USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 31
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The experience gained in the way of navigation and management of similar expeditions was of some value; and in this connection it is rather a significant fact that during the first voyage of the Slava Rossie, under the immediate command of Billings, the scurvy was suc- cessfully combated,19 yet in the following year the two ships had been anchored in Illiuliuk harbor but a few weeks when the dreaded disease broke out with such violence that the combined efforts of Sarychef and Hall, two medical men, and Martin Sauer failed to arrest its ravages.
With regard to the supplementary instructions rel- ative to the Swedish cruiser Mercury, nothing was done by Billings, though the vessel did visit the Aleutian Islands according to the report of Pribylof. The ap- prehensions on this account seem to have been great. A set of minute instructions was furnished to traders on the islands, to regulate their conduct in case the privateer appeared, but in Pribylof's intercourse with
19 Billings, formerly of Cook's expedition, had evidently learned something of that navigator's effective method of combating the scurvy. The surgeon's journal contains the following remarks: 'It was only toward the end of the voyage, when our bread was out and we were reduced to a short allowance of water, that the scurvy made its appearance. At this time pease and grits, boiled to a thick consistency in a small quantity of water, and buttered, were substituted for salted provisions. The primary symptoms of scurvy then appeared, but on arriving at Petropavlovsk a treatment of bleeding, thin drink, and fresh fish restored all hands in a very short time.' Id., 208-9.
299
INCEPTION OF MONOPOLY.
Captain Coxe, the former did not use any of the pre- cautions enjoined.20
The hand of the future monopolists can be dis- cerned, shaping events, from a period preceding that of Billings' expedition, though perhaps Martin Sauer was not able to see it. Notwithstanding his belief to the contrary, the members of the Shelikof Company, already in virtual possession of their exclusive privi- leges of trade, were then making strenuous efforts to extend operations instead of drawing out of the business. Shelikof, Baranof, and Delarof knew far better than Billings' sanguine secretary what wealth was in the country. Where he saw nothing but indi- cations of quick decline, energetic preparations were in progress for a healthy revival of business. For many years after the period set by Sauer even the vessels of small opposition companies continued to visit the islands and portions of the mainland.
One proof of the confidence of Shelikof in the stability of the business for many years to come is furnished by his efforts to establish a settlement in
20 The instructions issued in 1790 to the Shelikof-Golikof Company con- tained the following: 'Necessary measures will be taken in accordance with secret instructions, by order of the empress, to protect the establishments of the company and its stores of goods and fur's against the attacks of pirates, which have been sent out for that purpose by the Swedish government, under the command of English captains, and all possible means will be employed to avert this danger, threatening the hunters as well as the company's property. If, in spite of all precautions, these privateers enter any Russian harbor or land parties of men, efforts must be made to repulse them, and, if possible, to capture and detain them. In such a case a party of natives will be formed, in bidarkas, decorated with beads and paint; they will approach the vessel with signs of admiration and friendship, beckoning to the people on board to land, displaying sea-otter skins, and presenting them with a few. Having in this way induced as many as possible of the crew to land, the natives will meet them with their customary dances and all signs of satisfaction, in the mean time endeavoring to decoy the vessel into some dangerous place. During all this time not one Russian must show himself, but they must all be hidden in convenient places prepared for that purpose, and when the deluded party approaches some defile or ambush, the hidden Russians will emerge at a given signal to attack both the vessel and the men on shore, endeavoring to capture the leaders, etc.' In case of fortune favoring the hostile visitors the instruc- tions direct that, 'if possible, the most important among the Russians or natives must endeavor to escape in bidars or bidarkas by passages where the ship cannot.follow, while others may approach the vessel at night and attempt to scuttle it or cause it to leak.' T'ikhmenef, Istor. Obosr., i. 33-4.
300
THE BILLINGS SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.
the vicinity of Cape St Elias and to begin ship-build- ing there. "I have made representations to the government," he wrote to Baranof, "with regard to ship-building and agriculture at Cape St Elias. Dur- ing my sojourn at Kadiak it was known to me that the mainland of America from Unga Island to the regions inhabited by the Kenaï enjoys better climatic conditions than the island of Kadiak. The soil is fit for cultivation, timber is plentiful," etc. Baranof wrote in reply that he entertained no hope of suc- ceeding in agricultural experiments at Yakutat, espe- cially near the coast, as the place was situated between 59° and 60° north latitude. He also stated that the shores of the gulf of Chugachuik and portions round Kenaï were composed of very high and rugged moun- tains.
