A History of the Russian American Company Documents Vol. 2

271 Pages·1979·7.452 MB·English

by  Alton S. Donnelly, Petr A. Tikhmenev, Richard A. Pierce, Dmitri Krenov

Materials For the Study of Alaska History, No. 13
P. A. TKHMENEV
A HISTORY OF
THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN
COMPANY
VOL. 2
DOCUMENTS
Translated by Dmitri Krenov
Edited by Richard A. Pierce and Alton S. Donnelly
THE LIMESTONE PRESS
P.O. BOX 1604
KINGSTON, ONTARIO, CANADA K7L 5C8
1979
Published in 1979 by The Limestone Press. All Rights Reserved.
International Standard Book Number 0-919642-80-2
Printed and bound in Canada by: Brown & Martin Ltd.
Kingston, Ontario
PREFACE
These pages hold many a tale. Critics praised the
first volume of Petr Aleksandrovich Tikhmenev's Istoricheskoe
obozrenie obrazovaniia Rossiisko-Amerikanskoi Kompanii i
deistvie eia do nastoiashchago vremeni (An historical survey
of the formation of the Russian-American Company and its
activities to the present day) (St. Petersburg, 1861) but
regretted that Tikhmenev had left many questions unanswered.
In particular they wanted more concerning the origins,
roles and personalities of leading figures in the company.
They urged publication of original sources concerning these
matters.
Tikhmenev complied generously with a long appendix to
his second volume (St. Petersburg, 1863) comprising the
documents presented here. These documents are from the
correspondence, orders, and reports of Shelikhov, Baranov,
Rezanov and other individuals, notable and obscure, from
1783 to 1807. They are indispensable for the study of the
writers and their careers, the administrative and economic
problems of colonizing a new land, and relations with the
natives and with foreign powers. They are in their original
order except for the citation given Shelikhov and Golikov
by the Governing Senate in 1788, which has been taken from
the first volume and inserted in its proper chronological
pôsition as No. 4a. The company charters, contracts, and
other legal and administrative documents published in
the first volume are of a different nature, and will appear
with analogous .material later in this series.
Tikhmenev was not a trained scholar, but he was
diligent in unearthing significant material, and, insofar
as can be ascertained by comparisons with some of his
documents which have been published elsewhere, he was
scrupulous in his transcriptions. The main thing to be
regretted is his many elisions, usually labelled ’’business
matters.” Some of these were simply meant to save space
by omitting what he regarded as non-essential material,
but others were made to conceal secret matters or to avoid
allegations which might discredit high personages. Thus
Tikhmenev omits certain remarks by Rezanov regarding his
romance with Concepcion Arguello, probably not wishing to
reveal the extent to which Rezanov was governed by political
ai)d commercial considerations. He also omits the more
extreme allegations about Baranov made in Archimandrite
floasaf’s complaint to Shelikhov. Fortunately, the complete
text of this letter is in the Yudin collection of the
Library of Congress, so it has been given here in full,
enabling readers to judge for themselves. The complete
iii
texts of a few other letters may yet turn up in Soviet
archives, but most were probably lost in the destruction
of company files after the sale of the Russian-American
colonies to the United States.
The documents were first translated by Ivan Petroff,
who assisted Hubert Howe bancroft in compiling the History
of Alaska (San Francisco, 1885), but Petroff is often
inaccurate. Dmitri Krenov’s translation, made for the
Works Progress Administration in the 1930fs, is much better,
but has been gone over carefully and a number of changes
have been made in the interest of better rendering and
consistency.
Tikhmenev's notes are few - the documents are generally
self explanatory and their subject matter receives ample
commentary and amplification in his historical survey.
Some additional information is provided in editorial comments,
in parentheses to distinguish them from Tikhmenev’s notes,
and in the glossary and index. Each document is numbered
in the table of contents and the corresponding number at
the top of each page will aid location of a given document.
The volume should be used with the translation of Tikhmenev’s
survey. The History of the Russian-American Company
(University of Washington Press, Seattle and London, 1978) .
