USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 27
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Aleutian isles and the southern extremity of the Alaska peninsula.
The fur-seal frequented the same breeding-grounds as now and many were killed on the Aleutian and Com- mander islands while on their annual migration to and from the rookeries. The value of the skins was small and the market easily overstocked, often necessitating the destruction of those on hand. Beavers and land- otters were obtained only in Cook Inlet, as the vast basin of the Yukon had not then been tapped. The skins of this class for the overland trade with China, as has been stated, were purchased in England of the Hudson's Bay Company, and carried nearly around the globe. Black bears were occasionally purchased, but rarely appeared in the market, being considered as most suitable presents to officials and persons of high rank whose good-will might serve the interest of individual traders or companies. Lynx and marmot skins found only a local demand in the form of gar- ments and trimmings.
CHAPTER XII.
FOREIGN VISITORS.
1786-1794.
FRENCH INTEREST IN THE NORTH-WEST-LA PEROUSE'S EXAMINATION -- DISCOVERY OF PORT DES FRANÇAIS-A DISASTROUS SURVEY-ENGLISH VISITORS-MEARES IS CAUGHT IN PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND-TERRIBLE STRUGGLES WITH THE SCURVY-PORTLOCK AND DIXON COME TO THE RESCUE-THEIR TWO YEARS OF TRADING AND EXPLORING-ISMAÏLOF AND BOCHAROF SET FORTH TO SECURE THE CLAIMS OF RUSSIA-A TREACH- OROUS CHIEF-YAKUTAT BAY EXPLORED-TRACES OF FOREIGN VISITORS JEALOUSLY SUPPRESSED-SPAIN RESOLVES TO ASSERT HERSELF-MAR- TINEZ AND HARO'S TOUR OF INVESTIGATION-FIDALGO, MARCHAND, AND CAAMAÑO-VANCOUVER'S EXPEDITION.
THE activity displayed by different nationalities in the exploration of the Northwest Coast, together with allurements of trade and of the interoceanic problem, called to this region also the attention of the French government; and when in August 1785 La Pérouse was despatched from Brest with two frigates, the Astrolabe and Boussole, the latter commanded by De Langle, on a scientific exploring tour round the world, he received instructions to extend it to the farthest north-west, and report also on trade pros- pects. After a tedious voyage round Cape Horn, the coast of Alaska was sighted on the 23d of June 1786 near latitude 60°, where the gigantic outline of Mount St Elias rose above the clouds. The impression made upon the natives of sunny France by the gloomy aspect of this coast was not more favorable than that conceived by the earlier Spanish and English visitors. The contrast was too great between the palm-groves and taro-fields of Hawaii so lately witnessed, and
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256
FOREIGN VISITORS.
these snowy mountains of this northern mainland with their thin blackish fringe of sombre spruce- forest. At any rate, contrary to his instructions, which were to explore the Aleutian Islands, La Pé- rouse with wisdom shaped his course south-eastward along the coast.1
For some time no landing could be effected, the vessels not approaching near enough to the shore to distinguish bays and headlands. In two instances boats were lowered to reconnoitre, but the reports of officers in charge were not favorable. The wide open- ing of Yakutat or Bering Bay was thus passed un- awares, but a little to the southward La Pérouse observed what he considered certain indications of the discharge of a large river into the sea.2
On the 2d of August an inlet was sighted a short distance below Cape Fairweather, and on the following day the two frigates succeeded in gaining an anchor- age. The navigator felt exultant over this discovery . of a new harbor, and expressed himself in his journal to the effect "that if the French government had en- tertained ideas of establishing factories in this part of the American coast, no other nation could pretend to the smallest right of opposing the project."" The
1 Indeed the illustrious French navigator had deviated from his instruc- tions ever since leaving Madeira. He made the northern coast in the month designated, but a year earlier than had been contemplated, having deferred his explorations in the south Pacific. The instructions prescribed, that he should 'particularly endeavor to explore those parts which have not been examined by Captain Cook, and of which the relations of Russian and Spanish navigators have given no idea. He will observe whether in those parts not yet known some river may not be found, some confined gulf, which may, by means of the interior lakes, open a communication with some part of Hudson Bay. He will push his inquiries to Behring's Bay and to Mount St Elias and will inspect the ports Bucarelli and Los Remedios. Prince William Land and Cook river having been sufficiently explored, he will, after making Mount St Elias, steer a course for the Shumagin Islands, near the peninsula of Alaska. He will afterward examine the Aleutian Islands,' etc. La Pérouse, Voy., i. 70-75.
