture of that article.11
11 Benyovski's own inventory of the 'armament' of the Sv Petr i Sv
181
BENYOVSKI'S JOURNEY.
The interval between Benyovski's accession to power and his departure to Bolsheretsk was filled with brief trials and severe punishments of recreant members of his band who endeavored to open the way for their own pardon by the old authorities by betraying the new. The knout was freely used, and the sentence of death imposed almost daily. At last on the 12th of May the Sv Petr i Sv Pavel sailed out of the harbor of Bolsheretsk midst the firing of salvos, the ringing of bells, and the solemn te deum on the quarter-deck. The voyage is involved in mystery, caused chiefly by the contradictory re- ports of Benyovski himself. He says he anchored in a bay of Bering Island on the 19th of May, after a passage of seven days, took on board twenty-six bar- rels of water, and sailed again, after a brief sojourn on the island, during which he claimed to have fallen in with a Captain Okhotin of the ship Elizaveta, whom Benyovski describes as an exiled Saxon noble- man.
On the 7th of June he claims to have communi- cated with the Chukchi in latitude 64°, and only three days later, on the 10th of June, he landed on the island of Kadiak, over 1,000 miles away. Another entry in the count's diary describes his arrival on the island of Amchitka, one of the Andrïan- ovski group, on the 21st of June, and two days later the arrival of the ship at Ourumusir, one of the Kurile Islands, is noted. In explanation of this re- markable feat he gives the speed of his vessel at ten and a half knots an hour, which might be true, driven by a gale. The only part of this journey susceptible
Pavel was as follows: '96 men, 9 of them females; 8 cannon; 2 howitzers; 2 mortars; 120 muskets with bayonets; 80 sabres; 60 pistols; 1,600 pounds of powder; 2,000 pounds of lead; 800 pounds of salt meat; 1,200 pounds of salt fish; 3,000 pounds of dried fish; 1,400 pounds of whale-oil; 200 pounds of sugar; 500 pounds of tea; 4,000 pounds of spoiled flour; 40 pounds of butter; 113 pounds of cheese; 6,000 pounds of iron; 120 hand-grenades; 900 cannon- balls; 50 pounds of sulphur; 200 pounds of saltpetre; several barrels of char- coal; 36 barrels of water; 138 barrels of brandy; 126 cases of furs; 14 anchors; sails and cordage; one boat and one skiff.' Memoirs and Travels, i. 271.
182
EXPLORATION AND TRADE.
of proof is the arrival of the survivors in the harbor of Macao on the Chinese coast.12
The successor of the murdered Nilof was Major Magnus Carl von Behm, who was appointed to the full command of Kamchatka by an imperial oukaz dated April 30, 1772, but he did not assume charge of his district until the 15th of October of the follow- ing year, having met with detention in his progress. through Siberia. 13
In 1776 the name of Grigor Ivanovich Shelikof is first mentioned among the merchants engaged in operations on the islands and coast of north-west America. This man, who has justly been called the founder of the Russian colonies on this continent, first came to Okhotsk from Kiakhta on the Chinese fron- tier and formed a partnership with Lebedef-Lash- tochkin for the purpose of hunting and trading on the Kurile Islands. This field, however, was not large enough for Shelikof's ambition, and forming another partnership with one Luka Alin, he built a
12 Sgibnef states that Benyovski was informed after his departure from Bering Island that a party of his associates had laid plans to detain the vessel and return to Kamchatka. Several of the accused were punished by flogging, while Ismaïlof and Paranchin, with the latter's wife, were put ashore on an island of the Kurile group, whence they were brought back by Protodiakonof, a trader, in 1772. This would explain the circumstance that Cook could not obtain any definite information concerning Benyovski's voyage from Ismaïlof when he met the latter at Unalaska in 1778. Sgibnef, in Morskoi Sbornik, c. ii. 62-3. From Macao Benyovski managed to reach the French colony on Madagascar Island, and finally he proceeded to Paris with the object of ob- taining the assistance of the French government in subjugating the natives of Madagascar. Here he met with only partial success, but definite informa- tion is extant to the effect that on the 14th of April 1774 Benyovski embarked for Maryland on the ship Robert and Anne. He was accompanied by his family and arrived at Baltimore on July Sth the same year, with a cargo of merchandise for Madagascar valued at £4,000. In Baltimore he succeeded in obtaining assistance from resident merchants, who chartered for him a vessel of about 450 tons, the Intrepid, armed with 20 guns, and with this craft he sailed from Baltimore on October 25, 1784. The last letter received from the count was dated from the coast of Brazil. A few months later he reached his destination and at once organized a conspiracy for the purpose of setting up an independent government on the island of Madagascar, but in an action with French colonial troops he was killed on the 23d of May 1786.