The Library of Congress system, slightly modified, has
been used to transliterate Russian names and terms into
Latin script.
Richard A. Pierce
Queen’s University
Kingston, Canada
Alton S. Donnelly
State University of New York
Binghamton, New York
CONTENTS
Preface
1. Journal of navigator Potap Zaikov, on ship
Sv. Aleksandr Nevskii, July 27-October 22, 1783
(Éxtract). 1
2. "Instructions to the chief manager Konstantin
Alekseevich Samoilov, to be in full charge of the
three company ships and all the Russians during
my (Shelikhov’s) journey to Okhotsk on company
business. May 4, 1786, Kyktak (Kodiak) Island,
Harbor of the Three Saints, St. Simeon the
God-receiver, and the Prophetess Anna." 6
3. Instructions, Colonel G.K. Ugrenin, Commandant of
Okhotsk oblast, to company personnel and to
inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands and their
chiefs, June 15, 1787. 15
4. Instructions, Lieutenant-General I.V. Iakobii,
Governor-General of Siberia, to Samoilov and
Delarov, June 21, 1787 (Secret). 17
4a. Citation, given Shelikhov by the Governing Senate,
October 11, 1788. 18
5. Letter, Shelikhov to Delarov, from Okhotsk,
August 30, 1789. 19
6. Instructions, Collegiate Assessor I.G. Kokh, acting
commandant of Okhotsk, "to Mr. Baranov, trader of
Kargopol, resident of Irkutsk and manager of the
Northeastern American Company, owned by Golikov and
Shelikhov, August 14, 1790,N o. 18. 22
7. Instructions, Kokh to Baranov, August 14, 1790,
No. 19 (Most Secret). 23
8. Instructions, Kokh to Baranov, August 16, 1790,
No. 21. 25
9. Letter, Baranov to Shelikhov, from Chugach Bay,
" July 24, 1793. 27
[10. Speech, Baranov to the hunters and employees of
^ the company, May, 1794. 37
11. Letter, Peter Kolomin, foreman of the Lebedev
Company, to his employer the merchant Lebedev-
Lastochkin and other partners, 1791. 39
12. Report, Petr Kolomin, foreman of the company of
Pavel Sergiev Lebedev-Lastochkin, trader of the
town of Iakutsk and partner in a sea venture of
the ship Sv. Pervoverkhovnyi Apostol Pavel, to
# Aleksandr Baranov, November 22, l?9l~ 40
13. Report, Petr Kolomin, foreman of the company of
Lebedev-Lastochkin, to Aleksandr Baranov,
March 11, 1792. 42
v
14. Letter, Shelikhov and Lebedev-Lastochkin, to the
Archimandrite Ioasaf, April 30, 1794. 44
15. Letter, Kokh to skipper's apprentice Stepan Zaikov,
seaman of Lebedev's company,A ugust 7, 1794. 45
16. Report, company employees Egor Purtov and Demid
Kulikalov, to Baranov, from Paul's Harbor,
August 9, 1794. 46
17. Letter, Shelikhov and Polevoi, to Baranov, from
Okhotsk, August 9, 1794. 52
18. Letter, Baranov to Shelikhov and Polevoi, from
Paul's Harbor, May 20, 1795. 59
19. Letter, Arkhimandrite Ioasaf to Shelikhov, from
Kadiak Island, May 18, 1795. 77
20. Letter, Madam Shelikhov to Count Zubov,
Adjutant-General, General-Feldtseikhmeister and
representative of the Empress in Crimea,
November 22, 1795. 85
21. Letter, from partners of the United Company to
Baranov, July 19, 1797. 90
22. Ukaz, granting Madam Shelikhov and her descendants
Nobility, February 15, 1798. 91
