USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 29
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" Malaspina, Viage 1791, in Navarrete, Viages Apóc., 96-8, 268-320; Navarrete, in Sutil y Mex., Viage, cxii .- xxiii.
45 The main features of this exploration have been considered in Hist. Northwest Coast, i., this series. Navarrete and others are at fault concern- ing the dates of Caamaño's movements. The exploration of Bucareli oc- cupied him from June 25th. On July 20th he anchored at the entrance to Dixon Strait. A short distance north of this he had examined and named the harbor of Baylío Bazan. Caamaño, Exped., Aranzazu, in Col. Doc. Inéd., xv. 323-63; Navarrete, in Sutil y Mex., Viage, cxxiii .- xxxi .; Revilla Gigedo, In- forme, 12 de Abril, 1793, 144; Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 144.
46 For these places the Spanish names are used. The Indians called the sound Tchinkîtâné.
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FOREIGN VISITORS.
Charlotte Island, where his most valuable explora- tions were made during a vain effort to find better trade.47 Several other traders visited the southern shores of Alaska during these and following years, but the few records left of their movements concern chiefly my History of the Northwest Coast, to which I refer the reader for text as well as maps.
The result of the Nootka controversy, brought about by hasty action of the Spaniards, as well as the belief in an interoceanic passage, revived by Buache and others, and supported by the revelation of numer- ous channels all along the Northwest Coast, deter- mined the English government to send an expedition to this region. The explorations of Cook west and north of latitude 60° were deemed conclusive, but b'e- low this point they required to be completed and veri- fied. This commission was entrusted to George Vancouver, who departed from England in April 1791 in the sloop Discovery of twenty guns, accom- panied by the tender Chatham of ten guns, under Lieutenant W. R. Broughton. The year 1792 was spent in explorations south of the Alaska line, but in July 1793 the expedition reached the entrance of Port- land Inlet and sent boats to examine its two branches. The dawning hope of here finding Fonte's passage was quickly dissipated, and the boats proceeded north- ward through Behm Canal. On descending its south- western turn along Revilla Gigedo Island, as it was now shown to be, Vancouver had a narrow escape from a party of natives who attacked his boat with muskets and other weapons. The prompt appearance of the second boat changed the turn of affairs. The party now passed into Duke of Clarence Strait-named by Caamaño after Admiral Fonte-and returned to the ships.48
47 As related in Hist. Northwest Coast, i., this series. Marchand, Voyage au- tour du Monde, i. 288-92; ii. 1 et seq. The natives of Norfolk Sound are spoken of as extremely immoral.
48 The names applied on the map along this tour are Portland Inlet and its
277
VANCOUVER'S VOYAGE.
These proceeded August 17th up the last named strait to Port Protection on the north end of Prince of Wales Island, which was reached September 8th, after an intermediate stay at Port Stewart. The boats meanwhile explored past Cape Caamaño, the highest point reached by the Spanish explorer of this name, and up Prince Ernest Sound round Duke of York Island, which later discoveries dissolved into a group. The mouth of the Stikeen was observed, but not as the outlet of a large stream.4 The season now well advanced, it was resolved to terminate the extensive surveys for the season and seek a well earned rest in sunnier latitudes.
Vancouver congratulated himself that " there would no longer remain a doubt as to the extent or the fal- lacy of the pretended discoveries said to have been made by De Fuca and De Fonte." He had demon- strated that the continent, with a range of mountains broken by rivers alone, extended from Columbia River to beyond the northern extreme of Prince of Wales Island. To the part of the main below Pitt Archi- pelago he applied the names of New Hanover and New Georgia; thence to the northern line of the present survey, New Cornwall.
On the 21st of September the vessels left Port Protection, and passed Port Bucareli, southward by way of Nootka and California to the Hawaiian Islands, there to winter. On March 15, 1794, sails were again
two branches, Portland Canal and Observatory Inlet, the latter examined shortly before by Mr Brown of the Butterworth; Bocas de Quadra; Behm Canal, in honor of the Kamchatkan governor who showed attention to Cook's expedition in 1779; the points at its entrance were called Sykes and Álava, the latter after the commandant at Nootka. Along this canal: New Eddy- stone rock-resembling a lighthouse-Walker Cove, Burrough Bay, Traitor Cove-to commemorate the attack by natives-Port Stewart and Beaton Island; Point Vallenar, the north end of Gravina Island, and Cape Northum- berland, its south point, besides a number of intermediate promontories.
