USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 50
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Hagemeister was impressed with the great respon- siblities that awaited him, and hesitated long before consenting to assume the burden. At last he saw a way out of the difficulty. Yanovsky, the first lieu- tenant of the Suvarof, had become enamored of Bar- anof's daughter, the offspring of a connection with a native woman, and had obtained his consent to be- come his son-in-law. Hagemeister's consent was also necessary, and this was granted on condition that Yanovsky should remain at Novo Arkhangelsk for two years and represent him as chief manager.
3 Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 200, gives the dates of the arrival of the Suvarof and Kutusof as the 22d of July and the 22d of November. These given in the text are taken from the books of the company preserved in the Sitka Archives.
512
CLOSE OF BARANOF'S ADMINISTRATION.
At last, on the 11th of January, 1818, Hagemeister suddenly laid before Baranof his orders, and three days later despatched the Suvarof to St Petersburg with a report of his proceedings. This surprise prostrated the deposed autocrat. The fulfilment of his long-cherished desire came upon him too sud- denly. He could not in reason have expected a successor until the next ship arrived from St Peters- burg. Whatever may have been Hagemeister's mo- tive, the effect certainly was to shorten the days of Baranof, who deserved more consideration. After displaying his instructions, the former at once gave a peremptory order that all the books and property should be immediately delivered to the company's commissioner, Khlebnikof. Making a supreme ef- fort, Baranof rose from his bed on the day of the Suvarof's departure and began the transfer of the company's effects,4 a task which was not completed for several months. The property at Novo Ark- hangelsk alone was estimated by Khlebnikof at two and a half millions of roubles. In addition to two hundred thousand roubles' worth of furs shipped on the Suvarof, there still remained in the storehouses skins to the value of nine hundred thousand roubles. The buildings were all in excellent condition, as were the sea-going vessels. In all the complicated ac- counts of this vast business, Khlebnikof failed to find a single discrepancy.5 The cash accounts, involving millions, were in perfect order; in the item of strong liquors there was a small quantity not accounted for, but this had been caused by the hospitalities extended to naval officers and other visitors. Among the many who had been with him for long years, Baranof knew no one to whom he could intrust the irksome duty which now fell to his lot, but labored from morn-
+ A list of the principal articles is given in Khlebnikof, Zapiski, in Ma- terialui, 23-4.
5 Khlebnikof, Shizn. Baranova, 174; Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 243, 245, The latter states that the value of property transferred exceeded that which appeared on paper.
ILL-REQUITED SERVICES. 513
ing to night, overcoming his weakness with stimu- lants. At length the task was finished, and in Sep- tember 1818 he delivered a full statement of the company's affairs to his son-in-law. "I recommend to your special care," he said, "the people who have learned to love me, and who under judicious treat- ment will be just as well disposed toward those who shall watch over them in the future."
Nearly forty years had now elapsed since Baranof had left his native land; nearly thirty since he had first landed at Kadiak. He was ill requited for his long and faithful service. To him was due, more than to all others, the success of the Russian colonies in America; by him they had been founded and fostered, and but for him they would never have been estab- lished, or would have had, at best, a brief and troubled existence. Here, amid these wintry solitudes, he had raised towns and villages, built a fleet of sea-going ships, and laid a basis of trade with American and Asiatic ports. All this he had accomplished while paying regular dividends to shareholders; and now in his old age he was cast adrift and called to render an account as an unfaithful steward. He was already in his seventy-second year. Where should he be- take him during the brief span of life that yet re- mained ?
Bitter as was the humiliation which Baranof suf- fered, he could not at once tear himself away from the land which he loved so well. He resolved first to pay a visit to Kadiak, meet once more the tried friends and servants who were yet living there, and take a last glance at the settlements, where first he had planted his country's flag. He would then bid good-by to all, and join his brother at Izhiga, in Kamchatka, the only one of his kin that now survived.6 Finally, his old acquaintance, Captain V. M. Golovnin, who about
6 At one time he purposed to sail for the Sandwich Islands and end his days at the court of Kamehameha, with whom he was still on friendly terms. Khlebnikof, Shizn. Baranova, 174-5.
HIST. ALASKA, 33
4
514
CLOSE OF BARANOF'S ADMINISTRATION.
this time had returned to Novo Arkhangelsk, urged him to return to Russia, where he could still be of great service to the company by giving advice to the managers on colonial affairs. The prospect of continued usefulness and perhaps the hope of receiv- ing reward for past services, then much needed by the ex-manager, decided him to accept this advice. The period of general leave-taking preceding his de- parture was a severe ordeal. He was frequently found in tears, and the symptoms of disease increased as he was submitted again and again to the trial of bidding farewell to the men with whom he had been intimately associated for more than a generation, and to the chil- dren who had learned to love him from their infancy.
