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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 L& |2B 1^ |X6 III lu L& 1^ 22 2.0 i.8 MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS STANDARD REFERENCE MATERIAL 1010a (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) 1 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC f^y^° ] f 4 ^ TT ■I ii 'i r\ „ ,^ t Vikings cf the Pacific THE ADVENTURES OF THE EXPLORERS WHO C ME FROM THE IV EST, EASTWARD BERING, THE DANE; THE OUTLAW HUNTERS Ol RUSSIA; BENYOWSK.Y, THE POLISH PIRATE; COOK AND VAN- COUVER, THE ENGLISH NA 'IQATORS ; GRAY OF BOSTON, THE DISCOVER. OF THE COLUM- BIA; DRAKE, .EDYAK.J, AND OTHER SOLDIERS C: FORTUNE ON THE VEST CO. ^ r OF AMERICA BY A. C. LAUT AUTHOR OF "PATIinNDERS OF THE WEST," ETC THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON : MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 1905 jill rights reservtd ,' "M Coi'YRIGHT, 1905, By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published December, 1905. J. S. Cashing & Co. — lierwlck & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. Foreword At the very time the early explorers of New France were pressing from the east, westward, a tide of ad- venture had set across Siberia and the Pacific from the -est, eastward. Carrier and Champlain of New France in the east have their counterparts and con- temporaries on the Pacific coast of America in Francis Drake, the Enghsh pirate on the coast of California, and in Staduchin and Deshneff and other Cossack plunderers of the North Pacific, whose rickety keels first ploughed a furrow over the trackless sea out from Asia. Marquette, JoUiet and La Salle — backed by the prestige of the French government are not unlike the English navigators. Cook and Vancouver, sent out by the English Admiralty. Radisson, privateer and adventurer, might find counterpart on the Pacific coast in either Gray, the discoverer of the Columbia, or Ledyard, whose ill-fated, wildcat plans resulted in the Lewis and Clark expedition. Bering was con- temporaneous with La Verendrye; and so the com- parison might be carried on between Benyowsky, the Polish pirate of the Pacific, or the Outlaw Hunters of Russia, and the famous buccaneers of the eastern Spanish Main. The main point is — that both tides VIU Ff REWORD of adventure, from the east, westward, from the west, eastward, met, and clashed, and finally coalesced in the great fur trade, that won the West. The Spaniards of the Southwest — even when they extended their explorations into the Northwest — have not been included in this volume, for the simple reason they would require a volume by themselves. Also, their aims as explorers were always secondary to their aims as treasure hunters; and their main ex- ploits were confined to the Southwest. Other Pacific coast explorers, like La Perouse, are not included here because they were not, in the truest sense, discoverers, and their exploits really belong to the story of the fights among the different fur companies, who came on the ground after the first adventurers. In every case, reference has been to first sources, to the records left by the doers of the acts themselves, or their contemporaries — some of the data in manu- script, some in print; but it may as well be frankly acknowledged that all first sources have not been ex- hausted. To do so in the case of a single explorer, say either Drake or Bering — would require a life- time. For instance, there are in St. Petersburg some thirty thousand folios on the Bering expedition to America. Probably only one person — a Danish professor — has ever examined all of these; and the results of his investigations I have consulted. Also, there are in the Stare Department, Washington, some hundred old log-books of the Russian hunters which FOREWORD IX have — as far as I know — never been turned by a single hand, though I understand their outsides were looked at during the fur seal controversy. The data on this era of adventure I have chiefly obtained from the works of Russian archivists, published in French and English. To give a list of all authorities quoted would be impossible. On Alaska alone, the least- known section of the Pacific coast, there is a biblio- graphical list of four thousand. The better-known coast southward has equally voluminous records. Nor is such a list necessary. Nine-tenths of it are made up of either descriptive works or purely scientific pam- phlets; and of the remaining tenth, the contents are obtained in undiluted condition by gouig directly to the first sources. A few of these first sources are in- dicated in each section. It is somewhat remarkable that Gray — as true a naval hero as ever trod the quarter-deck, who did the same for the West as Cartier for the St. Lawrence, and Hudson for the river named after him — is the one man of the Pacific coast discoverers of whom there are scantiest records. Authentic histories are still written, that cast doubt on his achievement. Certainly a century ago Gray was lionized in Boston ; but it may be his feat was overshadowed by the world-history of the new American republic and che Napoleonic wars at the opening of the nineteenth century; or the world may have taken him at his own valuation; and Gray was a hero of the non-shouting sort. The data on X FOREWORD Gray's discovery have been obtained from the de- scend 794 George Vancouver, Last of Pacific Coast Explorers Activities of Americans, Spanish, and Russians on the West Coast of America arojsc England — Vancouver is sent out osten- sibly to settle the Quarrel between Fur Traders and Span- ish Governors at Nootka — Incidentally, he is to complete the Exploration of America's West Coast and take Possession for England of Unclaimed Territory — The Myth of a Northeast Passage dispelled Forever .... PACB 263 PART III Exploration gives Place to Fur Trade — The Exploita- tion OF THE Pacific Coast under the Russian Ameri- can Fur Company, and thf "^.enowned Leader Baranof CHAPTER XI 1579-1867 The Russian American Fur Company The Pursuit of the Sable leads Cossacks across Siberia ; of the Sea-otter, across the Pacific as far south as California — Caravans of Four Thousand Horses on the Long Trail Seven Thousand Miles across Europe and Asia — Banditti of the Sea — The Union of All Traders in One Mono^ oly — Siege and Slaughter of Sitka — How Monroe Doctrine grew out of Russian Fur Trade — Aims of Russia to domi- nate North Pacific ....... 293 XVI CONTENTS CHAPTER XII 1 747-1818 Baranof, the Little Czar of the Pacific Baranof lays the Foundations of Russian Empire on the Pacific Coast of America — Shipwrecked on his Way to Alaska, he yet holds his Men in Hand and turns the Ill-hap to Advantage — How he bluffs the Rival Fur Companies in Line — First Russian Ship built in America — Adventures leading the Sea-otter Hunters — Ambushed by the Indians — The Founding of Sitka — Baranof, cast off in his Old Age, dies of Broken Heart ..... rAci 316 Index 339 ■r•-^■taft ILLUSTRATIONS Seal Rooker), Commander Islands Frontispiece Peter the Great Map of Course followed by Bering The St. Peter and St. Paul, from a comrade, Steller, the scientist Steller's Arch on Bering Island, named of Bering's Expedition A Glacier .... Sea Cows .... Seals in a Rookery on Bering Island Mauritius Augustus, Count Benyowsky Sir John Hawkins . Queen Elizabeth knighting Drake The Golden Hind . Francis Drake The Crowning of Drake in California The Silver Map of the World . Captain James Cook . . The Ice Islands The Death of Cook Departure of the Columbia Charles Bulfinch ........ Medals commemorating Columhia and Lady Washington Cruise Building the First American Ship on the Pacific Co i.,t Facing Feather Cloak worn by a son of a Hawaiian Chief, at the celebration in honor of Gray's return . . . . xvii FACE 5 20-21 rough sketch by Bering's • • • • after the scientist Steller, • • • • • • • • Facing Facing Facing iC Lady Washington Facing 29 39 46 53 57 109 >35 146 151 «55 164 171 180 194 205 211 212 215 223 226 XVIIl ILLUSTRATIONS lohn Derby ! .• ' Map of Gra>'. two voyages, resulting m the discovery Columbia A View of the Columbia River At the Mouth of the Columbia River Ledyard in his Dugout . Captain George Vancouver The Columhi.t in a Squall The Di'cofi-ry on the Rociv? Indian Settlement at Nootka Reindeer Herd in Siberia . Raised Reindeer Sledges . John Jacob Astor . Sitka from the Sea . Alexander Baranot . PACE Facing 228 of the Facing *3« ■ • 237 • • *39 • • 244 F.iiii. 265 • • 269 , • 274 , . 276 F>uiii^ 288 . 294 Facing 303 << 3'4 ( ' 3'7 PART I DEALING WITH THE RUSSIAN ON THE PACIFIC COAST OF AMERICA -BERING. THE DANE THE SEA-OTTER HUNTERS. THE OUTLAWS. AND BE- NYOWSKY, THE POLISH PIRATE Vikings of the Pacific « ( CHAPTER I I 700-1 743 VITUS BERING, THE DANE Peter the Great sends Bering on Two Voyages : First, to discover whether America and Asia are united ; Second, to find what lies north of New Spain — Terrible Hardships of Caravans crossing Siberia for Seven Thousand Miles — Ships lost in the Mist — Bering's Crew cast away on a Barren Isle We have become such slaves of shallow science in these days, such firm believers in the fatalism which declares man the creature of circumstance, that we have almost forgotten the supremest spectacle in life is when man becomes the Creator of Circumstance. We forget that man can rise to be master of his destiny, fighting, unmaking, re-creating, not only his own environment, but the environment of multitudinous lesser men. There is something titanic in such lives. They are the hero myths of every nation's legends. We some- 3 4 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC how feel that the man who flings oflF the handicaps of birth and station lifts the whole human race to a higher plane and has a bit of the God in him, though the hero may have feet of ciay and body of beast. Such were the old Vikings of the North, who spent their lives in elemental warfare, and rode out to meet death in tempest, lashed to the spar of their craft. And such, too, were the New World Vikings of the Pacific, who coasted the seas of two continents in cockle-shell ships, — planks lashed with deer thongs, calked with moss, — rapacious in their deep-sea plunderings as beasts of prey, fearless as the very spirit of the storm itself. The adventures of the North Pacific Vikings read more like some old legend of the sea than sober truth; and the wild strain had its fountain-head in the most tem- pestuous hero and beastlike man that ever ascended the throne of the Russias. When Peter the Great of Russia worked as a ship's carpenter at the docks of the East India Company in Amsterdam, the sailors' tales of vast, undiscovered lands beyond the seas of Japan must have acted on his imagination like a match to gunpowder.' Already he was dreaming those imperial conquests which Russia still dreams: of pushing his realm to the southernmost edge of Europe, to the easternmost verge of Asia, to the doonvay of the Arctic, to the very threshold of the 1 See Life of Ptrir the Great, bv Orlando Williams, l8<;9; P'tf '*' ^'""^ ^f John Lothrop Motley, 18"; Hnrr, .4 Peter /, by John Mottley, 1-4°; .T'^"'''"'' of Peter the Great, I 698 ; Voltaire's Purre U GrarJ; S.-gur's Ht^t'Are de Rusi,, tt lL Pierre !e Grand. VITUS BERING, THE DANE 5 Chinese capital. Already his Cossacks had scoured the two Siberias like birds of prey, exacting tribute from the wandering tribes of Tartary, of Kamchatka, of the Pacific, of the Siberian races in the north- Peter the Great. easternmost corner of Asia. And these Chukchee Indians of the Asiatic Pacific told the Russians of a land beyond the sea, of driftwood floating across the ocean unlike anv trees growing in Asia, of dead whales washed ashore with the harpoons of stiange hunters, ■">'->?ij?t^ 6 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC and — most comical of all in the light of our modern knowledge about the Eskimo's tail-shaped fur coats — of men wrecked on the shores of Asia who might have qualified for Darwin's missing link, inasmuch as they wore "tails." And now the sailors added yet more fabulous things to Peter's knowledge. Thei was an unknown conti- nent east of Asia, west of America, called on the maps "Gamaland."' Now, Peter's consuming ambition was for new worlds to conquer. What of this " Gama- land"? But, as the world knows, Peter was called home to suppress an insurrection. War, domestic broils, massacres that left a bloody stain on his glory, busied his hands for the remaining years of his lite; and januar)^ of 1 725 found the palaces of all the Russias hushed, for the Hercules who had scrunched all oppo- sition like a giant lay dying, ashamed to consult a physician, vanquished of his own vices, calling on Heaven for pity with screams of pain that drove physi- cians and attendants from the room. Perhaps remorse for those seven thousand wretches executed at one fell swoop after the revolt; perhaps memories of those twenty kneeling supplicants whose heads he had struck off ,vith his own hand, drinking a bumper of quass to each stroke; perhaps reproaches 1 Who this man Gama, supposed to have seen the unknown continent of Gamaland, was, no one knew. The Portuguese followed the myth blindly ; and the other geog- raphers followed the Portuguese. Texeira, court geographer in Portugal, in 1 649 issued a map with a vague coast marked at latitude 45' north, with the words " Land seen by John dc Gama, Indian, going from China to New Spain." .'. " ■, - 1 1,. : VITUS BERING, THE DANE 7 of the highway robbers whom he used to torture to slow death, two hundred at a time, by suspending them from hooks in their sides; perhaps the first wife, whom he repudiated, the first son whom he had done to death either by poison or convulsions of fright, came to haunt the darkness of his deathbed. Catherine, the peasant girl, elevated to be empress of all the Russias, could avail nothing. Physicians and scientists and navigators, Dane and English and Dutch, whom he had brought to Russia from all parts of Europe, were powerless. Vows to H.aven, in all the long hours he lay convulsed batthng with Death, were useless. The sins of a lifetime could not be un- done by the repentance of an hour. Then, as if the dauntless Spirit of the man must rise finally triumphant ove: Flesh, the dying Hercules roused himself to one last supreme effort. Radisson, Marquette, La Salle, Verendrye, were reaching across America to win >e undiscovered regions of the Western Sea for France. New Spain was pushing her ships northward from Mexico; and now, the dying Peter of Russia with his own hand wrote instructions for an expedition to search the boundaries between Asia and America. In a word, he set '•: motion that forward march of the Rus- sians across the Orient, which was to go on unchecked for two hundred years till arrested by the Japanese. The Czar's instructions were always laconic. They were written five weeks before his death. "(1) At 8 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC Kamchatka . . . two boats are to be built. (2) With these you are to sail northward along the coast. ... (3) You are to enquire where the American coast begins. . . . Write it down . . . obtain reliable in- formation . . . then, having charted the coast, return." ' From the time that Peter the Great began to break down the Oriental isolation of Russia from the rest of Europe, it was his policy to draw to St. Petersburg — the city of his own creation — leaders of thought from every capital in Europe. And as his aim was to estab- lish a navy, he especially endeavored to attract foreign navigators to his kingdom. Among these were many Norse and Danes. The acquaintance may have dated from the apprenticeship on the docks of the East India Company; but at any rate, among the foreign navigators was one Vitus Ivanovich Bering, a Dane of humble origin from Horsens," wh- had been an East India Company sailor till he joined the Russian fleet as sub-lieutenant at the age of twenty-two, and fought his way up in the Baltic service thniugh Peter's wars till in 1720 he was appointed captain of second rank. To Vitus Bering, the Dane, Peter gave the commission for the exploration of the waters between Asia and America. As a sailor, Bering had, of course, been on the borders of the Pacific' 1 These instructions were handed ro Peter's admiral — Count Apraxin. 2 Bom 1681, son of Jonas and Anna Bering, whom a petition describes, in 1719. as " old, miserable, decrepit people, no way able to help ourselves." 8 He fought in Black Sea wars of i-ll ; and fVom lieutenant-captain became captain of the secona rank by l-i", when Russians, jealous of the foreigner, blockrd VITUS BERING, THE DANE 9 The scientists of every city in Europe were in a fret over the mythical Straits of Anian, supposed to be between Asia and America, and < ,er the yet more mythical Gamaland, supposed to be visible on the way to New Spain. To all this jangling of words without knowledge Peter paid no heed. "You will go and obtain some reliable information," he commands Be- ring. Neither did he pay any heed to the fact that the ports of Kamchatka on the Pacific were six thousand miles by river and mountam and tundra and desert through an unknown country from St. Petersburg. It would take from three to five years to transport material across two continents by caravan and flatboat and dog sled. Tribute of food and fur would be re- quired from Kurd and Tartar and wild Siberian tribe. More than a thousand horses must be requisitioned for the caravans; more than two thousand leathern sacks made for the flour. Twenty or thirty boats must be constructed to raft down the inland rivers. There were forests to be traversed for hundreds of miles, where only the keenest vigilance could keep the wolf packs off the heels of the travellers. And when the expedition should reach the tundras of eastern Siberia, there was the double danger of the Chukchee tribes on the north, hostile as the American Indians, and of the Siberian exile population on the south, branded criminals, political malcontents, banditti of his promotion. He demanded promotion or discharge ; and withdrew to Finland, where the Czar's Kamchatkan expedition called him from retirement. lo VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC the wilderness, outcasts of nameless crimes beyond the pale of law. It needed no prophet to foresee such people would thwart, not help, the expedition. And when the shores of Okhotsk were reached, a fort must be built to winter there. And a vessel for inland seas must be constructed to cross to the Kamchatka peninsula of the North Pacific. And the peninsula, which sticks out from Asia as Norway projects from Europe, must be crossed with provisions — a distance of some two hundred miles by dog trains over moun- tains higher than the American Rockies. And once on the shores of the Pacific itself, another fort must be built on the east side of the Kamchatka peninsula. And the two double-decker vessels must be constructed to vovage over the sleepy swell of the North Pacific to that mythical realm of mist like a blanket, and strange, unearthly rumblings smoking up from the cold Arctic sea, with the red light of a flame through the gray haze, and weird voices, as if the fog wraith were luring sea- men to destruction. These were mere details. Peter took no heed of impossibles. Neither did Bering; for he was in the prime of his honor, forty-four years of age. "You will go," commanded the Czar, and Dering obeyed. Barely had the spirit of Peter the Great passed from this life, in 1725, when Bering's forces were travelling in midwinter frcm St. Petersburg to cross Siberia to the Pacific, on what is known as the First Expedition.' 1 The expedition left St. Petersburg February 5th. fW VITUS BERING, THE DANE 1 1 Three years it took him to go from the west coast of Europe to the east coast of Asia, crossing from Okhotsk to Kamchatka, whence he sailed on the 9th of July, 1728, with forty-four men and three lieutenants for the Arctic seas/ This voyage is unimportant, except as the kernel out of which grew the most famous expedition on the Pacific coast. Martin Spanberg, another Danish navigator, huge of frame, vehement, passionate, tyrannical but dauntless, always followed by a giant hound ready to tear any one who approached to pieces, and Alexei Chirikoff, an able Russian, were seconds in command. They encountered all the difficulties to be expected transporting ships, rigging, and provisions across two continents. Spanberg and his men, winter-bound in East Siberia, were reduced to eating their d'^g harness and shoe-straps for food before they came to the trail of dead horses that marked Bering's path to the sea, and guided them to the fort at Okhotsk. Bering did exactly as Czar Peter had ordered. He built the two-deckers at Kamchatka. Then he fol- lowed the coast northward past St. Lawrence Island, which he named, to a point where the shore seemed to turn back on itself northwestward at 67° 18', which proved to Bering that Asia and America were not 1 The midshipman of this voyage was Peter Chaplin, whose journal was deposited in the Naval College of the Admiralty, St. Petersb'jrg. Berg gives a summary of this journal. A translation by Dall is to be found in Appendix ig. Coast Survey, JVash- ingtoriy /8(pO. I 12 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC united.' And they had found no "Gamaland," no new world wedged in between Asia and America. Twice they were within only forty miles of America, touching at St. Lawrence Island, but the fog hung like a blanket over the sea as they passed through the waters now known as Bering Straits. They saw no continent eastward ; and Bering was compelled to return with no knowledge hut that Russia did not extend into America. And yet, there were definite signs of land eastward of Kamchatka — driftwocl, seaweed, sea-birds. Before setting out for St. Peters- burg in 1729, he had again tried to sail eastward to the Gamaland of the maps, but again foul weather had driven him back. It was the old storv of the savants and Christopher Columbus in an earlier day. Bering's conclusions were different from the moonshine of the schools. There was no "Gamaland" in the sea. There was in the maps. The learned men of Sf. Petersburg ridi- culed the Danish sailor. The fog was supposed to have concealed "Gamaland." There was nothing for Bering but to retire in ignominy or prove his conclu- sions. He had arrived in St. Petersburg in March, 1730. He had induced the court to undertake a second expedition by April of the same year.- 1 A great dispute has waged among the finical academists, where the Serdzc Kamcn of this trip really was; the Russian observations varying greatly owing to fog and rude instruments. LauriJsen quarrels with Mutttr on this score. Miilltr was - for three years and accused of pil- fering from public funds. His wife, who had by this time returned with the wives of the other officers to Russia, had actually been searched for hidden booty.* And now, after toils and hardships untold, only five months' provisions were left for the ships sailing from Kamchatka; and the blockhead underlings were com- pelling a waste of those provisions by sa.ling in the wrong direction. If the worst came, could Bering hold his men with those tied hands of his ? The commander shrugged his shoulders and sig- nalled Chirikoff, the Russian, on the St. Paul, to lead the way. They must find out there was no Gamaland 1 Birg say; B.Ting-s two sons, Thonas and Unos, were also with him in Siberia. V TUS BERING, THE DANE 23 for themselves, those obstinate Russians ! The long swell of the Pacific meets them as they sheer out trom the mountain-girt harbor. A dip of the sails to the swell of the rising wind, and the snowy heights ot Avacha Bay are left on the offing. The thunder of the surf against the rocky caves of Kamchatka coast fades fainter. The myriad birds become fewer. Stel- ler, the scientist, leans over the rail to listen if the huge sperm whale, there, "hums" as it "bows. The white rollers come from the north, rolling- rolling down to the tropics. A gray thing hangs oyer the northern offing, a grayish brow thing called "fog" of which they will know mo.; anon. 1 he grayish brown thing means storm; and the "porps tumbling, floundering, somerseting round the ships in circles, mean storm; and Chirikoff, far ahead there, signals back doubtfully to know if they shouldn t keep together to avoid being lost in the gathering fog. The Dane shrugs his shoulders and looks to the north. The grayish brown thing has darkened, thickened, spread out impalpably, and by the third day, a north- ling wind is whistling through the riggings with a rip. Sails are furled. The white rollers roll no longer. They lash with chopped-off tops flying backward; and the St. Peter is churning about, shipping sea after sea with the crash of thunder. That was what the fog meant; and it is all about them, in a hurricane now, stinging cold, thick to the touch, washing out every outhne but sea — seal ■^P SMnmm^^'«^-^ AmitK^ir. 24 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC t Never mind ! They are nine days out. It is the twelfth of June. They are down to 46° and no Ga.na- land ! The blockheads have stopped spreading their maps in the captain's cabin. One can see a smile wreathing in the whiskers of the Dane. Six hundred miles south of Kamchatka and no Gamaland ! The council convenes again. It is decided to turn about, head north, and say no more of Gamaland. But when the fog, that has turned hurricane, lifts, the consorL ship, the St. Paul, is lost. Chirikoff's vessel has dis- appeared. Up to 49°, they go; but still no Chirikoff, and no Gamaland ! Then the blunder-makers, as usual, blunder more. It is dangerous to go on without the sister ship. The council convenes. Bering must hark back to 46° and hunt for Chirikoff. So passes the whole month of June. Out of five months' pro- visions, one wasted, the odium on Bering, the Dane. It was noticed that after the ship turned south, the commander looked ill and depressed. He became in- tolerant of opposition or approach. Possibly to avoid irritation, he kept to his cabin; but he issued per- emptory orders for the St. Peter to head back north. In a few days, Bering was confined to bed with that overwhelming physical depression and fear, that precede the scourge most dreaded by seamen — scurvy. Lieutenant Waxel now took command. Waxel had all a sailor's contempt for the bookful blockheads, who wrench fact to fit theory; and deadly enmity arose ^St\, VITUS BERING, THE DANE 25 between him and Steller, the scientist. By the niiddle of July, the fetid drinking water was so reduced that the crew was put on half allowance; but on the sleepy, fog-blanketed swell of the Pacific slipping past Bering's wearied eyes, there were so many signs of land — birds, driftwood, seaweed — that the com- mander ordered the ship hove to each night for fear of grounding. On the thirteenth of July, the council of underlings had so far relinquished all idea of a Gamaland> that it was decided to steer continuously north. Some- time between the i6th and 20th, the fog lifted like a curtain. Such a vision met the gaze of the stolid sea- men a- stirred the blood of those phlegmatic Russians. It was the consummation of all their labor, what they had toiled across Siberia to see, what they had hoped against hope in spite of the learned jargon of the geographers. There loomed above the far horizon of the north sea what might have been an immense opal Home suspended in mid-heaven. One can guess how the lookout strained keen eyes at this grand, crumpled apex of snow jagged through the clouds like the ce- lestial tent peak of some giant race; how the shout of "land" went up, how officers and underlings flocked round Bering with cries and congratulations. "We knew it was land beyond a doubt on the sixteenth," says Steller. "Though I have been in Kamchatka, I have never seen more lofty mountains." The shore was broken everywhere, showing inlets and harbors. ■^IK'fSf'Sff 26 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC Everybody congratulated the commander, but he only shrugged shoulders, saying: "We think we've done big things, eh ? but who knows ? Nobody realizes where this is, or the distance we must sail back. Winds may be contrary. We don't know this land, and we haven't provisions to winter." The truth is — the maps having failed, Bering was good I ugh seaman to know these uncharted signs of a continent indicated that the St. Peter was hope- lessly lost. Sixteen years of nagging care, harder to face than a line of cannon, had sucked Bering's capacity of resistance like a vampire. That buoyancy, which lifts man above Anxious Fright, had been sapped. The shadowy elemental powers — physical weakness, disease, despair — were closing round the explorer like the waves of an eternal sea. The boat found itself in a wonder world, that beg- gared romance. The great peak, which they named St. Elias, hung above a snowy row of lesser ridges in a dome of alabaster. Icebergs, like floating palaces, came washing down from the long line of precipitous shore. As they neared anchorage at an island now known as Kyak, they could see billows of ferns, grasses, ladv's slippers, rhododendrons, bluebells, forget-me- nots, rippling in the wind. Perhaps they saw those palisades of ice, that stretch like a rampart northward along the main shore west of St. Elias. The St. Peter moved slowly landward against a head wind. Khitroff and Steller put oflF in the small i I muMLm^j^ "•r, 'f ^■tvWBK.-f- -vwm r-ir VITUS BERING, THE DANE 27 boats with fifteen men to reconnoitre. Both found traces of inhabitants — timbered huts, fire holes, shells, smoked fish, footprints in the grass. Steller left some kettles, knives, glass beads, and trinkets in the huts to replace the possessions of the natives, which the Russians took. Many years later, another voyager met an old Indian, who told of seeing Bering's ship anchor at Kyak Island when he was a boy; but the terrified Indians had fled, only returning to find the presents in the huts, when the Russians had gone.' Steller was as wild as a child out of school, and ac- companied by only one Cossack went bounding over the island collecting specimens and botanizing. Khit- roff, meanwhile, filled water-casks; but on July 21, the day after the anchorage, a storm-wind began whistling through the rigging. The rollers came wash- ing down from the ice wall of the coast and the far oflSng showed the dirty fog that portended storm. Only half the water-casks had been filled ; but there was a brisk seaward breeze. Without warning, con- trary to his custom of consulting the other oflficers, Bering appeared on deck pallid and ashen from dis- ease, and peremptorily ordered anchors up. In vain Steller stormed and swore, accusing the chief of pusillanimous homesickness, "of reducing his explorations to a six hours' anchorage on an island shore," ' of coming from Asia to carry home American v/ater." The commander had had enough of vacil- 1 Sauer relates this incident. ■a ^ii ' HaRp^i" 28 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC lation, delay, interference. One-third of the crew was ailing. Provisions for only three months were in the hold. I he ship was off any known course more than two thousand miles from any known port; and con- trary winds might cause delay or drive the vessel on the countless reefs that lined this strange coast, like a ploughed held. Dense clouds and a sleety rain settled over the sea, washing out every outline, as the St. Peter began her westward course. But uhat baffled both Bering and the officers was the fact that the coast trended not north, but south. 7"hey were coasting that long peninsula of Alaska tiiat projects an arm for a thou- sand miles southwestward into the Pacific. \ he roar of the rollers came from the reefs. Through the blanketing fog thev could discern, f)n the north, island ofter island, ghostlike through the mist, rockv, towering, majestic, with a thunder of surf among the caves, a dim outline of mountains above, like Loki, Spirit of Evil, smiling stonilv at the dark forces closing round these puny men. All along Kadiak, the roily waters told of reefs. The air was heavy with fogs thick to the touch; and violent winds constantly threatened a sudden shift that might drive the vessel on the rocks. At midnight on August i,thev suddenly found themselves with onlv three feet of water below the keel. Fortunately there was no wind, but the fog was like ink. By swinging into a current, hat ran a mill-race, they were carried out to eighteen fathoms VITUS BERING, IHE DANE 29 of water, where they anchored till daybreak. 1 hey called this place Foggy Island, lo-day it is known as Ukamok. I he underlings now came sharply to their senses ar.'. at the repeatedly convened and distracted councils The St. Peter and St. Paul, from a rough sketch by Bering's comrade, Steller, the scientist. between July 25 and August 10, decided that there was only one thing to do — sail at once for the home port of Kamchatka. The St. Peter was tossing about in frightful winds among reefs and hurricane fog like a cork. Half the crew lay ill and helpless of scurvy, J JO VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC ii and only two months' provisions remained for a voyage of two thousand miles. The whole crew signed the resolution to go home. Only twenty-five casks of water remained. On August 30 the St. Peter anchored off a group of thirteen bald, bare, treeless rocks. It was thought that if some of the scurvy-stricken sailors could be carried ashore, they might recover. One, Shumagin, died as he was lifted ashore. This was the first death, and his name was given to the islands. Bering himself was so ill he could not stand. Twenty emaciated men were laid along the shore. Steller hurried off to hunt anti- scorbutic plants, while Waxel, who had taken command, and Khitroff ordered the water-casks filled. Unfortu- nately the only pool they could find was connected with an arm of the sea. The water was brackish, and this afterward increased disease. A fatality seemed to hang over the wonder world where they wandered. Voices were heard in the storm, rumblings from the sea. Fire could be seen through the fog. Was this fire from volcanoes or Indians .'' And such a tide-rip thundered along the rocks as shook the earth and set the ship trembling. Waxel knew they must not risk delay by going to explore, but by applying to Bering, who lay in his berth unconscious of the dangers on this coast, Khit- roff gained permission to go from the vessel on a yawl with five sailors; but by the time he had rowed against head winds to the scene of the fire, the Indians had VITUS BERING, THE DANE 31 fled, and such beach combers were crashing ashore, KhitrofF dare not risk going back to the ship. In vain Waxel ground his teeth with rage, signalled, and waited. "The wind seemed to issue from a flue," says Steller, "with such a whistling and roaring and rumbling that we expected to lose mast and rudder, or be crushed among the breakers. The dashings of the sea sounded like a cannon." The fact was, Khitroff^'s yawl had been smashed to kindling wood against the rocks; and the six half- drowned Russians were huddling together waiting for help when Waxel took the other small boat and went to the rescue. Barely had this been effected at the cost of four days' delay, in which the ship might have made five hundred miles toward home, when natives were seen paddling out in canoes, gesticulating for the white men to come ashore. Waxel lowered away in the small boat with nine armed men to pay the savages a visit. Close ashore, he beckoned the Indians to wade out; but they signalled him in turn to land, and he ordered three men out to moor the boat to a rock. All went well between Russians and Ind- ians, presents being exchanged, till a chief screwed up his courage to paddle out to Waxel in the boat. With characteristic hospitality, Waxel at once prof- fered some Russian brandy, which, by courtesy among all Western sailors, is always known as "chain light- ning." The chief took but one gulp of the liquid fire, when with a wild yell he spat it out, shouted that he had been poisoned, and dashed ashore. ' 'iSif^ i I i 32 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC The three Russians succeeded in gaining Waxel's boat, but the Indians grabbed the mooring ropes and seized the Chukchee interpreter, whom Waxel had brought from Siberia. Waxel ordered the rope cut, but the Chukchee interpreter called out pitifully to be saved. Quick as flash, the Russians fired two muskets in midair. At the crash that echoed among the cliflFs, the Indians fell prostrate with fear, and the interpret*, escaped; but six days had been wasted in this tutilf visit to the natives. Scarcely had they escaped this island, when such a hurricane broke over the St. Peter for seventeen days that the ship could only scud under bare poles before a tornado wind that seemed to be driving north-north- west. The ship was a chip in a maelstrom. There were only fifteen casks of water fit to drink. All food was exhausted but mouldy sea-biscuits. O sailor a day was now dying of scurvy, and those It ; were so weak that they had no power to man the ship. The sailors were so emaciated they had to be carried back and forward to the rudder, and the underling officers were quarrelling among themselves. The crew dared not hoist sails, because not a man of the St. Peter had the physical strength to climb and lower canvas.* 1 See Mulltr, p. 93, 1 764 edition : "The men, notwithstanding want, misery, sickness, were obliged to work continually in the cold and wet ; and the sickness was so dreadful that the sailors who governed the rudder were obliged to be led to it by others, who could hardly walk. They durst not carry much sail, because there was nobody to lower them in case of need, and they were so thin a violent wind would have torn them to pieces. The rain now changed to hail and snow." VITUS BERING, THE DANE 33 The rain turned to sleet. The sleet froze to the rotting sails, to the ice-logged hull, to the wan yard- arms frost-white like ghosts. At every lurch of the sea slush slithered down from the rigging on the shivering seamen. The roar of the breakers told of a chnllow sea, yet mist veiled the sky, and they were above waters whose shallows drop to sue Jen abysmal depths of three thousand fathoms. Sheets of smoking vapor rose from the sea, sheets of flame-tinged smoke from the crevasses of land volcanoes which the fogs hid. Out of the sea came the hoarse, strident cry of the sea- lion, and the walrus, and the hairy seal. It was as if the poor Russians had sailed into some under-world. The decks were sli^^pery as glass, the vessel shrouded in ice. Over all settled that unspeakable dread of impending disaster, which is a symptom of scurvy, and saps the fight that makes a man fit to survive. Waxel, alone, held the vessel up to the wind. Where were they.? Why did this coasting along unknown northern islands not lead to Kamchatka .? The councils were no longer the orderly conferences of savants over cut-and-dried maps. They were bed- lam. Panic was in the marrow of every man, even the passionate Steller, who thought all the while they were on the coast of Kamchatka and made loud complaint that the expedition had been misled by "unscrupu- lous leaders." At eight o'clock on the morning of October 30 it was seen that the ice-clogged ropes on the starboard \ I in Ri 34 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC side had been snapped by the wind like dry sticks. Offerings, vows, prayers went up from the stricken crew. Piety became a very real thing. The men prayed aloud and conferred on ways to win the favor of God. The colder weather brought one relief. The fog lifted and the air was clear. The wind veered northeast, and on November 4, to their inexpressible joy, a dim outline sharpened to hard, clear horizon; and the gazing crew gradually saw a high, mountainous coast become clear beyond doubt directly ahead six- teen miles. Surely this was Kamchatka? Surely, God had heard their vows.? The sick crawled on hands and knees above the hatchway to see land once more, and with streaming eyes thanked Heaven for the escape from doom. Grief became joy; gruff, happy, hilarious laughter; for a few hidden casks of brandy were brought out to celebrate the end of their miseries, and each man began pointing out certain headlands that he thought he recognized. But this ecstasy was fool joy born of desperation. As the ship rounded northeastward, a strangeness came over the scene; a chill over the good cheer — a numbing, silent, unspeakable dread over the crew. These tur- bulent waters running a mill-race betv.een reefs looked more like a channel between two islands than open coast. The men could not utter a word. They hoped against hope. They dare not voice their fears. That night, the St. Peter stood off from land in case of storm. Topsails were furled, and the wind had ripped the other VITUS BERING, THE DANE 35 sails to tatters, that flared and beat dismally all night against the cordage. One can imagine the anxiety of that long night with the roar of the breakers echoing angrily from shore, the whistle of the wind through the rotten rigging, the creaking of the timbers to the crash and growl and rebound of the tide. Clear, refulgent with sunshine like the light of creation's first day, the sting of ozone in the air, and the freshness of a scene never before witnessed by human eyes — dawned the morning of November 5. The shore was of black, adamant rock rising sheer from the sea in a rampart wall. Reefs, serried, rank on rank, like sentinels, guarded approach to the coast in jagged masses, that would rip the bottom from any keel like the t^eth of a saw; and over these rolled the roaring breakers with a clutch to the back-wash that bade the gazing sailors beware. Birds, birds in myriads upon myriads, screamed and circled over the eerie heights of the beetling clifl^s. This did not look like Kamchatka. Thfse birds were not birds of the Asiatic home port. These cliflPs were not like the snow- rimmed mountains of Avacha Bay. Waxel called a cwuncil. Officers and men dragged themselves to Bering's cabin. Waxel had already canvassed all hands to vote for a landing to winter on these shores. This, the dying Bering oppc.ed with all his might. "We must be almost home," he said. "We still have six casks of water, and the foremast. Having risked so i 36 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC much, let us risk three days more, let us "sk every- thing to reach Avacha Bay." Poor Bering! Had his advice been followed, the saddest disaster of northern seas might have been avened; for they were less than ten days' run from the home harbor; but mspired by fool hopes born of fear, like the old marsh lights that used to lure men to the quicksands - Waxel and KhitrofF actually persuaded themselves this was Kam- chatka, and when one lieutenant, Ofzyn, who knew the north well from charting the Arctic coast, would have spoken in favor of Bering's view, he was actually clubbed and thrown from the cabin. The crew voted as a man to land and winter on this coast. Little did they know that vote was their own death warrant. m m CHAPTER II 1741-1743 CONTINUATION OF BERING, THE DANE Frightful Su'^i.'rings of the Castaways on the Commander Islands — The Vessel smashed in a Winter Gale, the Sick are dragged for Refuge into Pits of Sand — Here, Bering perishes, and the Crew Winter — The Consort Ship under ChirikofF Ambushed — How the Castaways reach Home Without pilot or captain, the St. Peter drifted to the swirHng current of the sea along a high, rocky, forbidding coast where beetling precipices towered sheer two thousand feet above a white fret of reefs, that gave the ocean the appearance of a ploughed field. The sick crawled mutely back to their berths. Bering was past caring what came and only semiconscious. Waxel, who had compelled the crew to vote for land- ing here under the impression born of his own despair, — that this was the coast of Avacha Bay, Kamchatka, — saw with dismay in the shores gliding past the keel momentary proofs that he was wrong. Poor Waxel had fought desperately against the depression that precedes scurvy; but now, with a dumb hopelessness settling over the ship, the invisible hand of the scourge 37 38 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC was laid on him, too. He went below decks completely fordone. The underling officers still upon their feet, whose false theories had led Bering into all this disaster, were now quarrelling furiously among themselves, blaming one another. Only Ofzyn, the lieutenant, who had opposed the landing, and Steller, the scientist, remained on the lookout with eyes alert for the impend- ing destruction threatened from the white fret of the endless reefs. Rocks rose in wild, jagged masses out of the sea. Deep V-shaped ravines, shadowy in the rising moonlight, seemed to recede into the rock wall of the coast, and only where a river poured out from one of these ravines did there appear to be any gap through the long lines of reefs where the surf boomed like thunder. The coast seemed to trend from north- west to southeast, and might have been from thirty to fifty miles long, with strange bizarre arches of rock overhanging endless fields of kelp and seaweed. The land was absolutely treeless except for willow brush- wood the size of one's finger. Lichens, moss, sphagnum, coated the rocks. Inland appeared nothing but bil- lowing reaches of sedges and shingle and grass. Suddenly Steller noticed that the ebb-tide was causing huge combing rollers that might dash the ship against the rocks. Rushing below decks he besought Bering's permission to sound and anchor. The early darkness of those northern latitudes had been followed by moon- light bright as day. Within a mile of the east shore. CONTINUATION OF BERING 39 Steller ordered the anchor dropped, hut by this time, the rollers were smashing over decks with a quaking that seemed to tear the ship asunde:. The sick were hurled from their berths. Officers rushed on deck to be swept from their feet by blasts of salt spray, and just Steller's Arch on Bering Island, named after the scientist Steller, of Bering's Expedition. ahead, through the moonlight, could be seen the sharp edge of a long reef where the beach combers ran with the tide-rip of a whirlpool. There is something in- expressibly terrifying even from a point of safety in these beach combers, clutching their long arms hun- grily for prey. The confusion of orders and counter- 40 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC orders, which no man had strength to carry out, of terrified cries and prayers and oaths — was indescrib- able. The numb hopelessness was succeeded by sheer panic terror. Ofzyn threw out a second anchor that raked bottom. Then, another mountain roller thun- dering over the ship with a crash — and the first cable snapped like a pistol shot. The ship rebounded; then drove before the back-wash of the angry sea. With no fate possible but the wall of rocks ahead, the terrorized crew began neaving the dead overboard in the moonlight; at another roaring billow smashed the St. Peter squarely broadside. The second hawser ripped back with the whistling rebound of a 'vhip-lash, and Ofzyn was in the very act of droppi* the third and last anchor, when straight as a bullet >) the mark, as if hag-ridden by the northern demons of sailor fear, hurled the St. Peter for the reef! A third time the beach combers crashed down like a falling mountain. When the booming sheets of blinding spray had cleared and the panic-stricken sailors could again see, the St. Peter was s ggering stern foremost, shore ahead, like a drunken ship. Quick as shot, Ofzyn and Steller between them heaved over the last anchor. The flukes gripped — raked — then caught — and h'^ld. The ship lay rocking inside a reef in the very centre of a sheltered cove not six hundred yards from land. The beach comber had either swept her through a gap in the reef, or hurled her clear above the reets into shelter. CONTINUATION OF BI RING 41 For seven hours the ship had battled against tide and counter-current. Now, at midnight, with the air clear as day, Steller had the small boat lowered and with another — some say Waxel, others Pleneser, the artist, or Ofzyn, of the Arctic expedition — rowed ashore to reconnoitre. Sometime between the evening of No- vember 5 and the morning of November 6, their eyes met such a view as might have been witnessed by an Alexander Selkirk, or Robinson Crusoe. The exact landing was four or five miles north of what is now known as Cape Khitrolf, below the centre of the east coast of Bering Island.' Poor Waxel would have it, they were on the coast of Kamchatka, and spoke of sending messengers for help to Petropaulovsk on Avacha Bay; but, as they were to learn soon enough, the nearest point in Kamchatka was one hundred miles across the sea. Avacha Bay was two hundred miles away. And the Spanish possessions of America, three thousand. They found the landing place lit- erally swarming with animal life unknown to the world before. An enormous mammal, more than three tons in weight, with hind quarters like a whale, snout and fore fins resembling a cow, grazed in herds on the fields of sea-kelp and gazed languidly without fear on the newcomer — Man. This was the famous sea- cow described by the enthusiastic Steller, but long since extinct. Blue foxes swarmed round the very feet of the • I adopt the views of Dr. Stejneger, of the National Museum, Washington, on this point, as he has personally gone over every foot of the ground. 42 vinINcs of the pacific men with such Imn^. v hoUiness that half a dozen could be clubbed >) d( nh before the others scampend. L;.ter, Steller was to ^c the >eal lookeries, that wt-re to bring so much wealth tc rhe world, the sea-lions that roared along the rocks t'!l the surf shook, the sea-otter whose rare pelt, more priceless than beaver or sable, was to cause the exploration and devastation < t the northern half of the Pacific (oast. The land was as it had appe;ired to the ship — utterly treeless except for trailing willows. 1 he brooks were not yet frozen, and snow had barelv powdered the mountains; but where the coves ran in Hack h tween the mountains from the sea were gu cs <.r ditches of sand and sedge. When Steller p >entl' found a broken window casing of Kamchat i hai buried in the sand, it gave Waxel some i nndence about being on the maudand of Asia; but befoi Steller had finished his two da.s' reconnoitre, there was lo mis- taking the fact - this was an i land, and a baru i one at the best, without tree or sh^ 'er; and here tlu cast- aways must winter. The only provisions now rem uning to tht. ; w. rt grease and m- .Idy flour. Stell-r at once we r t Digging pits in the narrow .^u le-, ot s. kI. b' < vf these over wit! driftwood, i i rotten ^lil-clot; mud, and foxskins. Crack vere ^her ihink p with clay and more foxskins. U' th. ^th ' Xove r he was ready to have the cr lanii the nip rolled helpless as a log to the ti: e few well TT m«i. CONTINUATION OF BERING 43 men of rJi statf. vithoiit distinction of officers from sailors, ha* •(> s' d wa' t-deep in 1 - lush to steady the srrttchi.s m.. ■ of ast poles ai i sail-cloth, that recei ' the sick lowert over decks Many f the scurw strick n had not ,een out of heir h. ".iS for ix eeks. Ihe fearful depressiof and w ikness, tha t revvarn scurvy, had been followed Uv '>e nains, tht swollen limbs, the blue spots t'l ^ rcsaj^t 'eath. A >pon^y excrescence cnercJ ts urns. TL teeth loosened. The slightest nois w ugh to throw ^be patient into a paroxysm ' s(jmt d 1 f)n the decks imm. rhc cutt. ;ly cold air. On r owered to the stretchers; alo ig the strip of sand s' v^ere already devourinj. ' d( h dn\en off bv the d ai ijur -P rt 1 fright; and ontact with they were icy were laid ^^ here the bold foxes I and could scarcely In this way perished rs, ime of the St. Peter s cicw duiing the week of the andinir- By November 10, all ^ in readiness for Bering's removal from the shii . the end approached, his irritability subsided to a quieted cheerfulness; and he could be heard mumbling over thanks to God for the great success of his early life. Wrapped in furs, fastened to a stn tcher, the Dane was lowered over the ship, carried ashore, and laid in a sand pit. All that day it had been dull nd leaden: and just as Bering was being carried, it began to snow heavily. Steller occupied the sand pit next to the commander; and in 44 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC addition to acting as cook and physician to the entire crew, became Bering's devoted attendant. By the 13th of November, a long sand pit had been roofed over as a sort of hospital with rug floor; and here Steller had the stricken sailors carried in from the shore. Poor Waxel, who had fought so bravely, was himself carried ashore on November 21. Daily, officers tramped inland exploring; and daily, the different reconnoitring parties returned with word that not a trace of human habitation, of wood, or the way to Kamchatka had been discovered. Another island there was to the east — now known as Copper Island — and two little islets of rock; but beyond these, nothing could be descried from the highest mountains but sea — sea. Bering Island, itself, is some fifty miles long by ten wide, very high at the south, very swampy at the north ; but the Commander Group is as completely cut off from both Asia and America as if it were in another w^rld. The climate was not intensely cold; but it was so damp, the very clothing rotted ; and the gales were so terrific that the men could only leave the mud huts or yurts by crawl- ing on all fours; and for the first three weeks after the landing, blast on blast of northern hurricane swept over the islands. The poor old ship rode her best at anchor through the violent storms; but on November 28 she was seen to snap her cable and go staggering drunkenly to open sea. The terror of the castaways at this spectacle CONTINUATION OF BERING 45 was unspeakable. Their one chance of escape in spring seemed lost; but the beach combers began rolling landward through the howling storm; and when next the spectators looked, the St. Peter was driving ashore like a hurricane ship, and rushed full force, nine feet deep with her prow into the sands not a pistol shot away from the crew. The next beach comber could not budge her. Wind and tide left her high and dry, fast in the sand. But what had become of ChirikofF, on board the St. Paul, from the 20th of June, when the vessels were separated by storm } Would it have been any easier for Bering if he had known that the consort ship had been zigzagging all the while less than a week's cruise from the St. Peter P When the storm, which had separated the vessels, subsided, Chirikoff let the St. Paul drift in the hope that Bering might sight the missing vessel. Then he steered southeast to lati- tude 48° m search of the commander; but on June 23 a council of officers decided it was a waste of time to search longer, and ordered the vessel to be headed northeastward. The wind was light; the water, clear; and ChirikofF knew, from the pilot-birds follow- ing the vessel, from the water-logged trees churning past, from the herds of seal floundering in the sea, that land must lie in this direction. A bright lookout was kept for the first two weeks of July. Two hun- dred and forty miles were traversed; and on a calm, 46 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC clear night between the 13th and 15th of July, there loomed above the horizon the dusky heights of a wooded mountainous land in latitude 55° 21'. Chiri- koflF was in the Alexander Archipelago. Daybreak came witn the St. Paul only four miles off the con- spicuous heights of Cape Addington. Chirikoff had discovered land some thirty-six hours before Bermg. The new world of mountains and forests roused the wildest enthusiasm among the Russians. A small A G'acier. boat was lowered ; but it failed to find a landing. A light wind sprang up, and the ve. iel stood out under shortened sails for the night. By morning the wind had increased, and fog had blurred out all outlines of the new-found land. Here the ocean currents ran northward; and bv morning of the 17th, when the sun pierced the washed air and the mountains began to appear again through jagged rifts of cioud-wraith, Chirikoff found himself at the entrance of a great bay, girt by forested mountains to the water's edge, beneath the high cone of what is now known as Mount Edge- CONTINUATION OF BERING 47 cumbe, in Sitka Sound. Sitka Sound is an indentation about fifteen miles from north to south, with such depths of water that there is no anchorage except south and southwestward of Mount Edgecumbe. Im- penetrable woods lined the mountains to the very shore. Great trunks of uprooted trees swept past the ship continually. Even as the clouds cleared, leaving vast forests and mountain torrents and snowy peaks visible, a hazy film of intangible gloom seemed to settle over the shadowy harbor.