USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 28
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On the 4th of June he proceeded eastward in search of some port where better trade might be found. Owing to his distance from the coast he failed to observe Cross Sound, but on the 11th he sighted Mount Edgecombe, and the following day entered and named Norfolk Sound.20 A survey was made which resulted in a very fair chart. Natives made their appearance as the ship was passing into the bay and for three days trade was brisk.
On the 24th of June the Queen Charlotte left Nor- folk Sound, and on the following day another harbor was observed and named Port Banks, probably the present Whale Bay, in latitude 56° 35'. The wind not being favorable no attempt was made to enter, and about the 1st of July Dixon left the coast of Alaska to meet with his first marked success in trading at Clark Bay on the north-western extremity of Queen Charlotte Islands. The events of his voyage below this point are told in another volume.21
19 Dixon estimated a population of only 70, including women and children, which is much too low. His description of the natives is not very accurate. See Native Races, i. passim, this series.
20 The natives seemed to Dixon more easy to deal with than those at Port Mulgrave. During an exploration of the bay in boats some inconvenience was experienced from their thieving propensities. The astronomical position of his anchorage on the east shore of Kruzof Island was lat. 70° 3', long. 135° 38'. He applied the name of White Point to the Beach Cape of the Russians. The whole estuary was named after the duke of Norfolk.
21 Hist. Northwest Coast, i., this series. All our information concerning the visits of the King George and Queen Charlotte to the Alaskan coast is derived from the narratives of Dixon and Portlock, and to a limited extent from that of Meares. Portlock's narrative was published in London in 1799 under the
266
FOREIGN VISITORS.
The next exploration of Prince William Sound and the coast east of it took place during the second voy- age of the Trekh Sviatiteli, in connection with Sheli- kof's plans for the development and extension of his colony. This vessel had arrived at Kadiak from Okhotsk in April 1788 and was at once despatched upon a trading and exploring voyage to the eastward, under Ismaïlof and Bocharof, both holding the rank of masters in the imperial navy with special instructions furnished by Jacobi, then governor general of Siberia, and supplemented by orders of Eustrate Delarof who had succeeded Samoilof in the command of the colony. The crew consisted of forty Russians and four natives of Kadiak who were to serve as interpreters. In ad- dition to as full an armament and equipment as cir- cumstances would allow the expedition was supplied with a number of painted posts and boards, copper
title of A Voyage round the World, but more particularly to the North - West Coast of America: performed in 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788, 4to. The volume bears evidence of the honest and careful investigations by a strict disciplinarian who left the commercial part of his enterprise to others. It is profusely illustrated with maps and sketches of scenery, etc. The latter, made chiefly by an apprentice named Woodcock, have evidently suffered at the hand of the engraver, for it is scarcely probable that the young man should have originally represented Alaska with groves of palms and other tropical trees, to say nothing of three-story houses. Another remarkable feature is that, though the special charts and sketches are generally correct, the general chart of the coast from Norfolk Sound to Kadiak is full of glaring inaccuracies. Beginning in the east, Portlock Harbor in dimensions is represented out of all proportion to those of the special chart and the text. The next discrep- ancy occurs at Nuchek Island, called Rose Island on the chart, which is drawn at least four times too large, and its contours as well as those of Port Etches are not in conformity with the special chart and the text. Montague Island is also represented too large, three very deep and conspicuous bays on its north-eastern end are omitted, though the vessel's track is laid down within a mile of the shore, and the harbors on the west coast are not laid in to agree with special charts and text. In Cook Inlet, Graham Harbor is made at least six times too large, but Cape Elizabeth is depicted for the first time correctly as an island. Shelikof Strait, though known to the Russians for several years, and named Petrie by Meares, is still closed on this chart and its upper portion, just south of Cape Douglas, retains the name of Smoky Bay, given by Cook. The strait between Kadiak and Afognak is duly indicated, but the former island is represented as part of the continent, while Afognak and Shuiak are made one island and named Kodiac. The coast of the Kenaï peninsula between Cape Elizabeth and Prince William Sound was evidently laid down from Vancouver's chart, but its corrections in Prince William Sound have been entirely ignored. The compilation of the general chart must have been entrusted to incompetent hands, without being revised by any one familiar with Portlock's notes and surveys.