At length, on the 27th of November, 1818, he em- barked on the Kutusof, and as the vessel entered the waters of the sound, he gazed for the last time on the settlement which was entirely of his own creation. After touching at Umata, the vessel arrived on the 7th of March at Batavia, where she was detained for thirty-six days. No more unfortunate choice could have been made for so prolonged a visit than amidst the pestilential climate of that Dutch colony. Tired of the confinement of his cabin, the ex-manager in- sisted upon living on shore, spending his whole time in the hostelry just outside the settlement; thence he was carried almost lifeless on board the ship, which now put to sea; on the 16th of April, 1819, he breathed his last; on the following day his obsequies were performed, and in the strait of Sunda the waters of the Indian Ocean closed over the remains of Alex- andr Andreïevich Baranof.
With all his faults, and they were neither few nor small, it must be admitted that in many respects Bar- anof had no equal among his successors. "I saw him in his seventieth year," writes his biographer, Khleb- nikof, " and even then life and energy sparkled in his eye ... He never knew what avarice was, and never hoarded riches. He did not wait until his death
515
CHARACTER OF BARANOF.
to make provision for the living, and gave freely to all who had any claims upon him. Some said that he had large deposits in foreign banks, but no proof of this was to be found when he died. He always lived on his means, and never drew his balance from the company while he was in their service. From Shelikof he had received ten shares, and by the Sheli- kof Company he was allowed twenty shares more. Of these he gave away a considerable portion to his fellow-laborers Banner and Kuskof, who were rather poorly paid. There are not a few now living in the colonies whom he helped out of difficulty, and many a remittance he sent to Russia to the relatives of per- sons who had died, or were by misfortune prevented from supporting those dependent upon them. An example of this occurred in the case of Mr Koch, who was sent out to relieve him but died on the way. He had assisted him formerly both with money and influ- ence, and after his death sent large remittances to his family."7
" ' Every one looked to him as chief manager,' remarks Khlebnikof. Shizn. Baranova, 197-8. 'There were two classes to be provided for-the Russians and the natives. The latter never troubled themselves about the future, as long as they had a fish to eat; but Baranof, with his good warm heart, looked into the future for them. On one occasion all kinds of provis- ions were giving out, even the supply of fish dwindling away. He did not sleep at night, when the wind was blowing, thinking of the ships on the way to him, laden with what was needed so much. Had he known at this time that, at the very moment when he was praying for the arrival of a ship on the coast of America, the vessel which he expected was breaking to pieces on the rocky shore of Kamchatka, even his stout heart might have trembled. Baranof was never at his wit's end nor faint-hearted. When he heard at the same time of the wreck of the Elizaveta, Demianenkof's disaster, and the Yakutat massacre, all he said was, " My God! how can we repair all these dis- asters!"' Among the many instances related by Khlebnikof of Baranof's business ability the following may be mentioned: In 1802 he received by the Elizaveta a cargo worth only 20,000 roubles, a great part of which was use- less for his purpose. Baranof went round the different stations to collect goods to be exchanged for furs and to pay the hunters. Meeting with little success, he sent out Aleuts to shoot or trap sea-birds, and of their skius he had fanciful parkas (cloaks) made, which greatly pleased the natives, and were readily accepted in payment for furs.
Although the author's name does not appear on the title-page of the Shieneopissanie Alexandra Andreievitcha Baranova Glavnago Pravitelia Ros- siyskith Koloniy v Amerike (Biography of Alexander Andreievich Baranof, Chief Manager of the Russian Colonies in America), Naval Printing Office, St Petersburg, 1835, it is evident from the introduction that the work was written by Kyrill Khlebnikof. It was dedicated to his Excellency the Ad-
516
CLOSE OF BARANOF'S ADMINISTRATION.
