USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 8
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'3. To select from the master-mechanics or apprentices such as are able to build a decked boat according to our model used with big ships; and for the same purpose to select four carpenters with their instruments, as young as possible, and one quartermaster and eight sailors. The boat-builder apprentice, Feo- dor Kozlof, has all the required qualifications, being able to draught plans of decked boats and to build them. (In Peter the Great's own handwriting: It is absolutely necessary to have some mate or second mate who has been to North America.)
'4. The usual complement of sails, blocks, ropes etc., and four falconets, with the necessary ammunition, should be increased by half-doubled, in Peter's own handwriting.
'5. If such a mate cannot be found in the fleet it is necessary to write im- mediately to Holland for two men, experienced navigators in the Northern or Japan seas, and to forward them at once by way of Anadirsk. Vice-admiral
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THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.
ally to the rank of captain-commander, and had re- ceived a cash reward of a thousand rubles, an amount commonly granted at that time to envoys returning from distant countries. He was now anxious to ob- tain the rank of contre-admiral for his long services and discoveries. The admiralty college made repre- sentations to that effect to the imperial cabinet, but no reply was received.9
Next in command, appointed with Bering, and who had served as junior officer on the first expedition, and now a captain, was Alexeï Ilich Chirikof, one of the best officers of his day, the pride and hope of the fleet. Russian historians are perhaps a little inclined to
Sievers promises to forward these men immediately if they can be found in the imperial fleet Another addition in Peter's own handwriting: The rig- ging may be omitted, the rest is all right. Signed on the 23d of December, 1724.'
9 Berg in his researches into Siberian history found several documents giving biographical details concerning Bering and his family, which may be of some interest to the reader. He had with him in Siberia his wife and chil- dren, two sons named Thomas and Unos, who were still alive in the city of Revel when Sokolof wrote his history of the expedition. The wife, Anna Matveievna, was a young and lively woman and apparently not without influ- ence; possibly a little unscrupulous. At all events it is known that in conse- quence of certain rumors the senate issued an order in September 1738 to . keep an eye on the wife of Captain-commander Bering, then on her way from Siberia, as well as on other members of the expedition about to return, and to detail for the purpose an 'able man.' This supervision was proved to be necessary on the Siberian frontier, as it appeared that the lady carried in her baggage a large quantity of furs and government property. However, on her arrival at Moscow she surrendered everything, made a few presents to the customs officials, and hurried to St Petersburg, where she informed the in- spectors that she did not belong to Siberia but to St Petersburg. In 1744, when she asked for a widow's pension, or the award of her husband's salary for one year, she declared that she was 39 years of age; and in 1750, when she again petitioned for a pension, her age was given as 40-not an uncom- mon mistake made by ladies. As characteristic of Bering's mind, Sokolof produces a letter written by him to Lieutenant Plunting, who at that time, 1738, was quarrelling with the commander of the port of Okhotsk, Pisaref. 'You know yourself better than I what kind of a man Pisaref is,' he writes. 'It is always better when a rabid dog is about, to get out of his way in order not to be bitten when it is none of our business. You are yourself somewhat to blame, and perhaps you think that as an officer you are exempt from pun- ishment, but if Captain-commander Villebois was your commander, you would have been punished though you are an officer. I know not under what weak commanders you have served to cause you to act as you do; remember this and take care of yourself in the future, if you would avoid a sore head. No- body knows his fate, perhaps you will be an admiral yet, as has happened to Nikolaï Fedorovich Golovin, president of the admiralty college, but for- merly he was only a sub-lieutenant under my command; and look at Shafirof, what honors have been bestowed upon him, according to our latest letters. Pisaref's fate is fortunately hidden from him. That may be your consolation.' Zap. Hydr., ix. 209-10.