The peculiar search for agricultural lands outside of Kadiak shows plainly that the wily traders were not in earnest in their search. Kadiak is the spot most favored by nature as far as climate and soil are con- cerned. No other place in all that vast region can furnish feed for cattle or boast of rich fisheries, useful timber, and fertile vegetable-gardens in close prox- imity to each other. But all this was carefully hidden from the knowledge of the government and attention was drawn toward a region where failure was a cer- tainty, in order to obtain the services of such laborers and mechanics as might be forwarded from Siberia in conformity with Shelikof's representations to the imperial court. It was a wily scheme and proved successful with regard to the introduction of skilled labor into the colonies without much expense to the company, who obtained the privilege of selecting useful men among Siberian exiles and convicts. The best of these picked men, as we shall see in a succeeding chap- ter, never reached the proposed settlement at Yakutat, and the few who did perished or were captured during the sacking of the place by the Thlinkeets.
It is safe to presume, also, that Billings had reasons
301
SAUER'S REPORT.
for not doing anything against the men who were preparing to assume supreme control over the Russian possessions in America, despite a little episode with his Russian secretary at Petropavlovsk, who was sent back to Okhotsk in irons, because he had revealed some of the secret instructions of his commander to members of the Shelikof Company.21 His strange apathy in the matter of making new discoveries or surveys in the vicinity of Cook Inlet and Prince Will- iam Sound may have been due to influence brought to bear from that direction, and not, as Sauer inti- mates, to mere superciliousness and pride engendered by rapid promotion.
In the case of subsequent government expeditions and inspectors visiting the colonies the same influence became more perceptible and undeniable, a circum- stance which justifies us, to a certain extent, in view- ing in a similar light the results of this expedition and the events recorded in this chapter.
An enterprise that objected to general competition, and especially one with unscrupulous men at its head, was sure to bring about the employment of question- able means in its furtherance. Bribery was the easiest and perhaps the most innocent means employed to secure immunity from interference by either govern- ment or rival traders, and there is ground for suspicion that it was brought into play during the cruise of the Slava Rossie.
The subordinate members of the expedition, cap- tains Sarychef and Hall, the medical men and Sauer, appear to have taken the side of the suffering natives against the grasping traders, but in the official reports to the government these men had no voice. Billings' report has never been published, and we can only conjecture its tenor. The journal and notes of Martin Sauer were published nearly ten years later, and could in no way have influenced the Russian government.
21 Id., 213.
302
THE BILLINGS SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.
That the traders did not like the presence of gov- ernment officers among them was but natural. The officers belonged to a class far above any of the trad- ers in social standing as well as rank, and they took no pains to conceal their contempt for the semi-bar- barous plebeians. Individuals of some education, like Delarof, met with a certain degree of consideration, but all others were treated like dogs. Even Baranof, after he had been in supreme command of the colonies for many years, was snubbed by lieutenants and mid- shipmen of the navy, and it was found necessary to obtain for him a civil rank in order to insure even common respect from government officials. Under such circumstances the merchants considered them- selves justified in resorting to any means by which officers might be disgusted with the country and ex- ploring expeditions made to appear unnecessary to the government.
In the case of Sarychef, Hall, and Sauer, who passed a winter on Unalaska Island, this plan seems to have worked satisfactorily, as not one of them had anything good to say of a country where they suffered intensely from scurvy and lack of provisions. The fact that a party of Russians and natives from Kadiak visited the expedition in its winter-quarters demon- strates the possibility of carrying on the work of exploration and surveying on Unalaska and neigh- boring islands during the winter, but no such attempt was made, though the whole company suffered from the effects of inactivity. With the example before them of the Kadiak party, already referred to in the earlier pages of this chapter, strengthened by that of Martin Sauer, who almost alone retained compara- tively good health by constantly moving about, it is difficult to find any valid reason for the apathy shown by the officials in command. The work actually ac- complished by Sarychef must have been completed before the appearance of the scurvy. Sauer's original ambition, which caused him to make the foolhardy
303
MISSIONARY EFFORTS.
proposition of remaining alone among the Chugatsches, seems to have cooled, and after returning to Kamt- chatka he confined his visionary plans to the explor- ation of the Kurile Islands and perhaps Japan or China. We have no record, however, that any of his plans reached the stage of execution.