* ChirikofF wished to refill his water-casks. Also, he was ambitious to do what the scientists cursed Bering for not doing off St. Elias — explore thoroughly the land newly found. The long-boat was lowered with Abraham DementiefF and ten armed men. The crew was supplied with muskets, a brass cannon, and pro- visions for several days. ChirikofF arranged a simple code of signals with the men — probably a column of smoke, or sunlight thrown back by a tin mirror — by which he could know if all went well. Then, with a cheer, the first Russians to put foot on the soil of America bent to the oar and paddled swiftly away from the St. Paul for the shadow of the forested moun- tains etched from the inland shore. The long-boat seemed smaller as the distance from the St. Paul in- creased. Then men and boat disappeared behind an > Dr. George D.ividson, President of the Geographical Society of the Pacific, has written an irrefutable pamphlet on why Kyak Island and Sitka Sound must be accepted as the landfalls of Bering and Chirikotf. 48 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC elbow of land. A flash of reflected light from the hidden shore; and Chirikoff knew the little band of explorers had safely landed. The rest of the crew went to work putting things shipshape on the St. Paul. The day passed with more safety signals from the shore. The crew of the St. Paul slept sound out in mid-harbor unsuspicious of danger. Another day passed, and another night. Not so many signals! Had the little band of Russians gone far inland for water, and the signals been hidden by the forest gloom ? A wind was singing in the rigging — threatening a landward gale that might carry the St. Paul somewhat nearer those rocky shores than the Russians could wish. Chirikoff sent a sailor spying from, the look- out of the highest yard-arm. No signals at all this day; nor the next day; nor the next! The St. Paul had only one other small boat. Fearing the jolly- boat had come to grief among the rocks and counter- currents, Chirikoff bade Sidor Savelief, the bo'swain, and six armed sailors, including carpenters to repair damages, take the remaining boat and go to De- mentieff's rescue. The strictest orders were given that both boats return at once. Barely had the second boat rounded the elbow of .->h()re where the first boat had disappeared when a great column of smoke burst from the tree-tops of the hidden shore. To Chirikoff's amazement, the second crew made no signal. The night passed uneasilv. Sailors were on the watch. Ship's rigging was put in shape. Dawn was witnessed Kr.m^ CONTINUATION OF BERING 49 by eager eyes gazing shoreward. The relief was in- expressible when two boats — a long and a short one like those used by the two crews — were seen rounding the elbow of land. The landward breeze was now strain- ing the St. Paul's hawsers. Glad to put for open sea to weather the coming gale, ChirikofF ordered all hands on deck and anchors up. The small boats came on with a bounce over the ocean swell; but suddenly one of ChirikofF's Russians pointed to the approaching crafts. There was ? pause in the rattle of anchor chains. There was a pause in the bounc- ing of the small boats, too. They were not the Rus- sian jolly-boats. They were canoes; and the canoes were filled with savages as dumb with astonishment at the apparition of the St. Paul as the Russians were at the canoes. Before the Russians had come to their senses, or Chirikoff had time to display presents to allure the savages on board as hostages, the Indians rose in their places, uttered a war-whoop that set the rocks echoing, and beating their paddles on the gun'els, scudded for shore. Gradually the meaning dawned on ChirikofF. His two crews had been destroyed. His small boats were lost. His supply of fresh water was running low. The fire that he had observed had been a fire of orgies over mutilated men. The St. Paul was on a hostile shore with such a gale blow- ing as threatened destruction on the rocks. There was nothing to do but scud for open sea. When the gale abated, Chirikofl^ returned to Sitka and cruised ^f== 50 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC the shore for some sign of the sailors : but not a trace of the lost men could be descried. By this time water was so scarce, the men were wringing rain mois- ture out of the sails and distilling sea-water. A council was called. All agreed it would be worse than folly to risk the entire crew for the twelve men, who were prob- ably already dead. There was no small boat to land for more water; and the St. Paul was headed about with all speed for the northwest.' Slant rain settled over the sea. The wind increased and grew more violent. The St. Paul drove ahead like a ghost form pursued through a realm of mist, loward the end of July, when the weather cleared, stupendous mountains covered with snow were seen on the northwestward horizon like walls of ice with the base awash in thundering sea. Thousands of cata- racts, clear as crystal, flashed against the mountain sides; and in places the rock wall rose sheer two thousand feet from the roaring tide. Inlets, gloomy with forested mountain walls where impetuous streams laden with the milkv silt of countless glaciers tore their wav through the rocks to the sea, could be seen receding inland through the fog. Then the foul weather settled over the sea again; and by the first 1 Thus thf trrriWr Sitkan massacre oi a later dav was preceded by the slaughter of the fir.t Ru^ian. to reach Amcr-ua, The Ru^>i..n government of a later dav originated a comical claim to more territorv on the ground that de..endant^ of the^. lost Russian, had formed ^ettlements farther down the coast, alleging in proof that subsequent explorer, had found red-headed and light-complexioned people as far south a. the Chinook tribes. To such means will statecraft stoop. CONTINUATION OF BERING 5, week of August, with baffling winds and choppy sea, the St. Paul was veering southwestward where Alaska projects a long arm into the Pacific. ChirikofF had passed the line where forests dwarf to willows, and w, lows to sedges, and sedges to endless leagues of rolling tundras. Somewhere near Kadiak, land was agam sighted. When the fog lifted, the vapor of far volcanoes could be seen hanging lurid over the moun- tarn tops. Wind was followed by dead calm, when the sails literally fell to pieces with rain-rot in the fog; and on the evening of September 8 the becalmed crew were suddenly aroused by the tide-rip of roaring breakers Heaving out all anchors at once, Chirikoff with diffi- culty made fast to rocky bottom. In the morning when the fog lifted, he found himself in the centre of a shallow bay surrounded by the towering cliffs of what IS now known as Adakh Island. While waiting for a breeze, he saw seven canoe loads of savages put out from shore chanting some invocation. The Rus- sians threw out presents, but the savages took no notice, gradually surrounding the St. Paul. All this time Chirikoff had been without any water but the stale casks brought from Kamchatka; and he now signalled his desperate need to the Indians. They re- sponded by bringing bladders full of fresh water; but they refused to mount the decks. And by evening fourteen canoe loads of the taciturn savages were circling threateningly round the Russians. Luckily 52 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC at nightfall a wind sprang up. ChirikofF at once slipped anchor and put to sea. By the third week of August, the rations of r. j meal had been reduced to once a day instead of twice in order to economize water. Only twelve casks of water remained; and ChirikofF was fifteen hundred miles from Kamchatka. Cold, hunger, thirst, then did the rest. ChirikoflF himself was stricken with scurvy by the middle of September, and one sailor died of the scourge. From the 26th, one death a day fol- lowed in succession. Though down, ChirikoflF was not beaten. Discipline was maintained among the hungry crew; and each day ChirikoflF issued exact orders. Without any attempt at steering, the ship drifted westward. No more land was seen by the crew ; but on the 2d of October, the weather clearing, an observation was taken of the sun that showed them they were nearing Kamchatka. On the 8th, A was sighted; !ut one man alone, the pilot, Yelag. >, had strength to stay at the helm till Avacha Bay was ap- proached, when distress signals were fired from the ship's cannon to bring help from land. Poor Croyere de risle, kinsman to the map makers whose mistakes had caused disaster, sick unto death of the scurvy, had kept himself alive with liquor and now insisted on being carried ashore. The first breath of clear air above decks was enough. The scientist fell dead within the home harbor. ChirikoflF was landed the same day, all unaware that at times in the mist and j i Sea Cows. i^m^r:s CONTINUATION OF BERING 53 rain he had been within from fifteen to forty miles of poor Bering, zigzagging across the very trail of the afflicted sister ship. By December the entire crew of Bering's castaways, prisoners on the sea-girt islands of the North Pacific, were lodged in five underground huts on the bank of a stream. In 1885, when these mud huts or yurts were examined, they were seen to have walls of peat three feet thick. To each man was given a pound of flour. For the rest, their food must be what they caught or clubbed — mainly, at first, the sea-otter, whose flesh was unpalatable to the taste and tough as leather. Later, Stellar discovered that the huge sea-cow — often thirtv-five feet long — seen pasturing on the fields of sea-kelp at low tide, aflPorded food of almost the same quality as the land cow. Seaweed grew in miniature forests on the island; and on this pastured the monster bovine of the sea — true fish in its hind quarters but oxlike in its head and its habits — herd- ing together like cattle, snorting like a horse, moving the neck from side to side as it grazed, with the hind leg a fin, the fore fin a leg, udder between the fore legs, and in place of teeth, plates. Nine hundred or more sea-otter — whose pelts afterward brought a fortune to the crew — were killed for food by Steller and his companions; but two sea-cows provided the castaways with food for six weeks. On November 22d died the old mate, who had weathered northern seas for fifty 54 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC years. In all, out of a crew of seventy-seven, there had perished by January 6, 1742, when the last death oc- curred, thirty-one men. Steller's hut was next to Bering's. From that No- vember day when he was carried from the ship through the snow to the sand pit, the commander sank without rallying. Foxskins had been spread on the ground as a bed; but thr sand loosened from the sides of the pit and kept rolling down on the dying man. Toward the last he begged Steller to let the sand rest, as it kept in the warmth; so that he was soon covered with sand to his waist. White billows and a gray skv followed the hurricane gale that had hurled the ship in on the beach. All night between the even- ing of the 7th and the morning of the 8th of December, the moaning of the south wind could be heard through the tattered rigging of the wrecked ship ; and all night the dying Dane was communing with his God. He was now over sixty years of age. To a constitution already broken by the nagging cares of eight years and by hardships indescribable, by scurvy and by ex- posure, was added an acute inflammation. Bering's power of resistance was sapped. Two hours before daybreak on December 8, 1741, the brave Dane breathed his last. He was interred on the 9th of December between the graves of the mate and the steward on the hillside; and the bearded Russians came down from the new-made grave that day bowed and hopeless. A plain Greek cross was placed above CONTINUATlOxN OF BKRING 55 his grave; and a copy of that cross marks the same grave to-day. The question arises — whtrf^ does Bering stand among the world luroi s ? 1 he world loves success better than defeat; iind spcctacuhu success better than duty plainly done. If success means accomplishing what one sets out to do in spite of almost insuperable difficulties — Bering won success. He set out to dis- cover the northwest coast of America ; and he perished doing it. But if heroism means a something more than tangible success; if it means that divine (j ility of fighting for the truth independent of reward, whether one is to be beaten or not ; if it means setting to one's self the task of perishing for a truth, without the slight- est hope of establishing that truth — then, Bering stands very high indeed among the world's heroes. Steller, who had cursed him for not remaining longer at Mount St. Elias, bore the highest testimony to his integrity and worth. It may be said that a stronger t\pe of hero would have scrunched into nothingness the vampire blunderers who misled the ship; but it must be remembered that stronger types of heroes usually save their own skins and let the underlings suffer. While Bering tfiight have averted the disaster that attended the expedition, it must not be forgotten that when he perished, there perished the very soul of the great enterprise, which at once crumbled to pieces. On a purely material plane, what did Bering ac- complish ? ■i u^ i S^ VIKLNGS OF THE PACIFIC He dispelled forever the myth of the Northeast Passage if the world would have but accepted his con- clusions. The coast of Japan was charted under his direction. The Arctic coast of Asia was charted under his direction. A country as large as from Maine to Florida, or Baltimore to Texas, with a river compar- able only to the Mississippi, was discovered by him. The furs of this countr)' for a single year more than paid all that Russia spent to discover it; all that the United States later paid to Russia for it. f A dead whale thrown up on the shore proved a godsend to the weak and famishing castaways. As tb'jir bodies grew stronger, the spirit of merriment that gilds life's darkest clouds began to come back, and the whale was jocularh' known among the Russians as "our magazine of proxisions." 1 hen parties of hunters began going out for the sea- otter, which hid its head during storm under the kelp of the sea Helds. Steller knew the Chinese would pay what in modern monev is from one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars for each of these sea-otter skins; and between nine hundred and one thousand were taken by the wrecked crew. Ihe same skin ot prime (jualiry sells in a London auction room to-day for one thousand dollars. And in spring, when the sea-otter disappeared, there came herds herds in millions upon millions of another visitant to the shores of the Commandtr Islands — the fur seal. ".-IBlt^S CONTINUATION OF BERING 57 which afforded new hunting to the crew, and new wealth to the world. The terrible danger now was not from starvation, but mutiny, murder, or massacre among the branded criminals of the discontented crew. Wa.xcl, as he re- Seals in a Rookery on Bering Island. covered, was afraid of tempting revolt with orders, and convened the crew by vote to determine all that should be done. Officers and men — there was no distinc- iton. By March of 1742 the ground had cleared of snow. Waxel called a meeting to suggest breaking up the packet vessel to build a smaller craft. A vote il 58 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC was asked. The resolution was called, written out, and signed by every survivor, but afterward, when officers and men set themselves to the well-nigh im- possible task of untackling the ship without implements of iron, revolt appeared among the workers. Again Waxel avoided mutiny. A meeting was called, another vote taken, the recalcitrants shamed down. The crew lacked more than tools. There was no ship's carpen- ter. Finally a Cossack, who was afterward raised to the nobility for his work, consented to act as director of the building, and on the 6th of May a vessel forty feet long, thirteen beam, and six deep, was on the stocks. All June, the noise of the planking went on till the mast raised its yard-arms, and an eight-oared single- master, such as the old Vikings of the North Sea used, was well under way. The difficulties of such shipbuilding can hardly be realized. There was no wood but the wood of the old ship, no rigging but the old hemp, no tar but such as could be melted out of the old hemp in earth pits; and very few axes. The upper part was calked with tallow of the sea-cow, the under with tar from the old hull. The men also constructed a second small boat or canoe. On the loth of August, with such cheers as the island never heard before or since, the single-master was launched from the skids and named the St. PeUr. Cannon balls and cartridges were thrown in bottom as ballast. Luckily, eight hundred pounds of ^ja >?,»?> ■«y Ola^n covers all thr:e aims of the expedition, Japanese and Arctic voyages as well as American. CHAPTER III 1741-1760 THE SEA-OTTER HUNTERS How the Sea-otter Pelts brought back by Bering's Crew led to the Exploitation of the Northwest Coast of America — Difference of Sea-otter from Other Fui -bearing Animals of the West — Perils of the Hunt When the castaway crew of Vitus Bering looked about for means to exist on the barren islands where they were wrecked, thev found the kelp beds and sea- weed fields of the Nonh Pacific literally alive with a little animal, which the Russians called "the sea- beaver." Sailors of Kamchatka and eastern Siberia knew the sea-beaver well, for it had been found on the Asiatic side of the Pacific, and its pelt was regarded as price!e'^<; by Chinese and Tartar merchants. But where did this strange denizen of northern waters live .' Only in rare seasons did the herds assemble on the rocky islets of Kamchatka and Japan. And when spring came, the sea-beaver disappeared. A.'^ia was not its home. Where did it go ? Russian adventurers who rafted the coast o( Siberia 62 THE SEA-OTTER HUNTERS 63 in crazy skiffs, related that the sea-beaver always disappeared northeastward, whence the spruce drift- wood and dead whales with harpoons of strange hunt- ers and occasionally wrecks of walrus-skin boats came washing from an unknown land. It was only when Bering's crew were left prisoners of the sea on an island barren as a billiard ball that the hunger-desperate men found the habitat of the sea-beaver to be the kelp beds of the Aleutian Isl- ands and northwestern America. But what use were priceless pelts where neither money nor merchant was, and men mad with hunger were thrown back on the primal necessities without thought of gain ? The hungry Russian sailors fell on the kelp beds, clubbing right and left regardless of pelts. What matter if the flesh was tough as leather and rank as musk .'' It filled the empty stomachs of fifty desperate men; and the skins were used on the treeless isle as rugs, as coats, as walls, as stuff to chink the cracks of earth pits, where the sailors huddled like animals in underground caves with no ceiling but the tattered sails. So passed a year — the most desolate year in the annals of ocean voyaging, and when the castaways rafted back to Asia on a sk\'(i' made of their wrecked ship, they were clad in the i..w skins of the sea-otter, which they had eaten. Ir. all, nearly a thousand skins were carried back; and for those skins, which the Russian sailors had scarcely valued, Chinese mer- chants paid what in modern money would be from ! i J in 64 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC one hundicd and fifty to two hundred dollars a pelt,* After that, the Russians of Siberia needed no incen- tive to hunt the sea-beaver. Its habitat was known, and all the riffraff adventurers of Siberian exile, Tar- tars, Kamchatkans, Russians, criminals, and officers of royal lineage, engaged in the fur trade of western America. Danger made no difference. All that was needed was a boat; and the boat was usually rough- hewn out of the green timbers of Kamchatka. If iron bolts were lacking so far from Europe as the width of two continents, the boat builders used deer sinew, or thongs of walrus hide. Tallow took the place of tar, deerskin the place of hemp, and courage the nlace of caution. A Siberian merchant then chanced an outfit of supplies for half what the returns might be. The commander — officer or exile — then enlisted sailors among landsmen. Landsmen were preferable for this kind of voyaging. Either in the sublime cour- age of ignorance, or with the audacity of desperation, the poor landsmen dared dangers which no sailors would risk on such crazy craft, two thousand miles from a home port on an outrageous sea. Englpnd and the Unired States became involved m the exploitation of the Pacific coast in almost the same way. When Captain Cook was at Nootka Sound thirty years after Bering's death, his crews traded 1 The price of the sea-otter varied, tailing in seasons when the market was clutred to $40 a pelt, selling as high, in ^a^es of rar^ beauty, as S 1 000 a pelt. ■LMciav^i^* .^fvwfjskii "tge^y -■- '■'I >WiitfiJL^-igmL -fiffMi: THE SEA-OTTER HUNTERS 65 trinkets over the tafFrail netting for any kind of furs the natives of the west coast chose to exchange. In the long voyaging to Arctic waters after\vard, these furs went to waste with rain-rot. More than two- thirds were thrown or given awiy. The remaining third sold in China on the home voyage of the ships for what would be more than ten thousand dollars of modern money. News of that fact was enough. Boston, New York, London, rubbed their eyes to pos- sibilities of fur trade on the Pacific coast. As the worid knows, Boston's efforts resulted in the cliance discovery of the Columbia ; New York's efforts, in the foundation of the Astor fortunes. East India, France, England, Spain, the United States, vied with each other for the prize of America's west coast. Just as the beaver led French voyagers westward from Quebec to the Rocky Mountains, south to Texas, north to the Athabasca, so the hunt of the sea-beaver led to the exploration of the North Pacific coast. "Sea-beaver" the Russians called the owner of the rare pelt. "Sea-otter" it \va.. known to the English and American hunters. But it is like neither the otter nor beaver, though its hnbits are akin to both. Its nearest relative is probably the fur seal. Like the seal, its pelt has an ebony shimmer, showing silver when blown open, soft black tipped with white, when ex- amined hair by hair. Six feet, the full-grown sea-otter measuiC'; from r.ose to stumpy rail, with a beaver- F 66 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC shaped face, teeth Hke a cat, and short webbed feet. Some hunters say the sea-otter is literally born on the tumbling waves — a single pup at a time; others, that the sea-otter retire to some solitary rocky islet to bring forth their young. Certain it is they are rocked on the deep from their birth, "cradled" m the sea, sleeping on their backs in the water, clasping the young in their arms like a human being, tossing up seaweed in play by the hour Uke mischievous monkeys, or crawling out on some safe, sea-girt rocklet, where they shake the water from their fur and make their toilet, stretching and arranging and rearranging hair like a cai. Only the fiercest gales drive the sea-otter ashore, for it must come above water to breathe; and it must come ashore to sleep where it can breathe; for the ocean wash in a storm would smother the sleeper. And its favorite sleeping grounds are in the forests of kelp and seaweed, where it can bury its head, and like the ostrich think itself hidden. A sound, a whiff -the ^ainte^t tinge - of smoke from miles awav is enough to frighten the sleeper, who leaps up with a fierce courage unequalleJ in the animal world, and makes for sea in lightning-ltash bounds. When Bering found the northwest coast of America, the sea-otter fr^ecjuented all the way from what is now California to the Commander Islands, the last link of the chain from America to Asia. Sea-otter were found and taken in thousands at Sitka Sound, in Yakutat Bav, Prince William Sound, Cook's Inlet, and all t. V ...^U P' JIIilW THE SEA-OTTER HUNTERS 67 along the chain of eleven hundred Aleutian Islands to the Commander Group, off Kamchatka. Where they were found in thousands then, they are seen only in tens and hundreds to-day. Where they are in hun- dreds one year, they may not come at all the next, having been too hard hunted. This explains why there used to be returns of five thousand in a single year at Kadiak or Oonalaska or Cook's Inlet; and the next year, less than a hundred from the same places. Japan long ago moved for laws to protect the sea-otter as vigorously as the seal; but Japan was only snubbed by England and the United States for her pains, ana to-day the only adequate protection afforded the diminishing sea-otter is in the tiny remnant of Russia's once vast American possessions — on the Commander Islands where by law only two hundred sea-otter may be taken a year, and the sea-otter rook- eries are more jealously guarded than diamond mines. The decreasing hunt has brought back primitive methods. Instead of firearms, the primitive club and net and spear are again used, giving the sea-otter a fair chance against his antagonist — Man. Except that the hunters are few and now dress in San Fran- cisco clothes, they go to the hunt in the same old way as when Baranof, head of the Russian Fur Company, led his battalions out in companies of a thousand and two thousand "bidarkies" — walrus-skin skiffs taut as a drumhead, with seams tallowed and an oilskin wound round each of the manholes, so that the boat MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS STANDARD REFERENCE MATERIAL 1010a (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) 68 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC could turn a somerset in the water, or be pitched off a rock into the surf, and come right side up without taking water, paddler erect. The first thing the hunter had to look to was boat and hunting gear. Westward of Cook's Inlet and Kadiak was no timber but driftwood, and the tide wash of wrecks; so the hunter, who set out on the trail of the pathless sea, framed his boat on the bones of the whale. There were two kinds of boats — the long ones, for from twelve to twenty men, the little skiffs which Eskimos of the Atlantic call kyacks — with two or three, seldom more, manholes. Over the whalebone frame was stretched the wet elastic hide of walrus or sea-lion. The big boat was open on top Hke a Newfoundland fisherman's dory or French- man's bateau, the little boat covered over the top except for the manholes round which were wound oil- skins to keep the water out when the paddler had seated himself inside. Then the wet skin was allowed to dry in sunshine and wind. Hot seal oil and tallow poured over the seams and cracks, calked the leaks. More sunshine and wind, double-bladed paddles for the little boats, strong oars and a sail for the big ones, and the skiffs were ready for water. Eastward of Kadiak, particularly south of Sitka, the boats might be hollowed trees, carved wooden canoes, or dugouts — not half so light to ride shallow, tempestuous seas as the skin skiff of the Aleut hunter. We supercilious civ' ized folk laugh at the odd dress THE SEA-OTTER HUNTERS 69 of the savage ; but it was exactly adapted to the need. The otter hunter wore the fur in, because that was warmer; and the skin out, because cured in oil, that was waterproof; and the chimney-pot capote, because that tied tight enough around his neck kept the ice- water from going down his back when the bidarka turned heels up ; and the skin boots, because they, too, were waterproof, and the sedge grass padding in place of stockings, because it protected the feet from the jar of rocks in wild runs through surf and kelp after the game. On land, the skin side of the coats could be turned in and the fur out. Oonalaska, westward of the Aleutian chain of islands and Kadiak, just south of the great Alaskan peninsula, were the two main points whence radiated the hunting flotillas for the sea-otter grounds. Formerly 3 single Russian schooner or packet boat would lead the way with a procession of a thousand bidarkas. Later, schooners, thirty or forty of them, gathered the hunters at some main fur post, stowed the light skin kyacks in piles on the decks, and carried the Aleuts to the otter grounds. This might be at Atka, where the finest otter hunters in the world lived, or on the south shore of Oonalaska, or in Cook's Inlet where the rip of the tide runs a mill-race, or just off Kadiak on the Saanach coast, where twenty miles of beach boulders and surf waters and little islets of sea-kelp provide ideal fields for the sea-otter. Here the sweeping tides and boom- u ti fi 'fM -J 70 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC ing back-wash keep up such a roar of tumbling seas, the shy, wary otter, alert as an eagle, do not easily get scent or sound of human intruder. Surf washes out the scent of the man track. Surf out-sounds noise of the man killer; and no fires are lighted, be it winter or summer, unless the wind is straight from the south- ward; for the sea-otter always frequent the south shores. The only provisions on the carrying schooner are hams, rancid butter or grease, some rye bread and flour; the only clothing, what the Aleut hunters wear. No sooner has the schooner sheered off the hunting- grounds, than the Aleuts are over decks with the agility of performing monkeys, the schooner captain wishing each good luck, the eager hunters leaping into their bidarkas following the lead of a chief. The schooner then returns to the home harbor, leaving the hunters on islands bare as a planed board for two, three, four months. On the Commander Group, otter hunters are now restricted to the use of the net alone, but formerly the nature of the hunting was determined entirely by the weather. If a tide ran with heavy surf and wind landward to conceal sound and sight, the hunters lined alongshore of the kelp beds and engaged in the hunt known as surf-shooting. Their rifles would carry a thousand yards. Whoever saw the little round black head bob above the surface of the water, shot, and the surf wash carried in the dead bodv. If the weather was dead calm, fog or cle^r, bands of twenty THE SEA-OTTER HUNTERS 71 and thirty men deployed in a circle to spear their quarry. This was the spearing-surround. Or if such a hurricane gale was churning the sea so that gusty spray and sleet storm washed out every outline, sweep- ing the kelp beds naked one minute, inundating them with mountainous rollers that thundered up the rocks the next, the Aleut hunters risked life, scudded out on the back of the raging storm, now riding the rollers, now dipping to the trough of the sea, now scooting with lightning paddle-strokes right through the blasts of spray athwart wave wash and trough — straight for the kelp beds or rocky boulders, where the sea-otter must have been driven for refuge by the storm. This hunting is the very incarnation of the storm spirit itself, for the wilder the gale, the more sea-otter have come ashore; the less likely they will be to see or hear or smell the hunter. Gaff or paddle in hand, the Aleut leaps from rock to rock, or dashes among the tumbling beds of tossed kelp. A quick blow of the bludgeon; the otter never knows how death came. This is the club hunt. But where the shore is honey- combed with caves and narrow inlets of kelp fields, is a safer kind of hunting. Huge nets now made of twine, formerly of sinew, with wooden floaters above, iron sinkers below, are spread athwart the kelp fields. The tide sweeps in, washing the net flat. An'^ the sea- otter swim in with the tide. The tide rweeps out, washing the net up, but the otter are enmeshed in a tangle that holds neck and feet. This is, perhaps, the '»i *4 Hi '■A - iV m 72 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC best kind of otter hunting, for the females and young can be thrown back in the sea. Barely has the supply schooner dipped over the offing, when the cockle-shell bidarkas skimming over the sea make for the shore of the hunting-grounds. Camping is a simple matter, for no fires are to be lighted, and the tenting place is chosf n if possible on the north side of some knoll. If it is warm weather, the Aleut will turn his skin skiff upside down, crawl into the hole head first and sleep there. Or he may erect the V-shaped tent such as the prairie tepee. But if it is cold, he has a better plan yet. He will dig a hole in the ground and cover over the top with sail-cloth. Let the wind roar above and the ice bang the shore rocks, the Aleut swathed in furs sleeps sound close to earth. If driftwood lines the shore, he is in luck; for he props up the poles, covers them with furs, and has what might be mistaken for a v/igwam, except that these Indians construct their tents round-topped and always turn the skin side of the fur out. For provisions, he has brought very little from the ship. He will depend on the winds driving in a dead whale, or on the fish of the shore, or on the eggs of the sea-birds that nest on these rocks millions upon millions — such myriads of birds they seem to crowd each other for foot room, and the noise of their wings is like a great wind.^ The Aleut himself is what any race of men ^ See John Burroughs's account of birds observed during the Harriman Expedition. Elliott and Stejcnger have remarked on the same phenomenon. I#i Is: THE SEA-OTTER HUNTERS 73 would become in generations of such a life. His skin is more like bronze than leather. His chest is like a bellows, but his legs are ill developed from the cramped posture of knees in the manhole. Indeed, more than knees go under the manhole. When pressed for room, the Aleut has been known to crawl head foremost, body whole, right under the manhole and lie th^re prone between the feet of the paddlers with nothin •twc-i him and the abysmal depths of a hissin;^ sea but the parchment keel of the bidarka, thin as paper. How do these thin skin boats escape wreckage on a sea v/he»e tide-rip washes over the reefs all summer and ice hummocks sweep out from the shore in winter tempest } To begin with, the frost that creates the ice clears the air of fog, and the steel-shod pole either sheers the bidarka off from the ice, or the ice off from the bidarka. Then, when the fog lies knife-thick over the dangerous rocks in summer time, there is a certain signal to these deep-sea plunderers. The huge Pacific walrus — the largest species of wakus in the world — lie in herds of hundreds on these danger rocks, and the walrus snorts through the gray mist like a continual fog-horn. No better danger signal exists among the rocks of the North Pacific than this same snorting walrus, who for all his noise and size is a floundering cowaid. The great danger to the nutshell skiffs is from becoming ice-logged when the sleet storms fall and freeze ; and for the rest, the sea makes small matter of a hunter more or less. H '1 til ^11 !■% i 7 74 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC J No landsman's still-hunt affords the thrilling excite- ment of the otter hunter's spearing-surrounds. Fif- teen or twenty-five little skin skiffs, with two or three men in each, paddle out under a chief elected by com- mon consent. Whether fog or clear, the spearing is done only in calm weather. The long line of bidarkas circles silently over the silver sea. Not a word is spoken, not a paddle blade allowed to click against the bone gun'els of tiie skiff. Double-bladed paddles are fre- quently used, so shift of paddle is made from side to side of the canoe without a change of hands. The skin shallops take to the water as noiselessly as the glide of a duck. Yonder, where the boulders lie mile on mile awash in the surf, kelp rafts — forests of sea- weed — lift and fall with the rhythmical wash of the tide. Hit! r the otter hunters steer, silent as shadows. The circle widens, deploys, forms a cordon round the outermost rim of the kelp fields. Suddenly a black object is seen floating on the surface of the waters — a sea-otter asleep. Quick as flash, the steersman lifts his paddle. Not a word is spoken, but so keen is the hearing of the sleeping otter, the drip of the lifted paddle has not splashed into the sea before the otter has awakened, looked and dived like lightnmg to the bottom of the sea before one of the Aleut hunters can hurl his spear. Silently, not a whisper, the steers- man signals again. The hunters deploy in a circle half a mile broad round the place where the sea-otter disappeared; for thay know that in fifteen or twenty THE SEA-OTTER HUNTERS 75 minutes the animal must come up for breath, and it cannot run farther than half a mile under sea before it reappears. Suddenly somebody sees a round black-red head poke above water, perhaps close to the line of watchers. With a wild shout, the nearest bidarkas dart forward. Whether the spear-throw has hit or missed, the shout has done enough. The terrified otter dives before it has breath. Over the second diving spot a hunter is stationed, and the circle narrows, for the otter must come up quicker this time. It must have breath, in and again, the little round head peeps up. Tin the shout greets it. Again the lightning dive, oome mes only a bubble gurgling to the top of the water guides the watchers. Presently the body is so full of gases from suppressed breathing, it can no longer sink, and a quick spear-throw secures the quarry. One animal against, perhaps, sixty men. Is the quest fair ? Yonder thunders the surf below beetling preci- pices. Then the tide wash comes in with a rip like a whirlpool, or the ebb sets the beach combers rolling — lashing billows of tumbling waters that crash together and set the sheets of blinding spray shattering. Oi the fog comes down over a choppy sea with a whizzing wind that sets the whitecaps flying backward like a horse's mane. The chase may have led farther and farther from land. As long as the little black head comes up, as long as the gurgling bubb.e tells of a struggl'ig breather below, the hunters follow, be it 1 1 1 I '-4 n 76 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC near or far, till, at the end of two or three !n)urs, the exhausted sea-otter is taken. Perhaps forty men have risked their hves for a single pelt for which the trader cannot pay more than forty dollars; for he must have his profit, and the skin must be dresseu, and the middle- men must have their profit; so that if it sells even for eleven hundred dollars in London — though the aver- age is nearer one hundred and fifty dollars — the Aleut is lucky to receive forty or fifty dollars. Day after day, three months at a time, warm or cold, not daring to light fires on the island, the Aleut hunters go out to the spearing-surround, till the schooner returns for them from the main post; and whether the hunt is harder on man or beast may be judged from the fact that where the hunting battalions used to rally r it in companies of thousands, they to-day go forth only in twenties and forties. True, the sea-otter has decreased and is almost extinct in places; but then, where game laws protect it, as in the Commander Islands, it is on the increase, and as for the Aleut hunters — their thou- sands lie in the bottom of the sea; and of the thousands who rallied forth long ago, often only a few hundred returned. But while the spearing-surround was chiefly followed in battalions under the direction of a trading company, the clubbing was done by the individuals — the daunt- less hunters, who scudded out in twos and threes in the wake of the blast, lost themselves in the sbattering sheets of spray, with the wind screamini- mad riot in their ears THE SEA-OTTER HUNTERS 77 and the roily rollers running a mill-race against tide and wind. How did they steer their cockle-shell skiffs — these Vikings of the North Pacific; or did they steer at all, or only fly before the gale on the wings of the mad north winds ? Who can tell ? The ket of man leave earth sometimes when the spirit rides out reckless of land or sea, or heaven or hell, and these plunderers of the deep took no reckoning of life or death when they rode out on the gale, where the beach combers shat- tered up the rocks, and the creatures of the sea came huddling landward to take refuge among the kelp rafts. Tossing the skin skiffs high and dry on some rock, with perhaps the weight of a boulder to keep them from blowing away, the hunters rushed oflp to the surf wash armed only with a stout stick. The Offers must be approached away from the wind, and the noise of the surf will deaden the hunter's ap- proach; so beating their way against hurricane gales — winds t'l: throw them from their feet at times — scrambling over rocks slippery as glass with ice, run- ning out on long teefs where the crash of spray con- fuses earth and air, wading waist-deep in ice slush, the hunters dash out for the kelp beds and rocks where the oner are asleep. Clubbing sounds brutal, but this kind of hunting is, perhaps, the most merciful of all — to the animal, not the man. The otter is asleep. The gale conceals the approaching danger. One blow of the gaff, and the otter never awakes. In this way have three hunters killed as many as a hundred otter !i iH 78 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC in two hours; and in this w. v have the thousands of Aleutian otter hunters, who used to throng the inlets of the northern islands, perished and dwindled to a popu- lation of poverty stricken, scattered men. n i; What were the rewards (vr all this risk of life ? A glance at the records of the old fur companies tells why the Russian and American and English traders preferred sea-otter to the gold mines of the Spaniards in Mexico. Less than ten years after Cook's crew had sold their sea-otter for ten thousand dollars, the East India Company sold six hundred sea-otter for from sixty to one hundred dollars each. Two years later, Portlock and Dixon sold their cargo for fifty- five thousand dollars; and when it is remembered that two hundred sea-otter — twelve thousand dollars' worth at the lowest aveiar were sometimes got from the Nootka tribes for a few dollars' worth of old chisel iron — the profit can be estimated. In ij^^ five thousand sea-otter were sold in China for one hundred and sixty thousand dollars. A capital of fifty thousand usually yielded three hundred thou- sand dollars; that is — if the ships escaped the dangers of hostile Indians and treacherous seas. What the Russians made from sea-otter will probably never be known; for so many different companies were engaged m the trade; and a hundred years ago, as many as fifteen thousand Indian hunters went out for the Rus- sians yearly. One ship, the year after Bering's wreck, THE SEA-OTTER rUNTERS 79 is known to have made half a million dollars from ki cargo. By definite fi 'ures — not including returns not tabulated in thu jr c mpanies — t*vo hundred thousand sea-otter were taken for the Russians in half a century. Juct before the United States took over \laska, Russia was content with four hundred sea-otter a year; but by 1875 the Americans were getting three thousand a year. Those gathered at Kadiak have totalled as many as six thousand in a year during the heyday of the hunt, at Oonalaska three thousand, on the Prybi- lofs now noted for their seai, five thoi no. In 1785 Cook's Inlet yielded three thousand; ir .812, only one hundred. Yakutat gave two tr usand in 1794, only three hundred, six year l-'ter. 1 iJ-een thousand were gatherer' at Sitka in 181-^, only one hundred and fifty thirty years later. Of course the Russians obtained such results only by a system of musket, bludgeon, and outrage, that are repellent to the modern mind. Women were seized as hostages for a big hunt. Women were even murdered as a punishment for small returns. Men were sacrificed like dogs by the "promyshleniki" — riffraff blackguard Russian hunters from the Sibe- rian exile population ; but this is a story of outrageous wrong followed by its own terrible and unshunnable Nemesis which shall be told by itself ftl -} '51 • i It;} u i ill I r. r I CHAPTER IV 1760-1770 THE OUTLAW HUNTERS The American Coast becomes the Great Rendezvous for Siberian Criminals and Political Exiles — Beyond Reach of Law, Cossacks and Criminals perpetrate Outrages on the Indians — The Indians' Revenge wipes out Russian Forts in America — The Pursuit of Four Refugee Russians from Cave to Cave over the Sea at Night — How they escape after a Year's Chase "God was high in the Heavens^ and the Czar was far away" as the Russians say, and the Siberian exiles — coureurs of the sea — who flocked to the west coast of America to hunt the sea-otter after Bering's dis- coveries in 1 741 took small thought and recked no con- sequences of God or the Czar. They timbered their crazy craft from green wood in Kamchatka, or on the Okhotsk Sea, or am.ong the for- ests of Siberian rivers. They lashed the rude planks together, hoisted a sail of deer hide above a deck of, perhaps, sixty feet, and steering by instinct across seas as chartless as the forests where French coureurs ran, struck out from Asia for America with wilder 80 THE OUTLAW HUNTERS 8i dreams of plunder than ever Spanish galleon or English freebooter hoped coasting the high seas. The crews were criminals with the brands of their crimes worn uncovered, banded together by some Siberian merchant who had provided goods for trade, and set adrift under charge of half a dozen Cossacks supposed to keep order and collect tribute of one-tenth as homage from American Indians for the Czar. Eng- lish buccaneers didn't scruple as to blood when they sacked Spanish cities for Spanish gold. These Rus- sian outlaws scrupled less, when their only hope of bettering a desperate exile was the booty of precious furs plundered, or bludgeoned, or exacted as tribute from the Indians of Northwest America. The plunder, when successful, or trade, if the crazy planks did not go to pieces above some of the reefs that cut up the North Pacific, was halved between outfitter and crew. If the cargo amounted to half a million dollars in modern money — as one of Drusenin's first trips did ~ then a quarter of a million was a tidy sum to be divided among a crew of, say, thirty or forty. Often as not, the long-planked single-master fell to pieces in a gale, when the Russians went to the bottom of the sea, or stranded among the Aleutian Islands westward of Alaska, when the castaways took up comfortable quarters among the Indians, who knew no other code of existence than the rights of the strong; and the Rus- sians with their firearms seemed strong, indeed, to the Aleuts. As long as the newcomer demanded only furs, ^1 i 82 VIKINGS OF T' E PACIFIC on his own terms of trade — the Indians acquiesced. Their one hope was to become strong as the Russians by getting iron in "toes" — bands two inches thick, two feet long. It was that ideal state, which finical philosophers describe as the "survival of the fit," and it worked well till the other party to the arrangement resolved he would play the same game and become fit, too, when there resulted a cataclysm of bloodshed. The Indians bowed the neck submissively before op- pression. Abuse, cruelty, outrage, accumulated on the heads of the poor Aleuts. They had reached the fine point where it is better for the weak to die trying to overthrow strength, than to live under the iron heel of brute oppression. The immediate cause of revolt is a type of all that preceded it.^ Running out for a thousand miles from the coast of Alaska is the long chain of Aleutian Isl- ands Unking across the Pacific toward Asia. 0( na- laska, the most important and middle of these, is as far from Oregon as Oregon is from New York. Near Oonalaska were the finest sea-otter fields in the world ; and the Aleutians numbered twenty thousand hunters — men, women, children — born to the light skin boat as plainsmen were born to the saddle. On Oona- laska and its next-door neighbor westward were at least ten thousand of these Indian otter hunters, when Russia first sent her ships to America. Bassof came soonest after Bering's discovery; and he carried back ^ See Coxc's Discoverie! of the Russians. yt r^ ^ ■iiii ff ii . i rnf i \ i THE OUTLAW HUxNTERS 83 on each of three trips to the Commander Islands a cargo of furs worth from seventy-five thousand to one hundred thousand dollars in modern money. The effect on the Siberian mind was the same as a gold find. All the riffraff adventurers of Siberia swarmed to the west coast of America. We have only the Russian version of the story - - not the Indians' — and may infer that we have the side most favorable to Russia. When booty of half a million was to be had for the taking, what Siberian exiles would permit an Indian village to stand between them and wealth .? At first only children were seized as hostages of good conduct on the part of the Indians while the white hunters coasted the islands. Then daughters and wives were lured and held on the ships, only to be returned when the husbands and fathers came back with a big hunt for the white masters. Then the men were shot down ; safer dead, thought the Russians; no fear of ambush or surprise; and the women were held as slaves to be knouttd and done to death at their masters' pleasure. In 1745 — four years after Russia's discovery of western America — a whole village in Attoo was de- stroyed so that the Russians could seize the women and children fleeing for hiding to the hills. The next year Russians were caught putting poison in the food of another village: the men ate first among the Indians. The women would be left as slaves to the Russians; and these same Russians carried a pagan boy home to n I h 84 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC it f be bapized in the Christian faith; for the little con- vert could con!3 back to the Aleutian Islands as inter- preter. It was as thorough a scheme of subjugation as the wolf code of existence could have entailed. Th^ culmination came with the crew of Betshevin, a Siberian merchant, in 1760. There were forty Rus- sians, including Cussacks, and twenty other Asiatic hunters and sailors. Four of the merchant's agents went along to enforce honest returns. Sergeant Push- kareff of the Cossacks was there to collect tribute from Russia's Indian subjects on the west coast of America. The ship was evidently better than the general run, with ample room in the hold for cargo, and wide deck room where the crew slept in ham- mocks without cover — usually a gruff, bearded, ragged, vermin-infested horde. The vessel touched at Oomnak, after having met a ;^ister ship, perhaps with an increase of aggressiveness toward the natives owing to the presence of these rther R.ussians under Alixei Drusenin; and passed on eastward to the next otter resort, Oonalaska Island. Oonalaska is like a human hand spread out, with the fingers northeast, the arm end down seventy miles long toward Oomnak Island. The entire broken coast probably reaches a circuit of over two hundred miles. Down the centre and out each spur are high volcanic mountains, two of then, smoking vol- canoes, all pitted with caves and hot springs whose course can be traced in winter by the runnels of steam nil THE OUTLAW HUNTERS 85 down the mountain side. On the sout!. side, reefs Hne all approach. North, east, and west are countless abrupt inlets opening directly no he heart of the mountains down whose black c.tfs shatter plumes of spray and cataract. Not a tree grows on the island. From base to summit the hills are a velvet sward, willow shrubs the size of one's linger, grass waist high, and such a wealth of flowers — poppy fields, anemones, snowdrops, rhododendrons — that one might be in a southern climate instead of close proximity to frozen zone"-. Fogs wreathe the island three-quarters of the time; and though snow lies five feet deep in winter, and such blizzards riot in from the north as would tear trees up by the roots, and drive all human beings to their underground dwellings, it is never cold, never below zero, and the harbors are always open. Whal- ing, fishing, fur hunting — those were the occupations of the islanders then, as now. Here, then, came PushkarefF in 1762 after two years' cruising about the Aleutian Islands. The natives are friendly, thinking to obtain iron, and knives, and fire- arms hke the other islanders who have traded with the Russians. Children are given as hostages ot good conduct for the Oonalaskan men, whr^ lead the Rus- sians off" to the hunt, coasting from r^oint to point. Pushkareff", the Cossack, himself goe off with twenty men to explore ; but somehow things go wrong at the native villages on this trip. The hostages find they are not guests, but slaves. Anyway, Betshevin's HI m i ' i M., . Wi -i: ^ 86 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC lis Ijl agent is set upon and murdered. Two more Russians are speared to death under Pushkareff's eyes, two wounded, and the Cossack himself, with his fourteen men, forced to beat a hasty retreat back to ships and huts on the coast. Here, strange enough, things have gone wrong, too ! More women and children object- ing to their masters' pleasure — slaver)', the knout, the branding iron, death by starvation and abuse. Two Russians have been slain bathing in the hot springs near Makushin Volcano, four murdered at the huts, four wounded; and the barrack is burned to the ground. Promptly the Cossack wreaks vengeance by slaughtering seven of the hostages on the spot; but he deems it wise to take refuge on his ship, weigh anchor and slip out to sea carrying with hir by way of a lesson to the natives, two interpreters, three boys, and twenty- five women, two of whom die of cruelty before the ship is well out of Oonalaskan waters. He may have intended dropping the captives at some near island on his way westward ; for only blind rage could have rendered him so indifferent to their fate as to carry such a cargo of human beings back to the home harbor of Kamchatka. Meanwhile a hurri- cane caught Pushkareff's ship, chopping the wave tops off and driving her ahead under bare poles. When the gale abated, the ship was off Kamchatka's shore and the Cossack in a quandar)' about entering the home port with proofs of his cruelty in the cowering group o ndian women huddled above the deck. THE OUTLAW HUNTERS 87 On pretence of gathering berries, six sailors were landed v 'th fourteen women. Two watched their chance and dashed for Hberty in the hills. On the way back to the ship, one woman was brained to death by a sailor, Gorelin ; seeing which, the others on board the jolly-boat took advantage of the confusion, sprang overboard, and suicided. But there were still a dozen hostages on the ship. These might relate the crime of their companions' murder. It wa.