267
THE 'TREKH SVIATITELI' AGAIN.
plates and medals, "to mark the extent of Russia's domain." 22
On the 2d of May the ship put to sea, and three days later made Cape Clear, the southernmost point of Montague Island.23 No safe anchorage was found until the 10th, when the Trekh Sviatiteli entered the capacious harbor of Nuchek or Hinchinbrook Island. On the same day an exploring party was sent out in boats, and on the northern side of the island a wooden cross was erected with an inscription claiming the country as Russian territory.24
The events of 1787-8 must have been puzzling to the natives of Prince William Sound. Englishmen under the English flag, Englishmen under the Portuguese flag, Spaniards and Russians, were cruising about, often within a few miles of each other, taking posses- sion, for one nation or the other, of all the land in sight. The Princesa from Mexico appears to have left Nuchek two days before the Russians arrived there; the Prince of Wales, Captain Hutchins, must have been at anchor in Spring Corner Cove about the same time, and shortly after the Iphigenia, Cap- tain Douglas, entered the same cove,25 while Portlock left traces near by two months later. Douglas touched the southern part of Alaska also in the following year, and sought to acquire fame by renaming Dixon Entrance after himself.
Bocharof carefully surveyed the inner harbor, the Brook Cove of Portlock, and named it St Constantine and St Helena, after the day of arrival. On the 27th of May the Trekh Sviatiteli returned to the coast of Montague Island. Some trading was done here de-
22 Shelikof, Putesh., ii. 2, 3.
23 The two navigators declared that this was the Cape St Elias of Bering, without any apparent basis for their opinion and without considering that in such a case the Russian discoverer could never have been within thirty miles of the American continent.
24 At its fort a copper plate was buried, proclaiming the same. Id., ii. 7. 25 The latter found the following inscriptions cut into the bark of two trees: 'Z. Etches of the Prince of Wales, May 9, 1788,' and 'John Hutchins.' Meares' Voy., 316.
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FOREIGN VISITORS.
spite the presence of the English who paid such prices as the Russians never dreamed of.26
By advice of a native Ismaïlof proceeded to Achakoo Island,27 some distance to the southward, which was described as abounding in sea-otters. Not finding a harbor he landed in a boat with seventeen men and a Chugatsch pilot. After trading amicably for some time the commander sent off a party of eight men to gather eggs on the cliffs, but they soon came back reporting that several bidars filled with Chugatsches were approaching. This aroused suspicion among the promyshleniki, and their alarm was increased by the discovery that the Chugatsch guide had disappeared. The chief in command of the native hunting party professed to have no knowledge of the deserter, and offered to go in search of him with five Russians in a bidar. Four of these men the cunning savage sent into the interior upon a false trail, and then drawing a spear from under his parka he attacked the remain- ing Russian with great fury. One of the other men returned to assist his comrade, but both had a severe struggle with the savage, who was at last despatched with a musket ball.28 As soon as the others returned the party hurried on board, the anchor was raised, and all speed was made to depart.
On the 1st of June the Trekh Sviatiteli arrived at the island of Kyak,29 which was uninhabited, though the natives from the mainland came at times to hunt sea-otters and foxes. The adjoining coast was thor- oughly explored, but the inhabitants fled in alarm, abandoning their huts and canoes whenever the clumsy boats of the Russians came in sight. After a slow advance easterly, the large bay of Yakutat was reached on the 11th of June. Here the chief of the Thlin-
26 They found the chiefs rather diffident in accepting one of the Russian medals sent out by Governor Jacobi. The presence of a Spanish fragata on the other side of the Island may have had something to do with it.
27 Ochek of Russian charts and Middleton Island of Vancouver.
28 Shelikof, Putesh., ii. 29-31.
29 Koriak in Ismaïlof's Journal; Kaye of Cook. Pallas, Neue Nordische Beitraye, v. 211.
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RUSSIAN RETICENCE.
keet nation made his appearance, having travelled up the coast from his winter residence at Chilkaht with a retinue of over two hundred warriors including two of his sons. Intercourse was carried on with great caution, but in trading Ismaïlof was much more suc- cessful than Dixon. In addition to his purchases he obtained a large number of skins from his Kadiak hunters, who in their bidarkas could go far out to sea, where the open wooden canoes of the Thlinkeets did not dare to follow. In order to draw attention from this rivalry ceremonious visits and exchange of pres- ents were kept up. The Russian commander could not have failed to hear of Dixon's visit, but not a word about it can be found in his journal. In this he probably obeyed instructions, for even business letters from the islands to Siberia were in those days frequently tampered with by the authorities of Okhotsk and Kamchatka, and it was the interest of Shelikof and his partners to have English claims to prior occupation ignored.