In support of his schemes Shelikof had been the prime mover in the request to have a missionary establishment appointed for the colonies, and in his reports he claimed to have converted large numbers of natives to Christianity. It is safe to presume, how- ever, that his success as a religious teacher was not sufficient to prepare the field for the priest attached to Billings' expeditions, who evidently considered that his whole duty consisted in holding services for his · companions once a week, and in administering the customary oath to Captain Billings whenever the latter assumed an additional rank in accordance with the imperial oukaz containing his instructions. On the second voyage from Petropavlovsk the commander did not expect further promotion, and we find no mention of the priest. He was probably left behind as one whose earthly work was done. Sauer gave him a bad character and called him half-savage.
The stay of the Slava Rossie was besides too short at any one place during the first voyage to allow of missionary work on the part of the priest, though a portable church-a large tent-was set up at every anchorage. Shelikof had not hesitated to perform a primitive rite of baptism, but he could not legally marry people, and the ceremony performed on Kadiak Island, as before mentioned, was consequently the first that ever took place in the country. The wife of Shelikof had accompanied him on his visit to America, but from that solitary example the natives could not have acquired much knowledge of the institution of Christian marriage.
Shelikof's application for missionaries had great
304
THE BILLINGS SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.
weight with the commission intrusted to consider the demand of his company for exclusive privileges, but the first members of the clergy who landed upon the islands of the American coast in response to the call did not meet with the hearty cooperation they may have expected at the hands of the traders. Taking time and circumstances into consideration, this was but natural. All the Russians, from the chief trader down, were laboring 'on shares,' and shared alike in the scanty provisions furnished at very irregular inter- vals, while every man was expected to eke out addi- tional supplies by hunting and fishing whenever he could obtain a few days from other pursuits. The clergymen, who had certainly every reason to look for supplies of food to the traders who had desired their presence, were, therefore, considered as an undesirable element by lawless individuals, long removed from all association with even the forms of civilization. Idlers were not wanted in the camps of the promyshleniki, where scant fare was the rule, and for some years after their arrival among the race with whose language they were unacquainted, the missionaries could do little. Complaints of shortcomings and even ill-treatment were at first quite numerous, and by some priests it was alleged that the commanders of stations, where they had taken up their residence, made them work for their living. This may well have been the case in instances where agents were compelled to give way to popular demand; the semi-barbarous hunters per- haps had another ground for harboring ill-feeling toward their clerical guests-the latter interfered to a certain extent with the more than free use made of native women by the promyshleniki. Still, the ark- hemandrit, or prior, Ioassaf, sent out to superintend the missions, was treated with respect, as the man- agers of the companies recognized the necessity of restraining their subordinates in his case. A man in his position could and did do good service in settling difficulties between rival firms and individuals.
CHAPTER XIV.
ORGANIZATION OF MONOPOLY. 1787-1795.
SHELIKOF'S GRAND CONCEPTION-GOVERNOR-GENERAL JACOBI WON TO THE SCHEME-SHELIKOF'S MODEST REQUEST-ALASKA LAID UNDER MONOP- OLY-STIPULATIONS OF THE EMPRESS-HUMANE ORDERS OF KOZLOF- UGRENIN-PUBLIC INSTRUCTIONS AND SECRET INJUNCTIONS-DELAROF'S ADMINISTRATION -SHELIKOF INDUCES BARANOF TO ENTER THE SER- VICE OF HIS COMPANY-CAREER AND TRAITS OF THE NEW MANAGER -- SHIPWRECK OF BARANOF ON UNALASKA-CONDITION OF THE COLONY- RIVALRY AND OTHER TROUBLES-PLANS AND RECOMMENDATIONS-EN- GAGEMENT WITH THE KALJUSHES-SHIP-BUILDING-THE ENGLISHMAN SHIELDS-LAUNCH AND TRIBULATIONS OF THE 'PHOENIX.'