One of the officers of the sloop-of-war Kamchatka, in which vessel Golovnin arrived at Novo Arkhan- gelsk, a short time before Baranof's departure, thus relates his impressions: " We had just cast anchor in port, and were sitting down to dinner when Baranof was announced. The life and actions of this extraor- dinary man had excited in me a great curiosity to see him. He is much below medium height. His face is covered with wrinkles, and he is perfectly bald; but for all that he looks younger than his years, consider- ing his hard and troubled life. The next day we were invited to dine with him. After dinner singers were introduced, who, to please the late manager, spared neither their own lungs nor our ears. When they sang his favorite song, 'The spirit of Russian hunters
miral, Member of the Privy Council, Knight of all Russian Orders, Count Nikolai Semenovitch Mordvinoff. Khlebnikof held a prominent position under the Russian American Company for many years, and devoted much time and study to the colonies. His biography of Baranof is very complete though tinged with admiration. Baranof was so thoroughly identified with all that was accomplished by the Russians on the American coast from 1790 to 1818, that his biography furnishes a complete history of the enterprise up to that time. His numerous thrilling adventures, his firm but sometimes cruel mode of dealing with the savages and his own followers-but little above the former in the scale of civilization-his vast plans for extending the field of the company's operations over half the Pacific Ocean, are ably and clearly portrayed. The relations between the Russian fur-trader and the Californian authorities, and his ventures in the Sandwich Islands, occupy considerable space in this volnme.
Khlebnikof's letters on America, formning part iii. of the Materialui dlia Istoriy Russkikh Zasseleniy po Beregam Vostochnavo Okeana (Material for the History of the Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean), Printing Office of the Ministerium of Marine, St Petersburg, 1861, bear no date, but were apparently written in 1829 or 1830. This work is a collection of papers published in the Morskoi Sbornik, the organ of the Russian Naval Department, on the then all-absorbing topic of the Russian Colonies. The contents of the collection are: I. Instructions of the Russian marine minister to Captain Golovnin, 1817. II. Communication from the marine minister, Marquis de Traverse, to Baron Testel, governor general of Siberia, 1817. III. Communication in reply, 1817. IV. Letter of Captain Golovnin to the gov- ernor of Siberia, 1817. V. Report of the commanding officer at Okhotsk to the civil governor of Irkutsk, 1815. VI. Letters of the post commander of Okhotsk on the oppression of Aleutian employees by the company. VII. Letter of Captain Golovnin on the condition of the Russian American Company, 1818. VIII. Review of the Russian colonies in North America by Captain Go- lovnin. IX. Letters of Khlebnikof on America, divided into two parts-the northern colonies and the Ross settlement, containing minute and reliable data on both subjects. X. Translations and extracts from the works of the following authors: Khlebnikof, Davidof, Krusenstern, Lisiansky, Kotzebue, Golovnin, Lozaref, Lütke, Langsdorff, Roquefeuil, Belcher, La Place, Mofras, Simpson, and Kellett. Statistical tables are appended to the collection.
51
CHARACTER OF BARANOF.
devised,' he stood in their midst and rehearsed with them their common deeds in the New World. I must add here a word as to his mode of life. He rises early, and eats only once during the day, having no certain time for his meal. It may be said that in this respect he resembles Suvarof, but I believe Bar- anof never resembled anybody, except perhaps Cortés or Pizarro.8 His former condition had caused him to adopt a custom of which he could never wean himself --- that of keeping around him a crowd of madcaps, who were greatly attached to him, and ready, as the say- ing is, to go through fire and water for him. To these people he often gave feasts, when each one could drink as much as he pleased, and this explains the enormous consumption of rum which Baranof was in no condi- tion to buy, and had to procure at the company's expense."9
It is probable that the words which Washington Irving puts into the mouth of Astor's agent, when he " found this hyperborean veteran ensconced in a fort which crested the whole of a high rocky promon- tory," are but too near the truth. " He is continually giving entertainments by way of parade," says Mr Hunt, "and if you do not drink raw rum, and boiling punch as strong as sulphur, he will insult you as soon as he gets drunk, which will be very shortly after sitting down to table.
"As to any 'temperance captain,'" continues Irving, "who stood fast to his faith and refused to give up his sobriety, he might go elsewhere for a market, for he stood no chance with the governor. Rarely, however, did any cold-water caitiff of the kind darken the door of Baranof; the coasting captains knew too well his humor and their own interests; they joined in his revels; they drank and sang and whooped and hic-
8 In what respect the writer does not explain.
9 Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 244-5. The officer remarks, that during his whole term of administration he had exhibited a rare disinterestedness, and though he had every chance of enriching himself, had never taken advantage of his position.
518
:
CLOSE OF BARANOF'S ADMINISTRATION.
cuped, until they all got 'half-seas-over,' and then affairs went on swimmingly.