^ an old trick out of an ugly predica.rent — destroy the victim in order to dodge retribution, or torture it so it would destroy itself. Fourteen had been tortured into suicide. The rest Pushkareff seized, bound, and threw into the sea. To be sure, on ofiicial investigation, Betshevin, ♦'he Siberian merchant, was subjected to penal tortures for this crime on his ship ; and an imperial decree put an end to free trade among the fur hunters to Amerioa. Henceforth a government permit must be obtained; but that did not undo the wrong to the Aleutian Isl- anders. Primal ins^" cts, unhampered by law, have a swift, sure, short-cut to justice; to the fine equipoise between weak and strong. It was two years before punishment was meted out by the Russian govern- ment for this crime. What did the Aleut Indian care for the law's slow jargon ? His only law was self- preservation. His furs had been plundered from him; his hunting-fields overrun by brigands from he knew not where ; his home outraged ; his warriors poisoned, bludgeoned, done to death; his women and children T I ' I i!i fli 88 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC II kidnapped to lifelong slavery; the very basic, brute instincts of his nature tantalized, baited, tortured to d^re! It was from January to September of 1762, that PushkarefF had run his mad course of outrage on Oonalaska Island. It was in September of the same year, that four other Russian ships, all unconscious of the reception Pushkareff's evil doings had prepared for them, left Kamchatka for the Aleutian Islands. Each of the ships was under a commander who had been to the islands before and dealt fairly by the Indians. Betshevin's ship with PushkarefF, the Cossack, reached Kamchatka September 25. On the 6th there had come to winter at the harbor a ship under the same Alexei Drusenin, who had met PushkarefF the year before on the way to Oonalaska. Drusenin was outward bound and must have heard the tales told of Pushkareff's crew; but the latter had brought back in all nearly two thousand otter, — half sent by Druse- nin, half brought by himself, — and Oonalaska be- came the lodestar of the otter hunters. The spri.g of '63 found Drusenin coasting the Aleutians. Sure enough, others had heard news of the great find of the new hunting-grounds. Three other Russian vessels were on the grounds before him, GlottofF and Med- vedefF at Oomnak, Korovin halfway up Oonalaska. No time for Drusenin to lose! A spy sent out came back with the report that every part of Oomnak and ■ai THE OUTLAW HUNTERS 89 Oonalaska was being thoroughly hunted except the extreme northeast, where the mountain spurs of Oona- laska stretch out in the sea Hke a hand. Up to the northeast end, then, where the tide-pp thunders up the rock wall like an inverted cataract, posts Drusenin where he anchors his ship in Captain Harbor, and has winter quarters built before snow-fall of '63. An odd thing was — the Indian chiefs became so very friendly they voluntarily brought hostages of good conduct to Drusenin. Surely Drusenin was in luck ! The best otter-hunting grounds in the world ! A har- bor as smooth as glass, mountain-girt, sheltered as a hole in a wall, right in the centre of the hunting-grounds, yet shut off fron, the rioting north winds that shook the rickety vessels to pieces ! And best of all, along the sandy shore between the ship ard the mountains that receded inland tier on tier into ^ i, clouds — the dome- roofed, underground dwellings of two or three thou- sand native hunters ready to risk the surf of the otter i.unt at Drusenin's beck ! Just to make sure of safety after Pushkareff's losses of ten men on this island, Dru- senin exchanges a letter or two with the commanders of those other three Russian vessels. Then he laid his plans for the winter's hunt. But so did the Aleut Indians; and their plans were for a man-hunt of every Russian within the limits of Oonalaska. A curious story is told of how the Aleuts arranged to have the uprising simultaneous and certain. A bunch of sticks was carried to the chief of every tribe. ( 1 i ' di 90 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC J I These were burned one a day, like the skin wick in the seal oil of the Aleut's stone lamp. When the last stick had burned, the Aleuts were to rise. Now, the northeast coast was like the fingers of a hand. Drusenin had anchored between two moun- tain spurs like fingers. Eastward, across the next mountain spur was another village — Kalekhta, of some forty houses; eastward of Kalekhta, again, ten miles across, another village of seventy families on the island of Inalook. Drusenin decided to divide his crew into three hunting parties : one of nine men to guard the ship and trade with the main village of Cap- tain Harbor; a second of eleven, to tioss to the native huts at Kalekhta; a third of eleven, to cross the hills, and paddle out to the little island of Inalook. To the island ten miles off shore, Drusenin went himself, with Korelin, a wrecked Russian whom he had picked up on the voyage. On the way they must have passed all three mountains, that guard the harbor of Oona- laska, the waterfalls that pour over the cliffs near Kalekhta, and the little village itself where eleven men remained to build huts for the winter. From the vil- lage to the easternmost point was over quaking moss ankle-deep, or through long, rank grass, waist-high and water-rotted with sea-fog. Here they launched their boat of sea-lion skin on a bone frame, and pulled across a bay of ten miles to the farthermost hunting- grounds. Again, the natives over^vhelm Drusenin with kindness. The Russian keeps his sentinels as 'jR--:»i.r".'"^Ty!: THE OUTLAW HUNTERS 91 vigilant as ever pacing before the doors of the hut; but he goes unguarded and unharmed among the native dwelHngs. Perhaps, poor Diusenin was not above swaggering a little, belted in the gay uniform Russian officers loved to wear, to the confounding of the poor Aleut who looked on the pistols in belt, the cutlass dangling at heel, the bright shouh'er straps and colored cuffs, as insignia of a power almighty. Anyway, after Drusenin had sent five hunters out in the fields to lay fox-traps, early in the morning of December 4, he set out with a couple of Cossack friends to visit a native house. Korelin, the rescued castaway, and two other men kept guard at the huts.' At that time, and until very recently, the Aleuts' wii. >r dwelling was a domed, thatched roof over a cellar excavation three or four feet deep, circular and big enough to lodge a dozen families. The entrance to this was a low-roofed, hall-like annex, dark as night, leading with a sudden pitch downward into the main circle. Now, whether the Aleut had counted burning fagots, or kept tally some other way, the count was up. Barely had Drusenin stepped into the dark of the inner circle, w'-.pp ' l^w clubbed down on his skull that felled him to t The Cossack, com- ing second, had stumbled over the prostrate body be- fore either had any suspicion of danger; a'^-^ in a 1 Some of the old records spell the name of this wrecked Russian " Korelin," as if it were "Gorelin," the sailor, of Pushkarett's crew, who brained the Indian girl; I am unable to determine whether " Korelin" and "Gorelin" are the same man oi not. It so, then the punishment came home indeed. ;^:3V*~' 92 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC 1 1 second, both were cut to pieces by knives traded to the Indians the day before for otter skins. Siievyrin, the third man, happened to be carrying an axe. One against a score, he yet kept his face to the enemy, beat a retreat backward striking right and left with the axe, then turned and fled for very life, with a shower of arrows and lances falling about him, that drenched him in his own blood. Already a era') of muskets told of battle at the huts. More dead than alive, the pursued Russian turned but to strike his assailants back. Then, he was at the huts almost stumbling over the man who had probably been doing sentinel duty but was now under the spears of the crowd — when the hut door opened ; and Korelin, the Russian, dashed out flourishing a yard-long bear knife under protection of the other guard's musket fire from the window, slashed to death two of the nearest Indians, cut a swath that sent the others scat- tering, seized the two wounded men, dragged them inside the hut, and slammed the door to the enraged yells of the baflled warriors. Some one has said that Oonalaska and Oomnak are the smelting furnaces of America. Certainly, the volcanic caves supplied sulphur that the natives knew how to use as match lighters. The savages were with- out firearms, but might have burned out the Russians had it not been for the constant fusillade of musketry from door and roof and parchment windows of the hut. Two of the Russians were wounded and weak THE OUTLAW HUNTERS 93 froi loss of blood. The other two never remitted their guard day or night for four days, neither sleeping nor eating, till the wounded pair, having recovered somewhat, seized pistols and cutlasses, waited till a quelling of the musketry tempted the Indians near, then sallied out with a flare of their nistols, that dropped three Aleuts on the spot, wounded others, and drove the rest to a distance. But in t'.e sortie, there had been flaunted in their very faces, the coats and caps and daggers of the five hunters Drusciin had sent fox trapping. Plainly, the fox hunters h:d been mas- sacred. The four men were alone surrounded by hundreds of hostiles, ten miles from the shores of Oonalaska, twenty from, the other hunting detach- ments and the ship. But wate- was becoming a des- perate need. To stay cooped up in the hut was to be forced into surrender. Their only chance was to risk all by a dash from the island. Dark was gathering. Through the shadowy dusk watched the Aleuts; but the pointed muskets of the two wounded men kept hostiles beyond distance of spear-tossing, while the other two Russians destroyed what they could not carry away, hauled down their skin boat to the water loaded with provisions, ammunition, and firearms, then under guard of levelled pistols, pulled off in the darkness across the sea, heaving and thundering to the night tide. But the sea was the lesser danger. Once away from the enemy, the four fugitives pulled for dear life rmm 94 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC I 'i i i: !l across the tumbling waves — ten miles the way they went, one account says — to the main shore of Oona- laska. It was pitch dark. When they reached the shore, they could neither hear nor see a sign of life; but the moss trail through the snows had probably become well beaten to the ship by this time — four months from Drusenin's landing — or else the fugi- tives found their way by a kind of desperation; for before daybreak they had run within shouting distance of the second detachment of hunters stationed at Kalekhta. Not a sound ! Not a light ! Perhaps they had missed their way ! Perhaps the Indians on the main island are still friendly ! Shevyrin or Korelin utters a shout, followed by the signal of a musket shot for that second party of hunters to come out and help. Scarcely had the crash died over the snows, when out of the dark leaped a hundred lances, a hundred faces, a hundred shrieking, bloodthirsty savages. Now they realize the mistake of having landed, of having aban- doned the skin boat back on the beach there ! But no time to retrace steps ! Only a wild dash through the dark, catching by each other to keep together, up to a high precipitous rock they know is somewhere here, with the sea behind, sheer drop on each side, and but one narrow approach ! Here they make their stand, muskets and sword in hand, beating the assailants back, ;erever a stealthy form comes climbing up the rock to hurl spear or lance ! Presently, a well-directed fusillade drives the savages off! While night still hid ^ THE OUTLAW HUNTERS 95 them, the four fugitives scrambled down the side of the rock farthest from the savages, and ran for the roadstead where the ship had anchored. As dawn comes up over the harbor something catches the attention of the runners. It is the main hatch, the planking, the mast poles of the ship, drawn up and scattered on the beach. Drusenin's ship has been destroyed. The crew is massacred; they, alone, have escaped ; and the nearest help is one of those three other Russian ships anchored somewhere seventy miles west. Without waiting to look more, the three men ran for the mountains of the interior, found hiding in one of the deep-grassed ravines, scooped out a hole in the sand, covered this with a sail white as snow, and crawled under in hiding for the day. The next night they came down to the shore, in the hope, perhaps, of finding refugees like themselves. They discovered only the mangled bodies of their comrades, literally hacked to pieces. A saint's image and a book of prayers lay along the sand. Scattered everywhere were flour sacks, provisions, ships' plank- ing. These they carried back as well as they could three miles in the mountains. A pretty legend is told of a native hunter following their tracks to this retreat, and not only refusing to betray them but secretly carry- ing provisions; and some such explanation is needed to know how the four men lived hidden in the moun- tains from December 9 to Februar)' 2, 1764. If they had known where those other Russian ships i I f] m m i ii iv-*- 96 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC were anchored, they might have struck across country to them, or followed the coast by night; but rival hunters did not tell each other where they anchored, and tracks across country could have been followed. The track- less sea was safer. There is another story of how the men hid in moun- tain caves all those weeks, kept alive by the warmth of hot springs, feeding on clams and shell-fish gathered at night. This, too, may be true; for the mountains inland of Oonalaska Harbor are honeycombed with caves, and there are well-known hot springs. By February they had succeeded in making a skin skiff of the leather sacks. They launched this on the harbor and, stealing away unseen, rounded the north- west coast of Oonalaska's hand projecting into the sea, travelling at night southwestward, seeking the ships of Korovin, or Medvedeff, or GlottofF. Now the ma- jority of voyagers don't care to coast this part of Oona- laska at night during the winter in a safe ship; and these men had nothing between them and the abyss of the sea but the thickness of a leather sack badly oiled to keep out water. Their one hope was — a trader's vessel. All night, for a week, they coasted within the shadow of the shore rocks, hiding by day, passing three Indian villages undiscovered. Distance gave them courage. They now paddled by day, and just as they rounded Makushin Volcano, lying like a great white corpse five thousand feet above Bering Sea, they came on five 3& THE OUTLAW HUNTERS 97 Indians, who at once landed and running alongshore gave the alarm. The refugees for the second time sought safety on a rock ; but the rising tide drove them off. Seizing the light boat, they ran for shelter in a famous cave of the volcanic mountain. Here, for five v^eeks, they resisted constant siege, not a Russian of the four daring to appear within twenty yards of the cave entrance before a shower of arrows fell inside. Their only food now was the shell-fish gathered at night; their only water, snow scooped from gutters of the cave. Each night one watched by turn while the others slept; and each night one must make a dash to gather the shell-fish. Five weels at last tired the Indians' vigilance out. One dark night the Russians succeeded in launching out undetected. That day they hid, but daybreak of the next long pull showed them a ship in the folds of the mountain coast — Korovin's vessel. They reached the ship on the 30th of March. Poor Shevyrin soon after died from his wounds in the underground hut, but Korovin's troubles had only begun. Ivan Korovin's vessel had sailed out of Avacha Bay, Kamchatka, just two weeks before PushkarefF's crew of criminals came home. It had become customary for the hunting vessels to sail to the Commander Islands — Bering and Copper — nearest Kamchatka, and winter there, laying up a store of sea-cow meat, the huge bovine of the sea, which was soon to be exterminated by the hunters. Here Korovin met Denis Med- edefF's 98 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC crew, also securing a year's supply of meat for the hunt of the sea-otter. The two leaders must have had some inkling of trouble ahead, for Medvedeff gave Korovin ten more sailors, anJ the two signed a written contract to help each other in time of need. In spring (1763) both sailed for the best sea-otter fields then known — Oonalaska and omnak, Korovin with thirty-seven men, Medvedeff, forty-nine. In order not to interfere with each other's hunt, Medve- deff stopped at Oomnak, Korovin went on to Oonalaska. Anchoring sixty yards from shore, not very far from the volcano caves, where Drusenin's four fugitives were to fight for their lives the following spring, Korovm landed with fourteen men to reconnoitre. Deserted houses he saw, but never a hving soul. Going back to the ship for more men, he set out again and went inland five miles where he found a village of three hundred souls. Three chiefs welcomed him, showed receipts for tribute of furs given by the Cossack collector of a previous ship, and gave over three boys as hostages of good conduct — one, called Alexis, the son of a chief. Meanwhile, letters were exchanged with Med- vedeff down a hundred miles at Oomnak. All was well. The time had not come, it was only September — about the same time that Drusei.in up north was sending out his hunters in three detachments. Korovin was so thoroughly satisfied all was safe, that he landed his entire cargo and crew, and while the carpenters were building wintering huts out of drift- mm w mmSSSmmmM THE OUTLAW HUNTERS 99 wood, set out himself, with two skin boats, to coast northeast. For four days he followed the very shore that the four escaping men were to cruise in an oppo- site direction. About forty miles from the anchorage he met Drusenin himself, leading twenty-five Rus- sian hunters out from Captain Harbor. Surely, if ever hunters were safe, Korovin's were, with MedvedefF's forty-nine men southwest a hundred miles, and Dru- senin's thirty sailors forty miles northeast. Korovin decided to hunt midway between Drusenin's crew and MedvedefF's. It is likely that the letters exchanged among the different commanders from September to December were arranging that Drusenin should keep to the east of Oonalaska, Korovin to the west of the island, while MedvedefF hunted exclusively on the other island — Oomnak. By December Korovin iiad scattered twenty-three hunters southwest, keeping a guard of only sixteen for the huts and boat. Among the sixteen was little Alexis, the hostage Indian boy. The warning of dan- ger was from the mother of the little Aleut, who re- ported that sixty hostiles were advancing on the ship under pretence of trading sea-otter. Between the .racks and the sea front flowed a stream. Here ^ Cossack aard took their stand, armed head to foot, permitting only ten Indians at a time to enter the huts for trade. The Aleuts exchanged their sea-otter for what iron they could get, and departed with out any sign. Korovin had almost concluded it was a false !! i'vl loo VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC alarm, when three Indian servants of Drusenin's ship came dashing breathless across country with news that the ship and all the Russians on the east end of Oona- laska had been destroyed. Including the three newcomers, Korovin had only nineteen men; and his hostages numbered almost as strong. The panic-stricken sailors were for burning huts and ship, and escaping overland to the twenty- three hunters somewhere southwest. It was the loth of December — the very night when Drusenin's fugitives had taken to hiding in the north mountains. While Korovin was still debating what to do, an alarm came from beneath the keel of the ship. In the darkness, the sea was suddenly alive with hun- dreds of skin skiffs each carrying from eight to twenty Indian warriors. One can well believe that lanterns swinging from bow and stern, and ligh'.^ behind the talc windows of the huts, were put suddenly out to avoid giving targets for the hurricane of lances and darts and javelins that came hurtling through the air. Two Russians fell dead, reducing Korovin's defence to fourteen; but a quick swing of musketry exacted five Indian lives for the two dead whites. At the end of four days, the Russians were completely exhausted. The besiegers withdrew to a cave on the mountain side, perhaps to tempt Korovin on land. Quick as thought, Korovin buried his iron deep un7er the barracks, set fire to the huts, and concentrated all his forces on the vessel, where he wisely carried the THE OUTLAW HUNTERS lOI hostages with him and sheered fifty yards farther off shore. Had the riot of winter winds not ' een driving mountain billows along the outer coast, he might have put to sea ; but he had no proof the twenty-three men gone inland hunting to the south might not be yet alive, and a winter gale would have dashed his ship to kin- dhng wood outside the sheltered harbor. Food was short, water was short, and the ship over- crowded with hostages. To make matters worse, scurvy broke out among the crew; and the hostiles renewed the attack, surrounding the Russian ship in forty canoes with ten to twenty warriors in each. An ocean vessel of the time, or even a pirate ship, could have scattered the assailants in a few minutes; but the Rus- sian hunting vessels were long, low, flat-bottomed, rickety-planked craft, of perhaps sixty feet in length, with no living accommodation below decks, and very poor hammock space above. Hostages and scurvy- stricken Russians were packed in the hold with the meat stores and furs like dying rats in a garbage barrel. It was as much as a Russian's life was worth, to show his head above the hatchway; and the siege lasted from the middle of December to the 30th of March, when Drusenin's four refugees, led by Korelin, made a final dash from Makushin Volcano, and gained Koro- vin's ship. '- !1 i With the addition of the fugitives, Korovin now had eighteen Russians. The Indian father of the hostage. Ii}l ,02 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC Alexis, had come to demand back his son. Korovin fr >ed the boy at once. By the end of April, the spring gales had subsided, and though half his men were prostrate with scurvy, there was nothing for Korovin to do but dare the sea. They sailed out from Oona- laska on April 26 heading back toward Oomnak, where MedvedefF had anchored. In the straits between the different Aleutian Islands runs a terrific tide-rip. Crossing from Oonalaska to Oomnak, Ko-ovin's ship was caught by the counter- currents and cross winds. Not more than five men were well enough to stand upon their feet. The ship drifted without pilot or oarsmen, and driving the full force of wind and tide foundered on the end of Oom- nak Island. Ammunition, sails, and skins for fresh rowboats were all that could be saved of the wreck. One scurvy-stricken sailor was drowned trying to reach land; another died on being lifted from the stiflingly close hold to fresh air. Eight hostages sprang overboard and escaped. Of the sixteen white men and four hostages left, three were powerless from scurvy. This last blow on top of a winter's siege was too much for the Russians. Their enfeebled bodies were totally exhausted. Stretching sails round as a tent and sta- tioning ten men at a time as sentinels, they slept the first unbroken sleep they had known in five months. The tired- out sentinels must have fallen asleep at their places; for just as day dawned came a hundred savages, stealthv and silent, seeking the ship that had slipped THE OUTLAW HUNTERS 103 out from Oonalaska. Landing without a sound, they crept up within ten yards of the tents, stabbed the sleep- ing sentinels to death, and let go such a whiz of arrows and lances at the tent walls, that three of the Indian hostages inside were killed and every Russian wounded. Korovin had not even time to seize his firearms. Cutlass in hand, followed by four men — all wounded and bleeding like himself— he dashed out, slashed two savages to death, and scattered the rest at the sword point. A showp*- of spears was the Indians' answer to this. Wounded anew, the five Russians could scarcely drag themselves back to the tent where by this time the ( I hers had seized the firearms. All that day and night, a tempest lashed the shore. The stranded ship fell to pieces like a boat of paper; and the attacking islanders strewed the provisions to the winds with shrieks of laughter. On the 30th of April, the assailants began firing muskets, which they had captured from Korovin's massacred hunters ; but the shots fell wide cf «:he mark. Then they brought sul- phur from the volcanic caves, and set fire to the long grass on the windward side of the tents. Again, Korovin sallied out, drove them off, and extinguished the fire. May, June, and half July he lay stranded here, waiting for his men to recover, and when they recovered, setting them to build a boat of skin and driftwood. Toward the third week of July, a skin boat twenty- four feet long was finished. In this were laid the wounded ; and the well men took ^'^ the paddles. All m 104 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC '1 1 'I night they paddled westward and still westward, night after night, seeking the third vessel — that of Denis MedvedefF, who had come with them the year before from Bering Island. On the tenth day, Russian huts and a stone bath-house were seen on the shore of a broad inlet. Not a soul was stirring. As Korovin's boat approached, bits of sail, ships' wreckage, and pro- visions were seen scattered on the shore. Fearing the worst, Korovin landed. Signs of a struggle were on every hand; and in the bath-house, still clothed but with thongs round their necks as if they had been strangled to death, lay twenty of MedvedefF's crew. Closer examination showed MedvedefF himself among the slain. Not a soul was left to tell the story of the massacre, not a word ever heard about the fate of the others in the crew. Korovin's last hope was gone. There was no third ship to carry him home. He was in the very act of ordering his men to construct winter quarters, when Stephen GlottofF, a famous hunter on the way back from Kadiak westward, appeared marching across the sands followed by eight men. GlottofF had heard of the massacres from natives on the north shore with whom he was friendly; and had sent out rescue parties to seek the survivors on the south coast of whom the Indian spies told. The poor fugitives embraced GlottofF, and went almost mad with joy. But like the prospector, who sufFers untold hardships seeking the wealth of gold, these seekers of wealth in furs could not relinquish the ■MP" THE OUTLAW HUNTERS 105 wild freedom of the perilous life. They signed con- tracts to hunt with GlottofF for the year. It is no part of this story to tell how the Cossack, SoloviefF, entered on a campaign of punishment for the Aleuts when he came. Whole villages were blown up by mines of powder in birch bark. Fugitives dashing from the conflagration were sabred by the Russians, as many as a hundred Aleuts butchered at a time, villages of three hundred scattered to the winds, warriors bound hand and foot in line, and shot down. Suffice it to say, scurvy slaked SoloviefF's vengeance. Both Aleuts and Russians had learned the one all-im- portant lesson — the Christian's doctrine of retribution, the scientist's law of equilibrium — that brute force met by brute force ends only in mutual destruction, in anarchy, in death. Thirty years later, Vancouver visit- ing the Russians could report that their influence on the Indians was of the sort that springs from deep- rooted kindness and identity of interests. Both sides had learned there was a bette 'ay than the wolf code.* 1 It would be almost impossible to quote all the authorities on this massacre of the Russians; and every one who has written on Russian fur trade in America gives different scraps of the tragedy ; but nearly all can be traced back to the detailed account in Coxe's Disco-vr- •! 0/" the Russians hetiveen Asia and /imerica, and on this I have relied, the Frent! dition of 1781. The Census Report, Vol. VIII, 1880, by Ivan Petroft, is invaluable for topography and ethnology of this period and region. It was from Korelin, one of the four refugees, that the Russian archivists took the first account of the massacre ; and Coxe's narrative is based on Korelin's story, though the tradition of the massacre has been handed down from father to child among Oonalaskans to this day ; so that certain caves near Captain Harbor, and Makushin Volcano are still pointed out as the refuge of the f:-ur pursued Russians. J i' CHAPTER V 1768-1772 COUNT MAURITIUS BENYOWSKY THE POLISH PIRATE Siberian Exiles under Polish Soldier of Fortune plot to overthrow Garrison of Kamchatka and escape to West Coast of America as Fur Traders — A Bloody Melodrama enacted at Bolcheresk — The Count and his Criminal Crew sail to Am.erica Fur hun!> rs, world over, live much the same life. It was the beaver led French voyageurs westward to the Rocky Mountains. It was the sea-otter brought Russian coasters cruising southward from Alaska to California ; and it was the little sable set the mad pace of the Cossacks' wild rush clear across Siberia to the shores of the Pacific. The tribute that the riotous Cossacks collected, whether from Siberia or America, was tribute in furs. The farther the hunters wandered, the harder it was to obtain supplies from the cities. In each case — in New France, on the Missouri, in Siberia — this com- pelled resort to the same plan ; a grand rallying place, a yearly rendezvous, a stamping-ground for hunters and traders. Here merchants brought their goods; 106 THK POLISH PIRATE 107 hunters, their furs; hght-fingered gentry, offscourings from everywhere, horses to sell, or smuggled whiskey, or plunder that had been picked up in ways untold. The great meeting place for Russian fur traders was on a plain east of the Lena River, not far from Yakutsk, a thousand miles in a crow line from the Pacific. In the fall of 1770 there had gathered here as lawless birds of a feather as ever scoured earth for prey. Mer- chants from the inland cities had floated down supplies to the plain on whiro and black and lemon-painted river barges. Long caravans cf pack horses and mules and tented wagons came rumbling dust-covered across the fields, bells ajingle, driven by Cossacks all the way from St. Petersburg, six thousand miles. Through snow-padded forests, over wind-swept plains, across the heaving mountains of two continents, along deserts and Siberian rivers, almost a year had the caravans travelled. These, for the most part, carried ship supplies — cordage, tackling, iron — for vessels to be built on the Pacific to sail for America. Then there rode in at furious pace, from the northern steppes of Siberia, the Cossack tribute collectors — four hundred of them centred here — who gathered one-tenth of the furs for the Czar, nine-tenths for themselves: drunken brawlers they were, lawless as Arabs; and the only law they knew was the law they wielded. Tartar hordes came with horses to sell, freebooters of the boundless desert, banditti in league with the Cossacks to smuggle across the bor- Ui io8 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC ders of the Chinese. And Chinese smugglers, splendid in silk attire, hobnobbed with exiles, who included every class from courtiers banished for political of- fences to criminals with ears cut off" and faces slit open. What with drink and play and free fights — if the Czar did not hear, it was because he was far away. On this August night half a dozen new exiles had come in with the St. Petersburg cavalcade. The prisoners were set free on parole to see the sights, while their Cossack guard went on a spree. The new- comers seemed above the common run of criminals sent to Siberia, better clothed, of the air born to com- mand, and in possession of money. The leading spirit among them was a young Pole, twenty-eight years or thereabouts, of noble rank, Mauritius Be- nyowsky, very lame from a battle wound, but plainly a soldier of fortune who could trump every trick fate played him, and give as good knocks as he got. Four others were officers of the army in St. Petersburg, exiled for political reasons. Only one, Hippolite Stephanow, was a criminal in the sense of having broken law. Hoffman, a German surgeon, welcomed them to his quarters at Yakutsk. Where were they going ^ — To the Pacific .'' — "Ah; a long journey from St. Peters- burg; seven thousand miles!" That was where he was to go when he had finished surgical duties on the Lena. By that they knew he, too, was an exile, practising his profession on parole. He would advise iUE POIJSH PIRATE 109 them — cautiously feeling his ground — to get trans- ferred as soon as they could from the Pacific .oast to the Peninsula of Kamchatka; that was safer for an exile — fewer guards, farther from the Cossacks of the mainland; in fact, nearer America, where exiles might make a fortune in the fur trade. Had they heard of schemes in the air among Rus- sians for ships to plunder furs in America " with powder and hatchets and the help of God," as the Russians say ? Mauritius Augustus, Count Benyowsky. Benyowsky, the Pole, jumped to the bait like a trout to the fly. If "powder and hatchets and the help of God" — an^ an exile crw — could capture weahh in the fur trade of western America, why not a break for freedom ? They didn't scruple as to means, these men. Why should they? They had been penned in festering dungeons, where the dead lay, corrupting the air till living and dead became a diseased mass. They had been knouted for diflferences of political opinion. They i\ i no VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC had been whisked off at midnight from St. Petersburg — mile after mile, week after week, month after month, across the snows, with never a word of explanation, knowing only from the jingle of many bells that other prisoners were in the long procession. Now their hopes took fire from Hoffman's tales of Russian plans for fur trade. The path of the trackless sea seems always to lead to a boundless freedom. In a word, before they had left Hoffman, they had bound themselves by oath fo try to seize a fur-trad- ing ship to escape across the Pacific. Stephanow, the common convict, was the one danger. He might play spy and obtain freedom by betraying all. To pre- vent this, each man was required to sign his name to an avowal of the conspirators' aim. Hoffman was to follow as soon as he could. Meanwhile he kept the documents, which were written in German; and Be- nyowsky, the Pole, was elected chief. The Cossack guards came sulkily back from their gambling bout. The exiles were placed in elk-team sleds, and the remaining thousand miles to the Pacific resumed. But the spree had left the soldiers with sore heads. At the first camping place they were gam- bling again. On the sixth day out luck turned so heavily against one soldier that he lost his entire belongings to the captain of the troops, flew in a towering rage, and called his officer some black- guard name. The officer nonchalantly took over the k THE POLISH PIRATE III gains, swallowed the insult, and commanded the other Cossacks to tie the fellow up and give him a hun- dred lashes. For a moment consternation reigned. There are some unwritten laws even among the Cossacks. To play the equal, when there was money to win, then act the despot when oiFended, was not according to the laws of good fellows among Cossacks. Before the officer knew where he was, he had been seized, bundled out of the tent, stripped naked and flogged on the bare back th*- iiundred strokes. He w. ' I roaring with rage and pain and fear when a c.ureur came thundering over the path from Yakutsk with word that Hoffman had died suddenly, leaving certain papers suspected of conspiracy, which were being forwarded for examination to the com- mander on the Pacific. The coureur handed the paper to the officer of the guards. Not a man of the Cossacks could read German. What the papers were the terrified exiles knew. If word of the plot reached the Pacific, they night expect knouting, perhaps muti- lation, or lifelong, hopeless servitude in the chain- gangs of the mines. One chance of frustrating dt .ection remained — the Cossack officer looked to the exiles for protection against his men. For a week t i," cavalcade moved sullenly on, the soldiers jeering in open revolt at the officer, the officer in terror for his life, the exiles quak- ing with fear. The road led to a swift, somewhat Il \t 112 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC dangerous river. The Cossacks were ordered to swim the elk teams across. The officer went on the raft to guard the prisoners, on whose safe deUvery his own Hfe depended. With hoots of laughter, that could not be reported as disobedience, the Cossacks hustled the snort'ng elk teams against the raft. A deft hoist from i..e pole of some unseen diver below, and the raft load was turned heher-skelter upside down in the middle of the river, the commander going undei heels up ! When officer and exiles came scrambling up the bank wet as water-rats, they were welcomed with shouts by the Cossacks. Officer and prisoners lighted a fire to dry clothes. Soldiers rum.maged out the brandy casks, and were presently so deep in drunken sleep not a man of the guard was on his feet. Benyowsky waited till the commander, too, slept. Then the Pole limped,*careful as a cat over cut glass, to the coat drying before the fire, drew out the packet of documents, and found what the exiles had feared — HoflPman's papers in German, with orders to the commander on the Pacific to keep the conspirators fettered till instruc- tior.a came the next year from St. Petersburg. The prisoners realized that all must be risked in one desperate cast of the dice. " I and time against all men," says the proverb. No fresh caravan would be likely to come till spring. Meanwhile they must play against time. Burning the packet to ashes, they replaced it with a forged order instructing the com- mander on the Pacific to treat the exiles with all free- ■KiiM THE POLISH PIRATE 113 dom and liberality, and to fonvard them by the first boat outward bound for Kamchatka. The governor at Okhotsk did precisely as the pacKet instructed. He allowed them out on parole. He sup- plied them with clothing and money. He forwarded them lO Kamchatka on the first boat outward bound, the St. Peter and Paul, with forty-three of a crew and ten cannon, which had just come back from punishing American Indians for massacring the Russians. A year less two days from the night they had been whisked out of St. Petersburg, the exiles reached their destination —the little kg fort or ostrog of Bolche- resk, about twenty miles up from the sea on the inner side of Kamchatka, one hundred and fifty miles over- land from the Pacific. The rowboat conducting the exiles up-stream met rafts of workmen gliding dowr the current. Rafts and rowboat paused within call. The raftsmen wanted news from Europe. Benyowsky answered that exiles had no news. "Who are you ?" an ofliicer demanded bluntly. Alw"tys and uncon- sciously playing the hero part of melodrama, Benyow- sky replied — " Once a soldier and a general, now a slave." Shouts of laughter broke from the raftsmen. The enraged Pole was for leaping overboard and thrashing them to a man for their mockery; but they called out, " no offence had been meant" : they, too, were exiles; cheir laughter was welcome; they had suffered enough in Kamchatka to know that when men must laugh or weep, better, much better, laugh ! Even as they i 11 H i^( 114 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC laughed came the tears. With a rear sweep, the rafts headed about and escorted the newcomers to the for- tress, where thev were locked for the night. After all, a welcome to exile was a sardonic sort of mirth. Kamchatka occupies very much the same position on the Pacific as Italy to the Mediterranean, or Nor- way to the North Sea. Its people were nomads, wild as American Indians, but Russia had established gar- risons of Cossacks — collectors of tribute in furs — all over the peninsula, of whom four hundred were usually moving from place to place, three hundred stationed at Bolcheresk, the seat of government, on the inner coast of the peninsula. The capital itself was a curious conglomeration of log huts stuck away at the back of beyond, with all the o^old lace and court satins and regimental formali- ties of St. Petersburg in miniature. On one side of a deep ravine, was the fort or ostrog — a palisaded courtyard of some two or three hundred houses, joined together like the face of a street, with assembly rooms, living apartments, and mess rooms on one side of a passageway, kitchens, servants' quarters, and barracks for the Cossacks on the other side of the aisle. Two or three streets of these double-rowed houses made up the fort. Few of the houses contained more than three rooms, but the rooms were large as halls, one hundred by eighty feet, some of them, with whip- sawed floors, clay-chinked log walls, parchment win- thl: polish pirate "5 dovvs, and furniture hewed out of the green fir trees of the mountains. But the kixurious living made up for the bareness of furnishings. Shining samovars sung in every room. Rugs of priceless fur concealed the rough flooring. Chinese silks, Japanese damasks, — Oriental tapestries smuggled in by the fur traders, — covered the walls; and richest of silk attired the Rus- sian officers and their ladies, compelled to beguile time here, where the only break in monotony was the arrival of fresh ships from America, or exiles from St. Peters- burg, or gambling or drinking or dancing or ''^asting the long winter nights through, with, perhaps, a luel in the morning to settle midnight debts. Just across a deep ravine from the fort w^as another kind of settle- ment — ten or a dozen yurtSy thatch-roofed, circular houses half underground Hke cellars, grouped about a square hall or barracks in the centre. In this village dwelt the exiles, earning their living by hunting or acting as servants for the officers of the Cossacks. Here, then, came Benyovvsky and his companions, well received because of forged letters sent on, but with no time to lose; for the first spring packet overland might reveal their conspiracy. The raftsmen, who had welcomed them, now turned hosts and housed the newcomers. The Pole was assigned to an educated Russian, who had been eight years in exile. "How can you stand it? Do you fear death too much to dare one blow for liberty ?" Benyowsky asked the other, as they sat over their tea that first night. 1 I „6 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC But a spy might ask the same question. The Rus- sian evaded answer, and a few hours later showed the Pole books of travel, among which were maps of the Philippines, where twenty or thirty exiles might go // they bad a leader. Leader ? Benyowsky leaped to his feet with hands on pistol and cutlass with which he had been armed that morning when Governor Nilow liberated them to hunt on parole. Leader? Were they men ? Was this settlement, too, ready to rise if they had a leader ? No time to lose! Within a month, cautious as a man living over a volcano, the Polish nobleman had enlisted twenty recruits from the exile settlement, bound to secrecy by oath, and a score more from a crew of sailor exiles back from America, mutinous over brutal treatment by their captain. In addition to secrecy, each conspirator bound himself to implicit and instant obedience to Benyowsky, their chief, and to slay each with his own hand any member of the band found guilty of betrayal. But what gave the Pole his greatest power was his relation to the gov- ernor. The coming of the young nobleman had caused a flutter in the social life of the dull little fort. He had been appointed secretary to Governor Nilow, and tutor to his children. The governor's lady was the widow of a Swedish exile; and it took the Pole but a few interviews to discover that wife and family fa- vored the exiles rather than their Russian lord. In fact, the good woman suggested to the Pole that he ^mm THE POLISH PIRATE 117 should prevent her sixteen-year-olcl daughter hecoming wife to a Cossack by marrying her himselt. The Pole's first move was to ask the governor's permission to estabhsh a colony of exile farmers in the south of the peninsula. The request was granted. This created a good excuse for the gathering of the provisions that would be needed for the voyage on the Pacific; but when the exiles further requested a fur- trading vessel to transport the provisions to the new colony, their design was balked by the unsuspecting governor granting them half a hundred row boats, too frail to go a mile from the coast. There seemed no other course but to seize a vessel by force and escape, but Benyousky again played for time. The govern- or's daughter discovered his plot through her servant planning to follow one of the exiles to sea ; but instead of betraying him to her Russian father, she promised to send him red clippings of thread as danger signals if the governor or his chancellor got wind of the treason. '1 neir one aim was to get away from Asia before fresh orders could come overland from Yakutsk. Ice still blocked the harbor in April, but the St. Peter and Paul, the armed vessel that had brought the exiles across the sea from the mainland, lay in port and was already enlisting a crew for the summer voyage to America. The Pole sent twelve of his nien to enlist among the crew, and nightly store provisions in the hold. The rest of the band were set to manufacturing cartridges, and buying or borrowing all the firearms ! I:i ii ii8 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC they could obtain on the pretence of hunting. Word was secretly carried from man to man that, when a light was hoisted on the end of a flagstaff above the /lenyowsky hut, all were to rally for the settlement across the ravine from the fort. The crisis came before the harbor had opened. Benyowsky was o sled journey inland with the gov- ernor, when an exne came to him by night with word that one of the conspirators had lost his nerve and determined to save his own neck by confessing all to the governor. The traitor was even now hard on the trail to over- take the governor. Without a moment's wavering, Benyowsky sent the messenger with a flask of poisoned brandy back to meet the man. The Pole had scarcely returned to his hut in the exile village, when the governor's daughter :ame to him in tears. IsmylofF, a young Russian trader, who had all winter tried to join the conspirators as a spy, had been on the trail when the traitor was poisoned and was even now closeted with Governor Nilow. It was the night of April 23. No sooner had the daughter gone than the light was run up on the flag- statf, the bridge across the ravine broken down, arms dragged from hiding in the cellars, windows and doors barricaded, sentinels placed in hiding along the ditch between village and fort. For a whole day, no word came. Governor and chancellor were still busy ex- amining witnesses. In the morning came a maid THE POLISH PIRATE 119 from the governor's daugluer with a ^ed thread of warning, and none too soon, for at ten o'clock, a Cos- sa k sergeant brought a pohte invitation from the gov- ernor for the pleasure of M. lienyowsky's company at breakfast. i\I. Benyowsky returns pohte regrets that he is shghtly indisposed, but hopes to give himseW the pleasure later. The sergeant winked his eyes and opined it was wiser to go by fair means than to be dragged by main force. The Pole advised the sergeant to make his will before repeating that threat. Noon saw two Cossacks and an ofiker thundering at the Pole's door. The door opened wide. In marched the soldiers, armed to the teeth; but before their clicking heels had ceased to .nark time, the door was shut again. Benyowsky had whistled. A dozen exiles rose out of the floor. Cossacks and captors rolled in a heap. The soldiers were bound head to feet, and bundled into the cellar. Meanwhile the sentinels hidden in the ravine had captured IsmyloflT, the nephew of the chancellor, and two other Russians, who were added to the captives in the cellar; and the governor changed his tactics. A letter was received from the govc rnor's daughter pleading with her lover to come and be reconciled with her father, who had now no prejudice against the exiles; but in the letter were two or three tiny red threads such as might have \ 1 20 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC been pulled out of a dress sleeve. The letter had been written under force. Benyowsky's answer was to marshal his fifty-seven men in three divisions round the village; one round the house, the largest hidden in the dark on the fort side of the ravine, a decoy group stationed in the ditch to draw an attack. By midnight, the sentinels sent word that the main guard of Cossacks had reached the ravine. The de- coy had made a feint of resistance. The Cossacks sent back to the fort for reenforcements. The Pole waited only till nearly all the Cossacks were on the ditch bank, then instructing I'-e little band of decoys to keep up a sham fight, poured his main forces through the dark, across the plain at a run, ft)r the fort. Pali- sades were scaled, gates broken down, guards stabbed where they stood ! Benyowsky's men had the fort and the gates barricaded again befou- the governor could collect his senses. As Benvowsky entered the main rooms, the enraged commander seized a pistol, which missed fire, and sprang at the Pole's throat, roaring out he would sec the exiles dead before he would surrender. The Pole, being lame, had swayed ba:k under the onslaught, when the circular slash of a cutlass in the hand of an exile officer severed the governor's head from his body. Twenty-eight Cossacks were put to the sword inside the fort; but the exiles wxre not yet out of their trouLi. s. Though they had seized the armed \essel at once and THE POLISH PIRAIE 121 transferred to the hold the entire loot of the fort, — furs, silks, supplies, gold, — it would be two weeks before the ice would leave the port. Meanwhile the two hunc'*-"'! defeated Cossacks had retreated to a hill, and sent coureurs scurrying for help to the other forts of Kamchatka. Within two weeks seven hundred Cossacks would be on the hills; and the exiles, whose supplies were on board the vessel, would be cut off in the fort and starved into surrender. No time to waste, Benyowsky ! Not a woman or child was harmed, but every family in the fort was quickly rounded up in the • i 1. Round this, out- side, were piled chairs, furniture, pitch, tar, powder, whale-oil. Promptly at nine in the morning, three women and twelve young girls — wives and daughters of the Cossack officers — were despatched to the Cos- sack besiegers on the hill with word that unless the Cossacks surrendered their arms to the exiles and sent down fifty soldiers as hostages of safety for the exiles till the ship could sail — precisely at ten o'clock the church would be set on fire. The women were seen to ascend the hill. No signal came from the Cossacks. At a quarter past nine Benyowsky kindled fires at each of the four angles of the church. As the flames began to mount a forest of handkerchiefs and white sheets waved above the hill, and a host of men came spurring to the fort with all the Cossacks' arms and fifty-two hos- tages. 122 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC 1^ ^ The exiles now togged themselves out in all the gay regimentals of the Russian officers. Salutes of triumph were fired from the cannon. A Te Deum was sung. Feast and mad wassail filled both day and night till the harbor cleared. Even the Cossacks caught the madcap spirit of the escapade, and helped to load ammunition on the St. Peter and Paul. Nor were old wrongs forgiven. Ismyloff was bundled on the vessel in irons. The chancellor's secretary was seized and compelled to act as cook. Men, who had played the spy and tyrant, now felt the merciless knout. Witnesses, who had tried to pry into the exiles' plot, were hanged at the yard-arm. Nine women, relatives of exiles, who had been compelled to become the wives of Cossacks, now threw off the yoke of slavery, donned the costly Chinese silks, and joined the pirates. Among these was the governor's daughter, who was to have married a Cossack. On May ii, 1771, the Polish flag was run up on the St. Peter and Paul. The fort fired a God-speed — a heartily sincere one, no doubt — of twenty-one guns. Again the Te Deum was chanted; again, the oath of obedience taken by kissing Benyowsky's sword; and at five o'clock in the evening the ship dropped down the river for the sea, with ninety-six exiles on board, of whom nine were women; one, an archdeacon; half a dozen, officers of the imperial army; one, a gentleman in waiting to the Empress; at least a dozen, convicts of the blackest dye. THE POLISH PIRATE 123 The rest of Benyowsky's adventures read more like a page from some pirate romance than sober record of events on the west coast of America. Barely had the vessel rounded the southern cape of the peninsula into the Pacific, when Ismyloff, the young Russian trader, who had been carried on board in irons, rallied round Benyowsky such a clamor of mutineers, duels weie fought on the quarter-deck, the malcontents clapped in handcuflFs again, and the ringleaders tied to the masts, where knouting enough was laid on to make them sue for peace. The middle of May saw the vessel anchoring on the west coast of Bering Island, where a sharp lookout was kept for Russian fur traders, and armed men must go ashore to reconnoitre before Benyowsky dared venture from the ship. The Pole's position was chancy enough to satisfy even his melodramatic soul. Apart from four or five Swedes, the entire crew of ninety-six was Russian. Benyowsky was for sailing south at once to take up quarters on some South Sea island, or to claim ihe protection of some European power. The Russian exiles, of whom half were criminals, were for coasting the Pacific on pirate venture, and compelled the Pole to steer his vessel for the fur hunters' islands of Alaska. The men sent to reconnoitre Bering Island came back with word that while they were gathering drift- wood on the south shore, they had heard shots and met five Russians belonging to a Saxon exile, who had Hi 124 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC turned fur hunter, deposed the master of his ships, gathered one hundred exiles around him, and become a trader on his own account. The Saxon requested an interview with Benyowsky. What was the Pole to do ? Was this a decoy to test his strength ? Was the Saxon planning to scuttle the Pole's vessel, too ? Be- nyowsky's answer was that he would be pleased to meet his Saxon comrade in arms on the south shore, each side to approach wiih four men only, laying down arms instantly on sight of each other. The two exile pirates met. Each side laid down arms as agreed. Ochotyn, the Saxon, was a man of thirty-six years, who had come an exile on fur trading vessels, gathered a crew of one hundred and thirty-four around him, and, like the Pole, become a pirate. His plan in meet- ing Benyowsky was to propose vengeance on Russia: let the two ships unite, go back to Siberia, and sack the Russian ports on the Pacific. But the Pole had had enough of Russia. He contented himself with presenting his brother pirate with one hundred pounds of ammunition ; and the two exiles sat round a camp- fire of driftwood far into the night, spinning yarns of blasted hopes back in Europe, and desperate venture here on the Pacific. The Saxon's headquarters were on Kadiak, where he had formed alliance with the Indians. Hither he advised the Pole to sail for a cargo of furs. IsmylofF, the mutineer, was marooned on Bering Island. Ice-drift had seemed to bar the way north- ^ THE POLISH PIRATE 125 ward through Bering Straits. June saw Benyowsky far eastward at Kadiak on the south shore of Alaska, gathering in a cargo of furs; and from the sea-otter fields of Kadiak and Oonalaska, Benyowsky sailed southwest, past the smoking volcanoes of the Aleu- tians, vaguely heading for some of those South Sea islands of which he used to read in 'he exile village of Kamchatka. Not a man of the crew knew as much about navigation as a schoolboy. They had no idea where they were going, or where the ship was. As day after day slipped past with no sight but the heaving sea, the Russian landsmen became restive. Provi- sions had dwindled to eye fish a day; and scarcely a pint of water for each man was left in the hold. In flying from Siberian exile, were they courting a worse fate? Stephanow, the criminal convict, who had crossed Siberia with the Pole, dashed on deck demand- ing a better allowance of water as the ship entered warmer and warmer zones. The next thing the Pole knew, Stephanow had burst open the barrel hoops of the water kegs to quench his thirst. By the time the guard had gone down the main hatch to intercept him, Stephanow and a band of Russian mutineers had trundled the brandy casks to the deck and were in a wild debauch. The main hatch was clapped down, leaving the mutineers in possession of the deck, till all fell in drunken torpor, when Benyowsky rushed his soldiers up the fore scuttle, snapped handcuffs on [26 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC ! I , the rebels, and tied them to the masts. In the midst of this disorder, such a hurricane broke over the ocean that the tossing yard-arms alternately touched water. To be sure, Benyowsky had escaped exile; but his ship was a hornets* nest. After the storm all hands were busy sewing new sails. The old sails were dis- tributed as trousers for the ragamuffin crew. For ten davj no food was tasted but soup made from sea- Oiter skins. Then birds were seen, and seaweed drifted past the vessel; and a wild hope mounted every heart of reachmg some pan of Japan. On sunscc of July 15, the Pole's watch-dog was noticed standing; at the bow, sniffing and barking. Two or three of the ship's hands dashed up to the masthead, vowing they would not come down till they saw land. Suddenly the lookout shouted, Land ! The exiles forgot their - oes. Even the muti- neers tied to the masts cheered. Darker and darker grew the cloud on the horizon. By daybreak the cloud had resolved itself to a shore before the eager eyes of the watching crew. The ship had scarcely anchored before every man was overboard in a wild rush for the fresh water to be found on land. Tents were pitched on the island; and the wanderers of the sea rested. It is no part of this narrative to tell of Benyowsky's adventures on Luzon of the Philippines, or the La- drones,— whichever it was,— how he scuttled Japan- ik THE POLISH PIRATE 127 ! ese sampans of gold and pearls, fought a campaign in Formosa, and wound up at Macao, China, where all the rich cargo of sea-otter brought from America was found to be water rotted; and Stephanow, the c'iminal convict, left the Pole destitute by stealing and selling all the Japanese loot. This part of the story does not concern America; and the Pole's whole life has been told by Jokai, the Hun- garian novelist, and Kotzebue, the Russian dramatist. Benyowsky got passage to Europe from China on one of the East India Company ships, whose captain was uneasy enough at having so many pirates on board. In France he obtained an appointment to look after French forts in Madagascar; but this was too tame an undertaking for the adventure-loving Pole. He threw up his appointment, returned to Europe, interested English merchants in a new venture, sailed to Balti- more in the Robert Anne of twenty cannon and four hundred and fifty tons, interested merchants there in his schemes, and departed from Bahimore October 25, 1784, to conquer Maoagascar and set up an indepen- dent commercial government. Here he was slain by 'he French troops on 'he 23d of May, 1786 — to the ruin of those Baltimore and London merchants who had advanced him capital. His own account of his adventures is full of gross exaggerations ; but even the Russians were so impressed with the prowess of his valor that a few years later, when Cook sailed to Alaska, IsmylofF could not be brought to mention his name; 128 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC and when the EngHsh ships went on to Kamchatka, they found the inhabitants hidden in the cellars, for fear the Polish pirate had returned. But like many heroes of misfortune, Benyowsky could not stand suc- cess. It turned his head. He entered Macao with the airs of an emperor, that at once discredited him with the solid people. If he had returned to the west coast of America, as a fur trader, he might have wrested more honors from Russia; but his scheme to capture an island of which he was to be king, ended in ruin for himself and his friends.' r i f< 1 It may as well be acknowledged that Mauritius Augustus, Count Benyowsky (pronounced by himself Be-nyov-sky), is a liar without a peer among the adventurers of early American history. If it were not that his life was known to the famous men of his time, his entire memoirs from 1 741 to 1771 might be rejected as fiction of the yellow order ; but the comical thing is, the mendacious fellow cut a tremen- dous swath in his day. The garrisons of Kamchatka trembled at his name tw ly-five years after his escapades. Ismyloff, who became a famous trader in the Russian Fur Company, could not be induced to open his mouth about the Pole to Cook, and actually made use of the universal fear of Benyowsky among Russians, to keep Cook from learning Russian fur trade secrets, when the Englishman went to Kamchatka, by repre- senting that Cook was a pirate, too. The Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1772, contained a letter from Canton, dated November 19, 1 771. g'ving a full account of the pirate's arrival there with his mutineers a... women refugees. The Bisl.p Le Bon of Macao writes, September 24, 1 771 : "Out of his equipage, there remain no more than eight nen in health. All the rest are confined to their beds. For two months they suffered hunger and thirst." Captain King of Cook's staff writes of Kamchatka : " We were informed that an exiled Polish officer named Beniowski had seized upon a galliott, lying at the entrance of the harbor, and h.