49 Along the east side of Prince of Wales Island and its adjoining parts are marked Moira Sound, Wedge Island, Cholmondeley Sound, Port Grin- dall. The entrance to Prince Ernest Sound is marked by points Onslow and Le Mesurier, and along its course are Bradfield Canal, and Duncan Canal. Along the western extension of Duke of Clarence Strait, Point Baker forming the north end of Prince of Wales Island, Conclusion Island, and Affleck Canal; below lie Coronation and Warren Islands, the latter facing Cape Pole.
278
FOREIGN VISITORS.
set for the north, and on April 5th Trinity Island was sighted.50 Seven days later the Discovery entered Cook Inlet and proceeded northward to its very head. Finding that it was not the mouth of a large river as Cook had supposed, a fact well known to the Russians, Vancouver changed the name to its present form. The Chatham having arrived, both vessels visited the factory half way up the inlet in charge of Zaïkof,51 and rounded Cape Elizabeth May 14th, en route for Prince William Sound, where anchor was cast in Port Chalmers on the west side of Montague Island. Boats were now sent out to examine the sound and adjoining lands, and the Chatham proceeded to survey the main coast to Yakutat Bay, there to await the Discovery.
The survey of the sound resulted in a number of corrections, notably on the maps of Cook, yet Spanish and other existing nomenclature was as a rule main- tained. Aid was also obtained from Russian material from which source the configuration of Kadiak Island and the region westward had to be adopted.52 The Russians under Baranof, who resided on Kadiak and controlled chiefly establishments along the sea border, observed greater reticence, as noticed in connection with Ismaïlof's exploration; but those of the other company, occupying Cook Inlet and Hinchinbrook Island, were more communicative. They admitted that the easternmost factory was on this island, though trading expeditions roamed beyond toward Nootka. The total force employed was about four hundred, independent of native employés. The abo-
50 On the 3d Akamok Island was sighted and named after Chirikof.
51 A smaller factory existed higher up on the opposite western side. Alex- androvsk escaped observation. Names were applied to several points along the coasts and at the head, and the harbor at Cape Elizabeth was renamed Port Chatham. The portage from Turn-again Arm to Prince William Sound was noticed.
52 Among the names added to the Sound chart, were Port Bainbridge, Passage Canal, and Port Wells, where the supposed volcano of the Spanish expedition is referred to merely as a moving glacier. One of the inlets re- ceived the name of Fidalgo, to commemorate his exploration. The island north-east of Hinchinbrook was called Hawkins. Copper River received no place on the chart. The waters of the sound were found to have encroached rapidly on the shore line during the past decade.
279
SEARCH FOR A STRAIT.
riginal population appeared exceedingly scanty, espe- cially on the sound. Vancouver "clearly understood that the Russian government had little to do with these settlements; that they were solely under the direction and support of independent mercantile com- panies," whose members appeared to live highly con- tented among the natives, exercising over them an influence due not to fear but to affection, and fostered by training the children in the Russian language and customs.53
The Discovery left the sound June 20th to join the consort vessel,54 which was observed in Yakutat Bay and instructed to follow. This bay was named after Bering "from a conviction of its being the place that Beering had visited."55 A Russian party under Pur- tof, with nearly a thousand natives from Kadiak and Cook Inlet, hunted here at the time, though amidst many apprehensions, owing to the rather unfriendly attitude of the inhabitants. Near by appeared the Jackall, Captain Brown, cruising along this coast for the third consecutive season.56
Cross Sound was entered on July 7th, and anchor cast in Port Althorp, on the north end of Chichagof Island, called after King George by Vancouver. From here a boat explored Lynn Canal57 which almost touches the headwaters of the mighty Yukon, and
53 Vancouver's Voy., iii. 199-201. The natives of the sound were not so docile, yet hardly less trusted by the Russians. This assimilation of the two peoples must give the Russians a decided 'advantage over all other civilized nations' for controlling trade.
54 Cape St Elias of Kyak Island was renamed Cape Hamond; and lower on the coast names were applied to several points.
55 The Bering Bay as located by Cook was voted a mistake. While apply- ing this name to Yakutat, Mulgrave was retained for the harbor on its south shore. The points at the entrance to the bay received the names Manby and Phipps. Port des Français was missed. As the Chatham was leaving Kyak Island a letter came from Shields, the English shipbuilder employed by Sheli- kof, offering his services. It was too late to turn back for an interview with hinı.
56 Brown had sent the Butterworth, his leading vessel, to England in 1793, coming to this coast in the tenders Jackall and Prince le Boo. He now turned for Cross Sound, with whose inlets he was well acquainted. Id., 207.