2 One indentation of the coast was named De Monti Bay; and La Pérouse's French edition asserts that this was Bering Bay with the anchorage of Port Mulgrave named by Dixon in the following year. Dixon's position of Port Mulgrave was lat. 59° 33' and long. 140° w. of Greenwich, while La Pérouse located the bay De Monti at 59° 43' and 140° 20'. Both longitudes were in- correct in regard to Port Mulgrave.
3 The editor of the journal of La Pérouse, in his effort to establish the
257
LA PEROUSE'S EXPEDITION.
newly discovered port, called Ltua by the natives, was named rightly and modestly Port des Français, which gave no undue personal prominence to any one. Ex- ploring and surveying parties in boats were sent out at once, while the remainder of the crews were em- ployed in watering the ships and re-stowing cargo in order to mount six cannons that had thus far been carried in the hold.4
The bay of Ltua represents in its contours the let- ter T, the foot forming its outlet into the sea. The cross-bar consists of a deep basin terminating in glaciers. La Pérouse alludes to it as " perhaps the most extraordinary place in the world," and describes the upper part as " a basin of water of a depth in the middle that could not be fathomed, bordered by peaked mountains of an excessive height covered with snow . . . I never saw a breath of air ruffle the surface of this water; it is never troubled but by the fall of immense blocks of ice, which continually detach themselves from fine glaciers, and which in falling make a noise that resounds far through the mountains. The air is so calm that the voice may be heard half a league away, as well as the noise of the sea birds that lay their eggs in the cavities of these rocks." Though charmed with the weird grandeur of the scenery, the explorers were disappointed in their expectation of finding a river or channel offering a passage to the Canadian lakes or Hudson Bay.
Intercourse with the natives began with the first
French discoverer's claim to priority on this part of the coast, ignores Cook as having been 'too far from the shore,' but carefully traces the movements of Dixon whom he seems to have looked upon as the commander of the ex- pedition, consisting of the King George and Queen Charlotte, and shows that La Pérouse sighted Mount St Elias and other points far earlier. The editor seems to make a fine distinction between Prince William Sound and the 'northwest coast' of America. La Pérouse himself gives so careful and un- biassed a description of what he saw on the Alaskan coast as to impress the reader with a feeling of confidence not generally derived from a perusal of the narratives of his English and other predecessors and successors in the field of exploration.
4 This was done, according to the editor of the journal, not from fear of Indians on the spot, but with a view of defence against pirates in the China seas they were so soon to visit.
HIST. ALASKA. 17
258
FOREIGN VISITORS.
day, and soon they came in large numbers, allured from a distance it was supposed. Contrary to his expectations La Pérouse found the savages in posses- sion of knives, hatchets, iron, and beads, from which, with clearer discrimination than Cook, he concluded these natives to have indirect communication with the Russians, while the latter navigator ascribed such indications to inter-tribal traffic originating with Hud- son Bay posts.5 It was convenient for the English- man thus to ignore the presence of any rival in these parts. Traffic was carried on with moderate success, the chief article of barter being iron, and some six hundred sea-otter skins and a number of other furs were obtained. To so inexperienced a trader the business transacted appeared immense, leading the commander to the opinion that a trading-post could easily collect twenty thousand skins per annum, yet he leaned rather to occasional private trading expedi- tions than to the fixed establishment. The thieving propensities of the natives annoyed the French very much, and in the hope of keeping the robbers away La Pérouse purchased of the chief an island in the bay, where he had established his astronomical sta- tion; but though a high price was paid for the worth- less ground there was no abatement of thefts. The savages would glide through the dense spruce thicket at night and steal articles from under the very heads of sleepers without alarming the guards.
On July 13th a terrible misfortune befell the ex- pedition. Three boats had been sent out to make final soundings for a chart, including the passage lead- ing out to sea. As the undertaking was looked upon in the light of a pleasure excursion, affording an oppor- tunity for hunting, the number of officers accompany- ing the party was larger than the duty required, seven
5 We have no evidence of the advance of Ismaïlof 's boats to the point pre- vious to the arrival of the French frigates. The seal-skin covering of a large canoe or bidar discovered here would point to visits of Aglegmutes or Chu- gatsches. The natives stated that of seven similar boats, six had been lost in the attempt to stem the fearful tide rip at the entrance to the bay.