-d forced on board a number of Russian sailors, sufficient to navigate her; that he had put on shore a part of the crew . . . among the rest, Ismyloff." In Paris he met and interested Benjamin Franklin. Hyacinth de Map^Uan, a descendant of the great discoverer, advanced Benyowsky money for the Madagascar filibustering expedition. So did certain mer- chants of Baltimore in 1785. On leaving England, Benyowsky gave his memoirs to Magellan, who passed their editing over to William Nicholson of the Royal Society, by THE POLISH PIRATE [29 whom they wete given to the world in 1790. German, French, and Russian transla- tions followed. This called forth Russia's account of the matter, written by Ivan Ryumin, edited by Berg, St. Petersburg, 1 822. These accounts, with the focts as cited from contemporaries, enable one to check the preposterous exaggerations of the Pole. Of late years, between drama and novels, quite a Benyowsky literature has sprung up about this Cagliostro of the sea. His record in the continental armies preceding his exile would fill a book by itself; and throughout all, Benyowsky appears in the same light, an unscrupulous braggart lying gloriously, but withal as courageous as he was mendacious. ^'1 ••( mm PART II AMERICAN AND ENGLISH ADVENTURERS ON THE WEST COAST OF AMERICA — FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA — COOK, FROM BRITISH CO- LUMBIA TO ALASKA — LEDYARD, THE FORE- RUNNER OF LEWIS AND CLARK — GRAY, THE DISCOVERER OF THE COLUMBIA — VANCOUVER, THE LAST OF THE WEST COAST NAVIGATORS u "«»s*-, -* CHAPTER VI 1562-1595 FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA How the Sea Rover was attacked and ruined as a Boy on the Spanish Main off Mexico — His Revenge in sacking Spanish Treas- ure Houses and crossing Panama — The Richest Man in England, he sails to the Forbidden Sea, scuttles all the Spanish Ports up the West Coast of South America and takes Possession of New Albion (California) for England If a region were discovered where gold was valued less than cartloads of clay, and ropes of pearls could be obtained in barter for strings of glass beads, the modern mind would have some idea of the frenzy that prevailed in Spain after the discovery of America by Columbiis. Native temples were found in Chile, in Peru, in Central America, in Mexico, where gold literally lined the walls, silver paved the floors, and handfuls of pearls were as thoughtlessly thrown in the laps of the conquerors as shells might be tossed at a modern clam-bake. Within half a century from the time Spain first learned of America, Cortes not only penetrated Mex- ico, but sent his corsairs un the west coast of the con- US mt. 134 VIKINGS )t. 1 HE PACIFIC tinent. Pi/arro coHj acred .\rii. Spanish ships p! d a trade rich beyoii'.l Ji'at'"^ i.f ;i>arice between rhe gold reahiis of Peru ;., .1 the sjii'e islands of the Phihp- pines. The chivalry of the >p: ' ish nobiity suddenly became a chivalry of the high -^eis. Religious zeal burned to a flanit against th<>~t gol i-lineil paj^an temples. It was easy to believe that the transft r of wedges of pure gold from heathen hands to Spain was a veritable despoiling of the devil's treasure boxes, glorious in the sight of God. The trackless sea be- came the path to fortune. Balboa had deeper motives than loyalty, when, in 15 13, on his march across Panama and discovery of the Pacific, he rushed mid-deep into the water, shouting out in sweLmg words that he took possession of earth, air, and water for Spain "for all time, past, present, or to come, without contradic- tion, . . . north and south, wnh all the seas from the Pole Arctic to the Pole Antarctic, . . . both now, and as long as the world endures, until the final day of judgment." * Shorn of noise, the motive was sim| . to shut out the rest of the world from Spain's treasn e box. The Monroe Doctrine was not yet born. Tl hole Pactf • was to be a closed sen ' To be sure, \ ascu da Gam had found the way round the Cape ot ]( )d Hone ti the Indian Ocean; and Magellan h^i after r ssed through the strait of hi-, name below outh Arnvrica It i 1 This is but a brief ep tome of the Spaniard's swelling w above were omitted from Scain's claim. Oil ,eF ■ t i $ -}*> Sir John Hawkins. ■M iflBIBfll FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA 135 right into the Pacific Ocean; but round the world by the Indian Ocean was a far cry for tiny craft of a few hundred tons; and the Straits of Magellan were so storm-bound, it soon became a common saying that they were a closed door. Spain sent her sailors across Panama to build ships for the Pacific. The sea that bore her treasure craft — millions upon millions of pounts sterling in pure gold, silver, emeralds, pearls — was as closed to the rest of the world as if walled round with only one chain-gate; and that at Panama, where Spain kept the key. That is, the sea was shut till Drake came coursing round the world; and his coming was so utterly im- possible to the Spanish mind that half the treasure ships scuttled by the English pirate mistook him for a visiting Spaniard till the rallying cry, "God and Saint George!" wakened them from their dream. It was by accident the English first found themselves in the waters of the Spanish Main. John Hawkins had been cruir ig the West Indies exchanging slaves for gold, when an ominous stillness fell on the sea. The palm trees took on the hard glister of metal leaves. The sunless sky turned yellow, the sea to brass; and before the six English ships could find shelter, a hur- ricane broke that flailed the fleet under sails torn to tatters clear across the Gulf of Mexico to Vera Cruz, the stronghold of Spanish power. But Hawkins feared neither man nor devil. He ii\ 136 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC H r ' i i ^p^H.'; ' 1 ^^^K^ ^^^^^^^^H ^ 1 1 ^^B ';■ ^^^^B '1 .' ^^^^^B i: " ^^^B 'i ^^^^^^H i \ ^H ' ' reefed his storm-torn sails, had the stoppers pulled out of his cannon in readiness, his gunners alert, ran up the English ensign, and boldly towed his fleet into port directly under Spanish guns. Sending a messenger ashore, he explained that he was sorry to intrude on forbidden waters, but that he needed to careen his ships for the repair of leakages, and now asked per- mission from the viceroy to refit. Perhaps, in his heart, the English adventurer wasn't sorry to get an inner glimpse of Mexico's defences. As he waited for permission, there sailed into the harbor the Spanish fleet itself, twelve merchantmen rigged as frigates, loaded with treasure to the value of one million eight hundred thousand pounds. The viceroy of Mexico, Don Martin Henriquez himself, commanded the fleet. English and Spanish ships dipped colors to each other as courteous hidalgoes might have doffed hats; and the guns roared each other salutes, that set the seas churning. Master John Hawkins quaffed mug after mug of foaming beer with a boisterous boast that if the Spaniards thought to frighten him with a waste of powder and smoke, he could play the same game, and "singe the don's beard." Came a messenger, then, clad in mail to his teeth, very pompous, very gracious, very profuse of welcome, with a guarantee in writing from the viceroy of security for Hawkins while dismantling the English ships. In order to avoid clashes among the common soldiers, the fortified island was assigned for the English to disem- FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA 137 bark. It was the 12th of August, 1568. Darkness fell with the warm velvet caress of a tropic sea. Half the crew had landed, half the cannon been trundled ashore for the vessels to be beached next day, when Hawkins noticed torches — a thousand torches — glistening above the mailed armor of a thousand Span- ish soldiers marching down from the fort and being swiftly transferred to the frigates. A blare of Spanish trumpets blew to arms! The waters were suddenly alight with the flare of five fire-rafts drifting straight where the disarmed English fleet lay moored. Haw- kins had just called his page to hand round mugs of beer, when a cannon-shot splintering through the mast arms overhead ripped the tankard out of his hand.^ "God and Saint George," thundered the enraged Enghshman, "down with the traitorous devils!" No time to save sailors ashore ! The blazing rafts had already bumped keels with the moored fleet. No chance to raise anchors! The Spanish frigates were already abreast in a life-and-death grapple, soldiers boarding the English decks, sabring the crews, hurling hand grenades down the hatches to blow up the powder magazines. Hawkins roared "to cut the cables." It was a hand-to-hand slaughter on decks slippery with blood. No light but the musketry fire and glare of burning masts! The little English company were fighting like a wild beast trapped, when with a thunder- 1 The exact position of the English towards the port it hard to give ; as the site of Vera Cruz has been changed three times. 138 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC clap that tore bottom out of hull — Hawkins's ship flew into mid-air, a flaring, fiery wreck — then sank in the heaving trough ol the sea, carrying down five hundred Spaniards to a watery grave. Cutlass in hand, head over heels went Hawkins into the sea. The hell of smoke, of flaming mast poles, of blazing musketry, of churning waters — hid him. Then a rope's end flung out by some friend gave handhold. He was up the sides of a ship, that had cut hawsers and off before the fire-rafts came ! Sails were hoisted to the seaward breeze. In the carnage of fire and blood, the Spaniards did not see the two smallest English vessels scudding before the wind as if fiend- chased. Every light on the decks was put out. Then the dark of the tropic night hid them. Without food, without arms, with scarcely a remnant of their crews — the two ships drifted to sea. Not a man of the sailors ashore escaped. All were butchered, or taken prisoners for a fate worse than butchery — to be torn apart in the market-place of Vera Cruz, baited in the streets to the yells of on- lookers, hung by the arms to out-of-doors scaff'olding to die by inches, or be torn by vultures. The two ships at sea were in terrible plight. North, west, south was the Spanish foe. Food there was none. The crews ate the dogs, monkeys, parrots on board. Then they set traps for the rats of the hold. The starving seamen begged to be marooned. They would risk Spanish cruelty to escape starvation. Hawkins landed FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA 139 three-quarters of the remnant crews either in Yuca- tan or Florida. Then he crept lamely back to Eng- land, where he moored in January, 1569. Of the six splendid ships that had spread their sails from Plymouth, only the Minion and Judtth came back; and those tno had been under command of a thick-set, stocky, red-haired English boy about twenty-four years of age — Francis Drake of Devon, one of twelve sons of a poor clergyman, who eked out a living by reading prayers for the Queen's Navy Sundays, playing sailor week days. Francis, the eld- est son, was born in the hull of an old vessel where the family had taken refuge in time of religious persecu- tion. In spite of his humble origin, Sir Francis Rus- sell had stood his godfather at baptism. The Earl of Bedford had been his patron. John Hawkins, a relative, supplied money for his education. Appren- ticed before the mast from his twelfth year, Drake became purser to Biscay at eighteen; and so faithfully had he worked his way, when the master of the sloop died, it was bequeathed to young Drake. Emulous of becoming a great sailor like Hawkins, Drake sold the sloop and invested everything he owned in Haw- kins's venture to the West Indies. He was ruined to his last penny by Spanish treachery. It was almost a religion for England to hate Spain at that time. Drake hated tenfold more now. Spain had taught the world to keep off her treasure box. Would Drake accept the lesson, or challenge it ? I40 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC ; i "fy^i 1:1 M H Men who master destiny rise, like the Phenix, from the ashes of their own ruin. In the language of the street, when they fall — these men of destiny — they make a point of falling ;m'^ '--^V. D ui o i^)./>r» lawi ^m^ FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA. 147 Five ships, this time, he led out from Plymouth in November of 1577. Gales drove him back. It w^s December before his fleet was at sea — the Pelican of one hundred tons and twent) or thirty cannon under Drake, Thomas Doughty, a courtier second to Drake, the Elizabeth of eighty tons, the Swan, Christopher, and Marygold no larger than fishing schooners ; manned in all by one hundred and sixty sailors, mostly boys. Outward bound for trade in Egypt, the world was told, but as merchantmen, the ships were regally equipped — Drake in velvets and gold braid, served by ten young gentlemen of noble birth, who never sat or covered in his presence without permission ; service of gold plate at the mess table, where Drake dined alone like a king f the music of viols and harps; mili- tary drill at every port, and provisions enough aboard to go round the world, not just to Egypt. January saw the fleet far enough from Egypt, at the islands off the west coast of Africa, where three vessels were scuttled, the crews all put ashore but one Portu- guese pilot carried along to Brazil as guide. Thomas Doughty now fell in disfavor by openly acting as equal in command with Drake. Not in Egypt, but at Port St. Julian — a southern harbor of South America — anchored Drake's fleet. The scaffold where Magellan had executed mutineers half a century before still stood in the sands. The Christopher had already been sent adrift as use- less. The Swan was now broken up as unseaworthy, ^i 148 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC leaving only the Pelican, the Elizabeth, and the Mary- gold. One thing more remained to be done — the greatest blot across the glory of Drake. Doughty was defiant, a party growing in his favor. When sent as prisoner to the Marygold, he had angered every man of the crew by high-handed authority. Drake dared not go on to unknown, hostile seas with a mutiny, or the chance of a mutiny brewing. Whether justly or un- justly, Doughty was tried at Port St. Julian under the shadow of Magellan's old scaffold, for disrespect to his commander and mutiny; and was pronounced guilty by a jury of twelve. A council of forty voted his death. The witnesses had contradicted themselves as if in terror of Drake's displeasure; and some plainly pleaded that the jealous crew of the Marygold were doing an innocent gentleman to death. The one thing Drake would not do, was carry the trouble maker along on the voyage. Like dominant spirits world over, he did not permit a life more or less to obstruct his purpose. He granted Doughty a choice of fates — to be marooned in Patagonia, or suffer death on the spot. Protesting his innocence, Doughty spurned the least favor from his rival. He refused the choice. Solemnly the two, accuser and accused, took Holy Communion together. Solemnly each called on God as witness to the truth. A day each spent in prayer, these pirate fellows, who mixed their religion with their robberv, perhaps using piety as sugar-coating for their ill-deeds. Then th'^y dined together in the mmm wmm FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA 149 commander's tent, — Fletcher, the horrified chaplain, looking on, — drank hilariously to each other's healths, to each other's voyage whatever the end might be, looked each in the eye of the other without quailing, talking nonchalantly, never flinching courage nor balk- ing at the grim shadow of their own stubborn temper. Doughty then rose to his feet, drank his last bumper, thanked Drake graciously for former kindness, walked calmly out to the old scaffold, laid his head on the block, and suffered death. Horror fell on the crew. Even Drake was shaken from his wonted calm ; for he sat apart, his velvet cloak thrown back, slapping his crossed kne»t and railing at the defenders of the dead man.' To rouse the men, he had solemn service held for the crew, and for the first time revealed to them his project for the voyage on the Pacific. After painting the glories of a campaign against Spanish ports of the South Seas, he wound up an inspiriting address with the rousing assurance that after this voyage, "the worst buy aboard would never nede to goe agayne to seOy but be able to lyve in England like a right good gentle- man." Fletcher, the chaplain, who secretly advocated the dead man's cause, was tied to a mast pole in bilboes, with the inscription hung to his neck — " Falsest knave that liveth." On August 17 they departed from "the port ac- »The Hakluft Society Proctedings, 1 8 54, give all details of this terrible crime. Fletcher, the chaplain, thought Doughty innocent ; but Drake considered the chaplain •' the falsest knave that liveth." if 150 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC cursed," for the Strait*, of Magellan, that were to lead to Spanish wealth on the Pacific.' The superstitious crews' fears of disaster for the death of Doughty seemed to become very real in the terrific tempests that assailed the three ships as they entered the straits. Gales lashed the cross tides to a height of thirty feet, threatening to swamp the little craft. Mountains emerged shadowy through the mists on the south. Roiling waters met the prows from end to end of the straits. Topsails were dipped, psalms of thanks chanted, and prayers held as the ships came out on the west side into the Pacific on the 6th of Sep- tember. In honor of the first English vessel to enter this ocean, Drake renamed his ship "Golden Hind.'' 1 Don Francisco de Zarate, commander of a Spanish ship scuttled by Drake off Guatalco, gives this description to the Spanish govcrnrntnt nf the Englishman's equi- page : "The general of the Englishmen is the same who five years ago took Nombre de Dios, about thirty-five years old, short, with a ruddy beard, one of the greatest mari- ners there are on the sea, alike for his skill and power of command. His ship is a galleon of four hundred tons, a very fast sailer, and there are aboard her, one hundred men, all skilled hands and of warlike age. and all so well trained that they might be old soldiers — they keep their harquebusses clean. He treats them with affection, they him with respect. He carries with him nine or ten gentlemen cadets of high families in England. These are his council. He calls them together, tho" he takes counsel of no one. He has no favorite. These are admitted to his table, as well as a Portuguese pilot whom he brought from England. ( - ) He is served with much plaic with gilt borders engraved with his arms and has all possible kinds of delicacies and scents, which the Oueen gave him. (-) None of the gentlemen sit or cover in his presence without first being ordered once or even several times. The galleon cairies thirty pieces of heavy ordnance, fireworks and ammunition. They dine and sup to the music of violins. He carries carpenters caulker?, careeners. The ship is sheathed. The men arc paid and not regular pirates. No one takes plunder and th? slightest fault is pun- ished." The don goes on to say that what (roubled him most was that Drake captured Spanish charts of the Pacific, which would guide other intruders on the Pacific. FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA 151 The gales continued so furiously, Drake jocosely called rhe sea, Mnrr Furiosuni, instead o*" Pacitic. I he first week of October storms compelled the vessels to anchor. In the raging darkness that night, the ex- plosive rip of a snapping hawser was heard behind the Tne Golden Hind. stern of the GolJni Hind. Fearful cries rose from the waves for help. The dark form of a phantom ship lurched past in the running seas — the MarygolJ adrift, loose from her anchor, driving to the open storm ; fearful judgment as the listeners thought — for the crew's false testimony against Doughty; for, as one old record states, "they could by no means help spooni- « I ^ 152 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC ing along before the sea ;" and the Marygold was never more seen. Meanwhile like disaster had befallen the Golden Hind, the cable snapping weak as thread against the drive of tide and wind. Only the Elizabeth kept her anchor grip, and her crew became so panic-stricken, they only waited till the storm abated, then turned back through the straits, swift heels to the stormy, ill- fated sea, and steered straight for England, where they moored in June. Towed by the Golden Hind, now driving southward before the tempest, was a jolly-boat with eight men. The mountain seas finally wrenched the tow-rope from the big ship, and the men were adrift in the open boat. Their fortunes are a story in itself. Only one of the eight survived to reach England after nine years' wandering in Brazil.' Onward, sails furled, bare poles straining to the storm, drifted Drake in the Golden Hind. Luck, that so often favors daring, or the courage, that is its own talisman, kept him from the rocks. With battened hatches he drove before what he could not 1 The e.-ght castaways in the shallop succeeded in passing back through the straits. •At Plata they were attacked by the Indians ; four, wounded, succeeded in escaping. The others were captured. Reaching islands off the coast of Patagonia, two of the Wfandcd died. The remaining two suffered shipwreck on a barren island, where the only food was fruit ; the only drink, the juice of the fruits. Making a raft of floating planks ten feet long, the two committed themselves to God and steered for the main- land. Here !'ilchcr died two hours after they had landed from drinking too much water. The survivor, Peter Carder, lived among the savages of Brazil for eight years btfore he escaped and got passage to England, where he related his adventures to guccn Elizat -h. The yueen gave him twenty-two angels and sent him to Admiral Howard for employrrent. Purcbai' Pilgrtmi, Vol. IV. FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA 153 stem, southward and south, clear down where Atlantic and Pacific met at Cape Horn, now for the first time seen by navigator. Here at last, on October 30, came a lull. Drake landed, and took possession of this earth's end for the Queen. Then he headed his prow northward for the forbidden waters of the Pacific bordering New Spain. Not a Spaniard was seen up to the Bay of San Filipe off Chile, where by the end of November Drake came on an Indian fisherman. Thinking the ship Spanish, the fellow offered to pilot her back eighteen miles to the harbor of Valparaiso. Spanish vessels lay rocking to the tide as Drake glided into the port. So utterly impossible was it deemed for any foreign ship to enter the Pacific, that the Spanish commander of the fleet at anchor dipped colors in salute to the pirate heretic, thinking him a messenger from Spain, and beat him a rattling welcome on the drum as the Golden Hind knocked keels with the Spanish bark. Drake, doubtless, smiled as he returned the salute by a wave of his plumed hat. The Spaniards actually had wine jars out to drown the newcomers ashore, when a quick clamping of iron hooks locked the Spanish vessel in death grapple to the Golden Hind. An English sailor leaped over dc; ks to the Spanish galleon with a yell of " Downe, Spcnish dogges!^^ The crew of sixty English pirates had swarmed a toss the vessel like hornets before the poor hidal[>,o knew what had happened. Head over heels, down the hatchway, reeled the astonished dons. Drake clapped down 154 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC iM . i' * hatches, and had the Spaniards trapped while his men went ashore to sack the town. One Spaniard had suc- ceeded in swimming across to warn the port/ When Drake landed, the entire population had fled to the hills. Rich plunder in wedges of pure gold, and gems, was carried off from the fort. Not a drop of blood wrs shed. Crews of the scuttled vessels were set ashore, the dismantled ships sent drifting to open sea. The whole fiasco was conducted as harmlessly as a melo- drama, with a moral thrown in; for were not these zealous Protestants despoiling these zealous Catholics, whose zeal, in turn, had led them to despoil the Indian ? There was a moral; but it wore a coat of many colors. The Indian was rewarded, and a Greek pilot forced on board to steer to Lima, the great treasury of Peru- vian gold. Giving up all hope of the other English vessels joining him, Drake had paused at Coquimbo to put together a small sloop, when down swooped five hundred Spanish soldiers. In the wild scramble fi)r the GoUen Hind, one sailor was left behind. He was torn to pieces by the Spaniards before the eyes of Drake's crew. Northling again sailed Drake, piloted inshore by the Greek to Tarapaca, where Soanish treasure was sent out over the hills to await the call of ship; and sure enough, sound asleep in the sun- light, fatigued from his trip lay a Spanish carrier, 1 The plunder of this port was 60,000 pesos of gold, jewels, jnd goods (pesos about S shillings, $l) ; 1 7-0 jars of wine, together with the silver of the chapel altar, which was given to Fleti her. .*-- ^^t^^^^ri -■■!ys^^^*->?5^'5r >»« ( : i; '• Francis Drake. I li -a ' , mfmsmmgmBmm FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA 155 thirteen bars of silver piled beside him on the sand. When that carrier wakened, the ship had called 1 Far- ther on the English moored and went inland to see if more treasure might be coming over the hills. Along the sheep trails came a lad whistling as he drove eight Peruvian sheep laden with black leather sacks full of gold. Drake's men were intoxicated with their success. It was impossible to attack Panama with only the Golden Hind; but what if the Golden Hind could catch the Glory of the South Seas — the splendid Spanish galleon that yearly carr ed Peruvian gold up to Panama ? Drake gained first news of the treasure ship being afloat while he was rifling three barks at Aricara below Lima; but he knew coureurs were already speeding overland to warn the capital against the Golden Hind. Drake pressed sail to outstrip the land messenger, and glided into Callao, the port of Lima, before the thirty ships lying dismantled had the slightest inkling of his presence. Viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo of Lima thought the overland coureur mad. A pirate heretic in the South Seas ! Preposterous ! Some Spanish rascal had turned pirate; so the governor gathered up two thousand soldiers to march with all speed for Callao, with hot wrath and swift punishment for the culprit. Drake had already sacked Callao, but he had n^issed the treasure ship. She had just left for Panama. The Golden Hind was lying outside the port becalmed 1.0 ■A&i2.8 |2^ m . y, ^ I& H^ 1.8 MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS STANDARD REFERENCE MATERIAL 1010a (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) hi 156 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC when Don Toledo came pouring his two thousand soldiers down to the wharves. The Spaniards dashed to embark on the rifled ships with a wild halloo ! He was becalmed, the blackguard pirate, — whoever he was, — they would tow out ! Divine Providence had surely given him into their hands; but just as they began rowing might and main, a fresh wind ruffled the water. The Golden Hind spread her wings to the wind and was off^ like a bird ! Drake knew no ship afloat could outsail his swift little craft; and the Span- iards had embarked in such haste, they had come withojt provisions. Famine turned the pursuers back near the equator, the disgusted viceroy hastening to equip frigates that would catch the English pirate when famine must compel him to head southward. Drake slackened sail to capture another gold cargo. The crew of this caravel were so grateful to be put ashore instead of having their throats cut, that they revealed to Drake the stimulating fact that the Glory of the South Seas, the treasure ship, was only two days ahead laden with golden wealth untold. It was now a wild race for gold — for gold enough to enrich every man of the crew; for treasure that might buy up half a dozen European kingdoms and leave the buyer rich ; for gold in huge slabs the shape of the legendary wedges long ago given the rulers of the Incas by the descendants . " the gods; gold to be had for the taking by the striking of one sure blow at England's enemy ! Drake called on the crew to acquit \s. FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA 157 themselves like men. The sailors answered with a shout. Every inch of sail was spread. Old muskets and cutlasses were scoured till they shone like the sun. Men scrambled up the mast poles to gaze seaward for sight of sail to the fore. Every nerve was braced. They were now across the equator. A few hundred miles more, and the Glory of the South Seas would lie safe inside the strong harbor of Panama. Drake or- dered the thirty cannon ready for action, and in a loud voice offered the present of his own golden chain to the man who should first descry the sails of the Span- ish treasure. For once his luck failed him. The wind suddenly fell. Before Drake needed to issue the order, his "brave boys" were over decks and out in the small boats rowing for dear life, towing the Golden Hind. Day or night from February twenty-fourth, they did not slack, scarcely pausing to eat or sleep. Not to lose the tremendous prize by seeing the Glory of the South Seas sail into Panama Bay at the last lap of the desperate race, had these bold pirates ploughed a furrow round the world, daring death or devil ! At three in the afternoon of March the ist, John Drake, the commander's brother, shouted out from the mast top where he clung, "Sail ho!" and the blood of every Englishman aboard jumped to the words ! At six in the evening, just off Cape Francisco, they were so close to the Glory of the South Seas, they could see that she was compelled to sail slowly, owing to the weight of her cargo. So unaware of danger was i 158 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC the captain that he thought Drake some messenger sent by the viceroy, and instead of getting arms in readiness and pressing sail, he lowered canvas, came to anchor, and waited ! ' Drake's announcement was a roaring cannonade that blew the mast poles off the Spanish ship, crippling her like a bird with wings broken. For the rest, the scene was what has been enacted wherever pirates have played their game — a furious fusillade from the cannon mouths belching from decks and port-holes, the unscathed ship riding down on the staggering victim like a beast on its prey, the clapping of the grappling hooks that bound the captive to the sides of her victor, the rush over decks, the flash of naked sword, the decks swimming in blood, and the quick surrender. The booty from this treas- ure ship was roughly estimated at twenty-six tons of pure silver, thirteen chests of gold plate, eighty pounds of pure gold, and precious jewels — emeralds and pearls — to the value in modern money of seven hun- dred and twenty thousand dollars. Drake realized now that he dared not return to England by the Straits of Magellan. All the Spanish frigates of the Pacific were on the watch. The Golden Hi id was so heavily freighted with treasure, it was actually necessary to lighten ballast by throwing spices and silks overboard. One can guess that the orchestra played a stirring refrain off Cape Francisco that night. The Northeast Passage from Asia to Europe was 1 The captain was a Biscayan, one Juan de Anton. FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA 159 still a myth of the geographers. Drake's friend, Fro- bisher, had thought he found it on the Atlantic side. After taking counsel with his ten chosen advisers, Drake decided to give the Spanish frigates the slip by returning through the mythical Northeast Passage. Stop was made at Guatalco, off the west coast of New Spain, for repairs. Here, the poor Portuguese pilot brought all the way from the islands off the west coast of Africa, was put ashore.' He was tortured by the Spaniards for piloting Drake to the South Seas. In the course of rifling port and ship at Guatalco, charts to the Philippines and Indian Ocean were found ; so that even if the voyage to Eng- land by the Northeast Passage proved impossible, the Golden Hind could follow these charts home round the world by the Indian Ocean and Good Hope up Africa. It was needless for Drake to sack more Spanish floats. He had all the plunder he could carry. From the charts he learned that the Spaniards always struck north for favorable winds. Heading north, month after month, the Golden Hind sailed for the shore that should have led northeast, and that puzzled the mari- ners by sheering west and yet west; fourteen hundred leagues she sailed along a leafy wilderness of tangled trees and ropy mosses, beauty and decay, the froth of the beach combers aripple on the ve'> roots of the 1 Nuno Silva is the name of this pilot. It is from his story that many of the details of this part of the voyage are obtained. i ;'. vn 1 60 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC trees; dolphins coursing round the hull like grey- hounds; flying fish with mica for wings flitting over the decks; forests of seaweed warning out to deeper water. Then, a sudden cold fell, cold and fogs that chilled the mariners of tropic seas t > the bone. The veering coast pushed them out farther westward, far north of what the Spanish charts showed. Instead of flying fish now, were whales, whales in schools of thousands that gambolled round the Golden Hind. As the north winds — " frozen nimphes," the record calls them — blew down the cold Arctic fogs, Drake's men thought they were certainly nearing the Arctic regions. Where were they ? Plainly lost, lost some- where along what are now known as Mendocino, and Blanco, and Flattery. In a word, perhaps up as far as Oregon, and Washington. One record says they went to latitude 43. Another record, purporting to be more correct, says 48. The Spaniards had been north as far as California, but beyond this, however far he may have gone, Drake was a discoverer in the true sense of the word. Mountains covered with snow they saw, and white cliffs, and low shelving shores, which is more descriptive of Oregon and Washington than California; but only the sudden transition from tropic heat to chilling northern fogs can explain the crew's exaggerated idea of cold along the Pacific coast. Land was sighted at 42, north of Mendocino, and an efix)rt made to anchor farther north; but contrary winds . nd a rock bottom gave insecure mooring;. 'ii '.1» FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA i6i This was not surprising, as it was on this coast that Cook and Vancouver failed to find good harborage. The coast still seemed to trend westward, dispelling hopes of a Northeast Passage j and if the world could have accepted Drake's conclusions on the matter, o deal of expenditure in human life and eiFort migi have been saved. Two centuries before the deaths of Bering and Cook, trying to find that Passage, Drake's chronicler wrote: " The cause cf this extreme cold we conceive to be the large spreading of the Asian and American contmenty if they be not fully joined, yet seem they to come very neere, from whose high and snow-covered mountains, the north and north-west winds send abroad their frozen nimphes to the infecting of the whole air — hence comes it that in the middest of their summer^ the snow hardly departeth from these hills at all ; hence come those thicke mists and most stinking fogges, . . . for th.se reasons we coniecture that either there is no passage at all through these ISI ortherne coasts, which is most likely, or if there be, that it is unnavi gable. . . . Adde there unto, that though we searched the coast diligently even unto the 48 degree, yet found we not the land to trend in any place towards the East, but rather running continu- ally North-west, as if it went directly to meet with Asia. . . . of which we infallibly concluded rather than con- iecinred, that there was none." Givii.g up all idea of a Northeast Passage, Drake turned south, and on June 17 anchored in a bay now M I? " ii:: •A V n ■1; t 162 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC thoroughly identified as Drake's Bay, north of San Francisco. The next morning, while the English were yet on the Golden Hind, came an Indian in a canoe, shouting out oration of welcome, blowing feather down on the air as a sign of dovelike peace, and finally after three times essaying couiage, coming near enough the Eng- lish to toss a rush basket full of tobacco into the ship. In vain Drake threw out prec«nts to allure the Indian on board. The terrified fellow scampered ashore, refusing everything but a gorgeous hat, that floated out on the water. For years the legend of Drake's ship was handed down as a tradition among the Ind- ians of this bay. By the 21st tents were erected, and a rude fortifica- tion of stone thrown round in protection where the precious cargo of gold could be stored while the ship was to be careened and scraped. At the foot of the hill, the poor Indians gathered and gazed spellbound at the sight of this great winged bird of the ocean, sending thirty cannon trundling ashore, and herself beginning to rise up from the tide on piles and scaf- folding. As Drake sent the assembled tribe presents, the Indians laid down their bows and spears. So marvellously did the wonders of the white men grow — sticks that emitted puffs of fire (muskets), a ship so large it could have carried their tribe, clothing in velvet and gold braid gorgeous as the plumage of a 1 See Professor George Davidson's pamphlet on Dr-.iir wimmisas r. FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA i6j bird, cutlasses of steel — that by the 23d great as- semblages of Indians were on their knees at the foot of the hill, offering sacrifices to the wonderful beings in the fort. Whatever the English pirate's faults, he deserves credit for treating the Indians with an honor that puts later navigators to shame. When he saw them gashing bodies in sacrifice, his superstition took fire .vith fear of Divine displeasure for the sacrilege; and the man who did not scruple to treat black slaves p » among the Spaniards baser than he would 1 Tted dogs, now fell "to prayers," as the old Ci .le s s, reading the Bible aloud, and setting his crew to singing psalms, and pointing to the sky, at which the Indians grunted approvals of " ho — ho!" Three days later came coureurs from the " King of the Indians" — the chief — bidding the strangers prepare for the great sachem's visit. The coureurs advanced gyrating and singing; so that the English saw in this strange people nomads like the races of Scripture, whose ceremony was one of song and dance. The warriors preceding the chief carried what the English thought "a sceptre," but what we moderns would call a peace-pipe. The chains in their hands were probably strings of bears' claws, or something like wampum; the "crowns of feathers," plumed head-dresses; the gifts in the rush baskets boine by the women to the rear, maize and tobacco. Drake drew his soldiers up in line, and with trum- pets sounding and armor at gleam marched out to wel- r 164 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC come the Indian chief. Then the whole company of savages broke out in singing and dancing Drake was signalled to sit down in the centre. Barely had he obeyed when to the shouting and dancing of the multitude, "a chain" was thrown over his neck, "a crown" placed on his head, and "the sceptre" put m his hand. According to Indian custom, Drake was welcomed by the ceremony of adoption in the tribe, "the sceptre" being a peace-pipe; "the crown," an Indian warrior's head-dress. Far otherwise the cere- mony appeared tc the romantic treasure hunters. "In the name and to the use of Her Most Excellent Majesty," records the chaplain, "he {Dra^ ) tooke the sceptre, crowne, and dignity of the sayd countrte tnto his hand; " though, added the pious chaplain of pirates, when he witnessed the Indians bringing the sick to be healed by the master pirate's touch, — "u;^ groanejn spirit to see the power of Sathan so farrc prevails." To avert disaster for the sacrilege of the sacred touch of healing, Drake added to his prayers strong lotions and good ginger plasters. Sometime in the next five weeks, Drake travelled inland with the Ind- ians, and because of patriotism to his native land and the resemblance of the white sand cliffs to that land, called the region "New Albion." "New Albion" would be an offset to "New Spain." Drake saw himself a second Cortes, and nailed to a tree a brass plate on which was graven the Queen's name, the year, the free surrender of the country to the I w I III m FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA 165 Queen, and Drake^: jwr name; for, says the chaplain, quite ignorant of Spanish voyages, "the Spaniards never had any dealing, or so much as set a ' .at in this country, the utmost of their discoveries reaching only many degrees Southward of this place.' Drake's misunderstanding of the Indian ceremony would be comical if it were not that later historians have solemnly argued whether an act of possession by a pirate should hold good in intei national h On the 23d of July the English nirate ^ade fare- well to the Indians. As he looked l.-ck from the sea, they were running along th hilltops li'.rning more of the fires w'f "-rh he thought ,.cre sacritices. Following the chart taken from the Spanish ship, Drake steered for the Philippines, thence southward through the East Indies to the Indian Ocean, and past Good Hope, back to Plymouth, where he came to anchor on September 26, 1580. Bells were set ringing. Post went spurring to I ondon with word that Drake, the corsair, who had turned the Spanish world upside down, had come home. For a week the little world of England gave itself up to feasting. Ballads rang with the fame of Drake. His rame was on every tongue. One of his first acts was to visit his old parents. Then he took the Golden Hind round the Channel to be dry-docked in Deptford. For the once, the tactful Queen was in a quandary. Complaints were pouring in from Spain. The Span- • *: i66 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC r ■ i I' I ish ambassador was furious, and presented bills of sequestration against Drake, but as the amount sequestered, pending investigation, was only fifty-six thousand pounds, one may suspect that Elizabeth let Drake protect in his own way what he had taken in his own way. For six months, while the world re- sounded with his fame, the court withheld approval. Jealous courtiers "deemed Drake the master thief of the unknown world," till Elizabeth cut the Gor- dian knot by one of her defiant strokes. On April 4 she went in state to dine on the Golden Hind, to the music of those stringed instruments that had harped away Drake's fear of death or devil as he ploughed an English keel round the world. After the dinner, she bade him fall to his knees and with a light touch of the sword gave him the title that was seal of the court's approval. The Golden Hind was kept as a public relic till it fell to pieces on the Thames, and the wood was made into a memorial chair for Oxford. After all the perils Drake saw in the subsequent war — Cadiz and the Armada — it seems strange that he should return to the scene of his past exploits to die. He was with Hawkins in the campaign of 1595 against Spain in the New World. Things had not gone well. He had not approved of Hawkins's plans of attack, and the venture was being bungled. Sick of the equa- torial fever, or of chagrin from failure, Drake died off Porto Bello in the fifty-first year of his age. His body FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA 167 was placed in a leaden coffin, and solemnly committed to that sea where he had won his first glory.' 1 To give even a brief account of Drake's life would fill a small encyclopnedia. The story of his first ruin off Vera Cruz, of his campaign of vengeance, of his piratical voy- age to the Pacific, of his doings with the California Indians, of his fight in the Armada any one of these would fill an ordinary volume. Only that part of his life bearing on American exploration has been given here, and that sacrificed in detail to keep from cumbering the sweep of his adventure. No attempt has been made to pass judgment on Drake's character. Like Baranof of a later day, he was a curious mixture of the supremely selfish egoist, and ot uie religious enthusiast, alternately using his egoism as a support for his religion, and his religion as a support for his egoism ; and each reader will probably pass judgment on Drake according as the reader's ideal of manhood is the altruist or the egoist, the Christ-type o.- "the great blond beast" of modern philo- sophic thought, the man supremely indifferent to all but self, glorying in triumph though it be knee-deep in blood. Nor must we moderns pass too hypocritical judgment on the hero of the Drake type. Drake had invested capital in his venture. He had the bless- ing of Chu'ch and State on what he was about to do ; and what he did was to take what he had strength and dexterity to take independent of the Ten Commandments, which is not so far different from many commercial methods of to-day. We may appear as unmoral in our methods to future judges as Drake appears to us. Just as no attempt has been made to analyze Drake's character — to balance his lack of morals with his courage — so minor details, that would have led off from the main current of events, have been omitted. For instance, Drake spilled very little Spanish blood and was Chris- tian in his treatment of the Indians ; but are these credit marks offset by his brutality toward the black servants whom the pirates picked up among the Spaniards, of whom one poor colored girl was marooned on a Pacific island to live or die or rot ? To be sure, the Portuguese pilot taken from a scuttled caravel off the west coast of Africa on the way out, and forced to pilot Drake to the Pacific, was well treated on the voyage. At least, there is no mention to the contrary ; but when Drake had finished with the fellow, though the English might have known very well what terrible vengeance Spain would take, the pilot was dumped off on the coast of New Spain, where, one old record states, he was tortured, almost torn to pieces, for having guided Drake. The great, indeed, primary and only authorities for Drake's adventures are, of course, Hakluyt, Vol. IIIj for the fate of the lost crews, Purchas' Pilgrims, Vol. Ill and Vol. I, Book II, and Vol. IV; and the Hakluyt Society Proceedings, 1854, which are really a reprint of The World Encompassed, by Francis Fletcher, the chaplain, in 1628, with the addition of documents contemporary with Fletcher's by unknown writers. The title-page of The f For Id Encompassed reads almost like an old ballad — "/t-r the stir- ring up of heroick spirits to bcneft their countries, and eternize their names by Hit i68 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC attempts." Kohl and Davidson's Reports of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1884 and 1886, are also invaluable as establishing Drake's land-fall in California. Miller Christy's Silver Map of the World gives a splendid fecsimile of the medal issued to commemorate Drake's return, of which the original is in the British Museum. Among biographers, Corbett's Drake, and Barrow's Life of Sir Francis Drake, give fuU details of his early and personal life, including, of course, his great services in the Armada. Furious controversy has waged over Drake on two points : Did he murder Doughty ' Did he go as for north on the west coast of America as 48° ? Hakluyt's account says 43°; The fVorld Encompassed, by Fletcher, the chaplain, says 48°; though all accounts agree it was at 38° he made harbor. I have not dealt with either dispute, stating the bare facts, leaving each reader to draw his own conclusions, though it seems to me a little foolish to contend that the claim of the 48th degree was an afterthought interpolated by the writer to stretch British possessions over a broader swath ; for even two hundred years after the issue of the Silver Map of the World, when Cook was on this coast, so little was known of the west shores of America by Englishmen that men were still looking out for a Gamaland, or imaginary continent in the middle of the Pacific. The words of the narrative bearing on America are : " We came to 4* degree of North latitude, where on the night following (June 3) we found such alterations of heat, into extreme and nipping cold, that our men in general did grievously complain thereof, some of them feeling their health much impaired thereby ; neither was it that this chanced in the night alone, but the day following carried with it not only the markes, but the stings and force of the night . . . ; besides that the pinching and biting air was nothing altered, the very ropes of our ship were stiffe, and the rain which feU was an unnatural congealed and frozen substance so that we seemed to be rather in the frozen Zone than any where so neere unto the sun or these hotter climates ... it came to that extremity in sayling but two degrees farther to the northward in our course, that though seamen lack not good stomachs ... it was a question whether hands should feed their mouths, or rather kee^e f^om the pinching cold that did benumme them ... our meate as soone as it was remooved from the fire, would presently in a manner be frozen up, and our ropes and tackling in a few days were growne to that •tiffnesse . . . yet would not our general be discouraged but as well by comfortable speeches, of the divine providence, and of God's loving care over his children, out of the Scriptures ... the land in that part of America, beares farther out into the West than we before imagined, we were neerer on it than we were aware ; yet the neerer still we came unto it, the more extremity of cold did sease upon us. The fifth day of June, we were forced by contrary windes to runne in with the shoare, which we then first descried, and to cast anchor in a bad bay, the best roade we could for the present mcrre with, where we were not without some danger by reason of the many extreme gusts and flawes that beate upon us, which if they ceased, and were still at any time . . . there fol- lowed most vile, thicke and stinkinp foggc. against v.Iiic!i tli>; oca prevailed nothing FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA 169 ... to go further North, the extremity of the cold would not permit us and the winds directly bent against us, having once gotten us under sayle againe, commanded us to the Southward whether we would or no. «' From the height of 48 degrees in which now we were to 38, we found the land by coasting alongst it, to be but low and plaine — every hill whereof we saw many but none were high, though it were in June, and the sunne in his nearest approach . . . being covered with snow. ... In 38 deg. 30 min. we fell with a convenient and fit harborough and June 17 came to anchor therein, where we continued till the 23rd day of July following . . . neither could we at any time in whole fourteen days together find the aire so deare as to be able to take the height of sunne or starre ... after our departure fi-om the heate we always found our bodies, not as sponges, but strong and hardened, more able to beare out cold, though we came out of the excesse of heate, then chamber champions could hae beene, who lye in their feather beds till they go to sea. «< . . . Trees without leaves, and the ground without greennes in these months of June and July ... as for the cause of this extremity, they seem . . . chiefest we conceive to be the large spreading of the Asian and American continent, which (some- what Northward of these parts) if they be not fully joyned, yet seeme they to come very neere one to the other. From whose high and snow-covered mountains, the North and Northwest winds (the constant visitants of those coasts) send abroad their fi-ozen nimphes, to the infecting of the whole aire with this insufferable sharpnesse. . Hence comes the generall squalidnesse and barrennesse of the countrie ; hence comes it that in the midst of their summer, the snow hardly departeth . . . fiwm their hils at all ; hence come those thicke mists and most stinking fogges, which increase so much the more, by how much higher the pole is raised . . . also from these reasons we coniecture that either there is no passage at all through these Northern coasts which is most likely or if there be, that yet it is unnavigable. ... Add here unto, that though we searched the coast diligently, even unto the 48°, yet found we not the land to trend so much as one point in any place towards the East, but rather running on continually Northwest, as if it went directly to meet with Asia ; and even in tLat height, when we had a franke winde to have carried us through, had there been a passage, yet we had a smoothe and calme sea, with ordinary flowing and reflowing, which could not have beene had there been a fixte ; of which we rather infallibly concluded, then conjectured, that there was none. " The next day, after coming to anchor in the aforesaid harbour, the people of the countrey showed themselves, sending off a man with great expedition to us in a canow, who being yet but a little from the shoare, and a great way fi-om our ship, spake to us continually as he came rowing in. And at last at a reasonable distance, staying himself, he began more solemnly a long and tedious oration, after his manner ; using in the deliverie thereof, many gestures and signes, mouing his hands, turning his head and body many waves ; and after his oration ended, with great show and reverence an submission returned backe to shoare again. He shortly came againe the second time in liive manner, lyo VIIIINGS OF THE PACIFIC !