USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 45
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12 The principal items in these instructions are given in Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 142-4.
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REZANOF'S VISIT.
company would have been to carry the value of the shares, not up into the thousands as in former years, but down to about 280 roubles. In that case the hunt- er who receives his half-share, or 140 roubles, would work for nothing, as his expenses for food and drink alone exceed that sum each year. According to my calculation, the annual expenses of the hunter, at the present high prices, cannot amount to less than 317 roubles."
The prices of all imported commodities throughout Russian America were, at this period, so extrava- gant that the promyshleniki were always hopelessly in debt to their employers. They were not allowed to leave the country until their obligation was can- celled; and he was considered a fortunate man who, after many years of exile and privation, could return to his native country to end his days, broken in health and spirit, and without a rouble in his pocket. Bread-stuffs could be brought from Boston at lower rates than from Okhotsk, while at Petropavlovsk trade was in the hands of a few monopolists. As an illustration of the condition of affairs at the latter port, it may be mentioned that the mere sale of the Na- deshda's surplus supplies, during Rezanof's visit, caused the leading articles of consumption to fall in price from fifty to seventy per cent.13
Such was the dearth of provisions in Novo Ark- hangelsk at the approach of winter, that early in October Baranof was compelled to purchase the Juno's cargo of provisions, which was sold, together with the ship, for the sum of sixty-seven thousand piastres.14 On the 15th of the month the vessel was despatched
13 Linen fell from 14 to 7 roubles a piece, sugar from 140 to 48 roubles a poud, brandy from 20 to 8 roubles a quart, and tobacco from 23 roubles to 75 kopeks a poud. Id., 132.
14 The provisions obtained by this purchase consisted of 19 casks of salt pork, 42 casks of salted beef, 1,955 gals. of molasses, 2,983 lbs. of powdered sugar, 315 lbs. loaf-sugar, 4,343 lbs. of rice, 11 casks of fine wheat flour, 7,392 lbs. of biscuit. Langsdorff's Voy., part ii. 89-90. Payment was made in furs to the amount of 31,250 piastres, and the remainder in drafts on directors in St Petersburg. A small vessel was also given to the captain in which to ship his crew and furs.
.
453
.
DISASTER AT YAKUTAT.
to Kadiak for further supplies, and a few weeks later returned laden with dried fish and oil for the use of the natives.
The tidings from St Paul were almost as disastrous as was the news which Captain Barber brought from Novo Arkhangelsk to the chief manager, some three years before. The Elizaveta, despatched to Kadiak for provisions soon after Rezanof's arrival, had been wrecked during a heavy storm; six large bidarkas, laden with furs, had foundered during the same gale; of a party which had left Norfolk Sound under Demianenkof, more than two hundred had perished at sea; and finally the destruction of the Yakutat settle- ment was confirmed.
The details of the disaster which overtook Demi- anenkof and his party are as follow: He had left Novo Arkhangelsk with the intention of proceeding to Kadiak, and not many days after his departure heard rumors of the Yakutat massacre, and of the intention of the Kolosh to attack his party also. He at once adopted extraordinary precautions, travelling only at night, and hiding by day in the dense forests lining the shore. When he had reached a point about forty miles distant from Yakutat, he timed the depart- ure of his command so as to reach the settlement at midnight. As they cautiously approached the shore, after ten hours of hard paddling, they were soon con- vinced that the reports of disaster were true. Of all the buildings, not one log was left standing upon another. Ashes, the remains of destroyed implements and of other property, covered the whole village site. The frightened Aleutian hunters, though almost ex- hausted, refused to land, and after a brief consultation a majority of the force concluded to proceed without delay to the island of Kyak, a hundred and fifty miles away; but the inmates of thirty of the bidarkas, exhausted with their long toil, landed on the beach near by, preferring the chances of death or captivity to further exertion. The coast between Yakutat and
456
REZANOF'S VISIT.
Prince William Sound consists of steep cliffs and great bodies of glacier ice, affording no landing places, even to canoes, for nearly the whole distance. As fate ordained, those who had chosen almost certain death at the hand of the Kolosh were saved, and finally reached their destination without being mo- lested; but as soon as the landing had been effected, a terrible gale sprung up, during which all their com- panions at sea perished. The following morning the shore was lined with corpses and the shattered rem- nants of bidarkas.