57 So named after Vancouver's birth-place in Norfolk. Berners Bay, Hood Bay, Port Frederick, and a number of capes were named, notably capes Spen- cer and Cross at the entrance of Cross Sound.
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FOREIGN VISITORS.
thence Chatham Strait for a distance, but the large Glacier Bay escaped observation, although it almost faces the anchorage. The Arthur, Captain Barber, from Bengal, appeared here at the time, and out of consideration for the trader Vancouver stopped all dealing in furs by his own men. On August 1st the vessels anchored in Port Conclusion, inside Cape Ommandy at the south end of Baranof Island,58 thence to complete the survey to the line of the preceding season. Lieutenant Whidbey passed up Stephens Passage, which encloses Admiralty Island, and then down into the southern arm of Prince Frederick Sound, where he met Master Johnstone, the other boat explorer, who had examined Koo and Kuprianof Island. Amid rousing cheers the combined crews cele- brated the conclusion of their task, the exploration of the Northwest Coast for a passage. 59
Vancouver had achieved a veritable triumph. He had left England on the 1st of April, as he observes, on a fool's errand, to search for an interoceanic passage south of latitude 60°. The explorations and inter- course of the Russians with the natives had long since made them regard the passage as a myth, and the expedition was by them invested almost wholly with political aims. 60
Failing in his quest, Vancouver at any rate was able to "remove every doubt, and set aside every opinion of a north-west passage, or any water com- munication navigable for shipping, existing within the north Pacific, and the interior of the American conti-
58 Comprised by Vancouver in King George III. Archipelago, the shore line of which was not closely marked.
59 Much valuable information was obtained from Captain Brown of the Jackall, who had navigated these inlets for some time. He reported the sea- otter skins of this quarter to be exceedingly fine. Among the places named on this route are Seymor Canal, Douglas Island, ports Snettisham and Hough- ton, Holkham Bay, ports Camden and Malmesbury. Kuprianof Island was classed as a peninsula owing to certain shallows which seemed to connect it with the main.
60 The exploration being a pretext for taking possession, as Zaïkof expresses it. Journal, in Sitka Archives, MS., vi. See also Tikhmenef, Istor., ii., and Nordische Beiträge.
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NOMENCLATURE.
nent, within the limits of our researches."61 In taking possession for England he stretched the line only. to Cape Spencer, in Cross Sound, a moderation which the Russians could scarcely have expected."2 This additional territory, north of New Cornwall, was called New Norfolk, after his native county. It is to be observed that he generally respected the names ap- plied by traders or foreign officials, while adding a mass of new ones, and the nomenclature in his charts has even in Alaska met with considerable attention. On August 24, 1794, the expedition left Christian Sound for Nootka, and thence by way of California and Cape Horn for England, where it arrived in Sep- tember the following year.63
61 To this end he had made surveys far more thorough than were demanded in his instructions, yet he felt confident that they would be approved. Van- couver's Voy., passim.
62 For the officers at the factories left him the impression that 'the Amer- ican continent and adjacent islands, as far to the eastward at the meridian of Kayes Island, belonged exclusively to the Russian empire.' Id., iii. 115, 285. He evidently believed that they claimed beyond that, however, and the gov- ernment certainly did, as will be seen. Vancouver found that the cross erected by Fidalgo on Hinchinbrook Island when taking possession had been respected, notwithstanding the royal name inscribed. Id., 171. The marks left by King in Cook Inlet could not be found.
63 During the five years' voyage the Discovery lost only 5 men by accidents and one from disease, out of 100 men, while the consort lost not a single man. a result for which the commanders cannot be too highly praised. For bibli- ography and other features in connection with this expedition, see Hist. Northwest Coast, i. this series.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE BILLINGS SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.
1785-1793.
FLATTERING PROSPECTS-COSTLY OUTFIT-THE USUAL YEARS OF PREPARA- TION-AN EXPECTANT WORLD TO BE ENLIGHTENED-GATHERING OF THE EXPEDITION AT KAMCHATKA-DIVERS WINTERINGS AND SHIP-BUILD- ING-PRELIMINARY SURVEYS NORTH AND SOUTH-AT UNALASKA AND KADIAK-RUSSIAN REWARDS-PERIODIC PROMOTION OF BILLINGS-AT ST LAWRENCE ISLAND-BILLINGS' LAND JOURNEY-WRETCHED CONDI- TION OF RUSSIAN HUNTERS-END OF THE TRIBUTE SYSTEM-RESULT OF THE EXPEDITION-SARYCHEF'S SURVEYS-SHELIKOF'S DUPLICITY- PRIESTLY PERFORMANCE.
