Three Accounts of the Vasil'ev-Shismarev Expedition of 1819-1822

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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

3001 Veazey Terrace N. W. #317 Washington, D. C. 20008 9 July 1970

Mr. Edward Connery Lathem Librarian of the College Dartmouth College Library Hanover, New Hampshire 03755

Dear Mr. Lathem:

I was delighted to get your letter of 2 July yesterday with your encouraging news, and as soon as I can get together with Mrs. Jo -sephson, I shall send you copies of original pages with translations. Because so little of this particular journey was needed for my exact geographic area, we translated most of the applicable parts orally after I had read through the articles. We shall, therefore, write down various parts for your consideration.

When I send you the pages and translations, I shall also send the exact pages with approximate number of words, although I think it is around 48,000 words. Adding an introduction and explanatory notes might put it somewhere around 55,000 words, although this is just a rough guess. If the project meets with your approval, the translation and tping costs will not exceed $750.00. I do not expect any compensation for my editing of Mrs. Josephson's translation or for writing introductory material or notes. I will just be happy to see it published as an addition to our knowledge of the north, and would be very much interested in your exploring publication possibilities if it meets your expectations.

Here is the history of this project, and an outline of the material to be included so that you will know its exact scope and can further form an opinion about it.

Working up this material has been somewhat like following a detective story. I have been gathering material for an ethnohistory of the Bering Strait Eskimos for about 10 years, but the writing has been considerably slowed by writing numerous other papers and books, not mention taking time out to learn to read Russian. This was necessary because I am utilizing explorers' first-hand observations of early Eskimo life, and a number of these accounts were untranslated. After I had gained a certain control over the Russian I set out to track down the voyages mentioned casually in some of the general histories of Alaska. I have had no success in some quarters, but (I think!) a spectacular success with Vasiliev's and Shishmarev's expedition, which started out from Europe in 1819 and spent the years 1820 and 1821 in the arctic as far north as Icy Cape, Alaska.

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where there would be no hope of obtaining such things, we sailed from Port Jackson [Sydney, Australia] , a charming and unique land that has nothing in common with other parts of the world either in the animal or the plant kingdom.

Upon leaving this port, our commander, Captain-Lieutentant Shishmarev, announced instructions received from the commander of the sloop "Discovery" and of the whole expedition, Captain-Lieutenant Vasilev, to sail separately to New California to stock up on wheat needed for biscuits, of which there was a shortage, because the greater part of them taken

--------------------- Admiral and General-Commissioner of the Fleet), Mikhail Nikolaevich Vasilev, and had the purpose of exploring the shores of America northward as far as possible beginning with the Alaska Peninsula, and the shores of Asia only from East Cape. The expedition reached the latitudes practicable in the two summers in the Arctic Ocean, overcoming almost insurmountable obstacles, and resolving the question concerning the feasibility of penetrating from this side [Asia?] as far north as the point reached by its vessels.

The author, Mr. Hillsen, chose as the beginning of his narrative the time of sailing from Port Jackson because places hitherto visited by him such as Brazil, Cape of Good Hope, and New South Wales are already well known.

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from Russia had spoiled, from there to go to Kadiak [Kodiak] and Unalashka [Unalaska] to obtain interpreters for North American [Alascan Eskimo] languages and to get Aleuts with baidars [umiaks, or skin boats]; thereafter, to try to join the "Discovery," which intended to go directly to Kam-chatka to be at Kotzebue Sound toward the end of June.

When we left Port Jackson, the winds were not very favorable, so that we reached 30° 54' south latitude and 160° 29' east longitude only on the 22nd of the same month. * Here, the wind changed and became completely favorable for our purpose. Our captain ordered us, by means of the telegraph [semaphore telegraph] to inquire of Captain Vasilev if he should immediately follow the given direction. Receiving an affirmative answer, we tried to approach the "Discovery" to say farewell to our comrades and to throw over to them a pack of letters to our relatives and friends in the fatherland, but our efforts were in vain. A rather heavy sea prevented nearing the necessary distance for this, and our letters fell into the sea, for which reason our relatives were deprived of the joy of receiving news from their near ones from the middle of the immeasurable ocean.

Taking an opposite course from the "Discovery," we quickly drew farther and farther from each other with a rather fresh wind, and before the sun had set, lost our friend from sight.

---------------------------- *During the whole voyage we counted longitude from Greenwich.

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When it became completely dark, the Captain ordered us to light the false fire and the lanterns on the bowsprit and foretop. The vessel immediately responded with the same, and by this we were convinced of the correctness of our supposition. But the calms continued until the 11th, and we could not come nearer to each other. On the night of the 12th, a light breeze sprang up from the E and toward morning we approached the sighted vessel, which indeed was the "Discovery." We did not delay going to it in a tender, and we learned that they had suffered even more than we from calms and lack of wind.

Having wasted so much time, we could not hope to arrive at Kotzebue Sound on time by keeping our former course toward California. For this reason, Captain Vasilev ordered that we remain with him for the time being, and afterward to proceed directly to Unalashka, where, taking on Aleuts with Baidars [umiaks] to hurry to Bering Strait and await his arrival in the Sound.

In compliance with these instructions, we followed the "Discovery." This ship kept, as far as possible, toward the north, but frequent calms, interrupted from time to time by terrible squalls as before, delayed us and slowed our sailing to such an extent that only by the 17th did we reach eight degrees of south latitude.

On that day, we were ahead of the "Discovery," moving slowly before a SE wind on the mentioned course, when suddenly