The winter was passed by Rezanof and his com- panions in great discomfort, on account of constant rain and snow storms, and though the stores of the Juno had appeared ample for the season, a scarcity of provisions was felt by the Russians as early as the beginning of February.15 At length the envoy, tired of his dismal abode, ordered the Juno to be again made ready for sea, having resolved to proceed to the coast of California, there to negotiate with the gov- ernor for a constant exchange of commodities. With difficulty a small crew was mustered from a command weakened by disease and privation, and even these were so emaciated that Rezanof would not allow them to be seen by the Californian officials until they had been plentifully fed and brought into better condition. The details of Rezanof's visit to San Francisco, which after lengthy negotiations resulted in the accomplish- men of its object, are related elsewhere.16 It is suffi- cient to state, at present, that the Juno returned to Novo Arkhangelsk on the 19th of June, with a cargo of 671 fanegas of wheat, 117 of oats, 140 of pease and beans, and a large quantity of flour, tallow, salt, and
15 Langsdorff gives a sensational account of the suffering among the colo- nists at Novo Arkhangelsk during this winter, and of the spread of scorbutic diseases. Some of his statements appear false on their face. For instance, he says that the houses of the promyshleniki and native laborers were only warned 'by their own fetid breath'-and this in a settlement surrounded on all sides by dense forests. Voy., part ii. 93-95. 16 Hist. Cal., ii. 64 et seq., this series.
457
DEPARTURE OF THE PLENIPOTENTIARY.
other supplies, valued at 5,587 piastres, payment hav- ing been made chiefly in Russian manufactured goods.
Rezanof had now fulfilled his mission to the best of his power, and five days later sailed for Okhotsk on board the Juno, intending to proceed thence overland to St Petersburg, and report in person to the emperor his achievements and his plans for the future, and to ask of his sovereign permission to bring to its legiti- mate end his romantic episode with Doña Concepcion de Argüello, of which mention is made in another volume.17 His sojourn in the north-west had wrought many changes for the better, and though his relations with Baranof and hissubordinates werealways friendly, the envoy was even more bitter than the chief man- ager in his complaints of the treatment which he re- ceived at the hands of the naval officers. Describing an interview with one of them, he says: "A man dressed in a black coat and vest approached me and shook hands. I asked him, 'Who are you?' He an- swered, 'I am Lieutenant Sookin of the Russian navy, commanding the ship Elizaveta.' I replied that I was chamberlain of the Russian court and commander of all America. I expressed my displeasure at his ap- pearance, and ordered him to return to shore and pre- sent his report to me, dressed in proper uniform. He complied with my orders very unwillingly." For this conduct Rezanof threatened to send the lieutenant back to Russia, but Baranof asked that he be allowed to remain and earn his pay, for he had already re- ceived for doing nothing the sum of five thousand roubles, " of which amount," says Rezanof, " he had expended three thousand roubles in rum. I saw him but five times during the whole winter, always in his room, dividing his time between sleeping and drink- ing, though his quiet consumption of the liquor dis- turbs nobody and injures only his own health. He is so unobtrusive that we scarcely notice his presence.
17 Id., 68 et seq.
458
REZANOF'S VISIT.
His log-books and reports will convince you of the insufficiency of his nautical knowledge. On shore he spends much time inditing ungrammatical letters to the chief manager, and thus far has spent eighteen months' salary in purchasing rum. He is like a use- less sea-sprite, to whom, however, the chief manager does not dare to intrust a vessel ; therefore I have con- cluded to send him back to you, leaving it to you to settle his accounts."
The next officer discussed is Lieutenant Mashin, " who," says Rezanof, "has asked to be relieved. The history of his services has been given to you by the chief manager. I will only remark that by his con- sumption of brandy he has contributed considerably to the profits of the company, and therefore gratitude prevents me from keeping him in the service. He lives in the same house with Sookin. Their tastes and recreations are the same, but I am told that they live in a very original and independent way. They do nothing together. They sleep by turns; they prom- enade one after the other, and care so little about past, present, or future, that they find no topics upon which to converse." 18
18 During the winter of 1805-6, Lieutenant Khvostof was debited in the company's books with 95 buckets (19 gallons) of French brandy, and 2} buckets of alcohol. Tikhmenef, ii. app. part ii. 248. Khvostof and Davidof were both drowned while crossing the Neva in a small boat by night. The accident was probably due to a joint debauch. Dvukratnoe Puteshestvie v Ameriku Morskikh Offitzerov Khvostova i Davidova, app .- two voyages to America by the naval officers, Khvostof and Davidof, written by the latter. 2 vols. 1810 and 1812, Naval Printing Office, St Petersburg. This work contains a detailed and for the most part clear and impartial account of the voyages and experience of two naval officers in the service of the Russian American Company. Both were men of culture and education, and were the first to avail themselves of the privilege granted by an imperial oukaz, which permitted officers of the navy to enter into temporary engagements with the Russian American Company, without losing rank or pay in the public ser- vice. Their departure from St Petersburg took place in April 1802, and the first two chapters are devoted to the overland journey to Okhotsk, where they arrived in August of the same year. The next two chapters contain the departure from Okhotsk, the journey to Kadiak, an interview with Baranof, a brief review of the company's history and business, and the return voyage to Okhotsk in June 1803. Thence they returned to St Petersburg overland, arriving there in January 1804. An appendix to the first volume contains a short biographical sketch of both travellers, a letter addressed to them jointly by Rezanof, whom they accompanied on his mission to Japan, and concludes
459
MISSION WORK.