THE most promising of all scientific exploring expe- ditions undertaken by the Russian government for the acquisition of a more perfect knowledge of its new possessions in Asia and America was that com- manded by Captain Joseph Billings, an Englishman who had served under Cook. The enterprise was stimulated by the report of La Pérouse's departure upon a similar errand. The empress issued an oukaz on the 8th of August 1785, appointing Billings to the command of "A Secret Astronomical and Geo- graphical Expedition for navigating the Frozen Sea, describing its Coasts, and ascertaining the Situation of the Islands in the Seas between the two Continents of Asia and America."1
The senate and admiralty college confirmed and supplemented the appointments, and in September Lieutenant Sarychef of the navy was despatched to the port of Okhotsk with a party of ship-builders, under orders to construct two vessels in accordance
1 Sauer's Geog. and Astron. Exped., 1.
( 282 )
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PERSONNEL.
with plans furnished by another Englishman, Mr Lamb Yeames. The governor general of Irkutsk and Kolivansk had received instructions to furnish the necessary material.
Captain Billings set out upon his journey a few weeks later, accompanied by Lieutenant Hall, Sur- geon Robeck, Master Batakof of the navy, and Mar- tin Sauer, secretary of the expedition.2
The party did not leave Irkutsk until the 9th of May 1786. Two medical officers and naturalists were added at the last moment-a German, Dr. Merck, with an English assistant, John Main.
On the 29th the expedition arrived at Yakutsk, where the necessary arrangements had been made for supplies of provisions and stores and the required means of transportation for the different divisions to the mouth of the Kovima or Kolima river and to Okhotsk. Lieutenant Hall was in command of the latter and Lieutenant Bering of the former. Lieuten- ant Hall's division arrived at Okhotsk soon after Bil- lings and a few attendants had reached that seaport on the 3d of July. As it was found that more time would be consumed in building the ships than had been expected, Billings took some steps with a view of visiting the Chukchi country first, and to that end placed himself in communication with Captain Shmalef who was much respected by both Kamchat- kans and Chukchi. On the 3d of August all the officers, with the exception of Lieutenant Hall, set
2 Sauer gives the personnel of the expedition, as it departed from St Peters- burg, as follows: Joseph Billings, commander; lieutenants, Robert Hall, Gavril Sarychef, and Christian Bering, a nephew of Vitus Bering; Master Afanassia Bakof, rigger and store-keeper; masters Anton Batkhof and Sergeï Bronnikof; surgeons, Michael Robeck and Peter Allegretti; draughtsman, Luka Varonin; one mechanician, two ship-builders, two surgeon's mates, one master's mate; one boatswain; three 'court hunters' for stuffing birds, etc .; eight petty officers, seven soldiers, riflemen, and Martin Sauer as private secretary and journalist. At Irkutsk the following additions were made: two Russian book-keepers and accountants, Vassily Diakonof and Feodor Karpof; Lieutenant Polossof of the army, who was acquainted with the Chukchi language; six petty officers from the school of navigation at Irkutsk; three men who understood the construc- tion of skin boats; one turner, one locksmith; fifty Cossacks commanded by a sotnik; two drummers-in all 69 men in addition to the 36 from St Peters- burg. Id., 12, 13.
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THE BILLINGS SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.
out for the Kovima River, the last named taking the place of Lieutenant Sarychef in superintending the construction of the ships. Toward the end of Sep- tember Billings and his party arrived at Verkhnoi Kovima, but only to find that winter had already set in with great severity, and to meet with almost insur- mountable difficulties in obtaining shelter and sup- plies. The sufferings during the winter were very great on account of the extreme cold as well as the scarcity of provisions; but better times came with spring.
The work of preparing for the northward trip was never relaxed, and on the 25th of May 1787 the main body of the expedition set out on two vessels which had been constructed during the winter, the Pallas and the Yasatchnoi. Near the mouth of the river Captain Shmalef was found awaiting them with some guides and interpreters and a large quantity of dried reindeer meat. The ostrog Nishnekovima was reached on the 17th of June. There more deer-meat was pro- cured and then the expedition passed on into the Arctic.3
They steered eastward and on the 21st of June reached the place where Shalanrof had perished in 1762. A cross marked the spot, and another was found near the remains of huts erected by Laptief and his party in 1739. Their progress was continued with many interruptions until the 25th of July, when an observation showed latitude 69° 35' 56", longitude, 168° 54', and Billings concluded to give up all further attempts and return to Nishnekovima.4
When the party arrived at Yakutsk it was found
8 In accordance with the imperial oukaz Billings here assumed the rank of a fleet captain of the second class, the necessary oath being administered by a priest brought for that purpose. Id., 69-70.