49
BERING AND HIS OFFICERS.
magnify the faults of Bering the Dane as well as the merits of Chirikof the Russian. The latter they say was well educated, courageous, and straightforward, bright of intellect as well as thoughtful, and whose kind heart the exigencies of the cruel naval service had never been able wholly to debase. He had graduated from the naval academy in 1721, and had been at once promoted to a sub-lieutenancy, skipping the rank of midshipman. He was at first attached to the fleet, but subsequently received an appointment at the naval academy as instructor of the marines of the guard. While in that position he was presented to Peter the Great by Sievers and Seniavin as one of the officers selected to join the first Bering expedition. He was placed under the immediate command of Bering, to- gether with Spanberg, in 1725. Before setting out he was promoted to lieutenant, and gave evidence throughout the expedition of great courage and com- mon-sense. On his return in 1730 he was made a. captain-lieutenant; two years later, in 1732, he was again promoted and made full captain, "not by sen- iority but on account of superior knowledge and worth," as they said. At the time of his appoint- ment he was on special duty at Kazan, and he re- turned to St Petersburg only a few days before the departure of the expedition in February 1733; but he still found time to give most valuable assistance in framing the final instructions.10
The third in command was Captain Martin Petrovich Spanberg, a countryman of Bering, a native of Den-
10 It is remarkable that in all the accounts of quarrels between the heads of the various detachments of scientists and naval officers serving under Bering's command, the name of Chirikof is never found. He seems to have had the good- will of every one and escaped all complaints from superiors; he had with him in Siberia a wife and daughter. On his return from the American coast he lived in the town of Yenisseisk, suffering from consumption until 1746; in that year he was ordered to St Petersburg, and upon his arrival was again appointed to the naval academy. In the same year he was transferred to Moscow to look after some naval affairs of importance, and on that occasion he made several propositions for the organization of further exploring expe- ditions. He died in 1747 with rank of captain-commander. Morskoi Sbor- nik, iv. 213-14.
HIST. ALASKA. 4
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THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.
mark. It is not known when he entered the Russian service, but he accompanied the first expedition as senior officer. He was illiterate, with a reckless au- dacity, rough, and exceedingly cruel, avaricious and selfish, but strong in mind, body, and purpose, of great energy, and a good seaman. His bad reputation ex- tended over all Siberia, and was long preserved in the memory of the people. Sibiriaks feared him and his wanton oppression. Some of them thought him a great general, while others called him an escaped ex- ecutioner. He was always accompanied by a dog of huge dimensions, which it was said would tear people to pieces at his master's command. Chirikof thought him possessed of some sparks of a noble ambition, but all was put down by his subordinates to a love of tyranny. His knowledge of the Russian language was exceedingly limited. Having been made a captain- lieutenant during the first expedition, he was now a captain, like Chirikof, but higher on the list Little is said of his share in the work performed by the expe- dition, but his name occurs in hundreds of complaints and petitions from victims of his licentiousness, cruelty, and avarice. He was just the man to become rich. On his return from Siberia he brought with him a thousand yards of army cloth, a thousand bales of fur, and whole herds of horses. He carried to Siberia his wife and son, and they accompanied him at sea.11 Such is the character of the man as presented by Russian authorities, which are all we have on the subject. Again it will be noticed that while Chirikof, the Russian, is highly praised, Spanberg, the Dane, is roundly rated, and we may make allowance accord- ingly.
11 He returned to St Petersburg from Siberia without orders in 1745, and was promptly placed under arrest and remanded for trial. His sentence was death, but in the mean time other charges had been preferred, based upon com- plaints of the people of Siberia, and the sentence was postponed. After many delays he was released at the request of the Danish ambassador. In 1749 he was given the command of a newly constructed man-of-war, which foundered on leaving the harbor of Arkhangelsk; for this he was again tried by court- martial and again acquitted. He died at last in 1761, with the rank of cap- tain of the first class. Sokolof, in Zap. Hydr., ix. 215-26.
51
THE GREAT MAP-MAKER.
Of the other officers of the expedition there is not much to be said, as they were not prominently con- nected with the discovery of the American coast. Lieutenant Walton, the companion of Spanberg, was an Englishman who had entered the Russian service only two years before. Midshipman Schelting was an illegitimate son of Contre-admiral Petrovski, a Hol- lander. He was twenty-five years of age and had been attached to the fleet only two years. Lieutenant Lassenius, the senior officer of the Arctic detach- ments, who was instructed to explore the coast beyond the Lena river, was a Dane. He had also but recently entered the Russian service. According to Gmelin he was a skilful and experienced officer; later he was relieved by Lieutenant Laptief, also an old lieutenant who had been recommended to Peter the Great for the first expedition as a considerate and courageous man. The less said of the morals of any of these mariners the better. Neither the age nor the nation was conspicuous for justice or refinement. Drinking and gambling were among the more innocent amuse- ments, at least in the eyes of the sailors, among whom were the most hardened villains that could be picked out from the black sheep of the naval service. There can be no doubt that an almost brutal discipline was sometimes necessary, but the practice of it was com- mon. In regard to honesty, we must not suppose that the appropriation of public property by officers of the government was then regarded as a greater crime than now.