Of the missionaries and their labors Rezanof has little good to report. He remarks that their so- called conversion was merely a name, and that the ceremony of baptism had not affected their morals or customs. He states that the Russian priests did not follow the example of the Jesuits in their missionary work, that they did not enter into the plans of the government and the company, that they lived in idle- ness, or busied themselves only in meddling with the company's affairs, often causing disturbance between officers and servants at the various stations. He complains that through lack of zeal few took the trouble to acquire the native language, and states incidentally that the late bishop Ioassaf had received fifteen shares of stock in the Russian American Com- pany-a circumstance which explains the tenor of the prelate's reports.19
On the 24th of September, 1806, Rezanof left Ok- hotsk on his homeward journey. Prompted by re- markable activity of mind and body, he travelled rapidly; but, weakened as he was by the hardships, anxiety, and trouble of the past three years, the journey had a fatal effect upon his health. While crossing rivers, over the thin ice just forming, it fre- quently happened that he was not only drenched, but obliged to camp in the snow afterward. About
with two poems in praise of the achievements of Davidof and Khvostof, and alluding to their tragic death.
The second volume is devoted entirely to a detailed description of Kadiak and the settlements on Cook Inlet, and at Novo Arkhangelsk, with historical sketches of the colonies and the Russian American Company, and a review of the manners and customs of the natives, and the way in which they were managed by the Russians. Attached to this volume are two brief vocabula- ries of the Kolosh and Kenaïski languages, of little value to the philologist on account of numerous mistakes. Sokolof subsequently reviewed Khvostof and Davidof at length in the Morskoi Sbornik. He confined himself chiefly to Khvostof, whom he describes as a talented, amiable individual, though im- bittered in mind by misfortune and dissipation, and feeling great enmity toward Rezanof. When the latter sailed in the Juno for California to save the people of Novo Arkhangelsk from starvation, Khvostof complained that he was 'taking them into a tropical latitude at the most dangerous season of the year.' Morskoi Sb., ix. 349-58.
19 Dall, Alaska, 316, speaks of Ioassof as an Augustine friar. It is diffi- cult to conceive whence he obtained this information, as there is but one monastic order in all Russia-that of St Basilius.
460
REZANOF'S VISIT.
sixty miles east of the Aldana, he was attacked with a violent fever and carried unconscious into a Yakout hut. A few days after he became convalescent, he pushed on to Yakutat before recovering his strength. Here again he was prostrated, and again continued his journey; but his career was now at an end, and on the 1st of March, 1807, the plenipotentiary breathed his last at Krasnoyarsk, in eastern Siberia. 20
20 Tikhmenef reflects thus on Rezanof's death: 'The company lost in him a spirit most active in its organization, and in the development of the colonies under its control. Having acquainted himself on the spot with the require- ments of the country, and having made the most earnest efforts to establish relations with adjoining countries, Rezanof could not brook delay on his homeward journey, where he expected to plead personally the company's cause before the imperial throne. There can be no doubt that his influence, so far as it reached, has been wholly beneficial. We do not know what plans were seething in his active brain, ready to be laid before the company's direc- tors and the government upon his return to the capital. If Rezanof's life had not ended so prematurely, some of his plans would certainly have been brought to successful issue at a much earlier period than we can now hope for, while others would not have suffered total neglect at the hands of the authorities. We cannot fail to see that he was no idle dreamer, though his efforts for the public welfare were not much appreciated during his life-time, being frequently spoken of in a deprecating manner. A few looked on him as a visionary, capa- ble only of concocting schemes on paper, but at the same time hardships, disasters, and opposition could not prevent him from following his course and pursuing the object of his life. The honesty and amiability of his character were universally acknowledged, and though he failed to accomplish much that he proposed, he probably did more than any of his assailants.' Istor. Obos., i. 162-3.