THE idea of a subsidized monopoly of trade and industry, to embrace all Russian discoveries and col- onies on the shores of the north Pacific, first arose in the fertile brain of Grigor Shelikof, whose original establishment on Kadiak Island has been the subject of a preceding chapter. Once seized with this con- ception, Shelikof hastened forward the execution of it with all the ardor of his nature. He hurried from Kamchatka to Okhotsk and Irkutsk, travelling with- out intermission in the dead of winter until he reached the capital of eastern Siberia and delivered to Gen- eral Jacobi, the governor general, a detailed account, with maps, of the countries he had visited, and plans of the fortifications erected. He then asked of the governor general instructions for the management of the people thus added to the Russian empire, and aid toward obtaining from the empress a recognition of his labors.1
1 I will quote here a few concluding lines of the lengthy document pre- sented to Jacobi by Shelikof: 'Without the approval of our monarch my HIST. ALASKA. 20
( 305 )
306
ORGANIZATION OF MONOPOLY.
Unlike his predecessors, Shelikof was not satisfied with a single hunting season on the island of Kadiak, but, as we have seen, proceeded at once to the estab- lishment of permanent settlements. After the pre- sentation of his report to General Jacobi, the clever trader asked permission to send a few ships to Chinese ports, in case of an interruption to the overland trade with Kiakhta. The permission was not granted at that time. Meanwhile Golikof, Shelikof's partner, had profited by a temporary sojourn of the empress
labors would be altogether unsatisfactory to me and of but little account to the world, since the principal object of all my undertakings has been to incor- porate the newly discovered seas, countries, and islands into our empire before other powers could occupy and claim them, and to inaugurate enter- prises which will add to the glory of our wise empress and secure profits to her and to our countrymen. I trust that my hopes of seeing wise measures adopted for the government and protection of the distant regious discovered by me are not without foundation, and that we shall be enabled to establish these discoveries to the best possible general advantage.' T'ikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 15. Captain Golovnin, who inspected the colonies in 1818, in a letter to the imperial navy differs from Shelikof as to the merits of the colo- nizer. He states that 'Shelikof's Voyage was printed at St Petersburg in 1791. Aside from the barbarous style of the book and the stupidity exhibited on every page, we cannot fail to notice some intentional falsehoods, showing how crafty and far-seeing this man was. In the first place he appropriates to himself without any conscientious scruples the discovery of Kadiak and Afognak, when it is well known that Bering sighted those islands and named a point Cape Hermogen, and Cook, five years before Shelikof's voyage, ascer- tained that the cape was only a small island. Cape Goviatskoi on Kadiak Island was named Cape Greville by Cook, and furthermore, a Russian galiot wintered at Kadiak as early as 1763, its commander being a certain Glottof, while Shelikof arrived there only in 1784, but what is more stupid than any- thing else is, that on the title-page of his book he claims to be the discoverer of the island he calls Kuikhtak, forgetting that on page 20 of his book he acknowledges that in 1761 a Russian vessel stopped at that island. Where was the discovery? What place did he find that Cook did not see? Later Shelikof asserts that he found 50,000 inhabitants on the island, and that in a fight he with a force of 130 attacked 4,000 men, fortified upon a high rock, taking 1,000 prisoners. According to Captain Lissianski's inquiries Shelikof fell upon 400 people, including women and children; but 50,000 inhabitants never existed upon the island-the number now being 3,000, and even if we suppose that the company succeeded in destroying four fifths, the original population could have been only 15,000. Now, the question is, What induced Shelikof to lie thus boldly and impudently? He answers this question him- self, in his book, when he asserts that, without knowing the language of the inhabitants, he succeeded in one winter in converting a large number of them to the sacred doctrines of our religion, and that by simply telling them of the wisdom, humanity, and kindness of the empress of Russia, he made such an impression upon their minds that the natives were filled with love and admiration for her Majesty, and at once voluntarily submitted to licr sceptre. Now, it is clear that Shelikof wished to make the government believe that he had discovered a new country and added 50,000 bona fide subjects to Russia. He did not fail in his calculations, as he received very flattering rewards.' Golovnin, Zapiski, in Materialui, i. 52-3.
307
SHELIKOF AND GOLIKOF AT COURT.
at Kursk, and had presented to her a chart of Sheli- kof's voyage. Her Majesty inquired into the com- pany's achievements, and finally granted Shelikof permission to come to St Petersburg and present himself at court with Golikof.