259
TERRIBLE ACCIDENT.
in all, while the crews consisted of eighteen of the best men from both vessels. On approaching the narrow channel at the entrance of the bay, two of the boats were drawn into the resistless current and engulfed in the breakers almost before their inmates were aware of their danger. The third boat, the smallest, narrowly escaped a like fate. Not a man of the first two was saved, not even a single body was washed ashore.6 A monument to the drowned party was erected on the point of island purchased of the chief, and it was named L'Isle du Cenotaphe.7 Weighing anchor July 30th the squadron sailed along the coast without mak- ing any observations, but on the 6th of August the weather cleared, enabling La Pérouse to determine his position in the vicinity of Norfolk Sound.8 Puerto de Bucareli and Cape Kaigan were passed by, and unfav- orable weather foiled the attempt to run into Dixon Entrance, whereupon the expedition passed beyond Alaska limits.9 Superficial as were his observations, La Pérouse came to the conclusion that the whole coast from Cross Sound to Cape Hector, the south point of Queen Charlotte Island, was one archipelago.10
During the year 1786 much progress was made in the exploration of the Alaskan coast between Dixon
6 The victims were: from the Boussole, d'Escures, de Pierrevert, de Mon- tarnal (officers), and S men; from the Astrolabe, de la Borde Marchainville, de la Borde Boutervilliers, Flassan (officers), and 7 men. The two de la Borde were brothers.
7 The monument bore an inscription, and at its foot a bottle was buried containing a brief narrative of the melancholy occurrence.
8 He recognized the Cabo de Engaño and Mount San Jacinto of the Span- iards without alluding to Cook's nomenclature of Mount and Cape Edgecombe. He looked into Norfolk Sound from the group of islands at its southern en- trance, and named two bays to the southward, of which he saw only the mouths, Port Neiker and Port Guibert (probably Port Banks and Whale Bay). On the following day he named Cape Ommaney (Cape Chirikof) and Christian Sound (Chirikof Bay). The Hazy Islands he renamed Isles de la Croyère. La Pé- rouse, Voy., ii. 165-7.
9 The details of La Perouse's explorations and observations south of this point can be found in Hist. Northwest Coast, i., and Hist. Cal., i., this series.
10 In the following year the Astrolabe and Boussole reached the coast of Kamchatka; but though the French officers met a number of individuals identified with the history of Alaska, the circumstances of their sojourn in the harbor of Petropavlovsk have no immediate connection with this narra- tive.
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FOREIGN VISITORS.
Entrance and the Alaska Peninsula. The Captain Cook and the Experiment, under captains Lowry and Guise, sailed in June from Nootka for Prince Will- iam Land, where they obtained a small lot of furs. More extensive are the experiences recorded of John Meares.11 He sailed from Malacca in the Nootka May 29, 1786. A companion ship, the Sea Otter, also fitted out in Bengal, had sailed before him with the intention of meeting in Prince William Sound, but was never heard of. Amlia and Atkha, of the Aleu- tian group, were sighted the 1st of August, and after passing unawares to the northward of the islands during a fog he was on the 5th piloted into Beaver Bay by a Russian. While taking in water, Meares and his officers were hospitably entertained by the Russians on Unalaska under Delarof, yet the English- man delights none the less to sneer at their poverty while extolling the 'generous' and 'magnanimous' con- duct of the British trader, as represented in himself.
On arriving at the mouth of Cook Inlet soon after, he heard that two vessels had already visited that part of the coast that summer, and seeing indications of Russians everywhere he passed on to Prince Will- iam Sound, imagining himself first on the ground. On his way he gave the name of Petrie to Shelikof Strait. In his eagerness to gather all the sea-otter skins possible, Meares allowed the season to slip by till too late for a passage to China and no choice remained but to winter in the sound. He first tried the anchorage of Snug Corner Cove, discovered by Cook, but subsequently moved his vessel to a sheltered nook nearer the mainland, in the vicinity of the pres- ent village of Tatikhlek.
11 Voyages made in the years 1788 and 1789 from China to the North-west Coast of America, to which is prefixed an Introductory Narrative of a Voyage performed in 1786, from Bengal in the ship Nootka, by John Meares, Esq., London, 1790. Of this work several editions have been published. The im- pression created by a perusal of Meares' narrative, especially in the light of his later transactions at Nootka, is that he was an insincere and unscrupulous man, and that he was so regarded by Portlock is evident from the manner in which the latter bound him to the fulfilment of his promises.