Upon the request of the senate the imperial acad- emy had instructed its member, Joseph de L'Isle, to compile a map of Kamchatka and adjoining coun- tries; but not satisfied with this, the senate demanded the appointment of an astronomer to join the expedi- tion accompanied by some students advanced in astron- omy, and two or three versed in mineralogy. Two volunteers for this service were found among the
52
THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.
academicians, Johann Gmelin, professor of chemistry and natural history, and Louis de L'Isle de la Croyère, a brother of the map-maker and professor of astron- omy. These were joined by a third, Gerhard Müller, professor of history and geography. The senate accepted these, but ordered further twelve students from the Slavo-Latin school at Moscow to be trained in the academy for the proposed expedition. The admiralty college urged the necessity of extending the exploration over the whole northern coast of Siberia, and it was then that were appointed as com- manders subordinate to Bering, Spanberg, and Chi- rikof, one lieutenant, three sub-lieutenants, and a command of servants and soldiers numbering one hun- dred and fifty-seven in all. A few members of the college proposed to send the whole expedition to the coast of Kamchatka round the world by sea, the earliest plan toward circumnavigation conceived by a Russian; but their counsel did not prevail.12
The command of the proposed expedition to Japan was given to Captain Spanberg, assisted by Lieuten- ant Walton and Midshipman Schelting. The explor- ation of the northern coast was intrusted to lieutenants Muravief and Pavlof; lieutenants Meygin, Skuratof, and Ovtzin were also appointed but subsequently re- lieved by Masters Minnin, Pronchishchef, and Las- senius. The two latter died and were replaced by two brothers, the lieutenants Hariton and Dmitri Laptief. Another detail consisted of three lieutenants, Waxel, Plunting, and Endogarof, four masters, twelve master's mates, ship and boat builders, three surgeons, nine assistant surgeons, a chaplain, six monks, commissaries, navigators, a number of cadets and sailors, all num- bering five hundred and seventy men. From the academy the final appointments were the naturalist Gmelin and the historian Müller, who were subse- quently relieved by Steller and Fisher; the astronomer
12 Both Berg, in his Lives of Admirals, ii. 238, and Gmelin, in his Voyage in Siberia, make mention of these proposals.
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SOMETHING OF THE SCIENTISTS.
De L'Isle de la Croyère, with five students, four sur- veyors, who were increased in Siberia by four more, an interpreter, an instrument-maker, two artists, and a special escort of fourteen men. An engineer and architect named Frederick Staël was also attached to the expedition for the construction of roads and har- bors, but he died on his way to Siberia.
Müller and Gmelin were both young men, the first being twenty-eight and the other twenty-four. They were learned and enthusiastic German scientists who had come to Russia several years before, one as a doctor of medicine and professor of chemistry and natural history, the other as professor of history and geography. Both attained distinction in the scientific world. De L'Isle de la Croyère was also well edu- cated, though conspicuous rather as a lover of good eating and drinking, than as a learned man.13
Another scientific member of the expedition, who joined it somewhat later, was George Wilhelm Steller. He was born in Winsheim, Franconia, on the 10th of March 1709. He studied theology and natural science in the universities of Wittenberg, Leipsic, and Jena, and settled in Halle, devoting himself chiefly to anatomy, botany, and medicine. He proceeded to Berlin and passed a brilliant examination, and in 1734 he joined the Russian army before Dantzic, doing duty as staff-surgeon. In December he was sent to St Petersburg with a ship-load of wounded soldiers. Here he accepted the position of leib medicus, or body- surgeon to the famous bishop of Novgorod, Theo- phanos Prokopovich, a favorite of Peter the Great, and with him he remained till his death, except when serving in Siberia.
