ENPages That Mention Sarychev, Gavriil Andreevich, 1763-1831
Capt. Shishmarev's information about the Chukchi
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Chapter 6
Shishmarev's Article
This article by Shishmarev is apparently the only published account of the expedition dealing with a topical subject. It appeared in 1851, and except for the opening and closing paragraphs was taken directly from his journal.
Captain Shishmarev's Information about the Chukchi in 1821
In addition to information about the Chukchi of the northeast coast of Siberia collected by Plenisner (1765),1 Billings (1791), Sarychev (1791), and Litke (1828), we are adding information gathered by Captain Shishmarev on the sloop "Good Intent" in 1821 on St. Lawrence Island and in St. Lawrence and Mechigmenskaia (bay) bays during his famous expedition with Captain Vasilev in Bering Strait, described in Berkh's chronological history and in the article, "Russian voyages round the world" by G. Ivashintsov of parts VII and VIII of our journal.2 This information, in its comprehensiveness surpassing everything before it, is taken from Mr. Shishmarev's journal preserved in the archives of the Hydrographic Department.
"With good weather and a slight breeze from the WSW (on July 9, 1821), we succeeded, while sailing, in surveying
Journey of the sloop Good Intent to explore the Asiatic and American shores of Bering Strait, 1819 to 1822. Part one
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with one until morning, and on the 19th, in the morning, weighed it, too, and sailed from the harbor. While we were anchored in this dangerous place, we entertained ourselves by watching an unusually large number of foxes, which came to the sandspit toward evening to catch sea urchins, which they like to eat. Among them we noticed a few silver blacks. It would have been very easy to shoot them with rifles from the sloop, but, in the first place, the skins at this time of year molt and are not good for anything, and secondly, every animal on the islands and in the sea is the property of the Company.
Our stay in Unalashka was notable for many weddings and christenings. For almost twelve years it had not had a priest, and from this it is possible to see how much ours had to do.
Leaving the harbor with a light SE breeze, we set our course toward St. George Island, very exactly determined by Admiral Sarychev, in order to confirm on it the movement of our chronometers once more. The captain also planned, weather permitting, to visit the island in order to trade sea lions, sea otters, and murres from Aleuts who were settled there by the Company, in order to supply the crew with at least some fresh food, a commodity very important in these latitudes where people,/more than elsewhere,/are subject to scurvy, the development of which is promoted by salted murres, a sea bird, resembling a duck in size and body, with the difference that it has a sharp, not flat, beak. Its back and wings are black and the abdomen, white. Its feathers and down are so thick
Journey of the sloop Good Intent to explore the Asiatic and American shores of Bering Strait, 1819 to 1822. Part three
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On the 18th we had a very unpleasant incident. The interpreter of the Agalakhmiut language had had bouts of insanity for a long time. He imagined that because he had no work at all to perform, because we had come to the places where his knowledge was not required, he was sinning, and therefore, must die. He was under thorough observation, but on this day when a sudden strong squall required the whole crew above, he bided his time, ascended the forecastle and plunged overboard from the cathead. Although it was noticed immediately, and the skiff was launched into the water in one moment, all was in vain, and he did not rise to the surface.
The constant strong winds and the fog, as said, detained us until the 23rd, but here a good morning permitted us to proceed with the survey to the place where Captain Kotzebue on the "Riurik" interrupted it. Thus, joining this southwestern part with that previously surveyed by us, we very exactly put the whole island on the map.
On the 24th, having finished this business, we went toward St. Matthew Island and reached it on the 28th. Having gone through the passage between the big and small islands at a depth of ten to six sazhens, and identifying two large rocks called by us Nidelski because of their similarity, and the passage itself after the name of Admiral Sarychev, we went toward Bering Island, but did not see it in the fog.
We struggled with the elements a whole month so that, when we sighted the sterile, naked shore of Kamchatka on the