Ismaïlof dwells much upon his efforts to induce the Thlinkeet chiefs to place themselves under the pro- tection of Russia, and before leaving he presented to Chief Ilkhak the portrait of Tsarovich Paul " at his earnest request," and decorated him with one of the medals sent out by the governor general of Siberia. Copper plates inscribed " Possession of the Russian Empire" were also buried on two points on the bay.30 Two enslaved boys of the Chugatsch and Chilkaht tribes were purchased, who proved of great service as interpreters, and in giving information concerning the coast southward and eastward.
From Yakutat the Trekh Sviatiteli proceeded east- ward in search of another harbor. The Chugatsch boy acted as pilot and pointed out the mouths of several rivers, but no landing-place was discovered until the
30 Two years later not a trace could be found of portraits, medal, or cop- per plates, which makes it appear that Ilkhak's respect for the Russian impe- rial family was not as great as represented. Ismaïlof's Journal, 14-15.
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FOREIGN VISITORS.
third day, when the vessel entered Ltua Bay or Port des Français. Trade was quite active here for some days, and in the mean time Ismaïlof carried out his secret instructions by establishing marks of Russian occupation at various points, and perhaps destroying the monument left by La Pérouse. 31
The results of Ismaïlof's explorations during the summer of 1788 were of sufficient importance to stimu- late Delarof to further attempts in the same direc- tion, but before following these it is necessary to turn our attention to a visit of the Spaniards in the same year.
Roused by the reports of La Pérouse and others concerning the spread of Russian settlements in the far north, and the influx of English and other trad- ing vessels, the Spanish government in 1787 or- dered the viceroy of Mexico to despatch at once an expedition to verify these accounts and examine the north-western coast for places that might be desirable of occupation in anticipation of foreign designs. On March 8, 1788, accordingly the fragata Princesa and the paquebot San Carlos, under Alférez Estévan José Martinez and the pilot Gonzalo Lopez de Haro, set sail from San Blas, with the additional instructions to ascend to latitude 61° and examine the coast down to Monterey; to avoid all trouble with the Russians, and to conciliate native chiefs with gifts and promises. 32
31 No reference is made in his journal to the tablets and monument placed by the French, though he was informed by the natives of the visit of two large ships to the harbor and saw many tools and implements marked with the royal fleur de lis. A small anchor similarly marked was secured. The re- ports of Ismailof and Bocharof have been preserved in their original bad spelling and grammar, not easy to imitate, and we must therefore presume that they were written in the unsatisfactory and fragmentary shape in which we find them.
32 A man should, if possible, be obtained from each tribe speaking a dis- tinct tongue, as interpreter; frequent landings must be made for explora- ting and taking possession; Russian establishments must be closely inspected to ascertain their strength, object, etc. 'No deberán empeñar lance alguno con los buques rusos ó de otra nacion.' Provisions were taken for 15 months. It was at first proposed to send the fragatas Concepcion and Favorita, under Teniente Camacho and Alférez Maurelle, but sickness and delays caused the change to be made. For details of instructions, etc., see Cuarta exploracion de
271
MARTINEZ AND HARO.
Without touching any intermediate point they ar- rived before Prince William Sound May 17th, anchor- ing eleven days later on the north side of Montague Island in a good harbor, which was named Puerto de Flores. Here they took possession and remained till the 15th of June in friendly intercourse with the natives, while the boats were sent out to explore in
the vicinity.33 Without further effort to examine the sound, Martinez turned south-eastward, sighting the Miranda volcano on the 24th of June, and anchoring at the east point of Trinity Island three days later. Shelikof Strait was named Canal de Flores.34 Mean- while Haro, who had lost sight of the consort vessel, sailed close along the east coast of Kadiak, and noti- fied by a native of the Russian colony at Three Saints he visited it, and entertained the officers in return.
Delarof, the chief of the colony, understood the object of the Spaniards, and took the opportunity to impress upon them that the tsar had firmly established his domain in this quarter as far as latitude 52° by means of six settlements with over four hundred men, who controlled six coast vessels and were regularly supplied and visited by three others. It was also pro- posed to found a station at Nootka in the following year.35 In the interest of ruler and employers this
descubrimientos de la costa setentrional de California hasta los 61 grados ... por. . . José Martinez. . . 1788, in Viages al Norte, MS., No. vii.