CHAPTER XXII.
SEVEN MORE YEARS OF ALASKAN ANNALS. · 1806-1812.
SHIP-BUILDING AT NOVO ARKHANGELSK-THE SETTLEMENT THREATENED BY KOLOSH-A PLOT AGAINST THE CHIEF MANAGER'S LIFE-THE CON- SPIRATORS TAKEN BY SURPRISE-ARRIVAL OF GOLOVNIN IN THE SLOOP- OF-WAR 'DIANA'-HIS DESCRIPTION OF THE SETTLEMENT-ASTOR'S VESSEL, THE ' ENTERPRISE,' AT NOVO ARKHANGELSK-NEGOTIATIONS FOR TRADE-GOLOVNIN'S ACCOUNT OF THE MATTER-FARNUM'S JOUR- NEY FROM ASTORIA TO ST PETERSBURG-WRECK OF THE 'JUNO'- SUFFERINGS OF HER CREW.
THREE years had now elapsed since the chief man- ager had sailed from Kadiak, and at the end of Sep- tember 1806 he returned to St Paul, leaving Kuskof in command at Novo Arkhangelsk, with instructions to hasten the completion of certain buildings and ships then in course of construction. In March 1807 a fine brig named the Sitka was launched, and two months later she arrived at Kadiak. During the fol- lowing summer a three-masted vessel of three hundred tons, christened the Otkrytie, or Discovery, was also built at Novo Arkhangelsk, and at the same time the keel was laid for a schooner, to be named in honor of the discoverer Chirikof.1 A few days after the arrival of the Sitku, the English ship Myrtle anchored in the harbor of St Paul, in charge of Captain Bar- ber, of whom mention has been made in connection
1 On the completion of each vessel, the builder received a gratuity of 1,000 roubles from the company. Chirikof, it will be remembered, was in command of the first Russian vessel that visited the farther north-west coast of America.
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462
SEVEN MORE YEARS OF ALASKAN ANNALS.
with the Sitka massacre. Although no friendly feel- ing existed between him and Baranof, so greatly was the latter in need of vessels, that the ship was pur- chased, together with her cargo,2 and renamed the Kadiak.
In September 1807 the Neva arrived at Novo Arkhangelsk on her second voyage from Kronstadt,3 in command of Lieutenant Hagemeister, who, as we shall see, was appointed some years later Baranof's successor, and in the following spring the ship was added to the company's fleet. By this vessel the chief manager received news that the imperial govern- ment had bestowed on him, as an additional reward, the order of St Anne of the third class, while on Kuskof was conferred the rank of commercial coun- cillor.
Meanwhile the Kadiak had been despatched to Yakutat by way of Novo Arkhangelsk, her com- mander being instructed to rescue the survivors of the massacre who were still in the hands of the Kolosh. A foreign flag was hoisted in order to de- ceive the savages, and thus two of them were induced to board the ship, and were secured. Negotiations were then opened, and the commander's widow and children with several others were released from captivity.4
2 The ship for 42,000 piastres, and the cargo of furs, provisions, arms, and ammunition for 63,675 roubles. Barber received his pay in drafts on the board of managers, and demanded to be placed at Okhotsk on one of the company's vessels in order to proceed to St Petersburg overland. He sailed on the Sitka the following autumn, but owing to the lateness of the season, the vessel proceeded to Petropavlovsk. Here she was loaded with goods for Nishe Kamchatsk, but was totally wrecked at the mouth of Kamchatka River on the 15th of October, 1807. The crew and passengers were saved. Khlebnikof, Shizn. Baranova, 117-18.
3 In August 1806 it had been resolved at a meeting of the shareholders to send the Neva once more to the colonies. Hagemeister and the other officers were engaged for a period of four years. Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 164.
"During the preceding year Baranof had sent Captain Campbell, an American, upon the same errand, but he succeeded only in securing two host- ages and releasing one Aleut and his wife. The former were transferred to Kadiak and baptized, receiving the names of Kalistrat and Gideon. They afterward returned to Sitka, where they were employed as interpreters. Kalistrat died in 1832, and Gideon several years later. Khlebnikof, Shizn.
463
NAPLAVKOF'S CONSPIRACY.