When Bering left St Petersburg to enter upon his
13 According to Berg and Sokolof, Gmelin returned to his own country shortly after returning from this expedition in the year 1749, having obtained his final discharge from the Russian service. He died in 1755. Müller was appointed historian in the Academy of Science in 1747; from 1754 to 1765 he was conference secretary of the academy; in 1765 he was appointed director of the Foundling House of Moscow, and in 1766 he was placed in charge of the Moscow archives of the foreign office. He died in 1783.
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THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.
second expedition, Steller, then of the imperial acad- emy, was ordered to join the expedition specially to examine the natural history of Kamchatka. He reached his new field in 1738. In 1740, after giving ample proof of his ability and energy by making fre- quent and valuable shipments of specimens for the museum of the academy, he forwarded a petition to the senate for permission to accompany Lieutenant Spanberg on his voyage to Japan. While awaiting an answer he was importuned by Bering to join his expedition. Steller replied that in the absence of orders he would draw upon himself the displeasure of the authorities, but the commander said he would assume all responsibility and provide him with an official memorandum to that effect, and a regular ap- pointment to take charge of the department of natural science in his expedition. Steller finally consented, and we are indebted to him for some of the most re- liable information concerning the Russian discoveries on the American coast.14
In consideration of distance and privations the empress doubled every salary. The departure of the expedition began in February 1733. Bering and Chirikof were instructed to build at Okhotsk or in Kamchatka, wherever it was most convenient, two vessels of the class then called packet-boats, and then to proceed, in accordance with the plans of Professor De la Croyère, without separating, to the exploration of the American coast, which was supposed to lie but a short distance from Kamchatka. After reaching that shore they were to coast southward to the forty- fifth parallel, and then return to the north, crossing
14 These scientists had a way of marrying, with the view of throwing some part of their infelicities upon their wives. Steller tried it, as Müller and Fisher had done, and as the rough old sea-captains used to do, but he found his wife one too many for him. She was the widow of a certain Doctor Mes- serchmidt, and daughter of a Colonel Von Böchler, and did not at all object to become the wife of the rising young scientist, but to go to Siberia, Kamchatka, perhaps to the north pole, was quite a different matter. True, she promised him, but that was before marriage, which of course did not count. And the sorrowful Steller was at last obliged to go wifeless to his ice-fields, leaving his spouse to flirt the weary hours away at the gay capital. Morskoi Sbornik, c. 145.
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ACROSS SIBERIA.
back to Asia at Bering Strait. If the season proved too short they were authorized to go into winter-quar- ters, and conclude the work the following season. Captain Spanberg was to proceed from Okhotsk in the direction of Japan with one ship and two sloops, beginning his explorations at the Kurile Islands. In order to facilitate the progress of the expedition the local Siberian authorities were instructed to erect on the banks of the principal rivers, and on the Arctic, beacons to indicate the location of the magazines of provisions and stores for the various detachments, and also to inform all the nomadic natives of Siberia and the promyshleniki, that they must assist the members of the expedition as far as lay in their power.
One important purpose of the expedition was to discover a new route to the Okhotsk Sea without passing Yakutsk, by going through the southern dis- tricts of Siberia, and striking the head-waters of the Yuda, which had been reported navigable. A warn- ing was attached to the instructions against crossing the Amoor, "in order not to awaken the suspicions of the Chinese government." The academicians Gmelin and Müller were intrusted with the exploration of the interior of Siberia and Kamchatka, assisting each other in their researches, and making a general geo- graphical survey with the assistance of the cadet en- gineers attached to their detachment. Croyère, with some of the students who had been in training at the observatory of the academy for several years, was to make astronomical observations along the route of progress, and accompany Bering to the coast of America. He was granted great liberty of action, and furnished with ample means, the best instruments to be obtained at that time, and a numerous escort of soldiers and laborers.
It was an unknown country to which they were all going, and for an unknown time. The admiralty college had thought six years sufficient, but most were going for sixteen years, and many forever. Be-
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THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.