261
MEARES' DISTRESS.
The vessel was but ill-supplied with the provisions necessary for a long winter in the far north, but the best arrangements possible under the circumstances were made. The ship was covered. Spruce beer was brewed; but the crew preferring the spirituous liquor which was served out too freely for men on short allowance of food, and the supply of fresh fish meanwhile being stopped, scurvy broke out. Among the first victims was the surgeon. Funerals became frequent. At first, attempts were made to dig a shal- low grave under the snow; but as the survivors be- came few and lost their strength, the bodies were dropped through cracks in the ice, to become food for fishes long before returning spring opened their crys- tal vault. At last the strength of the decimated crew was barely sufficient to drag the daily supply of fuel from the forest a few hundred yards away. The sav- ages, who kept themselves well informed, grew inso- lent as they waited impatiently for the last man to die.
In April some natives from a distant part of the sound visited the vessel. A girl purchased by Meares at the beginning of the winter for an axe and some beads, and who had served as interpreter, declared them to be her own people and went away with them- a rat leaving a doomed ship.
The depth of despondency had been reached when Meares heard of the arrival of two ships in the sound. Without a seaworthy boat or a crew he was obliged to await a chance visit from the new-comers. A let- ter intrusted to some natives failed to reach its des- tination. In the evening of the 8th of May, however, Captain Dixon of the Queen Charlotte arrived in a whaleboat and boarded the Nootka, which was still fast in the ice. Learning of Meares' distress he promised all necessary assistance.12
12 Meares complained that Dixon would make no promise until the matter had been submitted to Portlock, and that he would hold out no hope for sup- plies; but Dixon writes: ' I had. . . satisfaction in assuring him that he should be furnished with every necessary we could possibly spare. As Captain
262
FOREIGN VISITORS.
Meares now had one of his boats repaired, and pro- ceeded to Portlock's vessels, on the north side of Montague Island, where relief was obtained. Port- lock insisted, however, that Meares should cease at once to trade with the natives and leave the field to him, and the latter yielded, though he complained bitterly.13 A month after the departure of the Queen Charlotte in search of furs the Nootka left the scene of so much misery and disaster, her commander bid- ding a reluctant farewell to the coast of Alaska in conformance with his promise to Captain Portlock.
This was the second visit to Alaska of Portlock and Dixon. They had sailed from England in August 1785 in the ship King George and Queen Charlotte, and first approached the vicinity of Cook Inlet on the 16th of July 1786. Less dismayed than Meares at the presence of Russians, they moved past them up to the head of Cook Inlet, and there met with considerable success in trading.14
After a sojourn of nearly a month the King George
Meares' people were now getting better, he desired me not to take the trouble of sending any refreshments to him, as he would come on board of us very shortly in his own boat.' Dixon's Voy., 155.
13 Meares gives his readers the impression of a strong bias in this matter, and one inclines to credit the two naval officers, whose narratives bear the stamp of truth. Further than this the wild statements, if not deliberate false- hoods, of Meares in connection with the Nootka controversy are well known. Dixon states the case as follows: 'In the forenoon of the 11th Captain Meares and Mr Ross left us. They were supplied with what flour, sugar, molasses, brandy, etc., we could possibly spare; and in order to render them every assistance in our power, Captain Portlock spared Captain Meares two seamen to assist in carrying his vessel to the Sandwich Islands, where he proposed going as soon as the weather permitted.' Id., 158.
14 On the 10th of July the ships had stood into a capacious opening on the east side near the entrance of the inlet. The place was named Graham Bay, and a cove on the north side near the entrance was called Coal Harbor, sev- eral scams of that mineral being visible along the bluffs. A party of Russians with a number of native hunters were encamped near a lagoon, the site of the later trading-post of Alexandrovsk. Seeing no prospect of trade here, Portlock concluded to proceed up the inlet or river as he presumed it to be. The highest point reached by him was Trading Bay, in the vicinity of the present village of Toyonok, just east of North Foreland. Here some trading was done, evidently with Kadiak or Chugatsch hunting parties; for they all used the kyak, or skin canoe, and had no permanent villages on the shore. Port- lock assumed from the signs of these natives that they asked his assistance against the Russians, but in this he was probably mistaken. Dixon's Voy., 60- 69; Portlock's Voy., 102-17
263
PORTLOCK AND DIXON.
and Queen Charlotte left the inlet on the 13th of Au- gust, with the intention to examine Prince William Sound. A succession of contrary winds and thick weather interfered with this plan. For over a month the vessels kept near the coast, sighting many points previously determined by Spanish and English ex- plorers, but finding it impossible to make a landing, until finally, on the 28th of September, when in the vicinity of Nootka Sound, Captain Portlock gave up all hopes of further trade that season and headed for the Hawaiian Islands.