"An awful warning to all 'flinchers' occurred shortly before Hunt's arrival. A young naval officer had re- cently been sent out by the emperor to take command of one of the company's vessels. The governor, as usual, had him at his 'prosnics,' 10 and plied him with fiery potations. The young man stood on the de- fensive, until the old count's ire was completely kin- dled; he carried his point and made the greenhorn tipsy, willy nilly. In proportion as they grew fud- dled, they grew noisy; they quarrelled in their cups; the youngster paid Baranof in his own coin, by rating him soundly; in reward for which, when sober, he was taken the rounds of four pickets, and received seventy- 'nine lashes, taled out with Russian punctuality of pun- ishment.
"Such was the old grizzled bear with whom Mr Hunt had to do his business. How he managed to cope with his humor, whether he pledged himself in raw rum and blazing punch, and 'clinked' the can with him as they made their bargains, does not appear upon record; we must infer, however, from his general ob- servations on the absolute sway of this hard-drinking potentate, that he had to conform to the customs of his court, and that their business transactions presented a maudlin mixture of punch and peltry." 11
Before taking final leave of Baranof, I will give one more quotation from a manuscript in my posses- sion, from the dictation of one formerly in the service of the Russian American Company, who arrived at Novo Arkhangelsk in 1817, for the purpose of rejoin- ing his father, who had been sent to the Ross colony. " On the day after our arrival, Mr Baranof sent for me. He was a small man, of yellow complexion, and
10 Carousals.
11 Astoria, 465-7. Irving states that in 1812 the fort at Novo Arkhangelsk mounted 100 guns; but one must, of course, allow for the vivid imagination of the novelist. There were but 50 cannon as late as 1817. Golovnin, in Ma- lerialui, Istor. Russ., part iv. 101.
519
THE CHIEF DIRECTOR'S HABITS.
with very little hair on his head. He spoke to me very kindly, and promised to send me to Mr Kuskof as soon as any of the company's ships were going in his direction. Then he told me I could stay at his house and help the woman who was his housekeeper. He had several women about his house, young and old, and one daughter about seventeen years of age, for whom he kept a German governess. The mother had been a Kolosh woman, but she died before I came to Novo Arkhangelsk.
"Baranof was often sick, and sometimes very cross, but his daughter could always put him in good hu- mor by playing on the piano. I have seen him send every one out of the house in a heavy snow-storm when his anger was roused, but half an hour later he sent messengers to call back the women and servants, and gave each one an order on the store for whatever they wished. Then he would send for liquor and or- der a feast to be prepared, and call for his singers to amuse him while he was eating. After his meal he was apt to get drunk on such occasions, and would try to make all around him drunk. Most of the peo- ple in the house liked to see him in a rage, because they knew that a carousal would follow. As soon as he began to feel the effect of drink he always sent his daughter away, but all the other women were required to stay with him and share in the revelry.
" One night Baranof came into the kitchen for some purpose, and saw the German governess taking a glass of rum. He was so enraged that he struck her on the head and drove her out of the house. On the next day he sent for her, made her some presents, and apol- ogized for striking her. He said that she might drink now and then, but must never let his daughter see it. The governess promised to abstain from dram-drinking in the presence of her pupil, and remained with her until she was married to a young naval officer,12 who
12 Yanovsky.
520
CLOSE OF BARANOF'S ADMINISTRATION.
had arrived from St Petersburg on board a man-of- war."13
Here we have probably a truthful picture of Bar- anof's household during the last years of his resi- dence at Novo Arkhangelsk. At this period he dis- played only too often the darker phase of his character, for the use of stimulants had now sapped the vigor of his manhood, and in their use alone could he find temporary relief from his constitutional fits of melan- choly. That he indulged too freely in strong drink has never been disputed by his friends; but that he was, as some chronicles allege, a cruel and vindictive man, has never been proven by his enemies. It must be remembered that drunkenness was then a vice far more common among the Russians than it is to-day, and that it is now more prevalent in Russia than in any civilized country in the world. The as- persions made on Baranof's character by missionaries and naval officers have already been noticed. They need no further comment. When we read the pages of Father Juvenal's manuscript, and the remarks of such men as Lieutenant Kotzebue, in whose work he is spoken of as "a monster who purchases every gain with the blood of his fellow-creatures," we can but wish that they had formed a truer estimate of one whose memory is still held in respect by his fellow- countrymen.