(' ! !P and 80 the third time, when ne Drought with him (as a present from the rest) a bunch of feathers, much like the feather of a blacke crowe, very neatly and artificially gathered upon a string, and drawne together into a round bundle, being verie cleane and finely cut, and bearing in length an equall proportion one with another a special cognizance (as we .."terwards observed) which they . . . weare on their heads. With this also he brought a little basket made of rashes, and filled with an herbe which they called Tobah. Both which being tyed to a short rodde, he >-st into our boate. Our generall intended to haue recompenced him immediately with many good things he would haue bestowed on him ; but entering into the boate to deliver the same, he could not be drawne to receive them by any meanes. save one hat, which being cast into the water out of the ship, he took up (refusing utterly to meddle with any other thing) though it were upon a board put off unto him, and so presently made his returne. After which time our boat ; could row no way, but wondering at us as at gods, they would follow the same with idmira- tion. . . . «« The third day following, viz., the 21, our ship having received a leake at sea, was brought to anchor neerer the shoare, that her goods being landed she might be repaired ; but for that we were to prevent any danger that might chance against our safety, our Generall first of all landed his men, with all necessary provision, to build tents and make a fort for the defence of ourselves and our goods . . . which when the people of the country perceived I'.s doing, as men set on fire to war in defence of their countrie, in great hast and companee, with such weapons as they had, they came down unto us, and yet with no hostile meaning or intent to hurt us : standing when they drew neerer, as men ravished in their mindes. with the sight of suc'i things, as they never had scene or heard of before that time : their errand being rather vith submission and feare to worship us as Gods, than to have warre with us as mortall men : which thing, as it did partly Siiow itsclfe at that instant, so did it more and more manifest itself after^vards, during- the whole time of our abode amongst them. At this time, being veilled by signs to lay from them their bowcs and arrowes, they did as they were directed and so did all the rest, as they came more and more by companies unto him, growing in a little while to a great number, both of men and women. «« . . . Our General), with all his company, used all meanes possible gently to intreate them, bestowing upon each of them liberally good and necessary things to cover their nakedness ; withall signifying unto them we were r.o Gods but men, and had need of such things to cover our owne shame ; teaching them to use them to the same ends, for which cause also we did eate and drinke in their presence, . . . th. ^ bestowed upon our Generall and diverse of our company, diverse things as feathers, cawles of networke, the quivers of their arrowes, made of faune skins, and the very skins of beasts that their women wore upon their bodies . . . they departed with joy to their houses, which houses are digged round within the earth, and have from the uppermost brimmes of the circle, clefts of wood set up, and joyned close together at the p, like our spires on the steeple of a church, which being covered with earth, ... are very warme j the doore inK»4Knn«>i*i mmmimfm " u 6 •£ o o c T. _ C £ << - -- ^ (VO c > UJ X) 2 -a o --i: o tj >•• iU 11 -5 ij 10 ..> :* e i .:; w U V - £ ■^ -o — iJ D o ^ -a •J w 3 C k. ■— ♦:: rt 01 ^ rt D ■o ,-c u H E <^ 2 **^ Lh o o w » 1) ■a „ ^ „ -a o c CD 3 o V. ■ rt T3 T lU o ao ^ 2, o 4> > J= " 00 G ^ a. M ■g m c 2 i :| i- *- o s: ' 1 t« E O 4J j: H FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA 171 in the most of them performs the office also of a chimney to let out the smoake ; it's made in bignesse and fashion like to an ordinary scuttle in a ship, and standing slope-wise , the beds are the hard ground, onely with rushes strewed upon it and lying round about the house, have their fire in the midJest, . . . with all expedition we set up our tents, and intrenched ourselves with walls of stone. . . . .'^ga'nst the end of two dales, there was gathered together a ^reat assembly of men, women and children, bringing with them as they had before lone, feathers and bagges of Tobah for present, or rather for sacrifices upon this pcrsuas:on that we were Gois. " When they came to the top of the hill at the bottom whereof w had built our fort, they made a stand;" . . "this bloodie sacrifice (against our wils) being thus performed, our generall, with his compan;,, >n the presence of those strangers, fell to prayers ; and by signes in lifting up our eyes and hands to heaven, signified unto them that that God whom we did serve and wh.)m thty ought to worship, was above : beseeching God, if it were his good pleasure, to open by some meanes their blinded eyes, that they might in due time be called to the knowledge of Him . the true and everliving God j and of Jesus Christ, whom he hath .ent, the salvation of the Gentiles. In the time of which prayers, singing of I'^^lmes, and reading of certaine Chapters in the Bible, they sate very attentively, and observing the end of every pause, with one voice still cried • oh ' greatly rejoicing in our exercises. " Our generall caused to be set up a monument of our being there, as also of her majesties and successors right and title to that kingdom ; namely a plate of brasse, fast nailed to a great and firme poste ; whereon is ei.grnven her graces' name, and the day and year of our arrival there, and of the fi-ee g-ving up of the province and kingdom, both by the king and people, unto her maj^;? " hands : together with her bighnesse picture and arms, in a piece of sixpence curre.->! i:.nglish monie, shewing itselfe by a hole made of purpose through the plate ; underneath was likewise engraven the name of our Generall. . . . " The Spaniards never had any dealings, or so much as set a foote In this country, the utmost of their discoveries reaching onely to many degrees Southward of this place.'* The Spanish version of Drake's burial is, that the body was weighted with shut at the heels and heaved over into the sea, without coffin or ceremony. m CHAPTER VII 17Z8-1779 CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA The English Navigator sent Two Hundred Years later to find the New Albion of Drake's Discoveries — He misses both the Straits of Fuca and the Mouth of the Columbia, but anchor^ at Nootka, the Rendezvous of Future Traders — No Northeast Passage found through Alaska — The True Cause of Cook's Murder in Hawaii told by Ledyard — Russia becomes Jealous of his Explorations It seems impossible that after all his arduous labors and death, to prove his convictions, Bering's conclu- sions should have been rejected by the w^orld of learning. Surely his coasting westward, southwestward, abreast the lonj arm of Alaska's peninsula for a thousiad miles, should have proved that no open sea — no Northeast Passage — was here, between Asia and America. But no! the world of learning said fog had obscured Bering's observations. What he took for the mainland of America had been only a chain of islands. Northward of those islands was open sea between Asia and Europe, which might afford direct passage between East and West without cir- cumnavigating the globe. In fact, said Dr. Campbell, 172 CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 173 one of the most learned English writers of the day, "Nothing is plainer than that his (Bering's) discovery does not warrant any such supposition as that he touched the great continent making part of North America." The moonshine of the learned men in France and Russia was even wilder. They had definitely proved, even if there were no Gamaland — as Bering's voyage had shown — then there must be a southern continent somewhere, to keep the balance between the northern and southern hemispheres; else the world would turn upside down. And there must also be an ocean be- tween northern Europe and northern Asia, else the world would be top-heavy and turn upside down. It was an age when the world acceptei reeds for piety, and learned moonshine instead of scientific data; when, in a word, men refused to bow to fact 1 Ah sorts of wild rumors were current. There was a vast continent in the south. There was a vast sea in the north. Somewhere was the New Albion, which Francis Drake had found north of New Spain. Just north of the Spanish possessions in America was a wide inlet leading straight through from the Pacific to the Atlantic, which an old Greek pilot — named Juan de Fuca — said he had traversed for the viceroy of New Spain. Even stolid-going England was infecte^ by the rage for imaginary oceans and continents. The Hudson's Bay Fur Company was threatened with a withdrawal I* u III I I 174 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC of its charter because it had failed to find a Northwest Passage from Atlantic to Pacific. Only four years after the death of Bering, an act of Parliament offered a reward of twenty thousand pounds to the officers and crew of any ships discovering a passage between Atlantic and Pacific north of 52°. There were even ingenious fellows with the letters of the Royal Society behind their names, who affected to think that the great Athabasca Lake, which Hearne had found, when he tramped inland from the Arctic and Coppermine River, was a strait leading to the Pacific Athabasca Lake might be the imaginary strait of the Greek pilot, Juan de Fuca. To be sure, two Hudson's Bay Com- pany ships' crews — those under Knight and Barlow — had been totally lost fifty years before Hearne's tramp inland in 1771, trying to find that same mythical strait of Juan de Fuca westward of Hudson Bay. But so furious did public opinion wax over a North- west Passage at the very time poor Bering was dying in the North Pacific, that Captain P.Iiddleton was sent to Hudson Bay in 1 741-1742 to find a way to the Pa- cific. And when Middleton failed to find water where the Creator had placed land, Dobbs, the patron of the expedition and champion of a Northwest Passage at once roused the public to send out two more ships — the Dobbs and California. Failure again ! Theories never yet made Fact, never so much as added a hair's weight to Fact ! Ellis, who was on board, affected to think that Chesterfield Inlet — a great arm of the sea, CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 175 westward of Hudson Bay — might lead to the Pacific. 1 his supposition was promptly exploded by the Hud- son's Bay Fur Company sending Captain Christopher and Moses Norton, the local governor of the company, up Chesterfield inlet for two hundred miles, where they found, not the Pacific, but a narrow iver. Then the hue and cry of the learned theorists was — the Northwest Passage lay northward of Hudson Bay. Hearne was sent tramping inland to find — not sea, but land; and when he returned with the report of the great Athabasca Lake of Mackenzie River region, the lake was actually seized on as proof that there was a waterway to the Pacific. Then the brilliant plan ^'as cone>;ived to send ships by both the Atlantic and the Pacific to find this mythical passage from Europe to Asia. Pickersgill, who had been on the Pacific, was to go out north of Hudson Bay and work westward. To work eastward from the Pacific to the Atlantic was chosen a man who had already proved there was no great continental mass on the south, and that the world did not turn upside down, and who was destined to prove there was no great opcP : on the north, and still the world did not turn i - ._• down. He was a man whose whole life had been based and built upon Fact, not Theory. He was a man who acce; red Truth as God gave it to him, not as he had theorized it ought to be; a man who had climbed from a mud cottage to the position of the greatest navigator in the world — had climbed on top of facts mastered, not f • I- 176 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC of schoolgirl moonshine, or study-closet theories. That man was Captain James Cook. Cook's life presents all the contrasts of true greatness world over. Like Peter the Great, of Russia, whose word had set in motion the exploration of the north- west coast of America, Cook's character consisted of elen-ents that invariably lead to glory or ruin ; often, both. The word "impossible" was not in his vocabu- lary. He simply did not recognize any limitations to what a man might do, could do, would do, if he tried; and that means, that under stress of risk or tempta- tion, or opposition, a man's caution goes to the winds. With Cook, it was risk that caused ruin. With the Czar of Russia, it was temptation. Born at Marton, a small parish of a north riding in the county of York, October 27, 1728, James Cook was the son of a day-laborer in an age when manual toil was paid at the rate of a few pennies a day. There were nine of a family. The home was a thatch-roofed mud cottage. Two years after Cook's birth, the father was appointed bailiff, which slightly improved family finances; but James was thirteen years of age before it was possible to send him to school. There, the progress of his learning was a gallop. He had a wizard- genius for figures. In three short years he had mastered all the Ayton school could teach him. At sixteen, his schooling was over. The father's highest ambition seems to have been for the son to become a successful shopkeeper in one of the small towns. The future mm CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 177 navigator was apprenticed to the village shop; but Cook's ambitions were not to be caged behind a counter. Eastward rolled the North Sea. Down at Hull were heard seamen's yarns to make the blood of a boy jump. It was 1746. The world w.s ringing with tales of Bering on the Pacific, of a southern continent, which didn't exist, of the Hudson's Ba^ Fur Company's illimitable domain in the north, of La Verendrye's wonderful discoveries of an almost boundless region westward of New France toward the uncharted Western Sea. In a year and a half, Cook had his fill of shopkeeping. Whether he ran away, or had served his master so well that the latter willingi/ remitted the three years' articles o*" apprenticeship. Cook now followed his destiny to the sea. According to the world's standards, the change seemed progress back- ward. He was articled to a ship-owner of Whitby as a common seaman on a coaler sailing between Newcastle and London. One can see such coalers any day — black as smut, grimed from prow to stern, with work- men almost black shovelling coal or hoisting tackling — pushing in and out among the statelier craft of any seaport. It is this stage in a great man's career which is the test. Is the man sure enough of himself to leave everything behind, and jump over the precipice into the unknown ? If ever he wishes to return to what he has left, he will have just the height of this jump to climb back to the old place. The old place is a cer- tainty. The unknown may engulf in failure. He 11 i It h lf = ^!|m ! .h m H J78 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC must chance that, and all for the sake of a faith in him- self, which has not yet been justified; for the sake of a vague star leading into the misty unknown. He knows that he could have been successful in the old place. He does not know that he may not be a failure in the new place. Art, literature, science, commerce — in all _ it is the men and women who have dared to risk being failures that have proved the mainspring of progress. Cook was sure enough of himself to ex- change shopkeeper's linen for the coal-heaver's blue jeans, to risk following the star of his destiny to the sea. Presently, the commonplace, grimy duties which he must fulfil are taking him to Dublin, to Liverpool, to Norway; and by the time he is twenty-two, he knows the Baltic trade well, and has heard all the pros and cons of the furious cackle which the schools have raised over that expedition of Bering's to the west coast of America. By the time he is twenty-four he is a first mate on the coal boats. Comes another vital change ! When he left the shop, he felt all that he had to do'^to follow his destiny was to go to sea. Now the star has led him up to a blank wall. The only promo- tion he can obtain on these merchantmen is to a cap- tainsh'- ; and the captaincy on a small merchantman will mean pretty much a monotonous flying back and forAvard like a shuttle between the ports of Europe and England. Cook took a resolution that would have cost any ' I- CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 179 man but one with absolute singleness of purpose a poignant effort. At the age of twenty-seven, he de- cided to enter the Royal Navy. Now, in a democratic age, we don't talk about such things; but there are unwritten laws and invisible lines just the same. Stand- ing on the captain's deck of an American warship not long ago, watching the deck hands below putting things shipshape, I asked an officer — "Is there any chance for those men to rise?" "Yes, some," he answered tentatively, "but then, there is a difference between the men who have been trained for a position, and those who have worked up the line to it." If that difference exists in a demo- cratic country and age, what was it for Cook in a coun- try and at a time when lines of caste were hard and fast drawn ? But he entered the navy on the Eagle under Sir Hugh Palliser, who, almost at once, transferred him from the forecastle to the quarter- deck. What was the explanation of such quick recog- nition ? Therein lies the difference between the man who tries and succeeds, and the man who tries and fails. Cook had qualified himself for promotion. He was so fitted for the higher position, that the higher position could not do without him. Whether rocking on the Baltic, or waiting for the stokers to heave out coal at Liverpool, every moment not occupied by sea- man's duties. Cook had filled by improving himself, by increasing his usefulness, by sharpening his brain, so that his brain could better direct his hands, by it Is j M il II' ji ' > 180 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC studying mathematics and astronomy and geography and science and navigation. As some one has said — there are lots of people with hands and no brain ; and there are lots of people with brains and no hands; but the kind who will command the highest reward for their services to the world are those who have the finest combination of brains and hands. Four years after Cook had joined the navy, he was master on the Mercury with the fleet before Quebec, making a chart of the St. Lawrence for Wolfe to take the troops up to the Heights of Abraham, piloting the boats to the attack on Montmorency, and conducting the embarkation of the troops, who were to win the famous battle, that changed the face of America. Now, the Royal Society wished to send some one to the South Seas, whose reliability was of such a recog- nized and steady-going sort, that his conclusions would be accepted by the public. Just twenty years from the time that he had left the shop, Cook was chosen for this important mission. What manner of man was he, who in that time had risen from life in a mud hut to the rank of a commander in the Royal Navy? In manner, he was plain and simple and direct, no flourish, no unnecessary palaver of showy words, not a word he did not mean. In form, he was six feet tall, in perfect proportion, with brown hair and eyes, alertly pene- trating, with features sharp rather from habit of thought than from natural shape. On this mission he left England in 1768, anchored at iPI 'mmmm Captain James Cook. M is ' m '■ if ! Ui -^ ■-'" ■•ffWWP!"' CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA i8i the Society Islands of the South Seas in the spring of 1769, explored New Zealand in the fall of the same year, rounded Australia in 1770 and returned to England in 1 77 1, the very year Hearne was trying to tramp it overland in search of a Northwest Passage. And he brought back no proof of that vast southern world which geographers had put on their maps. Pron.ptly he was sent out on a second voyage to find or demolish that mythical continent of the southern hemisp'iere; and he demoUshed the myth of a southern continent altogether, returning from circumnavigating the globe just at the time when the furor of a Northwest Passage northward of Hudson Bay, northward even of Bering's course on 'he Pacific, was at its height. The third voyage was to determine finally the bounds of western America, the possibilities of a passage be- tween Europe and Asia by way of the Pacific. Two ships — the Resolution, four hundred and sixty tons, one hundred and twelve men, which Cook had used before, and the Discovery, three hundred tons, eighty rr — were purchased at Hull, the old port of Cook's ood dream*-. To secure the good will of the crews, two months' wages were paid in advance. Captain Clerke commanded the Discovery; and the two crews numbered men of whom the world was to hear more in connection with the northwest coast of Ameiica — a young midshipman, Vancouver, whose doings v ere yet to checkmate Spain; a young American, corporal lii! Ul\ i ! u 182 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC of marines, Ledyard, who was to have his brush with Russia; and other ambitious young seamen destined to become famous trader? on the west coast of America. The two ships left England in midsummer of 1776, crossed the equator in Septem.ber when every man fresh to the episode was caught and ducked overrails in equatorial waters, rounded Good Hope, touched at the Society Islands of the first voyage, and by spring of 1778 had explored and anchored at the Sandwich Islands. Once on the Pacific, Cook mustered his crews and took them into his confidence; he was going to try for that reward of twenty thousand pounds to the crew that discovered a Northeast Passage; and even if he missed the reward, he was going to have a shy at the most northern latitude ever .uempted by navigator — 89°; would they do k? The crew cheered. Whether they reached 89° or not, they decided to preserve their grog for the intense cold to be encountered in the north; so that the daily allow- ance was now cut to half. By March, the ships were off from the Sandwich Islands to the long swell of the Pacific, the slimy medusa lights covering the waters with a phosphor- escent trail of fire all night, the rockweed and sea leek floating past by day telling their tale of some far land. Cook's secret commission had been very explicit: "^'ou are to proceed on as direct a course as you can to the coast of New Albion, endeavoring to fall in with it in latitude 45'^ north . , . and are strictly enjoined CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 183 not to touch on any part of the Spanish dominions . . . unless driven by accident ... and to be very careful not to give any umbrage to the subjects of his CatlioHc Majesty ... and if in further progress northward . . . you find any subjects of a European prince . . . you are not to give any cause of offence . . . proceed northward to 65°, carefully search for such inlets as appear pointing to Hudson Bay . . . use your utmost endeavors to pass through." The com- mission shows that England was unaware Spain had pushed north of 45°, and Russia north of 65°; for Spain jealously kept her explorations secret, and Russia's were not accepted. The commission also offered a reward for any one going within 1° of the Pole. It may he added — the offer is still open. For days after leaving the Sandwich Islands, not a bird was to be seen. That was a bad omen for land. Land must be far, indeed; and Cook began to fear there might be as much ocean in that northern hemi- sphere as the geographers of Russia ind France — who actually tabulated Bering's discoveries as an island — had placed on the maps. But in the first week of March, a sea-gull came swimming over the crest of a wave. Where did she come from ? Then an albatross was seen wheeling above the sea. Then, on March 6, two lonely land seals went plying past; and whales were noticed. Surely they were nearing the region that Drake, the Enc^lish freebooter, had seen and named New Albion two hundred years before. I 184 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC Saddenly, on the morning of March 7, the dim offing ahead showed thin, sharp, clear Hnes. The Hnes rose higher as the ship approached. They cut themselves against the sky in the form of mountains and hills with purple mist lying in the valleys. It was the New Albion at latitude 44° ^^y which Drake had discovered. The day was hazy and warm. Cook's crews wondered why Drake had complained of such cold. By night they found cut. A roaring hurricane burst from the northern darkness with squalls of hail and snow and sleet, that turned the shore to one long reach of whitened cliffs straight up and down out of the sea. In com- memoration, they called the first landfall, Cape Foul- weather; and, in spite of the commission to sail north, drove under bare poles before the storm to 43°, naming the two capes passed Perpetua and Gregory. Only by the third week of March had the storm abated enough for them to turn north again.' Now, whether the old Greek pilot, Juan de Fuca, lied or dreamed, or only told a yarn of what some Indian had told him, it was along this coast that he had said *he straits leading to the east side of America lay ; and Cook's two ships hugged the coast as close as they dared for fear of roaring breakers and a landward wind. On March 23 rocks were seen lying off a high point capped with trees, behind which might be a 1 The question may occur, why in the account of Cook's ind Bering's voyage, the latitude is not oftener given. The answer is, the latitudes as given by Cook and Bering vary so much from the modern, it wcu'd only confuse the reader trying to follow a modern map. '*y CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 185 strait; but a gale ashore and a lashing tide thundering over the rocks sent the ships scudding for the offing through fog and rain; and never a glimpse of a passage eastward could the crews obtain. Cook called the delusive point Cape Flattery and added: "It is in this very latitude (48° 15') that geographers have placed the pretended Straits of Juan de Fuca; but we saw nothing like it ; nor is there the least possibility that any such thing ever existed." But Cook was too far out to descry the narrow opening — but thirteen miles wide — of Juan de Fuca, where the steamers of three con- tinents ply to-day; though the strait by no means led to Europe, as geographers thought. All night a hard gale dr-^ve them northward. When the weather cleared, permitting them to approach the coast again, high mountains, covered with snow and forests, jagged through the clouds like tent peaks. Tremendous breakers roared over sunken rocks. Point Breakers, Cook called them. Then the wind suddenly fell; and the ships were becalmed directly opposite the narrow entrance of a two-horned cove shehered by the mountains. The small boats had all been mustered out to tow the two ships in, when a slight breeze sprang up. The flotilla drifted inland just as three canoes, carved in bizarre shapes of birds' heads and eagle claws, came paddling across the inlet. Three savages were in one, six in the other, ten in the third. They came slowly over the water, singing some song of welcome, beating time with their paddles, I if. If i I 11 i86 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC scattering downy white feathers on the air, at intervals standing up to harangue a welcome to the newcomers. Soon thirty canoes were around the ships with some ten warriors in each. Still they came, shoals of them, like fish, with savages almost naked, the harbor smooth as glass, the grand tyce, or great chief of the tribes, standing erect shouting a welcome, with long elf-locks streaming down his back. Women and children now appeared in the canoes. That meant peace. The women were chattering like magpies; the men gur- gling and spluttering their surprise at the white visitors. For safety's sake the guns of the two ships were pointed ready; but the natives did not know the fear of a gun. It was the end of March when Cook first anchored off what he thought was the mainland of America. It was not mainland, but an island, and the harbor was one to become famous as the rendez- vous of Pacific traders — Nootka ! Three armed boats commanded by Mr. King, and one under Cook, at once proceeded from the ships to explore and sound the inlet. The entrance had been between two rocky points four miles apart past a chain of sunken rocks. Except in a northwest corner of the inlet, since known as Snug Cove, the water was too deep for anchorage; so the two ships were moored to trees, the masts unrigged, the iron forge set to work on the shore; and the men began cutting timber for the new masts. And still the tiny specks dancing over the waves carrying canoe loads of savages to the English ships, CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 187 continued to multiply till the harbor seemed alive with warriors — two thousand at least there must have been by the first week of April after Cook's arrival. Some of the savages wore brightly painted wooden masks as part of their gala attire. Others carried totems — pieces of wood carved in the likeness of bird or beast to typify manitou of family or clan. By way of showing their prowess, some even offered the white men human skulls from which the flesh had not yet been taken. By this Cook knew the people were cannibals. Some were observed to be wearing spoons of European make as ornaments round their necks. What we desire to believe we easily accept. The white men did not ascribe the spoons to traders from New Spain on the south, or the Russian settlements to t!° north; but thought this place must be within trad- ing distance of Hudson Bay, whence the Indians must have obtained the spoons. And so they cherished the hope of a Northeast Passage fnm this slim sign. In a few days fifteen hundred b.aver and sea-otter had been obtained in trade, sixty-nine sea-otter — each of which was worth at that time one hundred dollars in mode' , money — for a handful of old nails. To these deep-sea wanderers of Cook's crews, the harbor was as a fairy-land. Snow still covered the mountain tops; but a tangled forest of dank growth with roots awash in the lipple of the sea, stretched down the hillsides. Red cedar, spruce, fir, — of enormous growth, broader in girth than a cart and :v- i\ uil i88 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC wagon in length, — cypress with twisted and gnarled knots red against the rank green; mosses swinging from branch to branch in snaky coils wherever the clouds settled and rested; islands studding the sea Hke emerald gems; grouse drumming their spring song through the dark uiderbrush; sea-mew and Mother Carey's chickens screaming and clacking overhead; the snowy summits red as wine in the sunset glow — all made up an April scene long cherished by these adventurers of the North. Early one morning in April the men cutting timber inland were startled to notice the underbrush alive with warrioi*^ armed. The first fear was of an ambush. Cook ordered the men to an isolated rock ready for defence; but the grand tyee or chief explained by signs that his tribe was only keeping off another tribe that wanted to trade with the white men. The worst trouble was from the inordinate thieving propensities of the natives. Iron, nails, belaying pins, rudders, anchors, bits of sail, a spike that could be pulled from the rotten wood of the outer keel by the teeth of a thief paddling below — anything, everything was snatched by the light-fingered gentry. Nor can we condemn them for it. Their moral standard was the Wolf Code of Existence — which the white man has elaborated in his evolution — to take whatever they had the dex- terity and strength to take and to keep. When caught in theft, they did not betray as much sense of guilt as a dog stealing a bone. Why should they ? Their CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 189 code was to take. The chief of the Nootkas presented Cook with a sea-otter cloak. Cook reciprocated with a brass-hilted sword. By the end of April the ships had been overhauled, and Cook was ready to sail. Porpoise were coursing the sea like greyhounds, and the stormy petrels in a clatter; but Cook was not to be delayed by storm. Barely had the two ships cleared the harbor, when such n squall broke L.ose, they could do nothing but scud for open sea, turn taiL to .he wind, and lie help- less as logs, heads south. If it had not been for this storm. Cook would certainly have discovered that Nootka was on an island, not the roast of the main- land; but by the time the weather permitted an ap- proach to land again, Friday, May i, the ships were abreast that cluster of islands below the snowy cone of Mt. Edgecumbe, Sitka, where Chirikoff's Russians had first put foot on American soil. Cook was now at the northernmost limit of Spanish voyaging. By the 4th of May Cook had sighted and passed the Fairweather Range, swung round westward on the old course followed by Bering, and passed under the shadow of St. Elias towering through the clouds in a dome of snow. On the 6th the ships were at Kyak, where Bering had anchored, and amid myriad ducks and gulls were approaching a broad inlet northward. Now, just as Bering had missed exploring this part of the coast owing to fog, so Cook had failed to trace that long archipelago of islands from Sitka Sound north- 190 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC t ward; but here, where the coast trends straight west- ward, was an opening that roused hopes of a Northeast Passage. The Resolution had sprung a leak; and in the second week of May, the inlet was entered in the hope of a shelter to repair the leak and a way north- east to the Atlantic. Barely had the ships passed up the sound, when they were enshrouded in a fog that wiped out every outline; otherwise, the high coast of glacial palisades — two hundred feet in places and four miles broad — might have been seen landlocked by mountains; but Mr. Gore launched out in a small boat steering north through haze and tide-rip. Twenty natives were seen clad in sea-otter skins, by which — the white men judged — no Russians could have come to this sound; for the Russians would not have permitted the Indians to keep such valuable sea-otter clothing. The glass beads possessed by the natives were supposed to attest proximity to traders of Hudson Bay. With an almost animal innocence of wrong, the Indians tried to steal the small boat of the Discovery, flourishing their spears till the white crew mustered. At another time, when the Discovery lay anchored, few lanterns happened to be on deck. No sailors were visible. It was early in the morning and every- body was asleep, the boat dark. The natives swarmed up the ship's sides like ants invading a sugar canister. Looking down the hatches without seeing any whites, they at once drew their knives and began to plunder. The whites dashed up the hatchway and drove the i CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 191 plunderers over the rails at sword point. East and north the small boats skirted the mist-draped shores, returning at midnight with word the inlet was a closed shore. There was no Northeast Passage. They called the spider-sh:iped bay Prince William Sound; and at ten in the morning headed out for sea. Here a fresh disappointment awaited them. The natives of Prince William Sound had resembled the Eskimos of Greenland so much that the explorers were prepared to find themselves at the w^estward end of the American continent ready to round north into the Atlantic. A long ledge of land projected into the sea. They called this Cape Elizabeth, passed it, noted the reef of sunken rocks lying directly athwart a terrific tidal bore, and behold ! not the end of the con- tinent — no, not by a thousand miles — but straight across westward, beneath a smoking volcano that tinged the fog ruby-red, a lofty, naked spur three miles out into the sea, with crest hidden among the clouds and rock-base awash in thundering breakers. This was called Cape Douglas. Between these two capes was a tidal flood of perhaps sixty miles' breadth. Where did it come from ? Up went hopes again for the Northeast Passage, and the twenty thousand pounds! Spite of driftwood, and roily waters, and a flood that ran ten miles an hour, and a tidal bore that rose twenty feet, up the passage they tacked, east to west, west to east, plying up half the month of June in rain and sleet, with the heavy pall of black smoke I i \ 19a VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC rolling from the volcano left far on the offing! At last the opening was seen to turn abruptly straight east Out rattled the small boats. Up the muddy waters they ran for nine miles till salt water became fresh water, and the explorers found themselves on a river. In irony, this point was called Tum-Agam The whole bay is now known as Cook s Inlet. Mr. King was sent ashore on the south side of Tum-Agam to take possession. Twenty natives in sea-otter skms stood by watching the ceremony of flag unfurled and the land of their fathers being declared the possession of England. These natives were plainly acquamted with the use of iron; but "I will be bold to say. relates Cook, "they do not know the Russians, or they would not be wearing these valuable sea-otter skins. No Northeast Passage here! So out they ply again for open sea through misty weather; and when it clears, they are in the green treeless region west of Cook's Inlet. Past Kadiak, past Bering s Foggy Isl- and, past the Shumagins where Bering s first sailor to die of scurvy had been buried, past volcanoes throw- ing up immense quamities of blood-red smoke, past pinnacled rocks, through mists so thick the roar of the breakers is their only guide, they glide or drift o move by inches feeling the way cautiously, fearful ot wreck. , „ ,• Toward the end of June a great hollow green swell swings them through the straits past Oonahska, northward at last ! Natives are seen in green trousers >.i HI I CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 193 and European shirts; natives who take ofF their hats and make a bow after the pompous fashion of the Russians. Twice natives bring word to Cook by letter and sign that the Russians of Oonalaska wish to see him. But Captain Cook is not anxious to see the Russians just now. He wants to forestall their explorations northward and take possession of the Polar realm for England. Tn August they are in Bristol Bay, north of the Alf ., directly opposite Asia. Here Dr. Anderson, i surgeon, dies of consumption. Not so much fog nov . They can follow the mainland. Far ahead there projects straight out in the sea a long spit of land backed by high hills, the westernmost point of North America — Cape Prince of Wales ! Bering is vindicated ! Just fifty years from Bering's explora- tion of 1728, the English navigator finds what Bering found: that America and Asia are not united; that no Northeast Passage exists; that no great oceanic body hes north of New Spain; that Alaska — as the Rus- sian maps had it after Bering's death — is not an island. Wind, rain, roily, shoaly seas breaking clear over the ship across decks drove Cook out frcn land to deeper water. With an Englishman's thoroughness for doing things and to make deadly sure just how the two con- tinents lay to each other, Cook now scuds across Bering Strait thirty-nine miles to the Chukchee land of Siberia in Asia. How he praises the accuracy of poor Be- f i ' 'till' ,94 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC rin.'sworlc along this coast: Bering, whose name had r n a r reet for ridicule and contempt from the time Phis r.th whose death was declared a blunder; l^t J; was considered a fadure; whose charts ha^ Ln'rejected and distorted by the learned men of the world. The Ice Islands. From the Chukche. villages of Asia, Cook -iled b.,ck ,0 the American coast, passmg north o Bermg ;™,s directly in mid-channel. It ,s ,n odd thmg while very little ice-drilt ,s met m Bermg Sea, >ou L e no sooner passed north of the stra.ts than a .^ „.„rld surrotmds you. Fog, .ce, .ce '"? " '"^'^ ''^' „irh palisades of ice twelve feet h.gh, -- -^ ; ;^'; far a the eve can see! The crew amuse themselves l;er,:ately gathering driftwood for fuel, and huntmg vou CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 195 walrus over the ice. It is in the North Pacific that the walrus attains its great size — nine feet in length, broader across its back than any animal known to the civilized world. These piebald yellow monsters lay wallowing in herds of hundreds on the ice-fields. At the edge lay always one on the watch; and no matter how dense the fog, these walrus herds on the ice, braying and roaring till the surf shook, acted as J fog-horn to Cook's ships, and kept them from being jam. .led in the ice-drift, ooon two-thirds of the furs got at Nootka had spoiled of rain-rot. The vessels were iced like ghost ships. Tack back and forward as they might, no passage opened through the ice. Sud- denly Cook found himself in shoal water, on a lee shore, long and low and shelving, with the ice drifting on his ships. He called the place Icy Cape. It was their farthest point north; and the third week of August they were compelled to scud south to escape the ice. Backing away toward Asia, he reached the North Cape there. It was almost September. In ac- cordance with the secret instructions. Cook turned south to winter at the Sandwich Islands, passing Serdze Kamen, where Bering had turned back in 1728, East Cape on the Straits of Bering just opposite the Amer can Prince of Wales, and St. Lawrence isl- ands where the ships anchored. Norton Sound was explored on the way back; and October saw Cook down at Oonalaska, where Ledyard was sent overland across the island to conduct the rii !:■ • I P: i Is i ,96 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC Russian traders to the English ships. Three Russians came to visit Cook. One averred that he had been with Bering on the expedition of 1741, and the rough adventurers seemed almost to worship the Dane's memory. Later came IsmylofF, chief factor of the Russian fur posts in Oonalaska, attended by a retmue of thirty native canoes, very suave as to manners, very poHshed and pompous when he was not too convivial, but very chary of any information to the English, whose charts he examined with keenest interest, giving them to understand that the Empress of Russia had fixst claim to all those parts of the country-, rising, quaffing a glass and bowing profoundly as he men- tioned the august name. " Friends and fellow-country- men glorious," the English were to the smooth-tongued Russian, as thev drank each other's heahh. Learning that Cook was to visit Avacha Bay, IsmylofF proffered a letter of introduction to Major Behm, Russian com- mander of Kamchatka. Cook thought the letter one of commendation. It turned out otherwise. ur traders, world over, always resented the coming of the explorer. IsmylofF was neither better nor worse than his kind.' Heavy squalls pursued the ships all the way from Oonalaska, left on October 26, to the Sandvvich Isl- ands, reached in the new year 1779- A thousand canoes of enthusiastic natives welcomed Cook back to the sunny islands of the Pacific. Before the exploret 1 This is the Ismyloff who was maruoned by Benyowsky. CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 197 could anchor, natives were swimming round the ship Hke shoals of fish. When Cook landed, the whole population prostrated itself at his feet as if he had been a god. It was a welcome change from the deso- late cold of the inhospitable north. Situated midway in the Pacific, the Sandwich Isl- ands were like an oasis in a watery waste to Cook's mariners. The ships had dropped anchor in the centre of a horn-shaped bay called Karakakooa, in Hawaii, about two miles from horn to horn. ' n the sandy flats of the north horn was the native village of Kowrowa : amid the cocoanut grove of the other horn, the village of Kakooa, with a well and Morai, or sacred burying-ground, close by. Between the two villages alongshore ran a high ledge of black coral rocks. In all there were, perhaps, four hundred houses in the two villages, with a population of from two to three thousand warriors; but the bay was the rallying place for the entire group of islands; and the islands num- bered in all several hundred thousand warriors. Picture, then, the scene to these wanderers of the northern seas : the long coral reef, wave-washed by bluest of seas; the little village and bur)'ing-ground and priests' houses nestling under the cocoanut grove at one end of the semicircular bay, the village where Terreeoboo, king of the island, dwelt on the long sand beach at the other end ; and swimming through the water like shoals of fish, climbing over the ships' rig- ging like monkeys, crowding the decks of the Discovery 1 1. 'i ,98 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC so that the ship heeled over till young chief Pareea began tossing the intruders by the scuff of the neck back into the sea — hundreds, thousands, of half- naked, tawny-skinned savages welcoming the white men back to the islands discovered by them. Chief among the visitors to the ship was Koah, a little, old, emaciated, shifty-eyed priest with a wry neck and a scaly, leprous skin, who at once led the small boats ashore, driving the throngs back with a magic wand and drawing a mystic circle with his wizard stick round a piece of ground near the Morai, or burying-place, where the white men could erect their tents beside the cocoanut groves. The magic line was called a taboo. Past the tabooed line of the magic wand not a native would dare to go. Here Captain King, assisted by the young mids lipman, Vancouver, landed with a guard of eight or ten mariners to overhaul the ships' masts, while the rest of the two crews obtained provi- sions by trade. Cook was carried off to the very centre of the Morai — a circular enclosure of solid stone with images and priests' houses at one end, the skulls of slain captives at the other. Here priests and people did the white explorer homage as to a god, sacrificing to him their most sacred animal — a strangled pig. All went well for the first few days. A white gun- ner, who died, was buried within the sacred enclosure of the Morai. The natives loaded the white men's boats with provisions. In ten days the wan, gaunt CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 199 sailors were so sleek and fat that even the generous entertainers had to laugh at the transformation. Old King Terreeoboo came clothed in a cloak of gaudy feathers with spears and daggers at his belt and a train of priestly retainers at his heels to pay a visit of state to Cook; and a guard of mariners was drawn up at arms under the cocoanut grove to receive the visitor with fitting honor. When the king learned that Cook was to leave the bay early in February, a royal proc- lamation gathered presents for the ships; and Cook responded by a public display of fireworks. Now it Is a sad fact that when a highly civilized people meet an uncivilized people, each race celebrates the occasion by appropriating all the evil qualities of the other. Vices, not virtues, are the first to fraternize. It was as unfair of Cook's crew to judge the islanders by the rabble swarming out to steal from the ships, as it would be for a newcomer to judge the people of New York by the pickpockets and under-world of the water front. And it must not be forgotten that the very quality that had made Cook successful — the quality to dare — was a danger to him here. The natives did not violate the sacred taboo, which the priest had drawn round the white men's quarters of the grove. It was the white men who violated it by going outside the limit; and the conduct of the white sailors for the sixteen days in port was neither better nor worse than the conduct of sailors to-day who go on a wild spree with the lowest elements of the harbor. 200 VIKINGS OK THE PACIFIC I m The savages were quick to find out that the white gods were after all only men. The true story of what happened could hardly be written by Captain King, who finished Cook's journal; though one can read be- tween the lines Kind's fear of his commander's rash- ness. The fact >f the case are given by the young American, John Ledyard, of Connecticut, who was corporal of marines and in the very thick of the fight. At the end of two weeks the white seamen were, perhaps, satiated of their own vices, or suffering from the sore head that results from prolonged spreeing. At all events the thieving, which had been condoned at first, was now punished by soundly flogging the natives. The old king courteously hinted it was time for the white men to go. The mate, who was loading masts and rudder back on board the Resohi.ion, asked th" savages to give him a hand. The islanders had lost respect for the white men of such flagrant vices. They pretended to give a helping hand, but only jostled the mate about in the crowd. The English- man lost his temper, struck out, and blustered. The shore rang with the shrill laughter of the throngs. In vain the chiefs of authority interposed. The com- mands to help the white men were answered by showers of stones directly inside the taboo. Ledyard was ordered out with a guard of sailors to protect the white men loading the Resolution. The guard was pelted black and blue. "There was nothing to do," relates Ledyard, "but move to new lands where our vices CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 201 were not known." At last all was in readiness to sail — one thing alone lacking — wood ; and the white men dare not go inland for the needed wood. So far the entire blame rested on the sailors. Now Cook committed his cardinal error. With that very dare and (juickness to utilize every available means to an end — whether the end justihed the means — Cook ordered his men ashore to seize the rail fence round the top of the stf)ne burying-ground — the sacred Morai — as fuel for his ships. Out rushed the priests from the enclosure in dire distress. Was this their reward for protecting Cook with the v/and of the sacred taboo F Two hatchets were offered the leading priest as pay. He spurned them as too loathsome to be touched. Leading the way, Cook ordered his men to break the fence down, and proffered three hatchets, thrusting them into the folds of the priest's garment. Pale and quivering with rage, the priest bade a slave remove the profaning iron. Down tumbled the fence ! Down the images on poles ! Down the skulls of the dead sacred to the savage as the sepulchre to the white man ! It may be said to the credit of the crew- that the men were thoroughly frightened at what they were ordered to do; but they were not too frightened to carry away the images as relics. Cook alone was blind to risk. As if to add the last straw to the Ha- waiians' endurance, when the ships unmoored and sailed out from the bay, where but two weeks before they had been so royally welcomed, they carried elop- ;i t » < iiii / KB^i h' ^ ■^Bu< tr " 5?^B ' I *^^ h !P.| 1 202 VIKINGS OF I'HE PACIFIC ing wives ana children from the lower classes of the two villages. It was one of the cases where retribution came so swift it was like a living Nemesis. If the weather had continued fair, doubtless wives and children would have been dumped off at some near harbor, the m- cident considered a joke, and the Knglishmen gone merrily on their way ; but a violent gale arose. W omen and children were seized with a seasickness that was no joke. The decks resounded with such wails that Cook had to lie to in the storm, put off the pinnace, and send the visitors ashore. What sort of a tale they carried back, we may guess. Meanwhile the storm had snapped the foremast of the Resolvtwu. As it rushing on his ruin. Cook steered back for the bay and anchored midwav between the two villages. Agam the tents were pitched beside the Morai under the cocoanut groves. Again the wand was drawn round the tenting place; but the white men had taught the savages that the tahoo was no longer sacred. Where thousands had welcomed the ships before, not a soul now appeared. Not a canoe cut the waters. Not a voice broke the silence of the bay. The sailors were sour: Cook, angry. When the men rowed to the villages for fresh provisions, they were pelted with stones. When at night-ti le the savages came to the ships with fresh food, thev asked higher prices and would take onlv daggers and knives in pav. Onlv by firing its great guns could the Dis- J CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 203 covery prevent forcible theft by the savages offering provisions; and in the scuffle of pursuit after one thief, Pareea - a chief most friendly to the whites — was knocked down by a white man's oar. "I am afraid, remarked Cook, "these people will compel me to use violent measures." As if to test the mettle of the tacit threat, Sunday, daybreak, February 14, revealed that the large rowboat of the Discovery had been stolen. When Captam King, who ' ' charge of the guard repairing the masts over w- .Ici the cocoanut grove came on board Sunday morning, he found Cook load- ing his gun, with a Hne of soldiers drawn up to go ashore in order to allure the ruler of the islands on board, and hold him as hostage for the restitution of the lost boat. Clerke, of the Discovery, was too far gone in consump- tion to take any part. Cook led the way on the pin- nace with Ledyard and six marines. Captain King followed in the launch with as many more. All the other small boats of the two ships were strung across the harbor from Kakooa, where the grove was, to Kowrowa, where the king dwelt, with orders to fire on any canoe trying to escape. Before the fearless leader, the savages prostrated themselves in the streets. Cook strode like a con- queror straight to the door of the king's abode. It was about nine in the morning. Old Terreeoboo — peace lover and lazy — was just awake and only too willing tf< go aboard with Cook as the easiest way out , Kir ? 