" Sauer and many of the officers were of the opinion that everything looked favorable for a passage into the Pacific. Captain Sarychef even offered to undertake the enterprise in an open bidar, with six men, intending to camp on the beach every night, but Billings was deaf to all entreaties and con- tented himself with inducing a majority of his officers to sign a statement that it would be wiser to return to the Kovima. Id., 77-8.
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EMBARKATION.
that a large quantity of the most important stores was still awaiting transportation at Irkutsk, necessi- tating a journey to that city on the part of Billings and several of his officers. This little excursion delayed the expedition till September 1788, when the greater part of the command was once more assembled at Okhotsk. The first and largest of the two vessels destined for the voyage was not launched until the following July. She was named the Slava Rossie, Glory of Russia. The second ship, the Dobraia Na- merenia, Good Intent, was launched in August, but was wrecked while attempting to cross the bar at Okhotsk. In order to get quickly at the iron work with which to build a new vessel the hull of the Namerenia was burned.5 On the 19th of September the Slava Rossie sailed at last and arrived at Petro- pavlovsk on the 1st of October. Here the ship was unrigged and the whole party went into winter- quarters to await the arrival of a store-ship with supplies in the spring.
Early in March 1790 additional news arrived, warning Billings of the presence of a Swedish cruiser, the Mercury, Captain Coxe, with sixteen guns, in the waters he was about to navigate.6 The Slava Rossie mounted sixteen brass guns, but they were only three-pounders. Despite the apprehension created, no change was made in the plans.
On the 1st of May the whole expedition embarked and stood out to sea on an easterly course. The voy- age was tedious, no land being sighted till the 22d, when the island of Amchitka appeared in the north. On the Ist of June the island of Unalaska was
5 On the 14th of September a courier arrived from Russia with intelligence which almost put an end to further progress of the expedition. War had broken out with Sweden, and the Russian government was much in want of money and naval officers. Id., 143.
6 Pribylof reported that the Swedish cruiser mentioned in Billings' instruc- tions had actually visited the Alcutian Islands during the summer, but in view of the abject misery and privations in which he found the Russian traders living, the humane Captain Coxe abstained from hostilities and even made Pribylof, whom he had questioned concerning the Russian establishments, very accept- able presents of bread, brandy, some clothing, and a quadrant. Id., 212.
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THE BILLINGS SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.
made, and on the 3d some natives came on board, followed in the afternoon by a Russian in an eight- oar bidar. The latter conducted the vessel into Bob- rovoi (Beaver) Bay. Here a supply of water and ballast was procured and on the 13th of June the expedition sailed again to the north-east and north.7
In a few days Sannakh and the Shumagin Island were reached,8 where the Slava Rossie was visited by a large party of Aleuts who were hunting for the Panof company under superintendence of a Russian. On the 26th of June a Russian boarded the ship; he was accompanied by two hundred natives and came from Shelikof's establishment on Kadiak Island. On the 29th the expedition arrived in Trekh Sviatiteli, or Three Saints Harbor, the site of the first permanent settlement on the island. Eustrate Ivanovich Delarof was then in command of the colony. He told Sauer that he had despatched that year six hundred double bidarkas, each manned by two or three natives, to hunt sea-otters, sea-lions, and fur-seal; they were divided into six parties, each in charge of a Russian peredovchik.9
The establishment at that time consisted of about fifty Russians, including officers of the company and Master Ismaïlof, the same whom Cook met at Una- laska in 1778. He was stationed at Three Saints to look after the interests of the government. The buildings numbered five of Russian construction, the barracks, offices, and counting-house, besides store- houses, blacksmith, carpenter, and cooper shops, and a ropewalk. Two vessels of about eighty tons each
7 Sauer states that the Russians then on that part of the island belonged to Cherepanof's company, who had resided there eight years and expected to be relieved that season by a party from Okhotsk. The author dwells upon the cruel treatment of the Aleuts at the hands of the ignorant and overbear- ing promyshleniki. Id., 150-61.
Though writing soon after Bering's and Steller's reports were published, Sauer states that these islands received their name from the 'discoverer, a Russian sailor of Bering's expedition.' The poor fellow did nothing beyond dying of scurvy in that neighborhood.
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