13 Major Behm's salary was fixed at 600 rubles per annum, and his jurisdic- tion was subsequently extended over the Aleutian Islands by an oukaz of the governor general of Irkutsk. Sgibnef, in Morskoi Sbornik, iii. 7.
183
ADVENTURES OF THE SIBERIAN TRADERS.
vessel at Nishekamchatsk, named it of course the Sv Pavel, and despatched it to the islands.14 Another vessel of the same name was fitted out by the most fortunate of all the Siberian adventurers, Orekhof, Lapin, and Shilof. The command was given to Master Gerassim Grigorovich Ismaïlof, a man who subse- quently figures prominently in explorations of Alaska, and of whom Cook speaks in terms of high commenda- tion. 15
Leaving the discussion of the voyages of English and French explorers, which took place about this time, to another chapter, we shall follow the move- ments of Siberian traders and promyshleniki up to the point of final amalgamation into a few power- ful companies. In 1777 Shelikof, Solovief, and the Panof brothers fitted out a vessel named the Bar- folomeï i Varnabas, which sailed from Nishekam- chatsk and returned after an absence of four years with a small cargo valued at 58,000 rubles.16 In the same year another trader, who was to play a prominent part in the development of the Russian colonies in the Pacific, first appears upon the scene. Ivan Lari-
14 It was commanded by Sapochnikof, of whom Cook speaks in terms of praise. This vessel returned in 1780 with a cargo valued at 75,240 rubles. Berg, Khronol. Ist., 101, app.
15 Cook spells his name Erasim Gregorieoff Sin Ismyloff. Cook's Voy., ii. 497. Gregorief Sin is an obsolete form of Grigorovich, both signifying 'son of Grigor.' Ismaïlof was considered one of the most successful navigators among the Russian pioneers. Much of this reputation he doubtless owed to the information received from Cook, who speaks of his intelligence and acute- ness of observation. Concerning his escape from Benyovski, see note 12. The name of Ismaïlof's vessel, the Sv Pavel, led Corporal Ledyard, of Cook's marine guard, and subsequently a self-styled American colonel, into the mis- take of reporting that he saw at Unalaska the very vessel in which Bering made his voyage of discovery, the corporal being unaware that that craft had been destroyed. Life of Ledyard, 86; Pinkerton's Voy., xvi. 781-2; Cook's Third Voy., ii. 494, 523. Berg states that he could find no accounts of the present voyage beyond a brief notice of Ismaïlof's return in 1781 with a very rich cargo valued at 172,000 rubles. Khronol. Ist., 101. His peredovchik was Ivan Lukanin. He commanded the Trekh Sviatiteli in 1783, the vessel on which Shelikof himself embarked, the Simeon in 1793, on which occasion he met Vancouver's officers, without telling them of his intercourse with Cook, and the Alexandr in 1795. Berg, Kronol. Ist., Table ii., app.
16 Berg, Khronol Ist., mentions the despatch of the ship Alexand Nevski by the brothers Panof in 1776, and its return in 1779, but gives no details of the voyage. This is probably an error. See p. 169.
184
EXPLORATION AND TRADE.
novich Golikof, a merchant of the town of Kursk, who held the office of collector of the spirits tax in the province of Irkutsk,17 formed a partnership with Shelikof. At joint expense they built a ship named Sv Andreï Pervosvannui, that is to say St Andrew the First-called, which sailed from Petropavlovsk for the Aleutian Islands. This vessel was subsequently wrecked, but the whole cargo, valued at 133,450 rubles, was saved.18 Another ship, the Zossima i Savatia, was despatched in the same year by Yakof Protas- sof, but after remaining four years on the nearest Aleutian isles, the expedition returned with a small cargo valued at less than 50,000 rubles. In 1778 the two Panof brothers associated themselves with Arsenius Kuznetzof, also one of the former com- panions of Benyovski,19 and constructed a vessel named the Sv Nikolaï, which sailed from Petropav- lovsk. This craft was absent seven years and finally rewarded the patience of the owners with a rich cargo consisting of 2,521 sea-otters, 230 land-otters, and 3,300 foxes of various kinds.20 The same firm de- spatched another vessel in the same year, the Kliment, which returned in 1785 with a cargo of 1,118 sea- otters, 500 land-otters, and 830 foxes. The com- mander of this expedition was Ocheredin.21
17 Berg. Khronol. Ist., 102.
18 Berg, Khronol. Ist., app .; Grewingk, Beitr., 321.
19 Berg, Khronol. Ist., 103; Syn Otechestva, 1821, No. 27.
20 Berg, Khronol. Ist., 105. The nature of the cargo would indicate that at least a portion of the cruise was spent in the vicinity of the mainland of Alaska.