1 f ff- ' 204 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC of the trouble about the stolen boat. But just here the high-handedness of Cook frustrated itself. That line of small boats stretched across the harbor began firing at an escaping canoe. A favorite chief was killed. Word of the killing came as the old king was at the water's edge to follow Cook ; and a wife caught him by the arm to drag him back. Suddenly a throng of a thousand surrounded the white men. Some one stabs at Phillips of the marines. Phillips's musket comes down butt-end on the head of the assailant. A spear is thrust in Cook's very face. He fires blank shot. The harmlessness of the shot only emboldens the savages. Women are seen hurrying off to the hills; men don their war mats. There is a rush of the white men to get positions along the water edge free for striking room ; of the savages to prevent the whites' escape. A stone hits Cook. "What man did that .?" thunders Cook ; and he shoots the culprit dead. Then the men in the boats lose their heads, and are pouring volleys of musketry into the crowds. "It is hopeless," mutters Cook to Phillips; but amid a shower of stones above the whooping of the savages, he turns with his back to the crowd, and shouts for the two small boats to cease firing and pull in for the marines. His caution came too late. His back is to his assailants. An arm reached out — a hand with a dagger; and the dagger rips quick as a flash under Cook's shoulder-blade. He fell without a groan, face in the water, and was hacked to pieces % 11 3 i CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 205 before the eyes of his men. Four marines had al- ready fallen. Phillips and Ledyard and the rest jumped into the sea and swam for their lives. The small boats were twenty yards out. Scarcely was Phillips in the nearest, when a wounded sailor, swim- ming for refuge, fainted and sank to the bottom. The Death of Cook. Though half stunned from a stone blow on his head and bleeding from a stab in the back, Phillips leaped to the rescue, dived to bottom, caught the exhausted sailor by the hair of the head and so snatched him into the boat. The dead and the arms of the fugitives had been deserted in the wild scramble for life. Meanwhile the masts of the Resolution, guarded by n I \ . i'. I n * ' 11 W nt 206 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC only six marines, were exposed to the warriors of the other village at the cocoanut grove. Protected by the guns of the two ships under the direction of Gierke, who now became commander, masts and men were got aboard by noon. At four that afternoon. Cap- tain King rowed toward shore for Cook's body. He was met by the littl- leprous priest Koah, swimming halfway out. Though tears of sorrow were in Koah's treacherous red-rimmed eyes as he begged that Clerke and King might come ashore to parley. King judged it prudent to hold tightly on the priest's spear handle while the two embraced. Night after night for a week, the conch-shells blew their challenge of defiance to the white men. Fires rallying to war danced on the hillsides. Howls and shouts of derision echoed from the shore. The stealthy paddle of treacherous spies could be heard through the dark under the keel of the white men's ships. Cook's clothing, sword, hat, were waved in scorn under the sailors' faces. The women had hurried to the hills. The old king was hidden in a cave, where he could be reached only by a rope ladder; and emissary after ^ ^ I emissary tried to lure the whites ashore. One pitch- dark night, paddles were heard under the keels. The sentinels fired ; but by lantern light two terrified faces appeared above the rail of the Resolution. Two frightened, trembling savages crawled over the deck, prostrated themselves at Gierke's feet, and slowly un- rolled a small wrapping of cloth that revealed a small Hi! Irit i CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 207 piece of human flesh — the remains of Cook. Dead silence fell on the horrified crew. Then Clerke's stern answer was that unless the bones of Cook were brought to the ships, both native villages would be destroyed. The two savages were former friends of Cook's and warned the whites not to be allured on land, nor to trust Koah, the leper priest, on the ships. Again the conch-shells blew their challenge all night through the darkness. Again the war fires danced; but next morn'ig the guns of the Discovery were trained on Koah, when he tried to come on board. That day sailors were landed for water and set 'ire to the village of the cocoanut groves to drive assailants back. How quickly human nature may revert to the beast type ! When the white sailors returned from this skirmish, they carried back to the ships with them, the heads of two Hawaiians they had slain. By Saturday, the 20th, masts were in place and the boats ready to sail. Between ten and eleven o'clock in the morning, a long procession of people was seen filing slowly down the hills preceded by drummers and a white flag. Word was signalled that Cook's bones were on shore to be delivered. Clerke put out in a small boat to receive the dead commander's remains — from which all flesh had been burned. On Sunday, the 2 1st, the entire bay was tabooed. Not a native came out of the houses. Silence lay over the waters. The funeral service was read on board the Resolution^ and the coflSn committed to the deep. 2o8 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC 1^- ' I I i • I } A curious reception awaited the ships at Avacha Bay, Kamchatka, whence they now sailed. Ismy- lofF's letter commending the explorers to the governor of Avacha Bay brought thirty Cossack soldiers floun- dering through the shore ice of Petropaulovsk under the protection of pointed cannon. IsmylofF, with fur trader's jealousy of intrusion, had warned the Russian commander that the English ships were pirates like Benyowsky, the Polish exile, who had lately sacked the garrisons of Kamchatka, stolen the ships, and sailed to America. However, 'vhen Cook's letters were carried overland to Bolcheresk, to Major Behm, the com- mander, all went well. The little log-thatched fort with its windows of talc opened wide doors to the far- travelled English. The Russian ladies of the fort donned their China silks. The samovars were set singing. English sailors gave presents of their grog to the Russians. Russian Cossacks presented their tobacco to the English, adding three such cheers as only Cossacks can give and a farewell song. In 1779 Clerke made one more attempt to pass through the northern ice-fields from Pacific to Atlantic; but he accomplished nothing but to go over the ground explored the year before under Cook. On the 5th of July at ten p.m. in the lingering sunlight of northern latitudes, just as the boats were halfway through the Straits of Bering, the fog lifted, and for the first time in history — as far as known — the westernmost part of America, Cape Prince of Wales, and the eastern- ft CAPTAIN COOK IN AMERICA 209 most part of Asia, East Cape, were simultaneously seen by white men. Finding it impossible to advance eastwaid, Clerke decided there was no Northeast Passage by way of the Pacific to the Atlantic; and on the 21st of July, to the cheers of his sailors, announced that the ships would turn back for England.* Poor Clerke died of consumption on the way, August 22, 1779, only thirty-eight years of age, and was buried at Petropaulovsk beside La Croyere de I'lsle, who perished on the Bering expedition. The boats did not reach England till October of 1780. They had not won the reward of twenty thousand pounds ; but they had charted a strange coast for a distance of three thousand five hundred miles, and paved the way for the vast commerce that now plies between Occident and Orient.^ » The authority for Cook's adventures is, of course, his own journal, Voyage to tie Pacific Ocean, London, 1784, sup,,lemented by the letters and journals of men who were with him, like Ledyard, Vancouver, Portlock, and Dixon, and others. 2 In reiterating the impoisibility of finding a passage from ocean to ocean, either northeast or northwest, no dispara j.-.-^ent is cast on such feats as that of Nordenskjold along the north of Asia, in the l^ega in 1882. By •» passage " is meant a waterway practicable for ocean vessels, not for the ocean freak of a specially constructed Arctic vessel that dodges for a year or more among the ice-floes in an endeavor to pass from Atlantic to Pacific, or vice vena. ji .•"y>.4 , ,^ \l :, % 1 1 iM 1 ' i 1 1 ( ■ 1 f 1 I CHAPTER VIII 1785-1792 ROBERT GRAY. THE AMERICAN DISCOVERER OF THE COLUMBIA Boston Merchants, inspired by Cooic's Voyages, outfit two Vessels under Kendrick and Gray for Discovery and Trade on the Pacific — Adventures of the First Ship to carry the American Flag around the World — Gray attacked by Indians at Tillamook Bay — His Discovery of the Columbia River on the Second Voyujje — Fort Defence and the First American Ship built on the Pacific It is an odd thing that wherever French or British fur traders went to a new territory, they found the Indians referred to Am -ican traders, not r s " \men- cans," but 'Bostons" or ''Bostonnahr The reason was plain. Boston merchants won a reputation as first to act. It was they who began a ce-tain memo- rable "Boston Tea Party"; a >d before the rest of the world had recovered che shock of that event, these same merchant? were planning to capture the trade of the Pacific Ocean, get possession of all the Pacific coast not already preempted by Spain, Russia, or England, and push American commerce across the Pacific to Asia. 210 1 :. u ho • V Q r •-A:-n .... ?i- ROBERT GRAY 211 J3 o ~ XI E o E >^ "^ .5 c 5 o o in ^^ ■> '^ to ■ u >> u J3 c ■3 S C 1) Q. ■a rt - a 2 "■q o V ». c o o ^ B — Hi ^ "^ What with slow printing-presses and slow travel, the account of Cook's voyages on the Pacific did not be- co»iie generally known in the United States till 1785 or 1786. Sitting round the library of Dr. Bulfinch's residence on Bowdoin Square in Boston one night in 1787, were half a dozen adventurous spirits for whom Cook's account of the fur trade on the Pacific had an irresistible fascination. There was the doctor him- self. There was his son, Charles, of Harvard, just back from Europe and destined to become famous as an architect. There was Joseph Barrell, a prosperous merchant. There was John Derby, a shipmaster of Salem, a young man still, but who, nevertheless, had carried news of Lexington to England. Captain Crowell Hatch of Cambridge, Samuel Brown, a trader of Boston, and John Marden Pintard of the New York firm of Lewis Pintard Company were also of the little coterie. If Captain Cook's crew had sold one-third of a water-rotted cargo of otter furs in China for ten thou- sand dollars, why, these Boston men asked them- selves, could not ships fitted expressly for the fur trade capture a fortune in trade on that unoccupied strip of coast between Russian Alaska, on the north, and New Spain, on the south ? "There is a rich harvest to be reaped by those who are on the ground first out there," remarked Joseph Barrell. Then the thing was to be on the ground first — 212 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC that was the unanimous decision of the shrewd-headed men gathered in Bulfinch's study. The sequence was that Charles Bulfinch and the other five at once formed a partnership with a capital Charles Bulfinch. of fifty thousand dollars, divided into fourteen shaies, for trade on the Pacific. This was ten years before Lewis and Clark reached the Columbia, almost twenty years before Astor had thought of his Pacific Company. The Columhin, a full-rigged two-decker, two hundred and twelve tons and eighty-three feet long, mounting ROBERT GRAY 213 ten guns, which had been built fourteen years before on Hobart's Landing, North River, was immediately purchased. But a smaller ship to cruise about in- land waters and collect furs was also needed; and for this purpose the partners bought the Lady Washing- ton, a little sloop of ninety tons. Captain John Ken- drick of the merchant marine was chosen to command the Columbia, Robert Gray, a native of Rhode Island, who had served in the revolutionary navy, a friend of Kendrick's, to be master of the Lady Washington. Kendrick was of middle age, cautious almost to in- decision; but Gray was younger with the daring char- acteristic of youth. In order to insure a good reception for the ships, letters were obtained from the federal government to foreign powers. Massachusetts furnished passports; and the Spanish minister to the United States gave letters to the viceroy of New Spain. Just how the in- formation of Boston plans to intrude on the Pacific coast was received by New Spain may be judged by the Ci-nfidential commands at once issued from Santa Barbara to the Spanish officer at San Francisco: " Whenever there may arrive at the Port of San Fran- cisco, a ship named the Columbia said to belong to General Wanghington (Washington) of the /American States, under command of John Kendrick which sailed from Boston in September 1787 bound on a voyage of Discovery and of Examination of the Russian Estab- lishments on the Northern Coast of this Peninsula, you 4 r . ! ;l t ai4 VIKIN -S '! f OF THE PACIFIC fi t-, oe secured together with her will cause said officers and crew" Orders were also given Ktndrick and Gray to avoid offence ro any foreign power, to treat the natives with kindness and Chnstianjt}', to cbtain a cargo of turs on the American coast, to procttd with the same to China to be exchanged for a cargo of tea, and to return to Boston with the tea. The holds of the vessels were then stowed with everv trinket rhat could appeal to the savage heart, beads, brass buttons, ear-rings, calico, tin mirrors, blankets, hunting-knives, copper kettles, iron chisels, snuff, tobacco. 1 he crews were made up of the very best class of self-respecting sea faring men. Woodruff, Kendrick's first mate, had beer with Cook. Joseph ingraham, the second mate, rost to become a captain. Robert Haswell, the third ma r, was the son of a British naval officer, Richard Howe went as accountant; Dr. Roberts, as surgeon; Nutting, formerly a teacher, as astronomer; and Treat, as fur trader. Davis Coolidge was the first nate under Gray on the Lady Washington. Some heroes bl ler into glorv These did 't. They deliberately set out with the \ \\ glory 'f tht-'r venture in view. Whatever the pu.fi? and loi- accoun might show when they came bac thev «ve"e well aware that they were attempting tht ven izf nd most venturesome thing t\\v newly fe rated id essayed in the way of exploration an J t;a*j^ To ^"Mff^ ROBLR I GRAY 215 conmemorate tie even' Joseph Barrell had medals stri k in bronze and sil -r, sho^ ing the tw ' ssels on one .ide, the nan js ol out rters on the lei. All Saturday a' rnoo" sailors and Hicers cam^ trundling down to the vhart carpet bags nd seamen's che-ts m tow. to h( rowed 'Ut where the Colurnbtn ^nd Lo. hashing Qt. lay at anchor. Boston was 1 SabI ati.- observin^ city in those days; but even B' st* n cv i(' not ke. , avvav from the two ships heavit to the tid< which for th first time in A erican history were to sail around an unknown ' All Saturday night and Sunday morning the )rs scoured the decks and put berths shipshape; and all Sunday afternoon the visitors thronged the decks. By night outfitters and relatives were still on board. The medals of commemoration were handed round. Health and good luck and God-speed were dramed to the heel taps. Songs resounded er the festive board. It was all "mirth and glee" writes one of the men on 2l6 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC i i \i • board. But by daybreak the ships had slipped cables. The tide, that runs from round the under- world, raced bounding to meet them. A last dip of land behind; and on Monday, October i, 1787, the ships' prows were cleaving the waters of their fate. The course lay from Boston to Cape Verde Islands, from Verde Islands to the Falklands north of Cape Horn, round Cape Horn, up the west coast of South America, touching at Masafuera and Juan Fernan- dez, and thence, without pause, to the west coast of North America. At Cape Verde, Gray hired a valet, a colored boy, Marcus Lopez, destined to play an important part later. Crossing the equator, the sailors became hilarious, playing the usual pranks of ducking the men fresh to equatorial waters. So long did the ships rest at the Verde Islands, taking in fresh provisions, that it was January before the Falkland Islands were reached. Here Kendrick's caution be- came almost fear. He was averse to rounding the stormy Horn in winter. Roberts, the surgeon, and Woodruff, who had been with Cook, had become dis- gusted with Kendrick's indecision at Cape Verde, and left, presumably taking passage back on some foreign cruiser. Haswell, then, went over as first mate to Gray. Mountain seas and smashing gales assailed the ships from the time they headed for the Horn in April of 1788. The Cohimhia was tossed clear up on her beam ends, and sea after sea crashed over the little ROBERT GRAY 217 Lady Washington, drenching everything below decks like soap-suds in a rickety tub. Then came a hurri- cane of cold winds coating the ship in ice like glass, till the yard-arms looked Hke ghosts. Between scurvy and cold, there was not a sailor fit to man the deckr. Somewhere down at 57° south, westward of the Horn, the smashing seas and driving winds separated the tv o ships; but as they headed north, bright skies and warm winds welcomed them to the Pacific. At Masafuera, off Chile, the ships would have landed for fresh water; but a tremendous back- wash of surf forewarned reefs; and the Lady Wash- ington stretched her sails for the welcome warm winds, and tacked with all speed to the north. A few weeks later, Kendrick was compelled to put in for Jnan Fernandez to repair the Columbia and rest his scurvy- stricken crew. They were given all aid by the governor of the island, who was afterward reprimanded by the viceroy of Chile and degraded from office for helping these invaders of the South Seas. Meantime the little sloop, guided by the masterful and enthusiastic Gray, showed her heels to the sea. Soon a world of deep-sea, tropical wonders was about the American adventurers. The slime of medusa lights lined the long foam trail of the Lady Washington each night. Dolphins raced the ship, herd upon herd, their silver-white bodies agiisten in the sun. Schools of spermaceti-whales to the number of twenty at a time gambolled lazily around the prow. Stormy petrels, !! H' : 1 ! 218 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC flying-fish, sea-lions, began to be seen as the boat passed north of the seas bordering New Spain. Gentle winds and clear sunlight favored the ship all June. The long, hard voyage began to be a summer holiday on warm, silver seas. The Lady Washington headed in- land, or where land should be, where Francis Drake two centuries before had reported that he had found New Albion. On August 2, somewhere near what is now Cape Mendocino, daylight revealed a rim of green forested hills above the silver sea. It was New Albion, north of New Spain, the strip of coast they had come round the world to find. Birds in myriads on myriads screamed the joy that the crew felt over their find; but a frothy ripple told of reefs; and the Lady fVash- ington coasted parallel with the shore-line northward. On August 4, while the surf still broke with too great violence for a landing, a tiny speck was seen dancing over the waves like a bird. As the distance lessened, the speck grew and resolved itself to a dugout, or long canoe, carved with bizarre design stem and stern, painted gayly on the keel, carrying ten Indians, who blew birds' down of friendship in midair, threw open their arms without weapons, and made every sign of friendship. Captain Gray tossed them presents over the deck rail; but the whistle of a gale through the riggings warned to keep off the rock shore; and the sloop's prow cut waves for the offing. All night camp-fires and columns of smoke could be seen on shore, showing that the coast was inhabited. Under ROBERT GRAY 219 clouds of sail, the sloop beat north for ten days, passing many savages, some of whom held up sea-otter to trade, others running along the shore brandishing their spears and shouting their war-cry. Two or three at a time were admitted on board to trade; but they evinced such treacherous distrust, holding knives ready to strike in their right hand, that Gray was c»»utious. During the adverse wind they had passed one open- ing on the coast that resembled the entrance to a river. Was this the fabled river of the West, that Indians said ran to the setting sun ? Away up in the Athabasca Country of Canadian wilds was another man, Alex- ander Mackenzie, setting to himself that same task of finding the great river of the West. Besides, in 1775, Heceta, the Spanish navigator from Monterey, had drifted close to this coast with a crew so stricken wirh scurvy not a man could hoist anchor or reef sails. Heceta thought he saw the entrance to n river; but was unable to come within twenty miles of the opening to verify his supposition. And now Gray's crew were on the watch for that supposed river; but more mun- dane things than glory had become pressing needs. Water was needed for drinking. The ship was out of firewood. The live stock must have hay ; and in the crew of twelve, three-quarters were ill of the scurvy. These men must be taken ashore. Somewhere near what is now Cape Lookout, or Tillamook Bay, the rowboat was launched to sound, safe anchorage found, and the Lady Washington towed in harbor. 220 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC I'l The Lady fVashington had anchored about half a mile from shore, but the curiously carved canoes came dancing over the waves in myriads. Gray noticed the natives were all nrmed with spears and knives, but they evinced great friendliness, bringing the crew bas- kets of berries and boiled crabs and salmon, in ex- change for brass buttons. They had anchored at ten on the night of August 14, and by the afternoon of the 15th the Indians were about the sloop in great numbers, trading otter skins for knives, axes, and other arms — which, in itself, ought to have put the crew on guard. When the white men went ashore for wood and water, the Indians stood silently by, weapons in hand, but offered no hostility. On the third day in harbor an old chief came on board fol- lowed by a great number of warriors, all armed. Gray kept careful guard, and the old Indian departed in possession of the stimulating fact that only a dozen hands manned the Lady Washington. Waiting for the tide the next afternoon, Haswell and Coolidge, the two mates, were digging clams on shore. Lopez, the black man, and seven of the crew were gathering grass for the stock. Only three men remained on the sloop with Captain Gray. Only two muskets and three or four cutlasses had been brought ashore. Haswell and Coolidge had their belt pistols and swords. The two mates approached the native village. The Indians began tossing spears, as Haswell thought, to amuse their visitors. That failing to inspire these white men, ROBERT GRAY 221 rash as children, with fear, the Indians formed a ring, clubbed down their weapons in pantomime, and exe- cuted all the significant passes of the famous war-dance. "It chilled my veins," says Haswell; and the two mates had gone back to their clam digging, when there was a loud, angry shout. Glancing just where the rowboat lay rocking abreast the hay cutters, Haswell saw an Indian snatch at the cutlass of Lopez, the black, who had carelessly stuck it in the sand. With a wild halloo, the thief dashed for the woods, the black in pursuit, mad as a hornet. Haswell went straight to the chief and offered a reward for the return of the sword, or the black man. The old chief taciturnly signalled for Haswell to do his own rescuing. Theft and flight had both been part of a design to scatter the white men. "They see we are ill armed," remarked Haswell to the other. Bidding the boat row abreast with six of the hay cutters, the two mates and a third man ran along the beach in the direction Lopez had disappeared. A sudden turn into a grove of trees showed Lopez squirming mid a group of Indians, holding the thief by the neck and shouting for "help! help!" No sooner had the three whites come on the scene, than the Indians plunged their knives in the boy's back. He stumbled, rose, staggered forward, then fell pierced by a flight of barbed arrows. Has- well had only time to see the hostiles fall on his body like a pack of wolves on prey, when more Indians 222 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC emerged from the rear, and the whites were between two war parties under a shower of spears. A wild dash was made to head the fugitives off from shore. Haswell and Coolidge turned, pistols in hand, while the rowboat drew in. Another flight of arrows, when the mates let go a charge of pistol shot that dropped the foremost three Indians. Shouting for the rowers to fire, Haswell, Coolidge, and the sailor plunged into the water. To make matters worse, the sailor fainted from loss of blood, and the pursuers threw themselves into the water with a whoop. Hauling the wounded man in the boat, the whites rowed for dear life. The Indians then launched their canoes to pursue, but by this time Gray had the cannon of the Lady fVashing- ton trained ashore, and three shots drove the hostiles scampering. For two days tide and wind and a thun- dering surf imprisoned Gray in Murderers' Harbor, where he had hoped to find the River oi the West, but met only danger. All night the savages kept up their howling; but on the third day the wind veered. All sails set, the sloop scudded for the offing, glad to keep some distance between herself and such a danger- ous coast. The advantage of a small boat now became apparent. In the same quarter. Cook was compelled to keep out from the coast, and so reported there were no Straits of Fuca. By August 21 the sloop was again close enough to the rocky shore to sight the snowy, opal \h C4 < ^ 3 O U >> •a . Ji >> 2 o ^'- ° o o a. (« o O a, c o (- >-. o c .e- 3 to c rt o V e < bo c 3 CQ •afiLiBi ROBERT GRAY 223 ranges of the Olympus Mountains. By August 26 they had passed the wave-lashed rocks of Cape Flat- tery, and the mate records: "I am of opinion that the Straits of Fuca exist; for in the very latitude they are said to lie, the coast takes a bend, probably the entrance." By September, after frequent stops to trade with the Indians, they were well abreast of Nootka, where Cook had been ten years before. A terrible ground-swell of surf and back-wash raged over projecting reefs. The Indians, here, knew English words enough to tell Gray that Nootka lay farther east, and that a Captain Meares was there with two vessels. A strange sail appeared inside the harbor. Gray thought it was the belated Columbia under Kendrick ; but a rowboat came out bearing Captain Meares himself, who break- fasted with the Americans on September 17, and had his long-boats tow the Lady Washington inside Nootka, where Gray was surprised to see two English snows under Portuguese colors, with a cannon-mounted gar- rison on shore, and a schooner of thirty tons, the North- west-America, all ready to be launched. This was the first ship built on the northwest coast. Gray himself later built the second. Amid salvos of cannon from the LaJy Washington, the new fur vessel was launched from her skids; and in her honor Septem- ber 19 was observed as a holiday, Meares and Douglas, the two English captains, entertaining Gray and his officers. Meares had come from China in .; I 224 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC January, and during the summer had been up the Straits of Fuca, where another EngHsh captain, Bar- clay, had preceded him. Then Meares had gone south past Flattery, seeking in vain for the River of the West. Gales and breakers had driven him off the coast, and the very headland which hid the mouth of the Columbia, he had named Cape Disappointment, because he was so sure — in his own words — "that the river on the Spanish charts did not exist." He had also been down the coast to that Tillamook, or Cape Meares, where Gray's valet had been murdered. This was in July, a month before the assault on Gray; and if Haswell's report of Meares's cruelty be accepted — taking furs by force of arms — that may have ex- plained the hostility to the Americans. Meares was short of provisions to go to China, and Gray supplied them. In return Meares set his workmen to help clean the keel of the Lady Washington from barnacles; but the Englishman was a true fur trader to the core. In after-dinner talks, on the day of the launch, he tried t) frJL'hten the Americans away from the coast. Not Hfty skins in a vear were to be had, he said. Only the palisades and i.annon protected him from the Ind- ians, of whom there were more than two thousand hostiles at Nootka, he reported. They could have his fort for firewood after he left. He had purchased the right to build it from the Indians. (Whether he ac- knowledged that he paid the Indians onlv two old pistols for this privilege, is not recorded.) At all events, it idfi. wtmmmmm ROBERT GRAY 225 would not be worth while for the Americans to remain on the coast. The Americans Hstened and smiled. Meares offered to carry any mail to China, and on the 2d wa; towed out of port by Gray and the other Eng- lish captain, Douglas; but what was Gray's astonish- ment to receive the packet of mail back from Douglas. Meares had only pretended to carry it out in order that none of his crew might be bribed to take it, and then had sent it back by his partner, Douglas — true fur trader in checkmating the moves of rivals. Later on, when Meares's men were in desperate straits in this same port, they wondered that the Americans stood apart from the quarrel, if not actually siding with Spain. On September 23 appeared a strange sail on the offing — the Columbia, under Kendrick, sails down and draggled, spars storm-torn, two men dead of scurvy, and the crew all ill- October i celebrated a grand anniversary of the departure from Boston the previous year. At pre- cisely midday the Columbia boomed out thirteen guns. The sloop set the echoes rocketing with another thirteen. Douglas's ship roared out a salute of seven cannon shots, the fort on land six more, and the day was given up to hilarity, all hands dining on board the Columbia with such wild fowl as the best game woods in the world afforded, and copious supply of Spanish wines. Toasts were drunk to the first United States ship on the Pacific coast of America. On October 26 } 1 226 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC Douglas's ship and the fur trader, Northivest-America, were towed out, bound for the Sandwich Islands, and the Americans were left alone on the northwest coast, the fort having been demolished, and the logs turned over to Kendrick tor firewood. Feather Cloak worn by a son of an Hawaiian Chief, at the celebration in honor of Gray's return. Photographed by courtesy of Mrs. Joy. the present owner. The winter of 1 788-1 789 passed uneventfully except that the F^nglish were no sooner out of the harbor, than the Indians, who had kept askance of the Americans, came in flocks to trade. Inasmuch as Cook's name is a household word, world over, for what he did on the Pacific coast, and Gray's name barely known outside the citv of Boston and the state of Ore- ROBERT GRAY 227 gon, it is well to follow Gray's movements on the Lady fFashington. Man li found him trading south of Nootka at Clayoquor, niimed Hanc-'sr".'<>* ■- a' . »!t«»li."'!yta»' ■<»' 'rt..VIHB- thundered a welcome. General 1 Incoln, the port collector, was first on board to shake Gray's hand. The whole city of Boston was on the wharf to cheer him home, and the explorer walked up the streets side by side with Atto, the Ha- waiian boy, gorgeous in helmet and cloak of yellow plumage. Gov.-rnor Hancock gave a public reception to Gray. I he Columbia went to the shipyards to be overhauled, and the shareholders met. Owing to the glutting of the market at Canton, the sea-otter had not sold well. Practically the venture of these glory seekers had not ended profitably. The voyage had been at a loss. Derby nnd Pintard sold out to Barren and Brown. But the lure of glory, or the wilds, or the venture of the unknown, was on the others, ihey decided to send the Columbia back at %.r^sjtA''^jgx~vjs^:'Nfi-a'VJk A'tapviB-, ^^'■'s.rii 7=73^ 230 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC once on a second voyage. Perhaps, this time, she would find that great River of the West, which was to be to the Pacific coast what the Hudson was to the East. CooUdge and Ingraham now left the Columbia for ventures of their own to the Pacific. Haswell, whose diar\', with Gray's log-book, gives all details of the voyage, went as first mate. George Davidson, an artist, Samuel \'endell, a carpenter, Haskins, an ac- countant of Barren's Company, Joshua Caswell of Maiden, Abraham Waters, and John Boit were the new men to enlist for the venturesome voyage. The Columbia left Boston for a second voyage September 28, 1790, and reached Clayoquot on the west coast of Vancouver Island on June 5, 1791. True to his nature. Gray lost not a day, but was off for the sea- otter harve.st of the north, up Portland Canal near what is now Alaska. The dangers of the first vovat^e proved a holiday compared to this trip. Formerly, Gray had treated the Indians with kindness. Now, he found kindne.ss was mi.staken only for fear. Joshua Caswell, Barnes, and Folger had been sent up Portland Canal to reconnoitre. Whether ambushed or openly assaulted, they never returned. Onlv Cas- well's body was found, and buried on the beach. Later, when the grave was revisited, the body had been stolen, in all likelihood for cannibal rites, as no more degraded savages e.xist than those of this archi- pelago. Over on Queen Charlotte Island, Kendrick, who had returned from China on the LaJy fFashington, Map of Gray's two voyages, resulting in the discovery of the Columbia. 232 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC i :i f 11 i ! i ! was having his own time. One day, when all had gone below decks to rest, a taunting laugh was heard from the hatchway. Kendrick rushed above to find Indians scrambling over the decks of the Lady iVashiugton like a nest of disgruntled hornets. A warrior flour- ished the key of the ammunition chest, which stood by the hatchway, in Kendrick's face with the words: "Key is mine! So is the ship !" If Kendrick had hesitated for the fraction of a second, all would have been lost, as on Astor's ship a few years later; but before the savages had time for any concerted signal, he had seized the speaker by the scrufl^ of the neck, and tossed him into the sea. In a second every savage had scuttled over decks; but the scalp of Kendrick's son Solomon was found on the beach. Henceforth neither Kendrick nor Gray allowed more than ten savages on board at a time, and Kendrick at once headed south to take the harvest of furs to China. At Nootka things had gone from bad to worse between the English and the Spaniards. Though Kendrick bought great tracts of land from the Indian chiefs at Nootka for the price of a copper kettle, he judged it prudent to keep away from a Span- ish commander, whose mission it was to capture the ships of rival traders; so the American sloop moored in Clayoquot, south of Nootka, where Gray found Kendrick ready to sail for China by September. At Clayo(|uot was built the first American fort on the Pacific coast. Here Gray erected winter quarters. 'MKtSH'-Hry ROBERT GRAY ^33 The Columbia was unrigged and beached. The dense forest rang with the sound of the choppers. The enor- mous spruce, cedar, and fir trees were hewn into logs for several cabins and a barracks, the bark slabs being used as a palisade. Inside the main house were quar- ters for ten men. Loopholes punctured all sides of the house. Two cannon were mounted outside the window embrasures, one inside the gate or door. The post was named Fort Defence. Sentinels kept guard night and day. Military discipline was maintained, and divine service held each Sunday. On October 3 timbers were laid for a new ship, to be called the Ad- venture, to collect furs for the Columbia. All the winter of 1 791-1792, Gray visited the Indians, sent medicines to their sick, allowed his men to go shoot- ing with them, and even nursed one ill chief inside the barracks; but he was most careful not to allow women or more than a few warriors inside the fort. What was his horror, then, on February 18, when Atto, the Hawaiian boy, came to him with news that the Indians, gathered to the number of two thousand, and armed with at least two hundred muskets got in trade, had planned the entire extermination of the whites. They had offered to make the Hawaiian boy a great chief among them if h*. would steal more am- munition for the Indians, wet 3II the priming of the white men's arms, and join the conspiracy to li t the sav- ages get possession of fort and ship. In the history of American pathfinding, no explorer was ever in greater 234 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC 1^ i •1 f 1-i danger. Less than a score of whites against two thousand armed warriors ! Scarcely any ammunition had been brought in from the Columbia. All the swivels of the dismantled ship were lying on the bank. Gray instantly took advantage of high tide to get the ship on her sea legs, and out from the bank. Swivels were trundled with all speed back to the decks. For that night a guard watched the fort; but the next night, when the assault was expected, all hands were on board, provisions had been stowed in tne hold, and small arms were loaded. The men were still to mid- waist in water, scraping barnacles from the keel, when a whoop sounded from the shore; but the change in the ship's position evidently upset the plans of the savages, for they withdrew. On the morning of the 20th the woods were seen to be alive with ambushed men; and Haswell had the cannon loaded with can- ister fired into the woods. At eleven that very morn- ing, the chief, at the head of the plot, came to sell otter skins, and ask if some of the crew would not visit the village. Gray jerked the skins from his arms, and the rascal was over decks in terror of his life. That was the end of the plot. On the 23d the Adventure was launched, the second vessel built o: ■ the Pacific, the first American vessel built there at all; and by April 2 Haswell was ready to go north on her. Gray on the Columhin was going south to have another try at that great River of the West, which Spanish charts represented. ^M.x'-K^^i^M/'^-f^r^nl 1 1 5 i -I ROBERT GRAY 235 Without a doubt, if the river existed at all, it was down behind that Cape Disappointment where Meares had failed to go in, and Heceta been driven back. Just what Gray did between April 2 and May 7 is a matter of guessing. Anyway, Captain George Vancouver sent out from England to settle the dispute about Nootka, at six o'clock on the morning of April 29, just off the wave-lashed rocks of Cape Flattery, and within sight of Olympus's snowy sky-line, noticed a ship on the offing carrying American colors. He sent Mr. Puget and Mr. Menzies to inquire. They brought back word that Gray "had been oif the mouth of a river in 46° 10' where the outset and reflux was so strong as to prevent entering for nine days," and that Gray had been fifty miles up the Straits of Fuca. Both facts were distasteful to Vancouver. He had wished to be the first to explore the Straits of Fuca, and on only April 27, had passed an opening which he pronounced inaccessible and not a river, certainly not a river worthy of his attention. Yet the exact words of Captain Bruno Heceta, the Spaniard, in 1775 were: "These currents . . . cause me to believe that the place is the mouth of some great river. ... I did nor enter and anchoi there because ... if we let go the anchor, we had not enough men to get it up. (Thirty-five were down v ith scurvy.) ... At the dis- tance of three or four leagues, 1 lav too. 1 experienced heavy currents, wh^rh made it impossible to enter the m 2j6 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC It !i I I ! » I bay, as I was far to leeward. . . . These currents, however, convince me that a great quantity of water rushed from this bay on the ebb of the tide." So the Spaniard failed to enter, and now the great Enghsh navigator went on his way, convinced there was no River of the West; but Robert Gray headed back south determined to find what lay he- hind the tremendous crash of breakers and sand bar. On the 7th (S May, the rowboat towed the Columbia into what is now known as Gray's Harbor, where he opened trade with the Indians, and was pres- ently so boldly overrun Nv them, that he was compelled to fire into their canoes, killing seven. Putting out from this harbor on the loth, he steered south, keeping close ashore, and was rewarded at four o'clock on the morning of the nth by hearing a tide-rip like thunder and seeing an ocean of waters crashing sheer over sand bar and reef with a cataract of foam in midair from the drive of colliding waves. Milky waters tinged the sea as of inland streams. Gray had found the river, but could he enter.' A gentle wind, rraight as a die, was driving direct ashore. Gray waited till the tide seemed to lift or deepen the waters of ne '.eef, then at eight in the morning, all sails set like a bird on wing, drove straight for the narrow entrance between reefs and sand. Once across the bar, he saw the mouth of a magnificent river of fresh water. He hud found the River of the West. Gray describes the memorable event in these simple M ROBERT GRAY 237 words: "May nth ... at four a.m. saw the entrance of our desired port bearing east-southeast, distance six leagues ... at eight a.m. being a little to windward of the entrance of the harbor, bore away, and ran in east- southeast between the breakers. . . . When we were over the bar, we found this to be a large river of fresh A View of the Columbia River. water, up which we steered. Many canoes came alongside. At one p.m. came to (anchor). . . ." By the 14th, Gray had ascended the river twenty or thirty miles from the sea, but was compelled to turn, as he had taken a shallow channel. Dropping down with the tide, he anchored on the 19th and went ashore, where he planted coins under a tree, took pos- I.I hi Hi Iti lb lit u Ih 1^ 1^ 1^ ^ IIIM 1.8 MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS STANDARD REFERENCE MATERIAL 1010a (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) 238 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC 1 session in the name of the United States, and named the river "Columbia." On the 20th, he crossed the bar and was out again on the Pacific. The most of men would have rested, satisfied with half he had done. Not so Gray. He headed the Columbia north again for the summer's trade in what is now known as southern Alaska. Only damages to the Columbia drove her down to Nootka in July, where Don Quadra, the new Spanish commander, and Captain Van- couver were in conference over those English ships seized by Martinez. To Quadra, Gray sold the little Adventure, pioneer of American shipbuilding on the Pacific, for seventy-five otter skins. From Spanish sources it is learned Gray's cargo had over three thousand otter skins, and fifteen thousand other pel- tries; so the second voyage may have made up for the loss of the first. On October 3 the Columbia left America for China; and on July 29, 1793, came to the home harbor of Boston. Sometime between 1806 and 1809, Gray died in South Carolina, a poor man. It is doubt- ful if his widow's petition to Congress ever materialized in a reward for any of his descendants. Kendrick, eclipsed by his brilliant assistant, was accidentally killed in Hawaii by the wad of a gun fired by a British vessel to salute the Lady Washington. From the date 1793 or 1795 the little sloop drops out of sea- faring annals. What is Gray's place among pathfinders and naval ROBERT GRAY 239 heroes ? Where does his life's record leave him ? It was not spectacular work. It was not work backed by a government, like Bering's or Cook's. It was the work of an individual adventurer, like Radis- son east of the Rockies. Gray was a man who did much and said little. He was not accompanied by a At the Mouth of the Columbia River. host of scientists to herald his fame to the world, judged solely by resuhs, what did he accomplish ? The same for the United States that Cook did for Eng- land. He led the way for the American flag around the world. Measuring purely by distance, his ship's log would compare well with Cook's or Vancouver's. The same part of the Pacific coast, which they ex- :l 240 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC ( I 4i ' plored, he explored, except that he did not go to north- ern Alaska ; and he compensated for that by discovering the great river, which they both said had no existence. And yet, who that knows of Cook and Vancouver, knows as much of Gray ? Authentic histories are still written that speak of Gray's discovery doubtfully. Gray did much, but said little; and the world is prone to take a man at his own valuation. Yet if the world places Cook and Vancouver in the niches of naval heroes, Gray must be placed between them. There is a curious human side to the story of these glory seekers, too. Bulhnch was so delighted over the discovery of the Columbia, that he had his daughter christened "Columbia," to which the young lady ob- jected in later years, so that the name was dropped. In commemoration of Don Quadra's kindness in re- pairing the ship Columbia, Gray named one of his children Quadra. The curios brought back by In- graham on the first voyage were donated to Harvard. Descendants of Gray still have the pictures drawn by Davidson and Haswell on the second voyage. The sea chest carried round the world by Gray now rests in the keeping of an historical society in Portland; and the feather cloak worn up the street by the boy Atto, when he marched in the procession with Gray, is treasured in Boston.* 1 Much concerning Gray's voyages can he found in the accounts or' contemporary navigators like Meares and Vancouver; but the ■ -ential facts of the voyages are jtainable from the records of Gray's log-book, and of diaries kept by his officers. ROBERT GRAY 241 Gray's log-book itself seems to have passed into the hands of the Bulfinch family. From a copy of the original, Thomas Bulfinch reprinted the exact entry of the diicovery on May 11, 1792, in his Oregon and Eldorado, a Romance of the Ri-ver:, Boston, 1866. The log-book is now on file in the Department of State, Washington ; but that part from which Bulfinch made his extract is missing ; nor is it known where this section was lost • as it was in 181 6 that Mr. Charles Bulfinch made a copy of this section from theorig. inal. Greenhow's Oregon and California, Boston, 1844, issued under the auspices of Congress, gives the log-book in full fi-om May 7th to May 21st. Hubert Howe Ban- croft in his Nortbiueit Coau, Volume I, 1890, reproduces the diary in full of Haswcll for both voyages. It is from K'aswell that the fullest account of the Indian plots are obtained; but at the time of the discovery of the Columbia, Haswell was on the little sloop Adventure, and what he repons is fVom hearsay. His words in the entry of June 14 are: " They (the a/umA/ith the world's great prizes for those with the wits to win them. A carriage with driver 246 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC ? .d footman in livery wearing the armorial design of his own Ledyard ancestors rolled past in the treet. He ran to the coachman, asked the address, and pre- sented hmself at the door of the ancestral Ledyards, hope beating high. The relationship was to be the key to open all doors. And the door of the ancestral Led- yards was shut in his face. The father was out. The son put no stock in the stor>' of the ragged stranger. He did not even know that Ledyards existed in Amer- ica. What was to hinder any common tramp trump- ing up such a story ? Where were the tattered fellow's proofs ? Ledyard came away with just enough whole- some human rage to keep him from sinking tc 'tspair, or to what is more unmanning, self-pity. He had failed before, through trying to frame his life to other men's plans. He had failed now, through trying to win success through other men's efforts — a barnacle clinging to the hull of some craft freighted with for- tune. Perhaps, too, he fairly and squarely faced the fact that if he was to be one whit different from the beggar for whom he had been mistaken, he must build his own life solely and wholly on his own efforts. On he wandered, the roar of the great city's activi- ties rolling past him in a tide. His rage had time to cool. Afternoon, twilight, dark; and still the tide rolled past him; pnst him because like a stranded hull rotting for lack of use, he had put himself outside the tide of human effort. He must build up his own career. That was the fact he had w rested out of his iff ^ JOHN LEDYARD 247 rage; but unless his abilities were to rot in some stag- nant pool, he must launch out on the great tide of human work. Before he had taken that resolution, the roar of the city had been terrifying — a tide that might swamp. Now, the thunder of the world's traffic was a shout of triumph. He would launch out, let the tide carry him where it might. All London was resounding with the project of Cook's third voyage round the world — the voyage t. at was to settle forever how far America projected into the Pacific. Recruits were being mustered for the voyage. It came to Ledyard in an inspiration — the new field for his efforts, the call of the sea that paved a golden path around the world, the freedom for shoulder-swing to do all that a man was worth. Quick as flash, he was off — going ^t^/V/? the tide now, not a dere- lict, not a stranded hull — off to shave, and wash, and respectable-ize, in order to «pply as a recruit with Cook. In the dark, somewhere near r'«e sailors' mean lodg- ings, a hand touched him. He turned; it was the rich man's son, come profuse of apologies : his father had returned; father and son begged to proffer both financial aid and hospitality — Ledyard cut him short with a terse but forcible invitation to go his own way. That the unknown colonial at once received a berth with Cook as corporal of marines, when half the young men of England with influence to back their applica- tions were eager to join the voyage, speaks well for the sincerity of the new enthusiasm. 248 VIKINGS OF THE PACIi IC if' Cook left England in midsummer of 1776. He sighted the Pacific coast, northward of what is now San Francisco, in the spring of 1778. Ledyard was the first American to see the land that lay beyond the Rockies. It was not a narrow strip as men had thought, but a broad belt a thousand miles long by a thousand broad, an unclaimed v/orld; for storms drove Cook offshore here; and the English discoverer did not land till abreast of British America. At Nootka thousands of Indians flocked round the two vessels to trade. For some trinkets of glass beads and iron, Ledyard obtained one thousand five hundred skins for Cook. Among the Indians, too, he saw brass trinkets, that must have come all the way from New Spain on the south, or from the : Hudson's Bay Fur Company on the east. What were the merchants of New York and Philadelphia doing, that their ships were not here reaping a harvest of wealth in furs ^ If this were the outermost bound of Louisiana, Louisiana might some day be a part of the colonies now strug- gling for their liberties; and Ledyard's imagination took one of those leaps that win a man the reputation of a fool among his contemporaries, a hero to future generations. " If it was necessary that a European should discover the existence of the continent," he afterward wrote, "in the name of Amor Patrine let a native explore its resources and boundaries. It is my wish to be the man." Cook's ships passed r -ch to Oonalaska. Only 'FPP*' JOHN LEDYARD 249 twenty-five years before, the Lv.ian of Oonalaska had massacred every white settlement on the island. Cook wished to send a message to the Russian fur traders. Not many men could be risked from the ship. Fired with the ambition to know more of the coast which he had determined to explore, Ledyard volunteered to go for the Russians with two Indian guides The pace was set at an ambling run over rocks that had cut Ledyard's boots to tatters before nightfall. He wa quite unarmed; and just at dark the way seeraed to end at a sandy shore, where the waves were .I'eady chopping over on the rising tide, and s '.?.l tolui: m<. of smoke betrayed the n derground muu liuts of those very Indian villages that had massacred the Russians a quarter of a century before. The guides had dived somewhere underground and, while Ledyard stood non- plussed, came running back carrying a light skin boat which they launched. It was made of oiled walrus hide stretched like a drum completely round whale- bones, except for two manholes in the top 'or the rowers. Ptrpheela, the guide, signalled Ledyard to embark; and before the white man could solve the problem of how three men were to sit in two man- holes, he was seized head and heels, and bundled clear I'lrough a manhole, lying full length imprisoned like Jonah in the whale. Then the swish of dipping paddles, of the cold waves above and beneath, shut out by parchment thin as tissue paper, told Ledyard that he was being carried out 10 sea, spite of dark and storm, • *t 250 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC in a craft light as an air-blown bladder, that bounced forward, through, under, over the waves, undrownable as a fish. There was nothing to do but lie still. The slightest motion might have ruptured the thin skin keel. On he was borne through the dark, the first American m history to travel by a submarine. At the end of what seemed ages — it could not have been more than two hours — after a deal of bouncing to the rising storm with no sound but the whistling of wind and rush of mountain seas, the keel suddenly grated pebbles. Star- light came through the vacated manholes; but be- fore Ledyard could jump out, the boat was hoisted on the shoulders of four men, and carried on a run over- land. The creak of a door slammed open. A bump as the boat dumped down to soft floor; and Ledyard was dazzled by a glare of light to find himself in the mess room of the Russian barracks on Captam Harbor, in the presence of two bearded Russian hunters gaspmg speechless with surprise to see a man emerging from the manhole like a newly hatched chicken from an egg. Fur rugs covered the floor, the walls, the benches, the berth beds lining the sides of the barnlike Rus- sian barracks. The windows were of oiled bladder skin; the lamps, whale-oil in stone basins with skm for wick. Arms were stacked in the corner. The two Russians had been sitting down to a supper of boiled salmon, when Ledyard made his unannounced en- '11 I JOHN LEDYARD 251 1; I i trance. By signs he explained that Captain Cook's ships were at a near harbor and that the EngHsh com- mander desired to confer with Ismyloff, chief factor of the Russians. Rising, kissing their hands ceremo- niously as they mentioned the august name and taking off their fur caps, the Russians made solemn answer that all these parts, with a circumambient wave, belonged to the Empress of Russia; that they were her subjects — with more kissing of the hands. Russia did not want foreigners spying on her hunting-grounds. Nevertheless, Ledyard was given a present of fresh Chinese silk underwear, treated to the hottest Russian brandy in the barracks, and put comfortably to bed on a couch of otter skins. From his bed, he saw the Ind- ians crowd in for evening services before a little Rus- sian crucifix, the two traders leading prayers. These were the tribes, whom the Russians had hunted with dogs fifty years before; and who in turn had slain all Russians on the Island. A better understanding now prevailed. In the morning Ledyard looked over the fur estab- lishment; galliots, cannon-mounted in the harbor for refuge in case of attack ; the huge lemon-yellow, red- roofed store-room that might serve as barracks or fort for a hundred men ; the brigades of eight, of nine, of eleven hundred Indian hunters sailing the surfs under the leadership of IsmyloflF, the chief factor. Oonalaska was the very centre of the sea-otter hunt. Here, eighteen thousand otter a year were taken. At once, I III 252 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC Ledyard realized how he could pay the cost of explor- ing that unclaimed world between New Spain and Alaska: by turning fur trader as Radisson, and La Salle, and the other explorers had done. IsmylofF himself, who had been out with his brigade when Ledyard came, went to vis't the Englishman; but IsmylofF had little to say, little of Benyowsky, the Polish pirate, who had marooned him ; less of Alaska ; and the reason for taciturnity was plain. The Russian fur traders were forming a monopoly. They told no secrets to the world. They wanted no intruders on their hunting-ground. Could Ledyard have known that the surly, bearded Russian was to blast his new- born ambitions; could IsmylofF have guessed that the eager, young, beardless corporal of marines was in- directly to be the means of wresting the Pacific coast from Russia — each might have smiled at the tricks of destiny. Ledyard had two more years to serve in the British navy when he returned from Cook's voyage. By an- other trick of destiny he was sent out on a battle ship to fight against his native country in the Revolutionary War. It was a time when men wore patriotic coats of many colors. His ship lay at anchor ofF Long Island. He had not seen his mother for seven years, but knew that the war had reduced her to opening a lodging house for British officers. Asking for a week's fur- lough, Ledyard v/ent ashore, proceeded to his mother's JOHN LEDYARD 253 house, knocked at the door, and was taken as a lodger by her without being recognized, which was, perhaps, as well; for the house was full of British spies. Led- yard waited till night. Then he went to her private apartments and found her reading with the broad- rimmed, horn-framed spectacles of those days. He took her hands. "Look at me," he said. One glance was enough. Then he shut the door; and the door remains shut to the world on what happened there. That was the end of British soldiering for Ledyard. He never returned to the marines. He betook himself to Hartford, where he wrote an account of Cook's voyage. Then he set himself to move heaven and earth for a ship to explore that unknown coast from New Spain to Alaska. This was ten years before Robert Gray of Boston had discovered the Colum- bia; twenty years before the United States thought of buying Louisiana, twenty-five years before Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific. Many influences worked against him. Times were troublous. The country had not recovered sufficiently from the throes of the Revolution to think of expanding territory. Individually and collectively, the nation was des- perately poor. As for private sailing masters, they smiled at Ledyard's enthusiasm. An unclaimed world ? What did they care ? Where was the money in a venture to the Pacific ? When Ledyard told how Russia was reaping a yearly harvest of millions in furs, even his old friend. Captain Deshon, whose boat had 254 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC carried him to Plymouth, grew chary of such roseate prospects. It was characteristic of Ledyard that the harder the difficulties proved, the harder grew his determination to overcome. He was up against the impossible, and instead of desisting, gritted his teeth, determined to smash a breach through the wall of the impossible, or smash himself trying. For six months he besieged leading men in New York and Philadel- phia, outlining his plans, meeting arguments, giv- ing proofs for all he said of Pacific wealth, holdmg conference after conference. Robert Morris entered enthusiastically into the scheme; but what with shipmasters' reluctance to embark on such a dan- gerous voyage and the general scarcity of funds, the patience of both Ledyard and Morris became ex- hausted. Ledyard's savings had meanwhile dwindled down to 54.27. In Europe, Cook's voyage was beginning to create a stir. The Russian government had projected an expedition to the Pacific under Joseph Billings, Cook's assistant astronomer. These Russian plans aimed at no less than dominance on the Pacific. Forts were to be built in CaHfornia and Hawaii. In England and India, private adventurers, Portlock, Dixon, Meares, Barclay, were fitting out ships for Pacific trade. S-me one advised Ledyard to attempt his venture in the country that had helped America in the Revolution, France; and to France he sailed with money loaned by Mr. Sands of New York, in 1784. JOHN LEDYARD ^55 In Paris Ledyard met two of thr most rema'' ah' men in American history, Paul Jones, the naval aero, and Jefferson. To them both he told the marvels of Pacific wealth, and both were far-sighted enough to share his dreams. It was now that Jefferson began to formulate those plans that Lewis and Clark after- ward carried out. The season was too late for a voyage this year, but Paul Jones loaned Ledyard money and arranged :o take out a ship of four hundred tons the following year. The two actually v^^ent over every detail together. Jones was to carry the furs to China, Ledyard with a<5sistants, surgeon, and cvventy soldiers to remain at the fur post and explore. But Paul Jones was counting on the support of the American government; and when he found that the government considered Ledyard's premises visionary, he threw the venture over in a pique. Was Ledyard beaten ? Jefferson and he talked over the project day after day. Ledyard was willing to tramp it across the two Siberias on foot, and to chance over the Pacific Ocean in a Russian fur-trading vessel, if Jefferson could obtain permission from the Russian Empr'^'ss. Meanwhile, true soldier of fortune, without money, or influence, he lived on terms of in- timacy with the fashion of Paris. " I have but five French crowns," he wTote a friend. "The Fitzhughes (ff 'low-roomers) haven't money for tobacco. Such a set of moneyless rascals never 256 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC appeared since the days of Falstaff." Again — "Sir James Hall, on his way from Paris to Cherbourg, stopped his coach at our door. I was in bed, but having flung on my robe de chambre, met him at the door. ... In walking across the chamber, he laugh- ingly put his hand on a six livre piece and a louis d'or on my table, and with a blush asked me how I was in the money way. Blushes beget blushes. 