33 No Russians were met; yet a log-house was found in a bay near the north end of the island, probably a relic of Zaïkof's wintering four years before. Martinez long persisted in declaring that the entrance here did not lead to Prince William Sound.
34 The east point of Trinity was called Florida Blanca. A taciturn Russian who had lived there for nine years, came on board and offered to care for the cross erected by the Spaniards.
35 Delarof had 60 Russians and 2 galeotas at his place; at Cabo de Rada were 37 men; at Cape Elizabeth, 40 men; on a small island in Canal de Flores, latitude 58°, 40 men; a reenforcement of 70 men had sailed for Cook Inlet to . sustain the establishment there; in latitude 52° 20' on the continent were 55 men and one galeota; at Unalaska, 120 men with two galeotas. Total, six establishments with six galeotas and 422 men, besides a galeota with 40 men, which annually sailed on the coast as far as Nootka, gathering furs and stor- ing them in two magazines at Prince William Sound. Every other year two fragatas came from Siberia with men and supplies, going as far as Nootka and replacing the men whose term of service had expired. Cuarta Explor., in Viajes al Norte, MS., pt. vii. 309-10. Delarof's stories were readily believed
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FOREIGN VISITORS.
exaggeration of facts seemed perfectly proper, and it assisted no doubt to reconcile the Spanish government to Russian occupation in the extreme north, but the hint about a projected establishment at Nootka assisted greatly to precipitate active measures by Spain, which resulted only in a humiliating withdrawal on her part in favor of a stronger and more determined power, which effectually checked the advance of Russia. The wily Greek overreached himself.
Haro now rejoined his leader, and both vessels left on July 5th for Unalaska.36 While anchoring off its northern point, Martinez on July 21st took possession in the name of Spain, and was shortly after visited by Russians from the station on the eastern side of the island, to which the vessels now proceeded.37 Here they remained till August 18th, caring for the sick and taking in supplies, with the kind assistance of Potap Zaïkof, the commandant. Martinez considered the season too far advanced to explore the coast east- ward, or even to seek Nootka, and all speed was there- upon made for the south, the Princesa stopping at Monterey, in California, to recruit, while Haro lin- gered for a time round the islands with half an inten- tion to do something more toward the fulfilment of the orders from Mexico, and then hurried straight to San Blas to cover faintheartedness and neglect under the plea probably that the knowledge obtained from Russians of their doings and intentions, and of the frequency of foreign visits, made coast exploration less needful under the circumstances, while it was above all urgent to impart the news to the governor.33
by Haro, whose liking for the commandant was greatly influenced by the similarity of his name, in its original Greek form, to his own.
36 Lighting a group called del Fuegos, the Shumagin Islands, and ' el cabo donde dijeron los rusos de Kodiac que habia vn establecimiento de 55 indivi- duos y una galeota sobre la costa firme en 52° 20'.' Id., 312; but this must be a misunderstanding. On the 11th they anchored off an island recorded as Kodiac, and on the 16th they sight the active volcano on Unimak.
37 The Princesa entered on July 28th; the San Carlos, again separated, rejoined her a week later. There were 120 men at this place.
38 On reporting the despatch of the present expedition, Viceroy Flores expressed himself to the king as if he expected that Russians would have to
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FIDALGO'S SURVEY.
The indiscreet hint of Delarof was not lost at Mexico, for Viceroy Flores resolved at once to send back Martinez and Haro to secure Nootka, at least, from Russian and other intruders, and thence to ex- tend Spanish settlement if the king should so direct. This expedition, and the momentous question to which it gave rise, have been fully considered in my History of the Northwest Coast.
While in occupation of Nootka the Spaniards made several exploring tours, and one of these, under Lieu- tenant Salvador Fidalgo, was directed to complete what Martinez had left undone by examining the coast from latitude 60° southward. He was pro- vided with Russian and English interpreters. He set sail from Nootka on May 4, 1790, in the paque- bot Filipino, and entered Prince William Sound on the 23d, taking the vessel into the nearest large bay on the eastern side, which was named Menendez. After exploring its shores till June 9th he proceeded northward, naming successively the bays of Gravina, Rivella Gigedo,39 Mazarredo, and Valdés. After more than one detention from fogs and gales Fidalgo passed round to Cook Inlet in the begining of July, and was piloted into Coal Harbor which he chose to name Puerto de Revilla Gigedo.40
Learning of the arrival of Billings' expedition at. Kadiak the Spanish commander hastened forth on August 8th to meet it, but came too late. After a. short interview with Delarof he turned eastward with a view to reach the continental coast and explore it as
be ousted by force. Id., 291. Bustamante assumes that the strength of the Russians alone kept the Spaniards back. Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 148-9.