21 Though Polutof appears to have brought it home. Berg during his sojourn at Kadiak had an opportunity to converse with a hunter named Tuyurskoi, who had been one of Ocheredin's crew. This man stated that the expedition had passed the winter of 1779 at Kadiak, and that they had with them 60 Aleuts for the purpose of hunting sea-otters. The Kadiaks, however, would not allow these men to hunt, scarcely permitting them to land even. During the whole winter, which was passed under constant appre- hension of attacks, only 100 sca-otters were secured, and 20 of the crew died of scurvy. In the spring the promyshleniki made all haste to proceed to Unalaska. Berg, Khronol. Ist., 104-7. Berg also states that another craft of the same name, Av Nikolaï, the property of Shelikof and Kozitzin, sailed for the islands in 1778, but he could find no details concerning the voyage in the archives beyond the statement that the same vessel made three successive voyages in the same direction. Kadiak, east of the Alaska peninsula. On
185
MOVEMENTS OF VESSELS.
The ship Sv Ioann Predtecha, or St John the Fore- runner, belonging to Shelikof and Golikof, sailed from Petropavlovsk in 1779, and remained absent six years without proceeding beyond the nearest Aleutian Islands, finally returning to Okhotsk with a cargo of little value. In the following year the brothers Panof fitted out once more the Sv Yerpl. This old craft was wrecked on her return voyage not far from Kam- chatka, but the cargo, valued at 70,000 rubles, was saved and brought into port by another vessel.22
With the funds realized from the sale of the cargo of the Sv Pavel Shelikof had constructed another craft, with the intention of extending his operations among the islands. The vessel was named the Sv Ioann Ryl- skoi, St John of Rylsk, and sailed from Petropavlovsk in 1780.23
The Sv Prokop, fitted out by the merchants Shu- ralef and Krivorotof, also sailed in 1780, but was wrecked on the coast of Kamchatka soon after leav- ing Okhotsk. Four vessels sailed for the islands in 1781, the Sv Pavel, despatched for the second time by Shelikof and Alin; the Sv Alexeï, despatched by the merchant Popof; the Alexandr Nevski, belonging to the firm of Orekhof, Lapin, and Shilof;24 and Sv Georgiy, fitted out by Lebedef-Lastochkin and Sheli- kof, wherein Pribylof made the all-important discovery of the Fur Seal Islands in 1786,25 which will be duly
Cook's Atlas, 1778, Pd Kadjac; La Pérouse, 1786, J. Kichtak; Dixon, 1789, Kodiac; Vancouver, 1790-95, Kodiak; Sutil y Mex., Viage, Isla Kadiac; Holmberg, Kadjak. Cartog. Pac. Coast, MS., iii. 434.
22 Berg, Khronol. Ist., 107; Grewingk, Beitr., 323.
23 After an absence of six years this vessel returned, but was wrecked on the coast of Kamchatka. The cargo, however, comprising 900 sea-otters and over 18,000 fur-seals, was saved. Shelikof seems to have been the first among the traders to deal more extensively in fur-seals. Up to 1780 he had imported 70,000 of these skins. Berg, Khronol. Ist., 106-7.
21 The Sv Pavel returned after a five years' cruise with a cargo valued at 35,000 rubles; the Sv Alexeï also returned after an absence of five years and met with great success; the Alexandr Nevski, which had just made a cruise to the Kurile Islands under the command of the Greek, Eustrate Delarof, was placed under the command of Stepan Zaïkof for this expedition, and returned in five years with a rich assortment of furs, valued at 283,000 rubles, Berg, Khronol. Ist., 807-9. See note 19.