'If fifteen guineas,' said he, 'will be of any service to you, here they are. You have my address in London.' " While waiting the passports from the Empress of Russia, he was invited by Sir James Hall to try his luck in England. The very daring of the wild attempt to cross Siberia and America alone appealed to the Eng- lish. Half a dozen men, friends of Cook, took the ven- ture up, and Ledyard found himself in the odd position of being offered a boat by the country whose navy he had deserted. Perhaps because of that desertion all news of the project was kept very quiet. A small ship had slipped down the Thames for equipments, when the government got wind of it. Whether the great Hud- son's Bay Company of England opposed the expedi- tion as intrusion on its fur preserve, or the English government objected to an American conducting the exploration for the expansion of American territory, the ship was order- ' back, and Ledyard was in no position to confroi, the English authorities. Again he was checkmated, and fell back on Jefferson's plan to cross the two Siberias on foot, and chance it over JOHN LEDYARD 257 the Pacific. His i»iends in London gathered enough money to pay his way to St. Petersburg. January of 1787 saw him in Sweden seek'ng passage across the Baltic. Usually the trip to St. Petersburg was made by dog sleighs across the ice. This year the season had been so open, neither boats nor doL, trains could be hired to make th*^ trip. Ledyard was now thirty-six years old, and the sum of his efforts totalled to a zero. The first twenty-five years of his life he had wasted trying to fit his life to other men's patterns. The last five years he had wasted waiting for other men to act, men in New York, in Philadelphia, in Paris, in London, to give him a ship. He had done with waiting, with dependence on others. When boats and dog trains failed him now, he mufHtd himself in wolfskins to his neck, flung a knapsack on his back, and set out in midwinter to tramp o'e/and six hundred miles north to Tornea at the head ^v the Baltic, six hundred miles south from Tornea, through Finland to St. Petersburg. Snow fell continually. Storms raged in from the sea. The little villages of northern Sweden and Finland were buried in snow to the chim- ney-tops. Wherever he happened to be at nightfall, he knocked at the door of a fisherman's hut. Wherever he was taken in, he slept, whether on the bare floor before the hearth, or among the dogs of the outhouses, or in the hay-lofts of the cattle sheds. No more wait- ing for Ledyard ! Storm or shine, early and late, he -! I i--it 258 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC tramped two hundred miles a week for seven weeks from the time he left Stockholm. When he marched into St. Petersbuig on the 19th of March, men hardly knew whether to regard him as a madman or a won- der. Using the names of Jefferson and Lafayette, he jogged up the Russian authorities by another appli- cation for the passpoit. The parsport was long in coming. How was Ledyard to know that Ismyloff, the Russian fur trader, whom he had met in Oona- laska, had written letters stirring up the Russian gov- ernment to jealous resentment against all comers to the Pacific ? Ledyard was mad with impatier.ce. Days slipped into weeks, weeks into months, and no passport came. He was out of clothes, out of money, out of food. A draft on his English friends kept him from destitution. Just a year before, Billings, the astronomer of Cook's vessel, had gone across Siberia on the way to America for the Russian government. If Ledyard could only catch up to Billings's expedition, that might be a chance to cross the Pacific. As if to exasperate his impatience still more, he met a Scotch physician, a Dr. William Brown, now setting out for Siberia on imperial business, who offered to carry him along free for three thousand of the seven thousand miles to the Pacific. Perhaps the proceeds of that English draft helped him with the slow Russian author- ities, but at last, on June I, he had his passport, and was off with Dr. Brown. His entire earthly posses- sions at this time consisted of a few guineas, a suit of JOHN LEDYARD 259 clothes, and large debts. What was the crack-brained enthusiast aiming at anyway ? An empire half the present size of the United States. From St. Petersburg to Moscow in six days, drawn by three horses at breakneck pace, from Moscow to Kazan through the endless forests, on to the Volga, Brown and Ledyard hastened. By the autumn they were across the Barbary Desert, three thousand miles from St. Petersburg. Here Brown remained, and Ledyard went on with the Cossack mail carriers. All alo ig the endless trail of two continents, the trail of East and West, he passed th; caravans of the Russian fur traders, and learned the astonishing news that more than two thousand Russians were on the west coast of America. Down the Lena nexf. to YaL ,tsk, the great rendezvous of the fur traders, only one thousand miles more to the Pacific; and on the great plain of the fur tradcis near Yakutsk he at last overtook the Billings explorers on their way to America. Only one guinea was left in his pocket, and the Cossack com- mandant reported that the season was too far advanced for him to cross the Pacific. What did it matter ? He would cross the Pacific with Billings in spring. He was nearer the realization of his hopes than ever before in his life; and surely his success in tramping twice the length of Sweden, and in crossing two continents when almost destitute augured well for his success in crossing from the Pacific to the Missouri. Not for a moment was his almost childlike confidence ' l« 260 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC disturbed by a suspicion of bad faith, of intentional delay in issuing the passports, of excuses to hold him back at Yakutsk till the jealous fur traders could send secret complaints to St. Petersburg. Much less was he suspicious when Billings, his old friend of Cook's voyage, himself arrived, and invited him on a sled journey of exploration up the Lena while waiting.* On sledges he went up the Lena River with a party of explorers. On the night of February 24 two or three of the officers and Ledyard were sitting in the mess room of Irkutsk playing cards. They might laugh at Ledyard. They also laughed with huTi. Wherever he went, went gayety. Gales of boisterous laughter were on the wind. Hopes as tenuous as the wind were in the air. One of the great Bering's sons was there, no doubt telling tales of discovery that set each man's veins jumping. Suddenly a tremendous jingling of bells announced some midnight arrival post- haste at the barracks' door. Before the card players had risen from their places, two Cossacks had burst into the room stamping snow from their feet. March- ing straight over to Ledyard, they seized him roughly by the arms and arrested him for a French spy, dis- playing the Fmpress's written orders, brought all the way from St. Petersburg. To say that Ledyard was dumfounded is putting it mildly. Every man in the room knew that he was not a French spy. Every man 1 In Sauer's account of the Billings Expedition, some excuse is given for the con- duct of Billings on the ground that Ledyard hud been insolent to the Russians. JOHN LEDYARD 26l in the room knew that the arrest was a farce, instigated by the jealous fur traders whom Ismylott's lying letters had aroused. For just a second Ledyard lost his head and called on Billings as a man of honor to confute the charge. However Ledyard might lose his head, Billings was not willing to lose his. He advised Ledyard not to provoke conflict with the Russian authorities, but to go back to St. Petersburg and dis- prove the charge. Was it a case of one explorer being jealous of another, or had Billings played Ledyard into the fur traders' trap ? That will never be known. Certain it is, Billings made mess enough of his own expedition to go down to posterity as a failure. Some of the o.ricers ran to get Ledyard a present of clothes and money. As he jumped into the waiting sledge and looked back over his shoulder at the group of faces smiling in the lighted doorway, he burst into a laugh, but it was the laugh of an embittered man, whose life had crumbled to ruin at one blow. The Cossacks whipped up the horses, and he was off on the long trail back, five thousand miles, every mile a sign post of blasted hopes. Without a word oi ' iion or the semblance of a trial on the false cl. ^^, he was banished out of St. Petersburg on pain of death if he returned. Ragged, destitute, the best years of his life gone, he reached London, heartbroken. "I give up," he told the English friends, who had backed him with money, and what was better than money — faith. " I give up," '1 a62 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC he -.vrote Jefferson, who afterward had Lewis and Clark carry out Ledyard's plans. The men of the African Geographical Society in London tried to cheer him. When could he set out to explore the source of the Nile for them ? "To-morrow," answered Ledyard, with the heed- lessness of one wh has lost grip on life. The salary advanced paid off the moss-grown debts of his dis- appointed past, but he never reached the scene of his new venture. He died on the way at Cairo, in No- vember, 1788, for all hope had already died in his heart. The world that has entered into the heritage of his aims has forgotten Ledyard ; for the public ac- claims only the heroes of success, and he was a hero of defeat. All that Lewis and Clark succeeded in doing for the West, backed by the prestige of govern- ment, Ledyard, the penniless soldier of fortune, had foreseen and planned with Jefferson in the attic apart- ments of Paris.* 1 Ledyard't yourna/ »/• &o*'« Last P'oyagt, Hartford, 1783, and Sparki's Ufc of Ltdyard, Cambridge, 18*9. w .'» )l\ I. CHAPTER X »779-i794 GEORGE VANCOUVER, LAST OF PACIFIC COAST EXPLORERS Activities of Americans, Spanish, and Russians on the West Coast ■ America arouse England — Vancouver is sent out ostensibly to settle the Quarrel between Fur Traders and Spanish Gover.iors at Nootka — Incidentally, he is to complete the Exploration ut America's West Coast and t-ike Possessif^" for EngLnd of Un- claimed Territory — The Myth of a Northeast Passage dispelled forever With Gray's entrance of the Columbia, the great drama of discovery on the northwest coast of America was drawing to a close. After the death of Bering on the Commander Islands, and of Cook at Hawaii, while on voyages to prove there was no Northeast Passage, no open waterway between Pacific and Atlantic, it seems impossible that the myth of an open sea from Asia to Europe could still delude men ; but it was in hunting for China that Columbus found America; and it was in hunting for a something that had no existence except in the foolish theories of the schoolmen that the whole northwest coast of America was exploited. a63 264 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC Bering had been called "coward" for r.ot sailing through a solid continent. Cook was accused of fur trading, " pottering in peltries," to the neglect of dis- cover)', because his crews sold their sea-otter at profit. To be sure, the combined results of Bering's and Cook's voyages proved there was no waterway through Alaska to the Atlantic; but in addition to blackening the reputations of the two great navigators in order to throw discredit on their conclusions, the schoolmen bellicosely demanded — Might there not be a passage south of rilaska, between Russia's claim on the north and Spain's on the south ? Both Bering and Cook had been driven out from this section of the coast by gales. This left a thousand miles of American coast unexplored. Cook had said there were no Scraits of Fuca, of which the old Greek pilot in the service of New Spain had told legends of fictitious voyages two centuries before; yet Barclay, an East India EngHsh trader, had been up those very straits. So had Meares, another trader. So had Kendrick and Gray, the two Americans. This was the very section which Berine and Cook had left untouched; and who could tell where these straits might lead .? They were like a second Mediterranean. Meares argued they might connect with Hudso"- Bay. Then Spain had forced matters to a climax by seizing Meares's vessels and fort at Nootka as contra- band. That had only one meaning: Spain was tr}Mng to lay hands on everything from New Spain to Russian MM Captain George Vancouver. GEORGE VANCOUVER 265 territory on the ncith. If Spain claimed all north to the Straits of Fuca, and Russia claimed all south to the Straits jf Fuca, where was England's claim of New Albion discovered by Sir Francis Drake, and of all that coast which Cook had sighted round Nootka ? Captain George Vancouver, formerly midshipman with Cook, was summoned post-haste by the British Admiralty. Ostensibly, his mission was to receive back at Nootka all the lands which the Spaniards had taken from Meares, the trader. Really, he was to explore the coast from New Spain on the south, to Russian America on the north, and to hold that o; st for England. That Spain had already explored the islands of this coast was a mere detail. There re- mained the continental shore still to be explored. Besides, Spain had not followed up her explorations by possession. She had kept her navigations secret. In many cases her navigators had not even landed. Vancouver was still in his prime, under forty. Serv- ing in the navy from boyhood, he had all a practical seaman's contempt for theories. This contempt was given point by the world's attitude toward Cook. Vancouver had been on the spot with Cook. He knew there was no Northeast Passage. Cook had prov'if' hat. Yet the world refused credence. Fur the practical navigator there remained only one course, and that course became the one aim, the con- suming ambition of Vancouver's life — to destroy the 266 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC last vestige of the myth of a Northeast Passage; to explore the northwest coast of America so thoroughly there would not remain a single unknown inlet that could be used as a possible prop for the schoolmen's theories, to penetrate every inlet from Califo-^nia to Alaska — mainland and island; to demonsi.ate that not one possible opening led to the Atlantic. This was to be the object of Vancouver's life, and he carried it out with a thoroughness that left nothing for subsequent explorers to do; but he died before the record of his voyages had been given to the world. The two ships, Discovery and Chatham, with a supply ship, the Da-Jalus, to follow later, were fitted out for long and thorough work. Vancouver's vessel, the Discover V, carried twenty guns with a crew of a hundred men. The tender, Chatham, under Brough- ton, had ten guns and forty-five men. With Van- couver went Menzies, and Puget, and Baker, and Johnstone — names that were to become place marks on the Pacific. The Discovery and Chatham left Eng- land in the spring of 179 1. A year later found them cutting the waves from Hawaii for America, &s New Albion of Drake's discovery, forgotten by England until Spain's activity stimulated memory of the pirate voyage. A swashing swell met the ships as they neared Amer- ica. Phosphorescent lights blue as sulphur flame slimed the sea m a trail of rippling fire; and a land bird, washed out by the waves, told of New Albion's shore. GEORGE VANCOUVER 267 For the first two weeks of April, the Discovery and Chatham had driven under cloud of sail and sunny skies; but on the i6th, just when the white fret of reefs :;wead forewarned land, heavy weather settled over the ships. To the fore, bare, majestic, compact as a wall, the coast of New Albion towered out of the surf near Mendocino. Cheers went up from the lookout for the landfall of Francis Drake's discovery. Then torrents of rain washed out surf and shore. The hurri- cane gales, that had driven all other navigators out to sea from this coast, now lashed Vancouver. Such smashing seas swept over decks, that masts, sails, railings, were wrenched away. Was it ill-luck or destiny, that caught Vancouver in this gale ? If he had not been driven offshore here, he might have been just two weeks before Gray on the Columbia, and made good England's claim of all territory between Nev/ Spain and Alaska. When the weather cleared on April 27, the ocean was turgid, plainly tinged river-color by inland waters ; but ground swell of storm and tide rolled across the shelving sand- bars. Not a no«^ ' nor an opening breached through the flaw of the on from th'=- ocean to the source of the shallow greei.. Vancouvei was too far offshore to see that there really was a break in the surf wash. He thought — and thought rightly — this was the place where the trader, Meares, had hoped to find the great River of the West, only to be disappointed and to name the point Cape Disappointment. Vancouver was f 268 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC '!< not to be fooled by any such fanciful theories. "Not considering this opening worthy of more attention," he writes, "I continued to the northwest." He had missed the greatest honor that yet remained for any discoverer on the Pacific. Within two veeks Gray, the American, heading back to these baffling tides with a dogged persistence that won its own glory, was to succeed in passing the breakers and discovering the Columbia. As the calm permitted approach to the shore again, forests appeared through the haze — that soft, velvet, caressing haze of the dreamy, lazily swell- ing Pacific — forests of fir and spruce and pine and cypress, in all the riot of dank spring growth, a dense tangle of windfall and underbrush and great vines below, festooned with the light green stringy mosses of cloud line overhead and almost impervious to sun- light. Myriad wild fowl covered the sea. The coast became beetling precipice, that rolled inland forest- clad to mountains jagging ragged peaks through the clouds. This was the Olympus Range, first noticed by Meares, and to-day seen for miles out at sea like a ridge of opalescent domes suspended in mid-heaven. Vancouver was gliding into the Straits of Fuca when the slender colors of a far ship floated above the blue horizon outward bound. Another wave-roll, and the flag was seen to be above full-blown sails and a square- hulled, trim little trader of America. At six in the morning of April 29, the American saluted with a GEORGE VANCOUVER 269 cannon-shot. Vancouver answered with a charge from his decks, rightly guessing this was Robert Gray on the Col limb t a. Puget and Menzies were sent to inquire about Gray's cruise. They brought back word that Gray had been fifty miles up the Straits of Fuca ; and — most The Columbia in a Squall. astounding to Vancouver's ambitions — that the Ameri- can had been off the mouth of a river south of the straits at 46° 10', where the tide prevented entrance for nine days. "The river Mr. Gray mentioned," says Vancouver, "should be south of Cape Disap- pointment. This we passed on the forenoon of the 27th ; and if any inlet or river be found, it must be a i 270 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC If very intricate one, and broken water. . inaccessible . . . owing to reefs . . I was thoroughly convinced, as were most persons on board, that we could not pos- sibly have passed any cape . . . from Mendocino to Classet (Flattery)." Keen to prove that no Northeast Passage existed by way of the Straits of Fuca, Vancouver headed inland, close to the south shore, where craggy heights offered some guidance through the labyrinth of islands and fog. Eight miles inside the straits he anchored for the night. The next morning the sun rose over one of the fairest scenes of the Pacific coast — an arm of the sea placid as a lake, gemmed by countless craggy islands. On the land side were the forested valleys rolling in to the purple folds of the mountains; and beyond, east- ward, dazzling as a huge shield of fire in the sunrise, a white mass whiter than the whitest clouds, swimming aerially in mid-heaven. Lieutenant Baker was the first to catch a glimpse of the vision for which every western traveller now watches, the famous peak seen by land or sea for hundreds of miles, the playground cf the jagged green lightnings on the hot summer nights; and the peak was named after him — Mount Baker. For the first time in history white men's boats plied the waters of the great inland sea now variously known as Admiralty Inlet, Puget Sound, Hood Canal. There must be no myth of a Northeast Passage left lurking in any of the many inlets of this spider-shaped sea. GEORGE VANCOUVER 271 Vancouver, Menzies, Puget, and Johnstone set out in the small boats to penetrate every trace of water passage. Instead of leading northeast, the tangled maze of for- est-hidden channels meandered southward. Savages swarmed over the water, paddling round and round the white men, for all the world like birds of prey cir- cling for a chance to swoop at the first unguarded moment. Tying trinkets to pieces of wood, Puget let the gifts float back as peace-ofFerinps to woo good will. The eflPect was what softness always is to an Indian spoiling for a fight, an incentive to boldness. When Puget landed for noon meal, a score of redskins lined up ashore and began stringing their bows for action. Puget drew a line along the sand with his cutlass and signalled the warriors to keep back. They scrambled out of his reach with a great clatter. It only needed some fellow bolder than the rest to push across the line, and massacre would begin. Puget did not wait. By way of putting the fear of the Lord and respect for the white man in the heart of the Indian, he trained the swivel of the small boat landward, and fired in midair. The result was instant. Weapons were dropped. On Monday, midday, June 4, Vancouver and Brough- ton landed at Point Possession. Officers drew up in line. The English flag was unfurled, a royal salute fired, and possession taken of all the coast of New Albion from latitude 39 to the Straits of Fuca, which Vancouver named Gulf of Georgia. Just a month before. Gray, the American, had preceded this act of I 272 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC possession by a similar ceremony for the United States on the banks of the Columbia. t t* ;j* The sum total of Vancouver's work so far had been the exploration of Puget Sound, which is to the West what the Gulf of St. Lawrence is to the East. For Puget Sound and its allied waters he had done exactly what Cartier accomplished for the Atlantic side of America. His next £*ep was to learn if the Straits of Fuca leading northward penetrated America and came out on the Atlantic side. That is what the old Greek pilot in the service of New Spain, Juan de Fuca, had said some few years after Drake and Cavendish had been out on the coast of California. Though Vancouver explored the Pacific coast more thoroughly than all the other navigators who had pre- ceded him, — so thoroughly, indeed, that nothing was left to be done by the explorers who came after him, and modern surveys have been unable to improve upon his charts, — it seemed his ill-luck to miss by just a hair's breadth the prizes he coveted. He had missed the discovery of the Columbia. He was now to miss the second largest river of the Northwest, the Eraser. He had hoped to be the first to round the Straits of Fuca, disproving the assumption that they led to the Atlantic; and he came on the spot only to learn that the two English traders, Meares and Barclay, the two Americans, Kendrick and Gray, and two Spaniards, Don Galiano and Don Valdes, had already proved GEORGE VANCOUVER 273 practically that this part of the coast was a large island, and the Straits of Fuca ar. arm of the Pacific Ocean. Fifty Indi.'ns, in the long dugouts, of grotesquely carved prows and gaudy paint common among Pacific tribes, escorted Vancouver's boats northward the second week in June through the labyrinthine passage- ways of cypress-grown islets to Burrard Inlet. To Peter Puget was assigned the work of coasting the main- land side and tracing every inlet to its head waters. Johnstone went ahead in a small boat to reconnoitre the way out of the Pacific. On both sides the shores now rose in beetling precipice and steep mountains, down which foamed cataracts setting the echo of myriad heUs tinkling through the wilds. The sea was tinged with milky sediment; but fog hung thick as a blanket; nd Vancouver passed on north without seeing Fraser River. A little farther on, toward the end of June, he was astonished to meet a Spanish brig and schooner exploring the straits. Don C 'iano and Don Valdes n^ld him of the Fraser, which he had missed, and how the Straits of Fuca led out to the North Pacific. They had also been off Puget Sound, but had not gone mland, and brouglr' /ancouver word that Don Quadra, the Spanish emissary, sent to restore to England the fort from which Meares, the trader, had been ousted, had arrived at Nootka on the other side of the island, and was waiting. The explorers all proceeded up the straits together; but the i'utk Spanish crafts were unable mm (•rff*** Ji. ■»» - •T-A ■ „.Xa '■ f 274 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC to keep abreast of the big English vessels, so with a friendly cheer from both sides, the English went on alone. Strange Indian villages lined the beetling heights of the straits. The houses, square built and of log slabs, row on row, like the streets of the white man, were The Discoi/ery on the Rocks. situated high on isolated rocks, inaccessible to approach except h\ narrow planking forming a causeway from rock walls across the sea to the branches of a tree. In other places rope ladders formed the onlv path to the aerial dwellings, or the zigzag trail up the steep ''ice of a rock down which defenders could hurl stones. Howe's Sound, Jervis Canal, Bute Inkt, were passed; GEORGE VANCOUVER 275 and in July Johnstone came back with news he had found a narrow channel out to the Pacific. The straits narrowed to less than half a mile with such a terrific tide wash that on Sunday, July 29, the ships failed to answer to the helm and waves seventeen feet high dashed over decks. Progress was made by haulmg the boats alongshore with ropes braced round trees. By the first of August a dense fog swept in from the sea. The Discovery crashed on a sunken rock, heeling over till her sails were within three inches of water. Ballast was thrown overboard, and the next tide-rush lifted her. By August 19 Vancouver had proved — if any doubt remained — that no Northe?.st Passage was to be found by way of the Straits of Fuca.' Then, veering out to sea at midnight through squalls 1 The legend of Juun de Fuca became current about i 592, as issued in &,muil Punb^,' Pilgrim, in 1625, Vol. Ill : «' a note made bv Michael Lok, the elder, touching the strait of sea commonly culled Fr„um Aman in the South Sea through the North-West Passage of Meta Incognita." Lok met in Venice, in April, 159&, an old man called Juan de Fuca, a Greek mariner and pilot, of the crew of the g.lleon ^anta Anna taken by Cavendish near southern California in 1 587. The pilot narrated after his return to Mexico, he was sent by the viceroy with three vessels to discover the Strait of Anian. This expedition failing, he was again sent in 1592, with a small carai;l in which "he followed the course west and northwest to latitude 47 north there finding a broad inlet between 47 and 48, he entered, sailing therein more than twenty days ... and found very much broader sea than was at the said entrance a great island with a high pinnacle. . . . Being come into the North Sea . . . he returned to Acapulco." According to the story the old pilot tried to find his wav to England in the hope of the (^ueen recouping him for gwder was stored in the cellar. C unting-n )ms, in ss r< m, and fui stores occupied v^^: firsr ri. )r. SU oping quarters vvltc up- stairs, and, abov^ ail, powerful light hung in the cupola, to guide ships into port at night. But these ffrangemc '1 s concerned only the Cos ick officers (»f the arly ( "a, or the governors like "iranof, of a larer day. 1 he rank and file of the crews w re C'H on the hunting-;, rounds w 'th the Indians; and '^e iiunting-grounds of the sea-oi r were the storm-beat) kelp Deds of t\\e rockiest coa^i in the world. ( '• < u in ! artie ^ rivt or six, the promyshleniki, . e hunters ' ere tiled, piomised implicit ob' 'et to thtir f "enian. '^orc of \ s.sion would be t, in prelinnnary hu ? I- ian women and childrei ould be left at the Rub fort a^ hostages of good conduct, an ' at the head ot is many as four, five hurdred, a th( if>and Aleut Indian hunters who had be« ludg- t'. ', impressed, bribed by the promise rearms t( aunt for the Cossacks, six Russians would set it to coast a tempestuous sea for a thousand miles frail boats made of parchment stretched on whale- 'one. Sometimes a counter-tide would sweep a whole lotilla out to sea, when never a man of the hunting rew would be heard of more. Sometim< when the hunters were daring a gale, riding in on the back of a storm to catch the sea-otter driven ashore to the kelp beds for a rest, the back-wash of a billow, or a sudden ^ i- J02 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC hurricane of wind raising mountain seas, would crash down on the brigade. When the spray cleared, the few panic-stricken survivors were washing ashore too exhausted to be conscious that half their comrades had gone under. Absurd as it seems that these plun- d.rers of the deep always held prayers before going of on a hunt — is it any wonder they prayed? It 'J^as m such brigades that the Russian hunters cruised the west coast of America from Bering Sea to the Gulf of California, and the whole northwest coast of America is punctuated with saints' names from the Russian calendar; for, like Drake's freebooters, they had need to pray. Fur companies world over have run the same course. No sooner has game become scarce on the hunting- grounds, than rivals begin the merry game of slitting one another's throats, or instigating savages to do the butchering for them. That was the record of the Hudson's Bay Company and Nor'westers in Can- ada, and the Rocky Mountain men and American Company on the Missouri. Four years after Bering's crew had brought back word of the sea-otter in 1742 there were seventy-seven different private Russian concerns hunting sea-otter off the islands of Alaska Hfty years later, after Cook, the English navigator, had spread authentic news of the wealth in furs to be had on the west coast of America, there were sixty different fur companies on the Pacific coast carrying John Jacob Aster. RUSSIAN AMERICAN FUR COMPANY 303 almost as many different flags. John Jacob Astor's ships had come round the Horn from New York and, saihng right into the Russian hunting-grounds, were endeavoring to make arrangements to furnish sup- plies to the Russians in exchange for cargoes of the fur- seals, whose rookeries had been discovered about the time sea-otter began to be scarce. Kendrick, Gray, Ingraham, Coolidge, a dozen Boston men were thread- ing the shadowy, forested waterways between New Spain and Alaska.' Ships from Spain, from France, from London, from Canton, from Bengal, from Aus- tria, were on the west coast of America. The effect was twofold: sea-otter were becoming scarce from being slaughtered indiscriminately, male and female, young and old ; the fur trade was becoming bedevilled from rival traders using rum among the savages. The hfe of a fur trader on the Pacific coast was not worth a pin's purchase fifty yards away from the cannon mouths pointed through the netting fastened round the deck rails to keep savages off ships. Just as Lord Selkirk indirectly brought about the consolidation of the Hudson's Bay fur traders with Nor'westers, and John Jacob Astor attempted the same ends be- tween the St. Louis and New York companies, so a master mind arose among the Russians, grasping the situation, and ready to cope with its difficulties. This was Gregory Ivanovich Sheli,voff, a fur trader » Over one hundred American ships had been on the Pacific coast of America before 18 iz. St I ;*■■ r ..>#• . 304 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC of Siberia, accompanied to America and seconded by his wife, Natalie, who succeeded in carrying out many of his plans after his death. ShelikofF owned shares in two of the principal Russian companies. When he came to America accompanied by his wife, Baranof, another trader, and two hundred men in 1784, the Russian headquarters were still at Oonalaska in the Aleutians. Only desultory expeditions had gone east- ward. Foreign ships had already come among the Russian hunting-grounds of the north. These Sheli- koff at once checkmated by moving Russian head- quarters east to Three Saints, Kadiak. Savages warned him from the island, threatening death to the Aleut Indian hunters he had brought. Shelikoff's answer was a load of presents to the hostile messenger. That fail- ing, he took advantage of an eclipse of the sun as a sign to the superstitious Indians that the coming of the Russians was noted and blessed of Heaven. The unconvinced Kadiak savages responded by ambush- ing the first Russians to leave camp, and showering arrows on the Russian boats. Shelikoff gathered up his men, sallied forth, whipped the Indians off their feet, took four hundred prisoners, treated them well, and so won the friendship of the islanders. From the new quarters hunters were despatched eastward under Baranof and others as far as what is now Sitka. These yearly came back with cargoes of sea-otter worth two hundred thousand dollars. ShelikofF at once saw that if the Russian traders were to hold their own against RUSSIAN AMERICAN FUR COMPANY 305 the foreign adventurers of all nations flocking to the Pacific, headquarters must be moved still farther east- ward, and the prestige of the Russian government invoked to exclude foreigners. There were, in fact, no limits to the far-sighted ambitions of the man. Ships were to be despatched to California setting up signs of Russian possession. Forts in Hawaii could be used as a mid-Pacific arsenal and halfway house for the Russian fleet that was to dominate the North Pacific. A second Siberia on the west coast of America, with limits eastward as vague as the Hud- son's Bay Company's claims westward, was to be added to the domains of the Czar. Whether the idea of declaring the North Pacific a closed sea as Spain had declared the South Pacific a closed sea till Francis Drake opened it, originated in the brain of Shelikoff^, or his successors, is immaterial. It was the aggran- dizement of the Russian American Fur Company as planned by Shelikoff from 1784 to 1796, that led to the Russian government trying to exclude foreign traders from the North Pacific twenty-five years later, and which in turn led to the declaration of the famous Monroe Doctrine by the United States in 1823 — that the New World was no longer to be the happy hunting- ground of Old World nations bent on conquest and colonization. Like many who dream greatly, ShelikoflF did not live to see his plans carried out. He died in Irkutsk in 1795; but in St. Petersburg, when pressing upon 'Uri'^jtB .,4HStL£ fV 306 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC the government the necessity of uniting all the indepen- dent traders in one all-powerful company to be given exclusive monopoly on the west coast of America, he had met and allied himself with a young courtier, Nikolai RezanofF.' When Shelikoff died, RezanofF it was who obtained from the Czar in 1799 a charter for the Russian American Fur Company, giving it ex- clusive monopoly for hunting, trading, and exploring north of 55° in the Pacific. Other companies were compelled either to withdraw or join. Royalty took shares in the venture. Shareholders of St. Peters- burg were to direct affairs, and Baranof, the governor, resident in America, to have power of life and death, despotic as a czar. By 1800 the capital of Russian America had been moved down to the modern Sitka, called Archangel Michael in the trust of the Lord's anointed protecting these plunderers of the sea. Sheli- koff's dreams were coming true. Russia was check- mating the advances of England and the United States and New Spain. Schemes were in the air with Bara- nof for the impressment of Siberian exiles as peasant farmers among the icebergs of Prince William Sound, for the remission of one-tenth tribute in furs from the Aleuts on condition of free ser\'ice as hunters with the company, and for the employment of Astor's ships as purveyors of provisions to Sitka, when there fell a bolt 1 Re7.inotf married the fiir trader's daughter. The hride did not live long; nor does the union sec-m to Inve been a love alTair ; as RezanoiTs infatuation with the daughter of a Spanish don later seemed to indicate a hearr-free lover. RUSSIAN AMERICAN FUR COMPANY 307 from the blue that well-nigh wiped Russian possession from the face of America. It was a sleepy summer afternoon toward the end of June in 1802. Baranof had left a guard of twenty or thirty Russians at Sitka and, confident that all was well, had gone north to Kadiak. Aleut Indians, im- pressed as hunters, were about the fort, for the fiery Kolosh or Sitkans of this region would not bow the neck to Russian tyranny. Safe in the mountain fast- nesses behind the Tort, they refused to act as slaves. How they regarded this invasion of their hunting- ground by alien Indians — Indians acting as slaves — may be guessed.' Whether rival traders, deserters from an American ship, living with the Sitkan Indians, instigated the conspiracy cannot be known. I have before me letters written by a fur trader of a rival com- pany at that time, declaring if a certain trader did not cease his methods, that ''pills would be bought at Montreal with as good poison as pills from London;** and the sentiment of the writer gives a true idea of the code that prevailed among American fur traders. The fort at that time occupied a narrow strip between a dense forest and the rocky water front a few miles north of the present site. Whether the renegade American sailors living in the forests with the Kolosh betrayed all the inner plans of the fort, or the squaws daily passing in and out with berries kept their country- 1 See Chapter XII. ./?4a.'V ' '■'.'' '^.^^.:. .'■>»L*i*j ' 'mwm 3o8 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC U> men informed of Russian movements, the blow was struck when the whites were off guard. It was a holi- day. Half the Russians were outside the palisades unarmed, fishing. The remaining fifteen men seem to have been upstairs about midday in the rooms of the commander, Medvednikoff. Suddenly the sleepy sentry parading the balcony noticed Michael, chief of the Kolosh, standing on the shore shouting at sixty canoes to land quickly. Simultaneously the patter of moccasined feet came from the dense forest to the rear — a thousand Kolosh warriors, every Indian armed and wearing the ceath-mask of battle. Before the astounded sentry could sound an alarm, such a hideous uproar of shouts arose as might have come from bedlam let loose. The Indian always imitates the cries of the wild beast when he fights — imitates or sets free the wild beast in his own nature. For a moment the Russians were too dumfounded to collect their senses. Then women and child jn dashed for refuge upstairs in the main building, huddling over the trap- door in a frenzy of frighr. Russians outside the pali- sades ran for the woods, some to fall lanced through the back as thev raced, others to reach shelter of the dense forest, where they lay for eight days under hiding of bark and moss before rescue came. Medved- nikoff, the commander, and a dozen others, seem to have hurled themselves downstairs at the first alarm, but already the outer doors had been rammed. The panels of the inner door were slashed out. A flare of ■i-j-^B^ r-imr RUSSIAN AMERICAN FUR COMPANY 309 musketry met the Russians full in the face. The de- fenders dropped to a man, fearless in death as in life, though one wounded fellow seems to have dragged himself to the balcony where he succeeded in firing off the cannon before he was thrown over the palisades, to be received on the hostiles' upturned spears. Mean- while wads of burning birch bark and moss had been tossed into the fort on the powder magazines. A high wind fanned the flames. A terrific explosion shook the fort. The trap-door where the women huddled upstairs gave way. Half the refugees fell through, where they were either butchered or perished in the flames. The others plunged from the burning build- ing through the windows. A few escaped to the woods. The rest — Aleut women, wives of the Russians — were taken captive by the Kolosh. Ships, houses, fortress, all were in flames. By nightfall nothing remained of Sitka but the brass and iron of the melted cannon. The hostiles had saved loot of some two thousand sea-otter skins. All that night, and for eight days and nights, the refugees of the forest lay hidden under bark and moss. Under cover of darkness, one, a herdsman, ventured down to the charred ruins of Sitka. The mangled, headless bodies of the Russians lay in the ashes. At noon of the eighth day the mountains suddenly rocked to the echo of two cannon-shots from the bay. A ship had come. Three times one Russian ventured to the shore, and three times was chased back to the woods; ff^!T!3K!'^^SB?l'^SP mr' 3IO VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC but he had seen enough. The ship was an Engh'sh trader under Captain Barber, who finally heard the shouts of the pursued man, put off a small boat and rescued him. Three others were saved from the woods in the same way, but had been only a few days on the ship, when Michael, the Kolosh chief, emboldened by success, rowed out with a young warrior and asked the English captain to give up the Russians. Barber affected not to understand, lured both Indians on board, seized them, put them in irons, and tied them across a cannon mouth, when he demanded the res- toration of all captives and loot; but the Sitkan chief probably had his own account of who suggested the massacre. Also it was to the English captain's inter- ests to remain on good terms with the Indians. Any- way, the twenty captives were not restored till two other ships had entered port, and sent some Kolosh canoes to bottom with grape-shot. The savages were then set free, and hastening up to Kadiak, Barber levelled his cannon .it the Russian fort and demanded thirty-seven thousand five hundred dollars' salvage for the rescue of the captives and loot. Baranof haggled the Englishman tired, and compromised for one-fifth the demand. Two years passed, and the fur company was power- less to strike an avenging blow. Wherever the Rus- sians leu Aleuts into the Kolosh hunting-grounds, there had been ambush and massacre; but Baranof RUSSIAN AMERICAN FUR COMPANY 311 bided his time. The Aleut Indian hunters, who had become panic-stricken, gradually regained sufficient courage again to foil w the Russians eastward. By the spring of 1804 Laranofs men had gathered up eight hundred Aleut Indians, one hundred and twenty Russian hunters, four small schooners, and two sloops. The Indians in their lii;ht boats of sealion skin on whalebone, the Russians in their sail-boats, Baranof set out in April from St. Paul, Kadiak, with his thousand followers to wreak vengeance on the tribes of Sitka. Sea-otter were hunted on the was , so that it was well on in September before the brigades entered Sitka waters. Meanwhile aid from an unexpected quarter had come to the fur company. Lieutenant Krusen- stern had prevailed on the Russian government to send supplies to the Russian American Company by two vessels around the world instead of caravans across Siberia. With Krusenstern went Rezanoff, who had helped the fur traders to obtain their charter, and was now commissioned to open an embassy to Japan. The second vessel under Captain Lisiansky proceeded at once to Baranof's aid at Sitka. Baranof was hunting when Lisiansky's man-of-war entered the gloomy wilds of Sitka Sound. The fur company's two sloops lay at anchor with lanterns swinging bow and stern to guide the hunters home. The eight hundred hostiles had fortified themselves behind the site of the modern Sitka. Palisades the depth of two spruce logs ran across the front of the 1 312 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC i- ! rough barricade, loopholed for musketry, and pro- tected by a sort of cheval-de-frise of brushwood and spines. At the rear of the enemy's fore ran sally ports leading to the ambush of the woods, and inside were huts enough to house a small town. By the 28th of September Baranof's Aleut Indian hunters had come in and camped alongshore under prut»ction of can- non sent close inland on a small boat. It was a weird scene that the Russian officers witnessed, the enemy's fort, unlighted and silent as death, the Aleut hunters alongshore dancing themselves into a frenzy of bravado, the spruce torches of the coast against the impenetrable forest like fireflies in a thicket; an occa- sional fugitive canoe from the enemy attempting to steal through the darkness out of the harbor, only to be blown to bits by a cannon-shot. The ships began to line up and land field-pieces for action, when a Sitkan came out with overtures of peace. Baranof gave him the present of a gay coat, told him the fort must be surrendered, and chiefs sent to the Russians as hostages of good conduct. Thirty warriors came the next day, but the whites insisted on chiefs as hos- tages, and the braves retired. On October the first a white flag was run up on the ship of war. No signal answered from the barricade. The Russian ships let blaze all the cannon simultaneously, only to find that the double logs of the barricade could not be pene- trated. No return fire came from the Sitkans. Two small boats were then landed to destroy the enemy's RUSSIAN AMERICAN FUR COMPANY 313 stores. Still not a sign from the barricade. Raging with impatience, Baranof went ashore supported by one hundred and fifty men, and with a wild halloo led the way to rush the fort. The hostile Sitkan., husi andtd their strength with a coolness equal to the lamous thin red line of British fame. Not a signal, not a sound, not the faintest betrayal of their strength or weakness till in the di sic Baranof was within gunshot of the logs, when his meii vvere met with a solid wall of fire. The Aleuts stopped, turned, stampeded. Out sallied the Sitkans pursuing Russians and Aleuts to the water's edge, where the body of one dead Russian was bran- dished on spear ends. In the sortie fourteen of the Russian forces were killed, twenty-six wounded, among whom was Baranof, shot through the shoulder. The guns of the war ship were all that saved the retreat from a panic. Lisiansky then undertook the campaign, letting drive such a brisk fire t!ie next day that the Sitkans came suing for peace oy the afternoon. Three days the cunning savages stayed the Russian attack on pre- tence of arranging hostages. Hailing the fort on the morning of the 6th and securing no answer, Lisiansky again played his cannon on the barricade. That night a curious sound, that was neither chant nor war- cr}', came from the thick woods. At daylight carrion crows were seen circling above the barricade. Three hundred Russians landed. Approaching cautiously for fear of ambuscade, they clambered over the pali- 314 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC sades and looked. The fort was deserted. Naught of the Sitkans remained but thirty dead warriors and all their children, murdered during the night to pre- vent their cries betraying the retreat. } ii m' New Archangel, as it was called, was built on the site of the present Sitka. Sixteen short and forty-two long cannon mounted the walls. As many as seven hundred officers and men were sometimes on garrison duty. Twelve officers frequently dined at the gov- ernor's table; and here, in spite of bishops and priests and deacons who later came on the ground, the revel- lers of the Russian fur hunters held high carnival. Thirty-six forts and twelve vessels the Russian Ameri- can fur hunters owned twenty years after the loss of Sitka. New Archangel became more important to the Pacific than San Francisco. Nor was it a mistake to move the capital so far south. Within a few years Russian traders and their Indians were north as far as the Yukon, south hunting sea-otter as far as Santa Barbara. To enumerate but a few of the American vessels that yearly hunted sea-otter for the Russians southward of Oregon and California, taking in pay skins of the seal islands, would fill a coasting list. RezanofF, who had failed to open the embassy to Japan and so came across to America, spent two months in Monterey and San Francisco trj'ing to arrange with the Spaniards to supply the Russians with provisions. He was received coldly by the Spanish governor till E o I RUSSIAN AMERICAN FUR COMPANY 315 a love affair sprang up with the daughter of the don, so ardent that the Russian must depart post-haste across Siberia for the Czar's sanction to the marriage. Worn out by the midwinter journey, he died on his way across Siberia. Later, in 18 12, when the Russian coasters were refused watering privileges at San Francisco, the Russian Ameri- can Company bought land near Bodega, and settled their famous Ross, or California colony, with cannon, barracks, arsenal, church, workshops, and sometimes a population of eight hundred Kadiak Indians. Here provisions were gathered for Sitka, and hunters de- spatched for sea-otter of ilie south. The massacres on the Yukon and the clashes with the Hudson's Bay traders are a story by themselves. The other doings of these "Sea Voyagers" became matters of inter- national history when they tried to exclude American and British traders from the Pacific. The fur hunters in the main were only carrying out the far-reaching plans of ShelikofF, who originated the charter for the company; but even Shelikoff could hardly foresee that the country which the Russian government was willing to sell to the United States in 1867 for seven million dollars, would produce more than twice that during a single year in gold. To-day all that remains to Russia of these sea voyagers* plundering are two small islands, Copper and Bering in Bering Sea. ■^ \ ♦ ) *;"■ i CHAPTER XII 1747-1818 BARANOF, THE LITTLE CZAR OF THE PACIFIC Baranof lays the Foundations of Russian Empire on the Pacific Coast of America — Shipwrecked on his Way to Alaska, he yet holds his Men in Hand and turns the Ill-hap to Advantage — How he bluffs the Rival Fur Companies in Line — First Russian Ship built in America — Adventures leading the Sea-otter Hunters — Am- bushed by the Indians — The Founding of Sitka — Baranof, cast ofF in his Old Age, dies of Broken Heart No wilder lord of the wild northland ever existed than that old madcap Viking of the Pacific, Alex- ander Baranof, governor of the Russian fur traders. For thirty years he ruled over the west coast of America from v^laska to southern California despotic as a czar. And he played the game single-handed, no retinue but convicts from Siberia, no subjects but hostile Indians. Whether leading the hunting brigades of a thousand men over the sea in skin canoes light as cork, or rally- ing his followers ambushed by hostiles repelling in- vasion of their hunting-ground, or drowning hardships with seas of fiery Russian brandy in midnight carou- sals, Baranof was supreme autocrat. Drunk or 3'6 I Alexander Baranof. IHMSB^^E BARANOF, THE LITTLE CZAR 317 sober, he was master of whatever came, mutineers or foreign traders planning to oust Russians from the coast of America. Baranof stood for all that was best and all that was worst in that heroic period of Pacific coast history when adventurers from all corners of the earth roamed the otter-hunting grounds in quest of fortune. Each man was a law unto himself. There was fear of neither man nor devil. The whole era might have been a page from the hero epic of prehis- toric days when earth was young, and men ranged the seas unhampered by conscience or custom, magnificent beasts of prey, glorying in freedom and bloodshed and the warring elements. Yet in person Baranof was far from a hero. He was wizened, sallow, small, a margin of red hair round a head bald as a bowl, grotesque under a black wig tied on with a handkerchief. And he had gone up in life much the way a monkey climbs, by shifts and scrambles and prehensile hoists with frequent falls. It was an ill turn of fortune that sent him to America in the first place. He had been managing a glass factory at Irkutsk, Siberia, where the endless caravans of fur traders passed. Born at Kargopol, East Russia, in 1747, he