Shortly after this the empress asked Jacobi his opinion as to the best means of establishing the Rus- sian dominion on the islands of the eastern ocean, and on the coast of America, and also as to the best mode of governing the savage tribes and ameliorating their condition. In answer Jacobi forwarded a lengthy report in which he approved the proposed despatch of a fleet from the Baltic2 to protect navigation in the Pacific, and mentioned that he had forwarded to the regions in question thirty copper shields, bearing the imperial coat of arms and the inscription, "Country in possession of Russia," intended, as he says, "for the better assertion of Russia's rights, founded upon discovery." The shields were intrusted to navigators of the Shelikof and Golikof Company. Jacobi also recommended that the collection of tribute from the natives should be abolished and replaced by a volun- tary tax. He pointed out the disadvantages to both traders and natives resulting from the tribute system, and suggested that by impressing the savages with a sense of the power of the empress and her tender care for all, even her most distant subjects, and by allow- ing them to deliver to government agents a voluntary contribution or tax, much good might be accomplished. According to Jacobi's opinion, the collection of tribute hastened the extermination of fur-bearing animals.
With regard to the proposed amelioration Jacobi said that there could be no doubt of the truth of
2 The empress intended to afford safer navigation and traffic by sending war-vessels from the Baltic under command of Captain Mulovski. Mulovski's vessels were to separate upon arrival in the northern Pacific, one division to go to the American coast, under his own command, and the other to proceed to the Kurile Islands, but on account of the war with Sweden the squadron did not sail. Lieutenant Trevenen, who had sailed under Cook, was engaged to join for discovery purposes. Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 16; Burney's Chron. Hist. Voy.
308
ORGANIZATION OF MONOPOLY.
Shelikof's report, and that it would be but a just recognition of what the Shelikof Company had done for the commerce of Russia, and for the country at large, to grant them the exclusive right of hunting and trading in the islands and territories discovered by their vessels.3 He even added that it would be unfair to allow new-comers to enjoy the present peace to which Shelikof had reduced Kadiak. Without regard for the claims of any who had preceded them, they alone should be rewarded, because they had a larger force and conquered without exterminating.4
He further argued that unless the Shelikof Com- pany was afforded special privileges the successes gained by the founders of the first settlement on the islands would be neutralized by the unrestrained ac- tions of lawless adventurers. Cruelty would increase, and the natives would submit to no such infliction after the enjoyment of peaceful intercourse with Shelikof. In conclusion Jacobi implored his imperial mistress to intrust the management of the latest additions to her domain to a man who "was known to have many times set aside his love of gain in the interest of humanity." What Jacobi himself was to receive in case of Shelikof's success the governor general does not say. The hundreds who had done more and suf- fered more than these who would now have it all to themselves, to them he denied every right or reward.
The empress ordered the imperial college of com- merce, through its president, Count Chernyshef, to examine in detail all questions connected with the fur-trade in those parts, and the means of advancing the interests of Russia in the eastern ocean. The
3 The limits of these 'discoveries' Jacobi, with reckless liberality, placed at from latitude 49° to 60° and from eastern longitude 53° to 63° from Okhotsk. Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 20.
4 Jacobi advanced the idea that so far 'as known nobody else was then engaged in business where Shelikof had succeeded in establishing the do- minion of Russia, though some vessels had been in the neighborhood in 1761, 1767, and 1780, but they reached only a promontory of Kadiak named Aiekhtatik, and the hunters of those vessels were held in check by the natives and prevented from hunting, though their number was large enough to resist attack.' Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 22.
309
AN IMPERIAL OUKAS ISSUED.
committee appointed in pursuance of this order pre- sented a long report in March 1788,5 which seemed to have been wholly impressed with the ideas of Jacobi. After reviewing the apparent merits of the case and the policy of the proposed measure, the committee finally recommended that the request of Shelikof and Golikof for exclusive privileges be granted, and that the enterprise be subsidized with a loan of two hun- dred thousand rubles from the public treasury, with- out interest, for a period of twenty years, the capital to be returned in instalments. The outlay, it was added, would likewise be repaid tenfold in the form of taxes and import and export duties.
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