After wintering there Portlock sailed once more for the Alaskan coast, and sighted Montague Island on the 23d of April. Natives who visited the ships on the west side of the island were without furs, but pointed to the head of the sound, repeating the word 'Nootka,' which puzzled Captains Portlock and Dixon not a little, until the latter finally fell in with Meares as before stated. The Queen Charlotte stood down the coast, while Portlock moved to Nuchek Harbor to await the long-boat of the King George which had been despatched for Cook Inlet on the 12th of May, with orders to return by the 20th of June.15 The boat returned on the 11th, reporting such success that she was fitted out anew and despatched upon a second trip with positive orders to return by the 20th of July.
Portlock's prolonged stay at Nuchek enabled him to form a very good chart of the bay, which he named Port Etches, while a cove on the west side was called Brook Cove.16 Trade was not very active, and boats sent to various parts of the sound did not
15 The boat was commanded by Hayward, third mate.
16 A smoke-house was erected for the purpose of curing salmon; an abun- dance of spruce beer was brewed and a number of spars were secured from the virgin forest lining the shores of the bay. At the head of one of the coves an inscription was discovered upon a tree, which Portlock believed to be Greek, made by a man living among the natives, but which of course was Russian. Portlock left a wooden vane and inscription on Garden Island to the south side of Nuchek Harbor. Garden strawberries are now found on this and other points of Nuchek Island-probably the result of Portlock's experiment. Voy., 232, 243.
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FOREIGN VISITORS.
meet with much success, some of them being robbed not only of trading goods and provisions, but of clothes and arms belonging to the men. The whale- boat and yawl were left high ashore by the ebb-tide to the eastward of Nuchek Island, and in that help- less condition the crews were surrounded by two hun- dred natives and completely stripped, the only result of the expedition being the discovery that Nuchek was an island, a fact already ascertained by the Spaniards.
On the 22d of July the long-boat returned from her second and less remunerative voyage to Cook Inlet, and three days later the King George sailed out of Port Etches, passing round the west side of Mon- tague Island. Portlock sighted Mount Fairweather, but failed to find Cross Sound, which he had looked for in vain the preceding season. On the 5th of August he found a harbor, which was named after himself, about twelve leagues to the southward of Cape Cross as located by Cook.17 Here the King George anchored once more and the boats were sent out in search of inhabitants and trade. Only a few natives visited the ships, for no permanent settlement existed thereabout. The long-boat, however, under Hayward, made a quite successful trip to Norfolk Sound, passing on the return voyage through Klokat- chef Sound Cook Bay of Islands.18 On the 23d of August the King George set sail; left the coast of Alaska for the Hawaiian Islands, the next rendezvous appointed with Dixon.
17 The latitude of the ship's position in this harbor is given as 57º 46', but while Portlock's sketch seems plain enough, no later navigator has confirmed the contours of the bay. On the latest chart issued by the United States Hydrographic Office a simple break in the coast line under the latitude given is indicated as Portlock Harbor. It must exist somewhere on the west coast of Chichagof Island.
18 The inhabitants of Norfolk Sound had shown some disposition to hos- tility toward the crew of the long-boat, but about the ship they confined themselves merely to stealing. Dixon, in his narrative, spoke of having seen here a white linen shirt worn by an Indian, which he believed to be of Span- ish mnake, but it is much more probable that the garment had found its way there from some point of the coast where the Astrolabe and Boussole had touched.
265
A RUSSIAN EXPLORATION.
Dixon had in the mean time sailed eastward along the coast, and more fortunate than Portlock he did not overlook the wide entrance of Yakutat Bay, which he entered the 23d of May. He discovered and sur- veyed a fine harbor on the south side, which he named Port Mulgrave. Here the Queen Charlotte remained nearly two weeks, meeting at first with some success in trading, though the natives were in possession of Russian beads and ironware. An exploration of the neighborhood in boats convinced Dixon that the shores of the bay were thinly peopled.19
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