sides nearly all the officers, a number of the rank and file were taking with them their wives and children. Lieutenant Ovtzin and one naval officer were the first to leave for Kazan in order to begin their prepara- tions. Captain Spanberg with ten mechanics set out next to erect temporary buildings along the road and in the towns of Siberia, for the accommodation of the expedition. In March 1733 other members took their departure, followed by lengthy caravans loaded with supplies from the storehouses of the admiralty. The scientists from the academy tarried in St Petersburg till August, and then proceeded to Kazan to join their companions. At the beginning of winter the whole force had advanced as far as Tobolsk, where they went into winter-quarters. In the spring of 1734 the ex- pedition embarked on small vessels built during the winter on the rivers Ob, Irtish, and Yenissei. The main body arrived at Yakutsk in the summer of 1735, after having wintered at some point beyond Irkutsk. Bering himself had proceeded by land from Tobolsk and reached Yakutsk in October 1734, in advance of nearly all his assistants. Here the winter was again utilized for the construction of boats, and in the spring of 1735 the lieutenants Pronchishchef and Lassenius proceeded northward down the Lena River, with the intention of sailing eastward along the Arctic coast. The transportation of men and stores to Okhotsk was accomplished partly in boats, and partly on horse- back over a rugged chain of mountains. This proved to be the most laborious part of the journey. Captain Spanberg had been the first to arrive at Okhotsk, having travelled in advance of the expedition; but on arrival he discovered, to his dismay, that nothing had been done by the local commander to prepare for the reception of so large a body. Not a building had been erected, not a keel laid, and the only available logs were still standing in the forest. Spanberg went to work at once with his force of mechanics, but lack of provisions caused frequent interruptions as the men
57
YEARS OF PREPARATION AND TROUBLE.
were obliged to go fishing and hunting. After a while the commander of the Okhotsk country, Skor- niakof Pisaref, made his appearance. He offered no excuse and his presence did not mend matters. Pisa- ref and Spanberg had both been invested with extra- ordinary powers, independent of each other, and both were stubborn and inclined to quarrel. The former lived in a fort a short distance up the river, while the latter had built a house for himself at the mouth of the river, where he intended to establish the port. Each had his separate command, and each called him- self the senior officer, threatening his opponent with swift annihilation. Each lorded it over his dependants and exacted abject obedience, and we may well im- agine that the subordinates led a wretched life.
Bering at Yakutsk encountered much the same difficulties as Spanberg, but on a larger scale. His supplies were scattered along the road from the fron- tier of Asia to Yakutsk awaiting transportation, and the most urgent appeals to the Siberian authorities failed to secure the requisite means.15 It had been the captain-commander's intention to facilitate his in- tercourse with the natives of Kamchatka by means of missionary labor. Immediately after his return from the first expedition, he had petitioned the holy
15 Sgibnef, in his History of Kamchatka, gives the reasons for the delay. It would seem after all that government was none too rigorous in Siberia. It appears that the quarrels between Spanberg and Pisaref were preceded by petty altercations between the latter and the voivod in command at Yakutsk. As early as 1732 Pisaref had been instructed to draw all necessary supplies from Yakutsk, but the voivod Shadovski refused to give him anything. Pisaref complained to the governor at Irkutsk and received an oukaz empow- ering him to confine Shadovski in irons until he issued what was needed for the prosecution of work at Okhotsk. Subsequently another oukaz came to Tobolsk ordering Shadovski to arrest Pisaref, which was no sooner done than the order was revoked. Meanwhile working parties were forwarded to Okhotsk every year, but want of provisions forced them to desert before any- thing had been accomplished. Numbers of these workmen died of starvation on the road. Morskoi Sbornik, cv. 25-7. Under date of October 7, 1738, an order was issued from the chancellery of Irkutsk providing for the preparation of ' sea-stores ' for the Bering expedition in Kamchatka. The quantity was determined to the pound, as well as the quality, and special instructions were given for the manufacture of liquor from sarana, a kind of fern, and for its preservation in casks. If necessary, the whole population of Kamchatka was to be employed in gathering this plant, and to be paid for their labor in tobacco. Sgibnef, in Morskoi Sbornik, ci. 137-40.
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THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.
synod for missionaries to undertake the conversion of the Kamchatkans. The senate promulgated a law exempting all baptized natives of that country for ten years from the payment of tribute to the government. The first missionary selected for the new field was the monk Filevski, a great preacher and pillar of the church, but before reaching Kamchatka he was arrested on the river Aldan, for assaulting and half killing one of the monks of his suite, and for refusing to hold divine services or to read the prayers for the imperial family. Religion in Siberia had seemingly run mad. After his arrival in Kamchatka he added much to the general confusion by acts of violence and a meddlesome spirit, which stirred up strife alike among clergy and laity, Russians and natives.
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