39 At the head of this bay the movements of glaciers was attributed to an active volcano which received the name of Fidalgo; the isle at the entrance to the bay was called del Conde. On the western side Port Santiago was entered. The north end of the sound is placed in 61º 10'. The Indians proved very friendly, assisting both with provisions and labor.
40 Without paying attention to the reports of previous Spanish explorers Fidalgo caused the Cape Elizabeth of Cook to be explored anew, and finding it an isle, with a harbor to the northeast, he applied fresh names. Two points to the west and north in the inlet were called Gaston and Cuadra. Below Cape Elizabeth was observed Camacho Island.
HIST. ALABKA. 18
274
FOREIGN VISITORS.
far as Nootka, but the wind proved unfavorable and Fidalgo became fainthearted. No less eager than he to return home, the council of officers came to re- lieve his conscience by declaring that the coast in this latitude could not be followed after the middle of August, owing to gales and dark weather. The course was thereupon changed for Nootka, but a storm com- ing upon them off this place they passed on to Mon- terey and thence to San Blas.41
At this time M. Buache of Paris had undertaken to defend the existence of the interoceanic passage of Maldonado,42 and impressed by so eminent authority the Spanish government resolved to investigate the matter. The commission was entrusted to Alejandro Malaspina, who about the time of Fidalgo's return happened to arrive at Acapulco in command of the corvettes Descubierta and Atrevida, on a scientific ex- ploring tour round the world. He accordingly set sail on May 1, 1791, and on June 23d sighted land near Cape Edgecumbe, entering shortly after Port Mul- grave, thence to explore in boats for Maldonado's pas- sage, and to take possession. The search proved fruitless,43 and on July 5th he proceeded northward past Kyak Island to Prince William Sound. After a few observations in this quarter he turned southward again; contented himself with a mere glance at Cross Sound and the inlets below, and entered Nootka to expend his main efforts on a recalculation of its lati-
41 The report of this expedition, including descriptions of country, natives, and settlers, is given in Viajes al Norte, MS., No. 8, under the title of Viage del paquebot ' Filipino' mandado por el teniente de navío D. Salvador Fidalgo del puerto de Nootka ... para los reconocimientos del Príncipe Guillermo y rio de Cook, 343-82. Also Tabla que manifiesta, in the same collection, No. 10; Revilla Gigedo, Informe, 140-1; Navarrete, Viages Apóc., 64-6; Id., in Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, cix .- xii .; Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 140.
42 For a consideration of this extraordinary topic, see Hist. Northwest Coast, i., this series.
43 The bay was named las Bancas, the port Desengaño, and the interior island Haenke. A very alluring description is given of the scenery and also of natives, despite the inconvenience suffered from their thieving propensi- ties.
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MALASPINA AND MARCHAND.
tude and longitude, whereupon he turned toward New Spain. 44
Malaspina's report, together with those obtained from Russian and other navigators, was deemed suffi- cient to dissipate the belief in a passage north of Port Bucareli; but from this point down a careful examina- tion appeared to be advisable, particularly with a view to test the claim for Admiral Fonte's discovery, which was now eclipsing that of Maldonado. A new expedition accordingly departed in 1792 from San Blas, under Lieutenant Jacinto Caamaño, command- ing the fragata Aranzazu. After leaving at Nootka certain supplies he proceeded on June 13th to Port Bucareli, exploring in that vicinity for nearly a month without arriving at any solution of his problem, and then turning southward to examine with no better result Dixon Strait and the eastern coast of the channel dividing Queen Charlotte Island from the main. The strait he sought very properly to name after its discoverer, Perez. 45
Before this, in 1791, the French were again repre- sented on the Northwest Coast in the person of Etienne Marchand, captain of the Solide, who had left Marseilles at the close of the previous year on a voyage for trade and circumnavigation. He first sighted the coast at Cape Edgecumbe on August 7th, and shortly after entered Norfolk Sound.46 He found the natives abundantly supplied with European goods, and inclined to drive hard bargains for the small stock of furs left in their hands, so that bartering was not very successful. On the 21st he proceeded to Queen
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