23. Letter, Baranov to Polomoshnoi from Kadiak,
April 28, 1798. 92
24. Letter, Baranov to Larionov, Manager of Unalashka
Island, March 3, 1798. 94
25. Letter, Baranov toS kipper Talin, May, 1799. 98
26. Letter, Baranov to Rodionov, foreman of the crew
on Nuchek Island, May 14, 1800. 102
27. Baranov's reply to the explanation given by
hunter Zinov'ev, May 20, 1800. 104
28. Letter, Baranov to Malakhov, foreman of the crew
at Kenai Bay, June 11, 1800. 105
29. Letter, Baranov to Larionov, from Kadiak Island,
July 24, 1800. 106
30. Letter, Baranov to Larionov, July 24, 1800. 120
31. Letter, Baranov to Larionov, March 22, 1801. 122
32. Letter, Larionov to Baranov, August 5, 1801. 128
33. Instruction, from Kadiak office of the Russian-
American Company, to navigator V.P. Petrov,
October 12, 1802. 132
34. Depositions, made at Kadiak by the hunter Abrosim
Plotnikov and others who were witnesses to the
massacre at New Archangel, 1802. 134
35. Letter, Kuskov to Baranov, July 1, 1802 (Extract) 139
36. Letter, Baranov to D.I. Kulikalov, commander of
the Andreianov, Rat and Near Islands detachment,
April 29, 1805. 140
37. Letter, Baranov to the Emperor, August 24, 1805. 144
38. Letter, Rezanov to Chichagov, the Assistant
Minister of the Navy, from Brazil, May 17, 1804. 4144
39. Report, Rezanov to the Emperor, from Petropavlovslc,
August 16, 1804. 145
40. Report, Rezanov to the Emperor, from Unalashka
Island, July 18, 1805. 149
41. Letter, from Repin, Manager of the Redoubt
Constantine, to Baranov,S eptember 24, 1805. 151
vi
42. Letter, Rezanov to the Board of Directors of the
Russian-American Company, from New Archangel,
November 6, 1805. 153
43. Letter, Rezanov to Board of Directors, February
15, 1806 (Secret). 174
44. Letter, Rezanov to Board of Directors, February
15, 1806 (Secret). 190
45. Letter, Rezanov to Chamberlain A.A. Vitovtov,
February 15, 1806. 198
46. Letter, Rezanov to Minister of Commerce, from
New Archange, June 17, 1806. 199
47. Letter, Midshipman Davydov to Baranov, August 7,
1807, ’’written while under house arrest." 227
48. Report, Midshipman Davydov to Board of Directors,
October 18, 1807 (Extract). 228
ILLUSTRATIONS
Pavlovsk Harbor (Kadiak), 1798.
Resurrection Harbor, Prince William Sound, 1795, by James
Shields, showing the Phoenix under construction and a
plan of the settlement.
Sitka (New Archangel), 1806, from Langsdorff.
San Francisco, Spanish California, 1806, from Langsdorff.
MAPS (End papers)
Russian America under Baranov
Kadiak Island, 1805
The Northwest Coast, from Yakutat Bay to Sea Otter Bay,
about 1813
vii

1
Copies of letters written by Shelikhov, Baranov and
Rezanov, and other documents concerning the foundation and
expansion of the Russian colonies on the Aleutian Islands
and the Northwest coast of America.
1. Journal of navigator PotapZaikov, on ship Sv. Aleksandr
Nevskii July 27-October 22, 1/85 (Extract).1 Near the
American Coast.
On July 27th, at 4 o'clock, we were towed into a small
bay. We anchored one cable length from shore at a depth
of 10 sazhens. The land protected us from the wind.