25 After an eight years' cruise Pribylof returned to Okhotsk with a cargo of 2,720 sea-otters, 31,100 fur-seals, nearly 8,000 foxes, and a large quantity
186
EXPLORATION AND TRADE.
discussed in its chronological order. For 1782 only one departure of a trading-vessel for the islands has been recorded. This vessel was fitted out by Yakov Protassof at Nishekamchatsk.26 Lebedef-Lastochkin organized a special company in 1783 for the purpose of extending his operations on the islands. The capital of this enterprise was divided into sixty-five shares, most of them being in Lebedef's hands. 27
In 1783 the first direct attempt was made by the Russian traders to extend their operations to the main- land of America, to the northward and eastward of Kadiak. The fur-bearing animals had for some years been rapidly disappearing from the Aleutian Islands and the lower peninsula, and despairing of further success on the old hunting-grounds the commanders of three vessels then anchored at Unalaska came to the conclusion that it was best to embark on new dis- coveries. They met and agreed to submit themselves to the leadership of Potap Zaïkof, a navigator of some
of walrus ivory and whalebone. Berg, Khronol. Ist., 107; Veniaminof, i. 131-2; Sauer's Astron. and Geog. Exped., 246; Grewingk, Beitr., 323.
26 Protassof's vessel returned in 1786, and according to Berg his cargo con- sisted chiefly of fur-seals. Berg, Khronol. Ist., 111. As the discovery of the Seal Islands occurred in that year the skins must have been obtained at the Commander Islands.
27 Berg furnishes a full list of the share-holders, which may serve to demon- strate how such affairs were managed in those early times. The 65 shares were divided as follows: The merchant Lebedef-Lastochkin, 34 shares; Ye- fim Popof, 1 share; Grigor Deshurinskoi, 1 share; Elias Zavialof, 1 share; Ivan Korotaief, 1 share; Vassili Neviashin, 1 share; Mikhaïl Issaief, 1 share; Vassili Shapkin, 2 shares; Vassili Kulof, I share; Mikhaïl Tubinskoi, 1 share; Feodor Nikulinskoi, 2 shares; Arseni Kuznetzof, 1 share; Vassili Krivishin, 1 share; Mikhaïl Dushakof, 2 shares; Ivan Lapin, 2 shares; Alexeï Polevoi, 1 share; Ivan Bolsheretsk, 2 shares; Dmitri Lorokin, 1 share; the manu- facturer, Ivan Savelief, 5 shares; the citizen, Ssava Chebykin, 1 |share; the citizen, Spiridon Burakof, 1 share; and Court Counsellor Peter Budishchef, 2 shares : total, 65.
In the division of profits there were to be added to this number 1 share for the church, and the orphans in the school of Okhotsk; } share to the peredovchik, Petr Kolomin, 1 share to the boatswain, Durygin, 1 share to the navigator, Potap Zaïkof, and 2 shares to such of the crew as distinguished themselves during the voyage by industry, bravery, or otherwise, making the value of 1 share at the division of profits one seventy-first of the whole pro- ceeds. Berg, Khronol, Ist., 109, 211; Grewingk, Beitr., 324; Pallas, Nord. Beitr., vi. 165, 175. At the end of the cruise the first vessel sent by this company was wrecked on the island of St Paul. The cargo was saved, but proved barely sufficient to cover expenses.
1
187
ZAIKOF, DELAROF, AND POLUTOF.
reputation, and leave to him the selection of new hunt- ing-grounds. These vessels were the Sv Alexeï, com- manded by Eustrate Delarof; the Sv Mikhail, under Polutof, and the Alexandr Nevski, commanded by Zaïkof. The latter had learned from Captain Cook and his companions during their sojourn in Kam- chatka that they had discovered a vast gulf on the coast of America and named it Prince William Sound.28 To this point he concluded to shape his course.
On the 27th of July the three ships were towed to anchorage in a small cove, probably on the north side of Kaye Island, which, as they subsequently discov- ered, was named Kyak by the natives. Boats and bidarkas were sent out at once in various directions in search of game and of inhabitants-the few natives observed on entering the bay having fled to the hills at sight of the Russians. On the third day one of the detached parties succeeded in bringing to the ships a girl and two small children, but it was not until the middle of August that anything like friendly intercourse could be established, and the natives in- duced to trade peltries.29
On the 18th the bidarchik Nagaief returned to the anchorage with quite a number of sea-otter skins, all made into garments, and reported the discovery of a large river-the Atnah, or Copper-which he had ascended for some distance. He had met with a large body of natives in a bidar and traded with them, both parties landing on the beach at a distance of six hundred fathoms from each other and then meeting half-way. These people informed him that at their home was a safe harbor for ships, referring of course
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