During the winter of 1806-7, the Kolosh again assumed a threatening attitude, encouraged chiefly by the absence of Baranof. Reports of intended attacks reached Kuskof at various times. Under pretext of engaging in herring fishery, they assembled on the islands of Norfolk Sound, with more than four hundred large war-canoes, while the number of warriors was not less than two thousand. The Kolosh women, who cohabited with the promyshleniki of the garrison, aided in spreading alarm by exaggerated reports of the intentions of their countrymen. Deeds of violence were of daily occurrence, and at last a party of Aleu- tian fishermen were captured and killed. Prompt action was now required; but as the Russians were not strong enough to attack the enemy, or even sus- tain a siege, Kuskof resolved to try the effect of peaceful measures. He invited to the fort the most powerful of the chiefs, feasted them, flattered them, plied them with rum, and by a liberal distribution of presents, finally induced them to leave the neighbor- hood.5
The year 1809 witnessed the most formidable of the many conspiracies hatched by the promyshleniki and Siberian ex-convicts against the chief manager. A few headstrong ruffians of the latter class, having been detained for some time at Kamchatka on their journey to America, had there learned the details of Benyovsky's famous exploits, doubtless exaggerated and embellished by transmission from one generation to another. One of these unruly spirits, Naplavkof, who had been originally exiled to Siberia and subse- quently permitted to enter the company's service, con- ceived the idea of imitating the venturesome Pole, and forming a secret society for the purpose of over-
Baranova, 119-20. In 1835 Baron Wrangell, then chief manager, recom- mended that a pension be given to Gideon for his long services.
5 In a private letter to Baranof, Kuskof reports that the success of his manœuvres was due to the efforts of a Kolosh girl sent by him into the hostile camp to create dissensions among the leaders.
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SEVEN MORE YEARS OF ALASKAN ANNALS.
throwing existing authority. His most trusted con- fidant was a peasant named Popof. By the time these two worthies reached Novo Arkhangelsk, they had admitted into their confidence eight or ten others, assuring them that as soon as the first blow was struck the whole colony would rise in revolt.
The object of the conspiracy was to put to death the chief manager, who had now returned to Novo Ark- hangelsk, and seize the arsenal and fort on some day when Naplavkof, who was then acting as a subaltern officer in the garrison, should be on duty. The con- spirators then intended to plunder the storehouses and barracks, and to load the ship Otkrytie with pro- visions and the most valuable of the goods. Each of the conspirators was to select one of the women for his mistress, and in addition, fifteen female natives were to be taken as servants. On leaving Novo Arkhan- gelsk they purposed to sail for Easter Island, or to some uninhabited spot still farther south, where they could form a settlement, calling on the way at the Hawaiian Islands to exchange their furs for provisions and other necessaries.6
Few as were the conspirators in number, no less than three of them, each independently of the others, re- vealed the secret to Baranof. Two of these traitors were Poles, named Leshchinsky and Berezovsky; the third a Russian, called Sidorof. From these men the chief manager learned that the party met at Lesh- chinsky's quarters, and that all the members were about to sign a written pledge, wherein each agreed to carry out the plans of the rest, and to subscribe to a code of rules and regulations. In expectation of this event, Baranof ordered Leshchinsky to keep him informed when the date was fixed for the proposed meeting, and
6 Khlebnikof gives to this plot a tinge of romance. He says that, taking ad- vantage of the war then raging in Europe, the conspirators purposed to form a colonial confederation, capture Siberia, and establish a great republic of hunters and traders. Shizn. Baranova, 128. He gives no authority, however, for stating that such a foolhardy enterprise was conceived by Naplavkof and his gang.
465
FAILURE OF THE PLOT.
supplied him with a keg of brandy, wherewith to make merry with his comrades.
On the 6th of August the conspirators met at the usual rendezvous, which was close to the residence of the chief manager, in order to affix their signatures to an agreement drawn up by Popof from Naplavkof's dictation. When the object of the meeting had been accomplished, and the brandy freely handed round, Leshchinsky, according to a preconcerted signal, be- gan to sing, whereupon Baranof, with a large force of armed men, rushed into the building. Naplavkof, a sabre in one hand and a loaded pistol in the other, made a show of resistance, while Popof hastily thrust the document into the oven. So sudden was the onslaught, however, that all the party were seized and bound before they could make use of their weapons. The document was recovered, almost in- tact, but the only additional information obtained from it was that Popof had been elected chief of the society under the assumed name of Khounshim, and that it had been agreed to do nothing until a hunting party, which contained some of their number, should return from Chatham Strait. The ringleaders and four others were ironed, placed under guard, and finally sent to Kamchatka for trial; and thus ended the plot, without further result than to increase the chief man- ager's desire to be relieved from office.7
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