There is a little creek with fresh water there and old
shelters of American natives. There are lots of berries,
black and red currants and blueberries. The woods are
mostly fir and alders. There is also a tree of a kind un­
known to me, only about 3 feet high, and lh inches thick,
but with very large leaves, about lh feet long, with sharp
needles on the edges. We saw no sea or land animals.2
At 5 o'clock, we saw two Americans [i.e., natives]
travelling past in a baidarka, or skin boat. We sent
interpreters in two baidarkas to invite them but when they
saw the Russians, they landed and ran ashore, leaving their
baidarkas, which in shape and workmanship resembled the
Kadiak boats. We found in it fir pitch mixed with seal
blubber, dried salmon resembling Kamchatka salmon, a stone
Ik, axe, a wooden bow drill, like the kind used in Kamchatka,
and an iron needle. At 6 o'clock we sent two baidarkas to
the northwest [side of the] bay to explore the shore and
look for the inhabitants. Some of our men went ashore
with firearms. *
On July 28th, at 8 o'clock... the interpreters came in
baidarkas with letters from our scouts in which they
reported that seeing a camp fire yesterday they approached
it and saw American natives with two big baidaras. When
the natives saw them they ran into the woods leaving the
boats and all their property. A baidara was dispatched at
once with orders that in case the Americans wanted to
establish relations, they should be given presents and be
invited to visit the ships. If they would not come, the
Russians were to leave their baidaras and other property
unmolested and return to the ships.
On the 30th, at 4 o'clock... the baidaras returned
safely, with one girl and a young boy. The men explained
t^hat all the rest of the natives who had been sleeping in
two big baidaras ran away in the woods and did not return.
They are called the Shugach people. They inhabit this
coast and go out to sea to hunt sea animals. The inter­
preter did not see their dwellings, shelters or tents.
The shore is covered by fir woods. There are sandy stretches
and a big bay. The clothes left by the Shugach were made
CD
2 U)
of deer, ground squirrel, marmot and bear skins. Pieces
of broken European bottles made of green glass were seen.
No weapons were left in the baidaras. The paddles were
made of light fir wood. Our men left everything the way
it was and returned to the ship.
On August 17th, at 11 o* clock... foreman Nagaev returned
safely with the baidarkas and two young Americans. The
others, he said, had left during the night. He was with
them on the beach and they gave him these two young people
as hostages. They wanted thereby to show their friendly
intentions, and to establish trade. Nagaev got about 28
beaver [sea otter] skins in trade for beads and needles.
The Americans on the shore called themselves Shugach.
They came to make a supply of food. It takes them two
days of rowing to reach their homes. The Shugach call the
place where our ships are anchored Kaiak.
On August 18th, Nagaev told us he and his comrades
had found the shore unsuitable for the approach of ships.
The water is shallow and there are many banks and sandbars
stretching into the sea. The shore is low, covered in
many places by water during high tides. The woods are fir
and willows; there are berries of the same kind as on the
islands. He entered a creek, the mouth of which is
shallow, and went upstream about five versts. The banks of
this creek are covered by fir and willows. The current is
not swift, and the creek is 10 to 15 sazhen wide. There
are plenty of fish in the creek, of the kind called
kizhuch [silver salmon] in Kamchatka. They saw an American
summer camp but when the people saw them they ran away
into the woods. They saw dried fish, stretched seal skins
and small dogs in the camp. On his way back, Nagaev saw
black and silver foxes in one place on the seashore. By
chance he met more Americans, two men in a baidarka who
were going past his camp. They were invited to stop and
were given presents. They said that not far from Nagaev1s
camp there was a big baidara of their tribe with lots of
people. Our people went to them and met them by the sea.
Seeing the Russians, they started to howl songs, and one
of them danced according to their custom in the baidara.
They raised some clothes on a pole. Their faces were
painted in many colors. They had women with them. Choosing
a place on the beach, Nagaev and they stopped. They kept
their baidara about 100 sazhen from our boats and did some
trading. They took beads, big and small, giving beaver
[sea otter] skins in exchange. Also, they treated our men
to some meat and dried fish. In the evening they had a
dance and the chief declared that his village was located
by a bay to the west, that all the people related to him '
were called Shugach, and that their bay is convenient for
ships. We therefore held a council and decided to move
west to the Shugach Bay, and to send forty men in baidaras.
They were to explore the shore, to find out more about the
inhabitants and then join us in the above mentioned bay.