had drifted to Moscow, set up in a shop for himself at twenty-four, failed in business, and emi iiated to Siberia at thirty-five. Tales of profit in the tur trade were current at Irkutsk. Tired of stagnating in what was an absolutely safe but unutterably monoto- nous life, Baranof left the factory and invested all his m 318 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC savings in the fur trade to the Indians of northern Siberia and Kamchatka. For some years all went well. Baranof invested deeper, borrowing for his ventures. Then the Chukchee Indians swooped down on his caravans, stampeded the pack horses, scuttled the goods, and Baranof was a bankrupt. The rival fur companies on the west coast of America were now engaged in the merry game of cutting each other's throats — literally and without restraint. A strong hand was needed — a hand that could weld the warring ele- ments into one, and push Russian trade far down from Alaska to New Spain, driving off the field those foreigners whose relentless methods — liquor, bludgeon, musket — were demoralizing the Indian sea-otter hunters. Destitute and bankrupt, Baranof was offered one- sixth of the profits to become governor of rhe chief Russian company. On August 10, 1790, about the same time that John Jacob Astor also embarked in the fur trade that was to bring him in contact with the Russians, Baranof sailed to America. Fifty-two men the ragamuffin crew numbered, exiles, convicts, branded criminals, raggedly clad and ill-fed, sleeping wherever they could on the littered and vermin-infested decks; for what did the lives of a convict crev. matter ? Below decks was crammed to the water- line with goods for trade. All thought for furs, small care for men; and a few days out from port, the water- casks were found to be leaking so badly that allowance BARANOF, THE LITTLE CZAR 319 of drinking water was reduced ; and before the equi- noctial gales, scurvy had already disabled the crew. Baranof did not turn back, nor allow the strong hand of authority to relax over his men as poor Bering had. He ordered all press of sail, and with the winds whis- tling through the rigging and the little ship straining to the smashing seas, did his best to outspeed disease, sighting the long line of surf-washed Aleutian Islands in September, coasting from headland to headland, keeping well offshore for fear of reefs till the end of the month, when compelled to turn in to the mid-bay of Oonalaska for water. There w^s no ignoring the danger of the landing. A shor;- like the walls of a giant rampart with reefs in the teeth of a saw, lashed to a fury by beach combers, offered poor escape from death by scurvy. Nevertheless, Baranof effected anchorage at Koshigin Bay, sent the small boats ashore for v/ater, watched his chance of a seaward breeze, and ran out to sea again in one desperate effort to reach Kadiak, the headquarters of the fur traders, before winter. Outside the shelter of the harbor, wind and seas met the ship. She was driven hel^iless as a chip in a whirlpool straight for the granite rocks . f the shore, where she smashed to pieces like the broken staves of a dry water-barrel Led by the in- domitable Baranof, who seemed to meet the challenge of the very element?, the half-drowned crew : rawled ashore only to be ordered to sa'^e the cargo now rolling uu in the wave wash. .1 ^1 li 320 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC When darkness settled over the sea on the last night of September, Baranof was in the same predicament as Bering — a castaway for the winter on a barren island. Instead of sinking under the redoubled blows of an adverse fate, the little Russian rebounded like a rubber ball. A messenger and some Indians were at once despatched in a skin boat to coast from island to island in an effort to get help from Kadiak. Meanwhile Baranof did not sit lamenting with folded hands; and well that he did not; for his messengers never reached Kadiak. Holes were at once scooped out of the sand, and the caves roofed over with the remnants of the wreck. These underground huts on an island destitute of wood were warmer than surface cabins, and better withstood the terrible north winds that swept down from the Arctic with such force that for two months at a time the men could go outside only by crawling under shelter of the boulders. Ammunition was distributed to the fifty castaways ; salmon bought from the Indians, whom Baranof's fair treatment won from the first; once a week, rye meal was given out for soup; and for the rest, the men had to depend on the eggs of sea- birds, that flocked over the precipitous shores in myr- iads, or on the sea-lions roaring till the surf shook on the rocky islets along the shore. If there is one characteristic more than another that proves a man master of destiny, it is ability not only to meet nnsfortune but to turn it to advantage when it c^ ^m BARANOF, THE LITTLE CZAR 321 comes. While waiting for the rescue that never came, Baranof studied the language of the Aleuts, sent his men among them to learn to hunt, rode out to sea in their frail skin boats lashed abreast to keep from swamping during storm, slept at night on the beach with no covering but the overturned canoes, and, shar- ing every hardship, set traps with his own hands. When the weather was too boisterous for hunting, he set his people boiling salt from sea-water to diy supplies of fish for the summer, or replenishing their ragged clothes by making coats of birds' skin. The last week before Easter, provisions were so lov the whole crew were compelled to indulge in a Lenten fast; but on Easter Monday, behold a putrid whale thrown ashore by the storm ! The fast was followed by a feast. The winds subsided, and hunters brought in sea-lions. It was quite apparent now no help was coming from Kadiak. Baranof had three large boats made of skin and wreckage. One he left with the men, who were to guard the remnants of the cargo. A second he de- spatched with twenty-six men. In the third he himself embarked, now in a raging fever from the exposure of the winter. A year all but a month from the time he had left Asia, Baranof reached Three Saints, Kadiak, on June 27, 1791. Things were black enough when Baranof landed at Kadiak. The settlement of Three Saints had been depending on the supplies of his wrecked ship; and ■MHHril MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS STANDARD REFERENCE MATERIAL 1010a (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) t r %: S 3,-, VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC when he arrived, himself in need, discontent flared to open mutiny. Five different rival companies had de- moralized the Indians by supplying them with liquor, and egging them on to raid other traders. Southward, 'owarf Nootka, were hosts of foreign sh.ps - Gray and Kendtick and Ingraham from Boston Vancouver from England, Meares from East Ind,a Quadra from New Spain, private ventures outfitted by Astor from New York. If Russia were to preserve her huMmg- erounds, no time should be lost. Baranof me. the difficukies like a commander of guerilla warfare. Brigades were sent eastward to the fishing-ground of Cook's Inlet for suppl.es. Incipient mutiny was quelled by sending more hunters off wi h Tm "off «o «p'<- "- --""" t^''' '"/"tT:!" iam Sound. As for the foreign fur traders, he con- ceived the brilliant plan of buying food from them in exchange for Russian furs and of supplying them with brigades of Aleut Island burners to scour the Pacific for sea-otter from Nootka and the Columbia to southern California. This would not only add to stores of Rus- sian furs, but push Russian dominion southward, and keep other nations off the field. That it was not all plain sailing on a summer day may be inferred from one incident. He had led out a brigade of several hundred canoes Indians and Russians: to Nuchek Island, off Prince William Sound^ Though he had tried to win the friendship of the coast Indians by gifts, it was necessary to steal from point BARANOF, THE LITTLE CZAR 323 to point at night, and to hide at many places as he coasted the mainland. Throwing up some sort of rough barricade at Nuchek Island, he sent the most of his men off to fish and remained with only sixteen Aleuts and Russians. It was perfectly natural that the Alaskan Indians should resent the Aleuts intruding on the hunting-grounds of the main coast, one thousand miles from the Aleutian Islands. Besides, the main- land Indians had now learned unscrupulous brutality from foreign traders. Baranof knew his danger and never relaxed vigilance. Of the sixteen men, five always stood sentry at night. The night of June 20 was pitch dark. Terrific seas were running, and a tempest raged through the woods of the mainland. For safety, IsmylofF's ship had scudded to the offing. Baranof had undressed, thrown himself down in his cabin, and was in the deep sleep of outdoor exhaustion, when above the howling of the gale, not five steps away, so close it was impossible to distinguish friend from foe in the darkness, arose the shrill war-cry of hostiles. Leaping to his feet, Baranof rushed out undressed. His shirt was torn to shreds by a shower of flint and copper-head arrows. In the dark, the Russians could only fire blindly. The panic- stricken Aleuts dashed for their canoes to escape to Ismyloff's ship. Ismyloff^ sent armed Russians through the surf wash and storm to Baranof's aid. Baranof kept his small cannon pounding hot shot where the shouts sounded till daylight. Of the sixteen men, two ' I ? 1 w u n 324 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC Russians and nine Aleuts were dead. Of the men who came to his aid, fifteen were wounded. The corpses of twelve hostiles lay on the beach ; and as gray dawn came over the tempestuous sea, six large war canoes vanished into the morning mist, a long trail of blood over the waves showing that the hostiles were carrying oflr their wounded. Well might Baranof write, "I will vanquish a cruel fate; or fall under its repeated blows." The most of men would have thought they had sufficient excuse to justify backing out of their difficulties. Baranof locked grapples with the worst that destiny could do; and never once let go Sometimes the absolute futility of so much striv- ing, so much hardship, so much peril, all for the sake of the crust of bread that represents mere existence, sent him down to black depths of rayless despondency, when he asked himself, was life worth while ? But he never let go his grip, his sense of resistance, his impulse to fight the worst, the unshunnable obligation of being alive and going on with the game, succeed or fail. Such fits of despair might end in vVild carousals, when he drank every Russian under the table, outshouted the loudest singer, and perhaps wound up by throwing the roomful of revellers out of doors. But he rose from the depths of debauch and despair, and went on with the game. That was the main point. The terrible position to which loss of supplies had reduced the traders of Kadiak when his own vessel BARANOF, THE LITTLE CZAR 325 was wrecked at Oonalaska on the way out, demon- strated to Baranof the need of more ships; so when orders came from his company in 1793 to construct a saihng boat on the timberless island of Kadiak without iron, without axes, without saw, without tar, without canvas, he was eager to attempt the impossible. Shields, :m EngHshman, in the employment of Russia, was to act as shipbuilder; and Baranof sent the men assigned for the work up to Sunday Harbor on the w€st side of Prince William Sound, where heavy forests would supply timber and the tide-rush help to launch the vessel from the skids. There were no saws in the settlement. Planks had to be hewn out of logs. Iron, there was none. The rusty remnants of old wrecks were gathered together for bolts and joints and axes. Spruce gum mixed with blubber oil took the place of oakum and tar below the water-line. Moss and clay were used as calking above vvater. For sail cloth, there was nothing but shreds and rags and tatters of canvas patched together so that each mast-arm looked like Joseph's coat of many colors. Seventy-nine feet from stem to stern, the crazy craft measured, of twenty- three feet beam, thirteen draught, one hundred tons, two decks, and three masts. All the winter of 1 792-1 793, just a year after Robert Gray, the American, had built his sloop down at Fort Defence -^ff Vancouver Island, the Russian shipbuilding went on. Then in April, lest the poverty of the Russians should becoiie known to foreign traders, Baranof sent Shields, the English ls( ^ 326 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC shipbuilder, oflF out of the way, on an otter-hunting vencure. It was August of the next summer bctore the clumsy craft slipped from the skids into the rising tide. She was so badly ballasted that she hobbled like cork; and her sails so frail they flew to tatters in the gentlest wind; but Russia had accomplished her first ship m America. Bells were set ringing when the Pha^mx was towed into the harbor of Kadiak; and when she reached Okhotsk laden with furs to the water-line in April of 1794, enthusiasm knew no bounds. Salvos of artillery thundered over her sails, and mass was chanted, and a polish of paint given to her piebald, rickety sides that transformed her into what the fur company proudly regarded as a frigate. Before the year was out, Baranof had his men at work on two more vessels. There was to be no more crippling of trade for lack of ships. But a more serious matter than shipbuilding de- manded Baranof's attention. Rival fur companies were on the ground. Did one party of traders establish a furt on Cook's Inlet ? Forthwith came another to a point higher up the inlet, where Indians could be in- tercepted. There followed warlike raids, the pillaging of each other's forts, the capture cf each other's Indian hunters, the utter demoralization of the Indians by each fort forbidding the savages to trade at the other, the flogging and bludgeoning and butchering of those who disobeyed the order — and finally, the forcible ab- duction of whole villages of women and children to com- pel the alliance of the hunters. All Baranof's work to BARANOF, THE LITTLE CZAR 327 pacify the hostiles of the mainland was being undone; and what complicated matters hopelessly for him was the fact that the shareholders of his own company were also shareholders in the rival ventures. Baranof wrote to Siberia for instructions, urging the amalga- mation of all the companies in one; but instructions were so long in coming that the fur trade was being utterly bedevilled and the passions of the savages in- flamed to a point of danger for every white man on the North Pacific. Affairs were at this pass when Kono- vaiof, the dashing leader of the plunderers, planned to capture Baranof himself, and seize the shipyard at Sunday Harbor, on Prince William Sound. Baranof had one hundred and fifty figh.ing Russians in his brigades. Should he wait for the delayed instructions from Siberia ? While he hesitated, some of the ship- builders were ambushed in the woods, robbed, beaten, and left half dead. Baranof could not afford to wait. He had no more legal justification for his act tban the plunderers had for theirs; but it was a case where a man must step outside law, or be exterminated. Rally- ing his men round him and taking no one into his con- fidence, the doughty little Ru^j-'ian sent a formal messenger to Kono^'alof, the bandit, at his redoubt on Cook's Inlet, pompously summoning him in the name of the governor of Siberia to appear and answer for his misdeeds. To the brigand, the summons was a bok out of the blue. How was he to know not a word had come from the governor of Siberia, and the summons 328 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC was sheer blufF? He was so terrorized at the long hand of power reaching across the Pacific to clutch him back to perhaps branding or penal service in Siberia, that he did not even ask to see Baranof's documents. Coming post-haste, he oflrered explana- tions, excuses, frightened pleadings. Baranof would have none of him. He clapped the culprit and asso- ciates in irons, put them on Ismyloff's vessel, and de- spatched them for trial to Siberia. That he also seized the furs of his rivals for safe keeping, was a mere detail. The prisoners were, of course, discharged; for Baranof's conduct could no more bear scrutiny than their own; but it was one way to get rid of rivals; and the fur companies at war in the Canadian northwest practi...^ the same met jd twenty years later. The effect of the bandit outrages on the hostile Indians of the mainland was quickly evident. Bara- nof realized that if he was to hold the Pacific coast for his company, he must push his hunting brigades east and south toward New Spain. A convict colony, that was to be the nucleus of a second St. Petersburg, was planned to be built under the very shadow of Mount St. Elias. Shields, the Englishman employed by Russia, after bringing back two thousand sea-otter from Bering Bay in 1793, had pushed on down south- eastward to Norfolk Sound or the modern Sitka, where he loaded a second cargo of two thousand sea-otter. A dozen foreign traders had already coasted Alaskan shores, and southward of Norfolk Sound was a flotilla BARANOF, THE LITTLE CZAR 329 of American fur traders, yearly encroaching closet and closer on the Russian field. All fear of rivalry among the Russians had been removed by the union of the different companies in 1799- Baranof pulled his forces together for the master stroke that was to establish Russian dominion on the Pacific. This was the removal of the capital of Russian America farther south. On the second week of April, 1799, with two vessels, twenty-two Russians, and three hundred and fifty canoes v ' * fur hunters, Baranof sailed from Prince ' .^^ound for the southeast. Pause was made e= . M-y opposite Kyak — Bering's old landfall — to hum sea-otter. The sloops hung on the offing, the hunting brigades, led by Baranof in one of the big skin canoes, paddling for the surf wash and kelp fields of the boisterous, rocky coast, which sea- otter frequent in rough weather. Dangers of the hunt never deterred Baranof. The wilder the turmoil of spray and billows, the more sea-otter would be driven to refuge on the kelp fields. Cross tides like a whirl- pool ran on this coast when whipped by the winds. Not a sound from the sea-otter hunters! Silently, like sea-birr.s glorying in the tempest the canoes bounded from crest to crest of the rolling seas, always taking care not to be caught broadsides by the smash- ing combers, or swamped between waves in the churning seas. How it happened is not known, but somehow between \vind and tide-rip, thirty of the canoes ' i If - i P I; 330 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC that rode over a billow and swept down to the trough never came up. A flaw of wind had caught the moun- tain billows; the sixty hunters went under. From where he was, Baranof saw the disaster, saw the turor of the other two hundred men, saw the rising storm, and at a giance measured that it was farther back to the sloops than on towards the dangerous shore. The sea-otter hunt was forgotten in the impending catas- trophe to the entire brigade. Signal and shout con- fused in the thunder of the surf ordered the men to paddle for their lives inshore. Night was coming on. The distance was longer than Baranof had thought, and it was dark before the brigades landed, and the men flung themselves down, totally exhausted, to : leep on the drenched sands. Barely were the hunters asleep when the shout of Kolosh Indians from the forests behind told of am- bush. The mainland hostiles resenting this invasion of their hunting-helds, had watched the storm drive the canoes to land. On one side was the tempest, on the other the forest thronged with warriors. The Aleuts lost their heads and dashed for hidmg in the woods, only to find certain death. Baranof and the Russians with him fired oflT their muskets till all powder was used. Then they shouted in the Aleut dialect for the hunters to embark. The sea was the lesser danger. By morning the brigades had joined the sloops on the offing. Thirteen more canoes had been lost in the ambush. BARANOF, THE LITTLE CZAR 331 Such was the inauspicious introduction for Baranof to the founding of the new Russian fort at Sitka or Norfolk Sound. It was the end of May before the brigades gUded into the sheltered, shadowy harbor, where Chirikotf' s men had been lost fifty years before. A furious storm of snow and sleet raged over the har- bor. When the storm cleared, impenetrable forests were seen to the water-line, and great trunks of trees swirled out to sea. On the ocean side to the west. Mount Edgecunibe towered up a domt- of snow. East- \ ard were the br-re heights of Verstovoi; and count- less tiny islets gilded by the sun dotted the harbor. Baranof would have selected the site of the present Sitka, high, rocky and secure from attack, but the old Sitkan chief refused to sell it, bartering for glass beads and trinkets a site some miles north of the present town. Half the men were set to hunting and f^?hing, half to chopping logs for the new fort built in the usual fashion, with high palisaues, a main barracks a hun- dred feet long in the centre, t! ree srories high, with trap-doors connecting each story, cabins and hutches all round the inside of the palisades. Lanterns hung at the masthead of the sloops to recall the brigades each ni^ht; for Captain Cleveland, a Boston trader anchored in the harbor, forewarned Baranof of the Indians' treach- erous character, more dangerous now when demoral- ized by the rivalry of white traders, and in possession of the civilized man's weapons. Free distribution of liquor by unscrupulous sea-captains did not mend '■ ^ « i 3J2 VIKINGS OF THK PACIMC matters. Cleveland reported that the savages had so often threatened to attack his ship that he no longer permitted them on board; concealing the small number of his crew by screens of hides round the decks, trading only at a wicket with cannon prin cd and muskets bristling through the hides above the taffrail. He warned Baranof's hunters not to be led off inland bear hunting, for the bear hunt might be a Sitkan Indian in decoy to trap the hunters into an ambush. Such a decoy had almost trapped Cleveland's crew, v.ncn other Indians were noticed in ambush. The .lew fort was christened Archangel. All went well as long as Baranof was on the ground. Sea-otter were obtaiiu d for worthless trinkets. Sen- tries paraded the gateway; so Baram-f sailed back to Kadiak. The Kolosh or Sitkan fnhes had only bided their time. That sleepy summer day of June, 1802, when the slouchy Siberian convicts were off guard and Baranof two thousand miles away, the Indians fell on the fort and at one fell swoop wiped it out.' Up at Kadiak honors were showering on the little governor. Two decorations of nobility he had been given by 1804; but his grief over the loss of Sitka was inconsolable. "I will either die or restore the fort!" he vowed, and with the help of a Rui^sian man- of-war sent round the world, he sailed that summer into Sitka Sound. The Indians scuttled their barri- cade erected on the site of the present Sitka. Here 1 See C . XI. BARANOF, THE LITTLE CZAP 333 the fort was rebuilt and renamed New Archangel — a fort worthy in its pahuy days '>f \h anofs .nost daring ambitions. Sixty Russian oiilcer and eight hundred white families lived within the walls, with a retinue of two or three thousand Indian otter hunters cabinei along the beach. There was a shipyard. There was a foundry for the manufacture of the great brass bells sold for chapels in New Spain. There were arch- bishops, priests, deacons, schools. At the hot springs twenty miles away, hospitals and bath" were buil A library and gallery of famous paintings were add( • to the fort, though Baranof complained it would have been wiser to have physicians for his men. roi the rest of BaranoPs rule, Sitka became « great i< ndez- vous of vessels tradii.|, on the Pacific. Here Baranof held sway like a potentate, serving regal feasts to all visitors with the pomp of a little court, and the bar- barity of a wassailing mediaeval lord. But all this was not so much fireworks for display. Baranof had his motive. To the sea-captains who feasted with him and drank themselves torpid under his table, he prof )sed a plan — he would supply the Aleut hunters for them to hunt on shares as far south as southern California. Always, too, he was an eager buyer of their goods, giving them in exchange seal- skins from the Seal Islands. Boston vessels were the first to enter partnership with Baranof. Later came Astor's captains from New York, taking sealskins in trade for goods supplied to the Russians, '" ^_^^^^(iaaa^iiBB 334 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC How did Baranof, surrounded by hostile Indians, with no servants but Siberian convicts, hold his own single-handed in American wilds? Simply by the power of his fitness, by vigilance that never relaxed, by despotism that was by turns savage and gentle, but always paternal, by the fact that his brain and his brawn were ahvays more than a match for the bram and brawn of all the men under him. To be sure, the liberal measure of seventy-nine lashes was laid on the back of any subordinate showing signs of mutiny, but that did not prevent many such at- tempts. The most serious was in 1809. From the time that Benyowsky, the Polish adventurer, had sacked the garrison of Kamchatka, Siberian convicts serving in America dreamed of similar exploits. Peasants and officers, a score in number, all convicts from Siberia, had plotted to rise in New Archangel or Sitka, assas- sinate the governor, seize ships and provisions, and sailing to some of the South Sea Islands, set up an independent government. The signal was to be given when Naplavkof, an officer who was master plotter, happened to be on duty. On such good terms was the despot, Baranof, with his men, that the plot was betrayed to him from half a dozen sources. It did not trouble Baranof. He sent the betrayers a keg of brandy, bade one of them give a signal by breakmg out in drunken song, and at the sound himself burst into the roomful of conspirators, sword in hand, fol- BARANOF, THE LITTLE CZAR 335 lowed by half a hundred armed soldiers. The plotters were handcuffed and sent back to Siberia. There was something inexcusably cruel in the ter- mination of Baranof's services with the fur company. He was now over seventy years of age. He was tor- tured by rheumatism from the long years of exposure in a damp climate. Because he was not of noble birth, though he had received title of nobility, he was sub- ject to insults at the hands of any petty martinet who came out as officer on the Russian vessels. Against these Baranof usually held his own at Sitka, but they carried back to St. Petersburg slanderous charges against his honesty. Twice he had asked to be al- lowed to resign. Twice successors had been sent from Russia; but one died on the way, and the other was shipwrecked. It was easy for malignant tongues to rouse suspicion that Baranof's desire to resign sprang from interested motives, perhaps from a wish to conceal his own peculations. Though Baranof had annually handled millions of dollars' worth of furs for the Russian Company, at a distance from oversight that might have defied detection in wrong-doing, it was afterwards proved that he had not misused or misappropriated one dime's worth of property; but who was to believe his honesty in the face of false charges ? In the fall of 181 7 Lieutenant Hagemeister arrived at Sitka to audit the books of the company. Conceal- ing from Baranof the fact that he was to be deposed. n u I f'l L 1 336 VIKINGS OF THE PACIF.O Hagemeister spent a year investigating the records. Not a discrepancy was discovered. Baranof, with the opportunity to have made miUions, was a poor man. Without explanation, Hagemeister then announced the fact — Baranof was to be retired. Between volun- tarily retiring and being retired was all the difference between honor and insult. The news was a blow that crushed Baranof almost to senility. He was found doddering and constantly in tears. Again and again he bade good-by to his old comrades, comrades of revel with noble blood in their veins, comrades of the hunt, pure-blooded Indians, who loved him as a brother, comrades of his idleness, Indian children with whom he had frolicked — but he could not bear to tear himself from the land that was the child of his lifelong efforts. The blow had fallen when he was least able to bear it. His nerve was gone. Of all the Russian wreckages in this cruel new land, surely this wreck was the most pitiable — the maker deposed by the thing he had made, cast out by his child, driven to seek some hidden place where he might die out of sight. An old sea-captain offered him passage round the world to Russia, where his knowledge might still be of service. Service? That was the word! The old war-horse pricked up his ears ! Baranof sailed in the fall of 1 8 18. By spring the ship homeward-bound stopped at Batavia. There was some delay. Delay was not good for Baranof. He was ill, deadly ill, of that most deadly of all ailments, heartbreak, conscious- BARANOF, THE LITTLE CZAR 337 ness that he was of no more use, what the Indians call "the long sickness of too much thinking." When the vessel put out to sea again, Baranof, too, put to sea, but it was to the boundless sea of eternity. He died on April 16, 1819, and was laid to rest in the arms of the great ocean that had cradled his hopes from the time he left Siberia. To pass judgment on Baranof's life would be a piece of futility. His life, like the lives of all those Pacific coast adventurers, stands or falls by what it was, not what it meant to be; by what it did, not what it left undone; and what Baranof left was an empire half the size of Russia. That his country afterward lost that empire was no fault of his. Like all those Vikings of the North Pacific, he was essentially a man who did things, not a theorizer on how things ought to be done, not a slug battening on the things other men have done. They were not anaemic, these old "sea voyagers" of the Pacific, daring death or devil, with the red blood of courage in their veins, and the red blood of a lawless manhood, too. They were not men of milk and water type, with little good and less bad. Neither their virtues nor their vices were lukewarm; but they did things, these men; added to the sum total of human efl^ort, human knowledge, human progress. Sordid their motives may have been, sordid as the blacksmith's when he smashes his sledge on the anvil; but from the anvil of their hardships, from the clash of the pri- ; t * v\ 338 VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC mordial warfare between the Spirit of the Elements and the Spirit of Man, struck ouc some sparks of the Divme. There was the courage as dauntless in the teeth of the gale as in the face of death. There was the yearning To know More, to seek it, to follow it over earth's ends, though the quest led to the abvss of a watery grave. What did they want, these fool fellows, followmg the rushlight of their own desires ? That is just it. They didn't know what they sought, but they knew there was something just beyond to be sought, something new to be known; and because Man is Man, they set out on the quest of the unknown, chancing hfe and death for the sake of a little gain to human progress. It is the spirit of the heroic ages, and to that era belongs the history of the Vikings on the North Pacific. *i rl M INDEX Adakh Island, Chirlkoff at, JI. Admiralty Inlet, explored, 270-271. Adventure, Prst American ship built on Pacific, 233, 234, 238, 325. Alaska, Bering's expedition on coast of, 26 ff. ; ChirikofPs arrival at, 50-51 ; Benyowsky's visit to, 125; Cook explores coast of, 189-194 ; Gray's trip to, 238; Vancouver's survev of southern coast of, 286- 290 ; Baranof's career In, 318-3 ;7. See Sitka. Aleutian Islands, Bering's voyag. of discovery among, 26-41 ; sea-otter's habitat on, 42, 53, 56, 63, 66-67, 69-70, 82-83 ; fur hunters of the, 67-78, 81-84, 321-323. 328-330- Aleut Indians, as otter-hun ,ers, 69-78 ; harsh treatment of, by Russians, 79, 81-88 ; Russian hunters massacred by, 91-95. 100-104 ; punishment of, 105 ; in Sitka massacre, 307- I'.o, 332 ; accor any Baranof on voyage of vengeance, 311-314 ; with Bara- nof in Prince William Sound, 322 ff. Alexander Archipelago, Chirikoff in the, 46-52. Alexis, Aleut Indian boy hostage, 98, 99, 102. Anderson, Dr., with Cook, 193. Aniaii, Straits of, 9, 279 n. Anton, Juan de, captain ot Glory of the South Seas, 158 n. Apraxin, Count, 8 n. Archangel Michael, modern Sitka once named, 306 ; founding of, by Bara- nof, 306, 331-332; massacre at, 307- 310, 332. Arguello, Don Joseph, 241. Aricara, Drake at, 155. Astor, John Jactb, 65, 212, 303, 318, 322, 333. Athabasca Lake, attempt to identify, with Northwest Passage, 174, 175. Atka, otter grounds at, 69. Atto, Hawaiian boy, 229, 233, 240. Attoo, village in, destroyed by Russian fur hunters, 83. Auteroche, Chappe d', cited, 295. Avacha Bay, Bering at, 17, 19. 23; survivors of Bering expedition re- turn to, 59-60 ; vessels of Cook's expedition at, 208. B Baker, lieutenant in Vancouver's ex- pedition, 266, 270. Baker, Mount, 270. Balboa, 134. 'A4- Baltimore, Benyowsky visits, 127. Bancroft, Hubert Howe, cited, -4I, 290, 295- Baranof, Alexander, governor of Rus- sian American Fur Company, 67, 167 n., 288, 301, 304, 306, 310; character of, 316-317 ; personal ap- pearance of, 317; early career of, 339 340 INDEX 317-318; sails to America (179°). 318; wrecked on Oonalaska, 319- 320; builds boat and reaches Ka- diak, 321 ; defeats hostile Indians at Nuchek Island, 323-324 ; estab- lishes fort at Sitka, 331 ; loses fort by Sitka massacre, but rebuilds and founds New Archangel (modern Sitka), 332-333; in °''' ^8^ ^^- posed from governorship, 335-336 ; death of, 337. Baran.^f Castle, Sitka, 3GI. liarber, Captain, at Sitka, 310. Barclay, English sea-csptain, 224, 227, 254, 264, 272. Barnes, sailor with Gray, 230. Barren, Joseph, 21 1, 215, 229, 24I. Bassof, otter hunter, 82-83. Begg, cited, 290 n. Behm, Major, 196, 208. Behm Canal, 286. Benyowsky, Mauritius, Polish exile to Kamchatka, 108-1 10 ; career of, at Bolcheresk, 113-122; escapes to sea on pirate cruise, 122 ; meets Ocho- tyn at Bering Island, I2,;-I24 ; visits Alaska, 1 25 ; adventures of, in Luzon, Formosa, and China, 126- 127; holds French commission in Madagascar, 137; returns to Eu- rope, goes to Baltimore, and is sent on filibustering expedition to Mada- gascar, 127; death of, 127-12S; authorities for, i2Sn. Berg, cited, U n., 22 n., 129, 295. Bering, Anna, 8n. Bering, Jonas, 8n. Bering, Thomas, 22 n. Bering, Unos, 22. Bering, Vitus Ivanovich, birth and early history of, 8 ; commissioned by Beter the Great to exi>' ■■ waters between Russia and Am . 8-10 ; first expedition of (1725 -730), 10- 12; second expedition undertaken by, 12 ; difficulties of, with scien- tists about " Gamaland," 13-15, I9» 22, 24 ; arrival of expedition of, at Okhotsk, 16 ; start of, from Avacha Bay, Kamchatka (i 741), 17! cruise of, in St. PeUr, 22-45 ; landfall at Kyak Island, 26-27, 47 n. ; Mt. St. Eiias discovered by, 2b; explora- tion of coast of Alaskan peninsula by, 28-36 ; forced to winter at Com- mander Islands, 35-36; death of, 54; summary of work of, 55-56, 61 ; conclusions of, rejected by scien- tists, 172-173; mentioned in con- nection with other explorer , 183, 184 n., 239, 263, 264 ; Cook verifies conclusions of, 189-194. Bering Bay, 288. Besing Island, 37-45. 97> 123-124. 300, 315. Betshevin, Siberian merchant, 84, 87. Bidarkas, fur hunters' boat". 67. Bill; igs, Joseph, 254, 258, 259-261. Boit, Joun, 230. Bolcheresk, capital of Kamchatka, 113- 114; description of, 114; Benyow- sky's career at, 1 14-122. Boston, interest at, in Gray's expedi- tions, 215-216, 229-230, 240-241. "Bostons" {Bosionnais), Indians call all Americans, 210. Brazil, Drake's lost sailors in, 152. Bristol Bay, 193. Broughton, Lieutenant, 266, 271, 279, 280, 281 ; l''oyat:;e by, cited, 295 n. Brown, Samuel, of Boston, 211, 229. Brown, Ur. William, Ledyard travels with, 258-259. Bulfinch, Charles, 211, 212; daughter of, named " Columbia," 240. Bulfinch, Dr., cf Boston, 21 1, 24I. Burney, J'oyngi'shy, 2()^Ti. Burrard Inlet, 273. Burroughs, John, cited, 72 n. Bute Inlet, 274. INDEX 341 California, Drake's visit to, 160-165, 169-171 ; Vancouver's visit to, 281- 282 ; Russian American Fur Com- pany in, 315. California, vessel for exploration, 1 74. Callao, Drake sacks, I55-I56- Campbell, Dr., quoted, 172-17;;. Cannibals, Ci)ok's stay among, 187 ; on Portland Canal, 230. Cape Adams, 280. Cape Addington, 46. Cape Disappointment, 224, 235, 267, 269, 279, 280. Cape Douglas, 191. Cape Elizabeth, 191. Cape Flattery, 185, 223, 224, 235, 270. Cape Foulwcathcr, 184. Cape Gregory, 184, Cape Horn, Drake discovers, 153; Gray expedition rounds, 216-217. Cape Khitroff, 41, Cape Lookout, 219. Cape Meares, 224. Cape Perpetua, 184. Cape Prince of Wales, 193, 208. Captain Harbor, 300; Drusenin at, 89 ; Ledyard's arrival at, 250. Carder, Peter, 152 n. Cartier, Jacques. 272. Caswell, Joshua, 230. Catherine, Empress, 7. Chaplin, Peter, 1 1 n. Chatham, Lieutenant Broughton com- mands, in Vancouver cruise, 266. Chesterfield Inlet, 174-175- Chinook, Indian village, 281. Chirikoff, Alexei, Bering's second in command, n, 13, 18, 19, 20, 60; cruise of, in the St. Paid, 45-53. Christopher, Giptain, 175. Christopher, Drake's vessel, 147. Christy, Silver Map of, 168. Chukchee Indians, 5, 9, 193, 194. 3»8. Qayoquot, Gray at, 227, 232-234. Gierke, Captain, 181, 203, 206, 207, 208 ; death of, 209. Cleveland, Captain, Boston trader, 295. 331-332- Collectors of tribute, Cossack, 5, 107, 294-296, 299. Columbia, vessel commanded by Cap- tain Kendrick, on cruise to Pacific, 212-213, 215; CJray in command . of, 228, 268-269. Columbia River, Meares searche for, ^24 ; Vancouver misses, 235, 267- 268 ; II 'ceta quoted regarding, 235- 236; Gray discovers and names, 236- 238, 241, 268, 269 ; Broughton's trip up, 280. Commander Islands, Bering expedi- tion at, 37-45, 61 ; sea-otter fciind on, 67, 76. Cook, Captain James, 19, 64 n., 78, 127, 128 r., 161, 168, 222, 226, 263, 264, 265 ; boyhood and youth of, 176-177 ; seaman on Newcastle coaler, 177; enters Royal Navy, 178-180 ; before Quebec with Wolfe, l£o ; sent by Royal Society on voy?7e to South Seas (1768- 1771), 10-181 ; makes voyage round ...e world, 181 ; starts on historic voyage of discovery and exploration, 181 ; John Ledyard's connection with expedition of, 181- 182, 247 ; terms of secret commis- sion of, 182-183; Drake's "New Albion" sighted by, 184; misses Straits of Fuca, 1 84- 1 85 ; anchors at Xootka, 1 86 ; visits Kyak Island, 189 ; in Prince William Sound, 190- 191 ; explores Cook's Inlet, 191- 192 ; sails along coast of Alaska t j Cape Prince of Wales, and crosses Bering Strait to Siberia, 193; veri- fies Bering's conclusions, 193-194 ; explores Norton Sound, 195 ; stops 342 INDEX I'i" ^ .11 P ifi at Oonalaska, 195-196 ; returns to Sandwich Islands to winter, 196- 197 ; friendly rc.eption of, by Hawaiians, 1 97- 199 i sailors of, abuse hospitality of natives, 199- 200 ; difficulties of, over boat stolen by natives, 203 ; brave stand taken by, and death of, 203-205 ; authori- ties for, 209 n. ; account of voyage of, leads to sending out of Robert Gray, 211; Gray's work and its results compared with tht e of, 239-240. Cook's Inlet, sea-otter in, 66-67, 68, 69, 79 ; explored by Cook, 189- 192 ; Vancouver's survey of, 287- 288 ; Russian fur traders' doings in, 326-327- Coolilge, Davis, 214, 230. Copper Inland, 44, 97, 315. Coquimbo, Drake at, 154. Cortes, 133-134- Coxe, William, cited, 61, 82, 105, 295. Crowning of Drake by Indians, 164. Dadalus, Vancouver's supply ship, 266, 282; seized by Sandwich Islanders and twu officers murdered, 284. Da Ciama, Vasco, 134. Dall, cited, II n., 295. Dartmouth College, courses for mis- sionaries at, 244-245. Davidson, Dr. George, x, 47 n., 162 n., 168, 290 n. Davidson, George, member of Gray's second expedition, 230, 240, 241. Dawson, cited, 290 n. Dementieff, Abraham, 47-48. Derby, John, 21 1, 229. Derby Sound, 228. Deshneff, explorer, vii, 296. Deshon, Captain, 253-254. Discovery, Vancouver's ship, 266; on rocks in Straits of Fuca, 275; Ha- waiian girls on board of, 284-285. Discovery, vessel commanded by Cap- tain Clerke, in Cook's voyage, 18 1. D'Isles, the, geographers, 19, 20, 52. Distress Cove, 228. Dixon, George, 78, 209, 227, 254, 29on. Dobbs, patron of exploration, 174. Dol'h, vessel for exploration, 174. Doughty, Thomas, 147; trial and exe- cution of, 148-149, 168. Douglas, Captain, 223-226. Drugoii, Drake's vessel, 140. Drake, Francis, family and boyhood of, 139; with Hawkins in West Indies, 139; cruises Spanish Main (1570-1573), 140-141; seizes one million pounds in silver from Spanish at Nombre de Dios, 141-142: first views Pacific Ocean, 143-144; at- tacks gold train at Vcnta Cruz, 144-145; returns to England, 146; Queen Elizabeth and, 146; starts on historic cruise (1577)1 '47? Doughty's trial and execution, 148- 149, 168; enters Tacific through Straits of Magellan, 150; driven south by storm, '.51-153; discovers Cape Horn, 153; piratical voyage of, up South American coast, 153- 155; captures Glory of the South Seas, 158; plans to return home by Northeast Passage, 1 58- 1 59; land- fall north of California, 1 59- 161, 16S; gives up idea of Northeast Passage, 161; visits California, 161- 162, 169; welcomed by Indians, 162-163, 169-170; crowning of, 164; calls region "New Albion," 164; returns to England around Cape of Good Hope (1580), 165; subsequent career of, 166; death and burial of, 166-167, 171; au- thorities for, 167 n. Drake, John, 141, 142, 157. INDEX 343 Drake'i Bay, 163, a8l. Drusenin, Alexei, otter hunter, 81, 84; winters at Oonalaska, 88-9 1; mur- dered by nativei, 91-9** East Cape, 195, 208-209. Elizabeth, Drake's vessel, 147» '48; returns to England, 152. Elizabeth, Queen, and Drake, 146. Elliott, cited, 72 n., 295. Ellis, explorer, 174-175- Equator, rites on crossing, 182, 216. Eskimo Indians, Russian explorers hear about, 6. See Aleut and Ko- losh Indians. Pages, Don Pedro, cited, 241. Fairweather Mountains, 189. Fletcher, Francis, Drake's chaplain, 149, 154 n., 167; chronicle of, quoted, 161, 165, i67n.-i7in. Foggy Island (Ukamok), 29, 192. Folger, sailor with Gray, 230. Formosa, Benyowsky in, 127. Fort Defence, 233, 325. Franklin, l?ei ' ain, Benyowsky's meeting with, 128 n. Eraser River, Vancouver misses dis- covering, 272-273. Friendly Cove, 276, 278. Frobisher, Martin, 159. Fuca, Juan de, 173, I74. 184, 264, 272; account of legend of, con- cerning Northeast Passage, 275 n. Fuc* Straits. See Straits of tuca. Galiano, Don, 272-273. Gama, John de, 6 n. Gamaland, mythical continent, 6, 9 168, 173 ; Bering's conclusion con' ceming non-existence of, la, 18; on D'Isles' map, 19; Bering's second voyage in search of, 2a- 23; search for, relinquished, 24- 25 ; Cook demolishes myth of, i8l. Garret, John, 141. Glory of the South Seas, Spanish gal- leon, 155, 156, 157; captured by Drake, 158. GlottofT, Stephen, 88, 96; Korovin rescued by, 104. Gmelin, scientist, 14 n., 295 n. GolJen Hind, Drake renames the Pelican the, 150; cruise on the Pacific in, 151-165; end of, 166. Gore, Cook's lieutenant, 190. Gorelin, Russian sailor, 87, 91 n. Gray, Robert, character of, 213; sent by Boston merchants on fur-trad- ing voyage to the Pacific coast, 213-214; departure of, from Bos- ton (October, 1787), 215-216; rounds Cape Horn and reaches Drake's "New Albi .n," 216-218; adventures of, in 'imook Bay, 219-222 ; sails to Nootka, 222- 223 ; meets Captains Meares and Douglas, 223-225; in tpring ex- plores Straits of Fuca, 227, 235; takes cargo of furs to China and returns to Boston (August, 1790), 228-229; leaves Boston on second voyage (September, 1790), 230; winters at Clayoquot (i 791-1792). 232-234 ; builds sloop Adzenture, 233, 234, 325 ; meets Vancouver expedition, 235, 268-270; dis- covers and names Columbia River (May, 1792), 236-238, 241, 268, 269; goes to China and returns to Boston (July, 1793), 238; death of, 238; place of, among discoverers, 238-240 ; authorities for, 240 n.; later mention of, 264, 272, 286, 322 ; Lieutenant 344 INDEX Broughton's view of explorations of, 280. Gray's Harbor, 236, 241. Greenhow, cited, 241, 290, 295. Guata'.co, Drake stops at, 159. Gulf of Georgia, 271. Gvozdef, discoverer, 12 n. H Hagemeister, Lieutenant, 335-336. Hall, Sir James, and Ledyarcl, 250. Hancock, Clayoquot renamed, 227. Hancock, Governor, 229. Harriman Expedition, the, 72 n. Haskins, member of Gray's seconi' ex- pedition, 230. Ilaswell, Robert, in Gray's expedi- tions, 214, 216, 220-222, 228, 230, 234, 240, 241. Hatch, Captain Crowell, 211. Hawkins, Sir John, 135-139, 166. Hearne, Samuel, 174, 175, 181. Heceta, Captain Bruno, 219, 241 ; quoted regarding Columbia River, 235-236. Henriquez, Don Martin, 136. Hoffman, German exile, 108-III. Hood Canal, explored, 270-271. Howe, Richard, accountant in Gray's expedition, 214. Howe's Sound, 274. Icy Cape, Cook names, 195. Inalook Island, 90. Indians, Californian, and Drake, 162- 165, 169-171. Ingraham, Joseph, 214, 230, 240, 322. Isle, Louis la Croyere de 1', 19, 20, 209 ; death of, 52. Isle of Pinos, 141. Ismyloff, Russian trader-spy, 118, 119, 122, 123, 124, 127, I28n. ; Cook meets, 196; treacherous letters of, 208; Ledyard's encounters with, 251, 253, 258, 260-261 ; in service of Russian American Fur Company, under Baranof, 322, 323. J Japan, charted by Martin Spanherg, 18 ; laws to protect the sea-otter moved by, 67 ; Benyowsky's adven- tures in, 126-127. Jefferson, Thomas, Ledyard and, 255, 261-262, Jervis Canal, 274. Johnstone, with Vancouver, 266, 271, 273. 275- Jokai, Maurus, Benyowsky's life told by, 127. Jones, Paul, and Ledyard, 255. Juan Fernandez, Columbia repaired at, 217. K Kadiak Indians in California, 315. Kadiak Island, otter-hunting head- quarters, 69, 79; Ochotyn at, 124; Benyowsky visits, 125 ; Baranof at, 321-329- Kakooa, Sandwich Islands, 203, 206. Kalekhta, Aleutian village, 90, 94. Kamchatka, Bering sails from, il ; Benyowsky in, 11 3-1 22. Karakakooa Bay, Cook at, 197-205. Kendrick, Captain John, 213, 214, 216, 217, 225, 226, 228, 229, 264, 272, 322 ; adventures 01, on Queen Charlotte Island, 230-232 ; death of, 238. Kendrick, Solomon, murdered, 232. Khitroff, in Bering expedition, 26-27, 30-3'. 36. King, Captain, with Cook, 128 n., 186, 192, 198, 200, 203, 206. Koah, Hawaiian priest, 198, 206, 207. .^■?^?irF7^..ji INDEX 345 Kohl, J. G., cited, i68, 295. Kolosh Indians, massacre by, 307-310, 332 ; baranof's encounter with, 330. Konovalof, bandit, 327-328. Korelin, companion of Drusenin, 90- 91, 92, 94. Korovin, Ivan, 88, 96 ; experiences of, at Oonalaska, 97-105. Koshigin Bay, 319. Kotches, Russian boats, 295-296, 297. Kot^ebue, dramatist, takes Benyowsky for a sul>jcct, 1 27. KotzebuC, Otto von, works by, 295. Kowrowa, Sandwich Islands, 197, 203. Kracheninnikof, cited, 295. Krusenstern, Lieutenant, 295, 311. Kyacks, Eskimo boats, 68. Kyak Island, 'Bering's landfall, 26-27, 47 n. ; Cook at, 189; Baranof at, 329-330. Lady Washington, the. Gray sails on, to Pacific coast, 213-219; Captain Kendrick in command of, 228 ; last mention of, 238. LangsdorfT, cited, 295. La Salle, vii, 60. Lauridscn, Peter, authority on Bering, 12 n., 61 n. La Verendr>'e, vii, 7, 19, 60, 177. Ledyard, Dr., 243 n. Ledyard, John, corporal of marines with Cook, 181-182, 195-196, 200, 203, 205, 247-252 ; authority for Cook's voyage, 209 n. ; early career of, 242-244 ; authorities for life of, 243 n., 262 n. ; student at Dart- mouth College, 245 ; works his way to England, 245-246; experiences of, in London, 246-247 ; on return of Cook expedition sent to fight against United States, 252 ; returns to Groton and deserts from British navy, 252-253 ; borrows money. goes to Paris, and meets Paul Jones and Thomas Jefferson, 254-255 ; in England, 256; walks fourteen hun- dred miles from Stockholm around Baltic Sea to St. Petersburg, 257- 258 ; accompanies Dr. Brown three thousand miles into Siberia, 258- ?59 ; joins Joseph Billings' expedi- tion and reaches Lena River, 260 ; arrested as a French spy, carried back to St. Petersburg, and expelled from the country, 260-261 ; reaches London and is sent to discover source of Nile, 261-262; dies at Cairo, 262. Lewis and Clark expedition, 60-61 ; John Ledyard's influence on, 242, 255, 262. Lincoln, General, of Boston, 229. Lisiansky, Captain, 295, 311, 313. Lok, Michael, 275 n. Lopez, Marcus, 216, 220; murder of, by Indians, 221. Lynn Canal, Vancouver's survey of, 288. Macao, Benyowsky in, 127, 128. Macfie, Vancouver Island by, 295 n. Mackenzie, Alexander, 219. Madagascar, Benyowsky's adventures and death in, 127. Magellan, explorer, 134-135. Magellan, Hya irt^ '*' n. Makushin Volcam 97, 105 n. Maquinna, Indian , .^76, 277-278. Marquette, Pere, vii, 7. Martin, Hudson's Bay Territories by, 295 n. Martinez, Don Joseph, 227. Marygcld, Drake's vessel, 147, 148; loss of, 151-152. Massacre, of Russians at Oonalaska and Oomnak, 100-105 ; the Sitka, 307-310, 332. 346 iNDEX •I I •('! M lit m M»yne, cited, 890 «• Metres, English »e»-c»pt»in, aaj-aao, ^^7, 2J5. *54. 364, au7, aya, ayi, 3"- . . Afearts' Voyages, cited, ago n. Medals, the Drake, 168; of Gray ex- pedition, 315, 241. Medvedcfl, Denis, 88, 961 97-98; murder of, 104. Medvednikoff, cou nunJer at Sitka, 308. Meniif ., a35, 266, 269, 'i. Merit' ry. Cook on the, 180. Michael, Kolosli tliirf, 308, 3IC. Middlct. Ill, Captain, 174. Moral, the, Hawaiian burying-placc, 198, 201, 202. Miirriii, Kolicrt, and Lcdyard, 254. Motley, John Lothrop, cited, 4 n. Multley, John, cited, 4 n. Mount Baker, 270. Mount Edgecumhe, 46-47, 189, 331. Mount Hood, 280. Mount Olympus, 235. Mount St. Elias, V\ 1 89. Mii'.ler, S., scientist, 12 n., 14 n.; cited, 32, 61, 295. Murderers' Harbor, 222. N Naplavkof, conspirator, 334-335- New Albion, Drake's, 164, 173, 182, 183, 184; Gray expedition off, 218; Vancouver's expedition sights, 267; Vancouver takes possession of, 271. New Archangel, modern Sitka, 314, 333- New Zealand, explored by Cook, 181. Nicholson, William, edits Uenyowsky's memoirs, 128 n. Nilow, governor of Kamchatka, 116- 120. Nomhre de Dins, storehouse of New Spain, 140; Drake's raid, 141-142. iNootka, Cook'a veueta at, 186-189, I 348; Gray at, aaj-aay, 332, 338; Vancouver's conference with Span- i»h at, 276-279. Nooika Indian*, Cook viaiu, 185-189. Nordenskjold, explorer, 209 n., 395 n. Norfolk Sound. Ute Sitka Sound. Northeast Passage, the, 158-159, 17a; Drake's conclusions regarding, 161 ; I'arliament ofliers reward for dis- covery of, 174; English agitation over, I7,»-I7S. ««>J '-'""'''» "^""^^ to discover. 182-196; CaptainClerkc decides there is no, ao9; Vancou- ver's attitude on question of, 265- 266; Vancouver prove? the non- existence of, 275, 286-290; the Fuca legend concerning, 275 n. Norlkwtit-Amtrica, launching of, 223; sei/ed by Spanish, 228. Norton, Moses, 175. Norton Sound, Cook explores, 195. Nuchek Island, Baranof at, 322-324. Nulling, Gray's astronomer, 214. Ochotyn, Saxon exile, 1 23-124. Of/yn, Bering's lieutenant, 36, 38, 40. Okhotsk, Bering's expedition at, 16. Olympus, Mount, 235. Olympus Range, 222-223, 268. Oomnak Island, 84-85; sulphur at, 92: sea-otter on, 98; Korovin's ad- • .ntures at, 102-103; Medvedeff and crew massacred at, 104. Oonalaska, otter-hunting headquar- ters, 69, 79, 82, 98; sulphur at, 92, 103; Korovin's experiences at, 98- loi: Cook at, i95-'96; Ledyard's visit to, with Cook, 250-253. Oregon ard California, Greenhow's, 241. Orfgort and Eldorado, Bulfinch's, 241. Oxenham, with Drake, 143. li 'w.L-r^a'" -rf. INDEX 347 Purthas' Pilgrims, cited, 15a, 167, 275. I'ushkateff, Sergeant, 8^-*^*' Pacha, Drake'! vewel, 14 «• I'atilic Company, 213. Stt Astor. Tallas. Xorlhtrn SellUmenls by, 295 n ralliscr, Sir MukH, 179. Tareea, Hawaiian chief, 198, 303. j J'eluan, Duke's vessel, 147. '4* ; «■ ..ametl GoUen Utnd, 150. IVriihecla, Lt<'ew Arch- angel (Sitka), 3«4; >" California, 315. 5.?^ Baranof. Ryumin, Ivan, Russian account of Benyowsky by, 129. Saanach coast, sea-otter on, 69. St. Lawrence Island, li, 12. St. Paul, Bering's vessel, 17; Chiri- koff in command of, 20, 22, 24 H., 60; voyage of, 45-53. St. Peter, Bering's vessel, 17, 20, 23 ff. ; wreck of, 44-45- St. Peter, the second, 58-59. 5/. Peter and Paul, the, II3. "71 Benyowsky's cruise in, 122-126. Sands, Mr., of New York, 254- Sandwich Islands, Cook's visit to and death at, 196-205 ; Gray stops at, 228-229; conduct of fur traders 348 INDEX 1 I 1 1 ^ > who visited, 283-284 ; Vancouver's actions at, 284-285. San Francisco, Vancouver at, 2S1-282. Sauer, citetl, 27, 260, 295. Savelief, Sidur, 48. Sea cows, 41, 53. Seals, 42, 56-57, 67. Sea-otter, 42, 53, 56 ; habitat of, on Aleutian Islands, 63, 66-C7, 82-S3 ; Bering's men ic-ap a fortune from, 63-64, 79 ; influence of, on explora- tion of North Pacilic, 65 ; descrip- tion of, 65-66 ; methods of hunting the, 67-78 ; prices commaiir fur of, 76 ; figures of numbers killeii, 79 ; the early hunters of, 80-105 ; Cook's trade in, 187; Gray's bar- gain, 228 Selkirk, Lord, 303. Serdze Kamen, 12 n., 195. Seymour, Henry, 243. Shelikoff, Gregory Ivanovich, 303-306, 3'5- Shelikoff, Natalie, 304. Shevyrin, with Drusenin, 92-97. Shields, English shipbuilder with Bara- nof, 325-326, 328. Shumagin Islands, 30, 192. Silva, Nuno, Drake's pilot, 159, 167 n. Silver Map of the World, 168. Simpson, I'oyuge Romui IVorhi by, 295 n. Sitka, Indians massacre Russians at, 50 n., 307-310, 332 ; as capital of Russian America, called Archangel Michael, 306; Russian American Fur Company founds New Arch- angel on site of, 314, T,il; Bara- noPs career at, 330-336. Sitka Sound, thirikolf in, j2; sea- otter in, 66, 79; Van< i)..ver ends his explorations at, 289. Snug Cove, 186, 276. Society Islands, Cool's first visit to, iSo-lSi; second visit, 1S2. Solovieff, Cossack hunter, 105. South Seas, Cook's voyage to, 180-181. Spaidierg, Martin, II, 13, 14.16, 18,21. Sparks, Jared, Life of LeJyard by, 243 n., 262 n. Staduchin, explorer, 296. Stejneger, Dr. Leo, x, 41 n., 72 n., 295 n. Stellor, George William, 14 n., 20, 23, 25, 26-27, 30, II, 38-40, 41, 42, 53-55. 60. Steller's Arch, 39. Stephanow, Hippolite, 108, no, 125, 127. Straits of Fuca, Cook's conclusion as to non-existence of, 185, 222, 264; Gray sails near, 223; Gray explores, 227, 235, 269; Vancouver's arrival at and exploration of, 268-270, 273- 275- Straits of Magellan, 135; Drake's pas- sage of, 150. Sulphur at Oonalaska, 92, 103. Sunday Harbor, 325. Swan, Drake's vessel, 140, 141, 147. Taboo, the, 198. Tarapaca, Drake calls at, 154-155. Terreeoboo, King, 197-206. Texeira, map-maker, 6 n. Three Saints, Kadiak, Baranofs arrival at, 321-322. Tillamook Bay, Lady Washington in, 219-222. Toledo, Don Francisco de, 155-156. Treat, fur trader in Gray's expedition, 214. Tribute collectors, Cossack, 5, 107, 114, 294-296, 299. U Ukamok (Foggy Islandj, 29. \\\ iVi ^"VBS^sa/^k .■^>jSP'^\i INDEX 349 Valdes, Don, 272-273. Valparaiso, Drake's raid on, 153-' 54- Vancouver, George, vii, 105, 161 ; midshipman with Cook, 181, 198; authority on Cook's voyage, 209 n.; meeting with Gray, 235, 268-270 ; Gray contrasted with, 239-240; as captain in Ikitish navy, sent to explore Pacific coast of America, 265 ; ideas on Northeast Passage question, 265-266; sights Drake's " New Albion," 267; misses Colum- bia River, 267-268, 235 ; explores Puget Sound, 270-272 ; misses Fraser River, 272; explores Straits of Kuca, 272-275 ; arrives at Nootka, 276 ; confers with Spanish repre- sentative, 277-279; sails to Colum- bia River, 279-280; visits Cali- fornia, 281-282 ; winters at Sand- wich Islands (1792-1793). 283- 285; acts of injustice and justice at, 284-285 ; returns to American coast ail 1 surveys Portland Canal, 286- 2S7 ; in 1794 surveys Cook's Inlet, 287-289; work of, results in explo- sion of theory of Northeast Passage, 289-290; authorities for, 290 n. Vancouver Island, 228, 278. />;"'?, the, 209 n., 295 n. Vcniaminof, Letters on Aleutians by, 295 n. Venta Cruz, Drake at, 141-145- Vera Cruz, Hawkins and Drake vs. the Spanish at, 135-138- Verendrye. See La Verendrye. Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, Cook's, 209 n. W Walrus, the Pacific, 73 ; Cook's men hunt, 194-195- Waters, Abraham, 230. Waxel, Lieutenant, 20, 24-25, 30, 31, 32. 33. 35-36. 37-38, 41. 42. 57-58. 60. Williams, Orlando, cited, 4 n. Woodruff, mate in Gray's expedition, 214, 216. IVorU Encompassed, The, by Francis Fletcher, 167 n.-i7i n. Yakutat Bay, sea-otter in, 66, 79. Yakutsk, Bering's second expedition winters at, 15; fur traders' rendez- vous near, 107, 259; Ledyard's arrival at, 259. Yelagin, ChirikofFs pilot, 52, Yendell, Samuel, 230. Yermac, Cossack robber, 294. Yukon, Russian traders on the, 314, 315- Z Zarate, Don Francisco de, quoted re- I garding Drake, 150 n.