While Baranof was still at Novo Arkhangelsk,
13 Adventures of Zakhar Chichinof, MS., 2-4. Chichinof was a native of Yakutsk, where he was born in 1802. When eight years of age he went to Kadiak, and was placed in the school of Father German, or Germanius, under whose care he remained until the year 1817, learning to read, write, and cipher. His father removed to Novo Arkhangelsk, where his son fol- lowed him in the autumn, earning his passage by acting as servant to Hagemeister, who was a passenger on the same vessel. 'Hagemeister was very proud,' remarks Chichinof, 'and used to kick me for not taking off my cap before going into the cabin.' Hearing that his father had joined the Ross colony, he presented to Baranof a letter from the missionary, requesting that he be allowed to see his parent as soon as possible. It will be remembered that, on his arrival at Ross, he was sent to the Farallon Islands, where he was employed to keep accounts. Chichinof was a resident of St Paul, Kadiak, in 1878, in which year he related to my agent, partly from memory and partly from his journal, the incidents contained in my manuscript.
521
KORASAKOVSKY'S EXPEDITION.
and probably under his direction, a force was de- spatched by land to make a thorough exploration of the territory north of Bristol Bay, and to establish a permanent station on the Nushagak River. The expedition formed on Cook Inlet, in charge of one Korasakovsky, who was well acquainted with the na- tives of this portion of Alaska.14 Proceeding to lake Ilyamna, the party descended the river Kuichak to Bristol Bay, and following the coast, reached the mouth of the Nushagak, where the leader left be-
Kuskovkim
Cook's Inlet
L. I
Fort
Alexandrovsk
-
C.Newenham
Bristol Bay
PLAN OF EXPEDITION.
hind him a portion of his command with instructions to build a fort, while he went on with the remainder to the mouth of the river Tugiak, far to the west- ward, where the sloop Konstantin was to meet him
14 A curious superstition is alluded to in Korasakovsky's instructions. From early times a belief had existed among the promyshleniki and others, that somewhere in the interior, on the banks of the river named the Khin- veren, there lived white people with long beards, the descendants, probably, of some of Deshnef's companions who were reported to have been lost on the American coast in 1648. Others ascribed their origin to the members of Chirikof's crew lost on the coast of America. How firm a hold this childish belief had taken on the minds even of those in authority, is evidenced by the fact that Korasakovsky was instructed to search for the mysterious white men of the interior. Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 249.
522
CLOSE OF BARANOF'S ADMINISTRATION.
with a cargo of supplies. After a brief rest, Kor- asakovsky continued his journey, rounding Cape Newenham, and finally entering the wide estuary of the Kuskokvim. It was now late in the season, and hearing from the natives that it was extremely diffi- cult to procure subsistence during the winter, the leader turned back. On reaching the Nushagak, he found the fort nearly completed, and giving it the name of Alexandrovsk, returned to Kadiak across the Alaska peninsula.
Lieutenant Yanovsky, who was one of the party, forwarded a special report of this expedition to the board of managers at St Petersburg, with a recom- mendation that during the following summer the set- tlement should be transferred from the Nushagak to the Kuskokvim, or that a new post be established at the latter point.15
During the presence of Hagemeister and Yanovsky in the colonies, occurred the first visit of a French vessel to Norfolk Sound. In 1816 a merchant of Bordeaux fitted out a ship named the Bordelais for a voyage to the farther north-west, intending to compete with the English and American traders. The vessel sailed in October 1816, with a complement of thirty-four men and three officers, in charge of Camille Roquefeuil, a naval officer.16 In May of the following year, while taking in water and provisions at Lima, Roquefeuil
15 In the same year, he ordered a careful census of the colonies to be taken, the result of which he forwarded along with the report. The num- ber of Russians at the various settlements and trading-posts was found to be 391, of whom only 13 were women, of creoles 244, including 111 women, and of natives under the company's control 8,384, the sexes being about equally divided. The Russians were thus distributed: At Novo Arkhangelsk, 198 men and 11 women; at Kadiak and adjoining islands, 73 men; on the island of Ookamok, 2 men; at Katmai, 4 men; at Sutkhumokoi, 3 men; at Voskres- sensky Harbor, 2 men; at fort Konstantine, 17 men; at Nikolai (on Cook Inlet), 11 men; at Alexandrovsk (also on Cook Inlet), 11 men; at the Ross settle- ment, 27 men; on the Seal Islands, 27 men; and at Nusliagak, 3 men and 2 women. Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 252. Khlebnikof, Zapiski in Materialui, 20, gives 8,367 as the number of natives.
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