mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i4-004

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and one from the port, to the same beach where we had cut
timbers, the only place where it was possible to find rocks,
and with great toil at that. We could barely gather about
3,000 poods [54 tons] of it. All these tasks detained us until
the 25th, and that day became a holiday for all of us, and we
left this region with the most unbearable climate visited by
us. We went to California, or better, to New Albion, where an
abundance of everything was waiting for us and a rest from the
labor carried on for eight months.

While we were stationed in Sitka, there came in for re-
pairs, an American brig under command of Captain Mike; from
Okhotsk, a company schooner, "Baranov," under command of
Lieutenant de Livron; and from Europe, a large three-masted
vessel, "Borodino," under command of Captain Panafidin. This
vessel, belonging to the [Russian-] American Company, came with
various European and Chinese merchandise for the colony, and
was supposed to take a cargo of furs from Sitka. On its way,
it had called at Manila, where cholera broke out during its
stay. Captain Panafidin, having lost several of his men,
and even his medical officer, hired another one there and hastened
to leave port in the hope that a change of air would end the
sickness, but it only got worse, and he had lost more than 30
men by the time he arrived in Sitka. Here he had five more
sick sailors, of whom four got well, but one died, and with
that the sickness stopped. But upon our arrival at Kronstadt
we learned that after he left Sitka, cholera began again.