Russians on the PNW Coast

Contributed by Robert Heacock

—DRAFT—

In studying the story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, we learn that President Thomas Jefferson, in his 1803 instructions to Captain Meriwether Lewis, wrote that Captain Lewis may meet a fur trading ship near the mouth of the Columbia River. President Jefferson was well aware of the level of exploration and trading on the Pacific Northwest coast, which helped to drive his sense of urgency to claim the area for the United States. President Jefferson suggested that, if possible, Captain Lewis could return some men with their journals back by sea, or at least be able to replenish their provisions and trade goods

The Spanish were the first to arrive on the Pacific Northwest coast in 1774 coming from what is now California, concerned not about furs but Russian encroachment from Alaska into areas claimed by Spain.

After the opening of the fur trade on the Pacific Northwest coast by Captain James Cook’s Third Voyage of 1776-1780, there were many ships that plied the oceans to sell their furs, principally sea otter, in Canton, China. The first private trading ships arrived about 1785, two decades prior to the arrival of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In 1792, Captain Robert Gray was the first to enter the mouth of the great Columbia River, and Captain George Vancouver was just beginning his three-year survey of the coast of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. According to Captain Vancouver’s naturalist Archibald Menzies, that year there were twenty-nine trading ships on the Pacific Coast of North America.

One ship that was later determined to have been within striking distance of the Lewis and Clark Expedition on the Columbia River at the time they started their 1806 return was the Juno.

The Juno departed Rhode Island on August 13, 1804, with her captain 24-year-old John DeWolf and a crew of 26 men and boys. DeWolf was the nephew of the owners and also served as supercargo or owner’s representative. The three masted 295-ton Juno, built in 1799, was 82.5 feet long, 24 feet wide and had already made one trip to the Pacific Northwest in 1802.

Captain DeWolf and the Juno arrived at the Pacific Northwest coast in April 1805 and anchored at New Archangel (Sitka) on May 10th. Sitka had been originally established July 15, 1799, by Alexander Baranov, though Baranov knew that the local Tlingit natives would not agree to a permanent settlement. The natives attacked the settlement at Starrigavan Bay in June 1802, but it had been retaken by Baranov and the Russian-American Company effective October 7, 1804.

Because the Russian-American Company operations in Alaska had a dearth of ships and supplies, DeWolf sold Baranov one-third of the cargo that was on the Juno. The Juno and Captain John DeWolf then departed Sitka May 27, 1805, to trade up and down the coast. During his stop at Nahwhitti at the north end of Vancouver Island, De Wolf saw the ships Lydia, Vancouver, Atahualpa, Pearl, and Mary. So, there were many ships on the coast in that time frame.

On August 19, 1805, the Juno returned to Sitka for repairs after striking a rock, and so the remaining cargo was off loaded, and repairs were completed by September 6th. DeWolf and Baranov agreed that the Russian-American Company would purchase the ship and the remaining cargo for $68,000, payable in 572 sea otter skins valued at $13,062, a smaller ship the Ermak to carry DeWolfs’ furs to Canton, China, $300 in cash, and a bill of exchange payable in St. Petersburg, Russia of $54,638. On October 5, the Juno was renamed the Yunona by its new owner and De Wolf took possession of the Ermak. The Ermak departed for Canton October 27, 1805, the same day the Juno departed for Kodiak for provisions. We will continue to use the name Juno for this article.  

John DeWolf spent the winter at Sitka but still needed to go to St. Petersburg to secure his payment from Baranov. DeWolf departed Sitka for the seaport of Okhotsk, Siberia June 30, 1806, as captain of the Rostislav. He sighted Cook Inlet July 13th and four days later arrived at Kodiak. He eventually made his way to Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands, then Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka at Avacha Bay where he spent the winter. DeWolf departed Petropavlovsk May 25, 1807, again on the Rostislav, and arrived at Okhotsk June 27th. He went overland to Yakutsk, then took the Lena River to Irkutsk, and then hired a series of carriages to Tobolsk, then Ekaterinburg, Kazan, and then Moscow where he arrived October 8, 1807. He was traveling with a Mr. Kuznetsov, who was originally from Irkustk, to handle the horses, and who’s brother was the superintendent of the Russian-American Company facility in Moscow. DeWolf later noted that he had seen Moscow before it was burned during the September 1812 invasion by France and Napoleon Bonaparte. Departing Moscow October 17th, he arrived at St. Petersburg and the headquarters of the Russian-American Company on October 21st. He found that his money had already been paid and had been invested on his behalf in a cargo of hemp, iron, and other goods sent to America. John DeWolf then traveled to England and then the United States, the first American to travel that route across Russia.

After the Juno returned to Sitka from Kodiak, it was utilized by Count Nikoli Petrovich Rezanov. Rezanov was representing both the Russian Crown as Chamberlain to the Court of Alexander I and also the Russian-American Company as shareholder and member of the Board of Directors. He was also the son-in-law of Grigorii and Natalya Shelikhov, who had founded the fur trading enterprise that preceded the Russian-American Company. Rezanov had departed Kronstadt Naval Base at St. Petersburg on the Nadezhda with Captain AdamIvan von Krusenstern on August 7, 1803, as part of Russia’s first large maritime venture to circumnavigate the globe and to supply the Alaska operations from St Petersburg. Off the coast of Brazil, they were the first Russian ships to cross the Equator and then the first to visit Hawaii arriving via the Marquesas on June 8, 1804. To the disappointment of the crew, the mercurial Rezanov would only allow a stop in Hawaii of two days, as he wanted to proceed to his main goal, which was to open diplomatic and trade relations with Japan.

After a stop at Petropavlovsk July 15, 1804, where Rezanov had to assert his authority with Captain Krusenstern, the storm-damaged Nadezhda arrived at Nagasaki, Japan on October 7th. But to his dismay and frustration, Rezenov was rebuffed in a labyrinth of protocol and bureaucracy and finally departed April 18, 1805, after a wait of more than six demoralizing months. Before he left Rezanov threatened the Japanese with an attack if they did not open their country to trade. Rezanov returned to Petropavlovsk and penned an extraordinary letter to the Tsar Alexander I about his plans for a punitive expedition against Japan for their refusing his efforts to open trade.

Rezanov then traveled with Navy Lieutenants Nikolai Khvostov and Gavril Davydov to the Pribilof islands in the Bering Sea and Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands for his inspection of the Russian-American Company operations, and arrived at Kodiak July 31, 1805, and then Sitka on August 26.

While at Sitka over the winter of 1805-1806, Rezanov made plans for a trip to San Francisco, California to obtain provisions and to open trade with the Spanish in California. Rezanov departed Sitka March 8, 1806, on the newly acquired Juno, with Lieutenants Nikolai Khvostov and Gavril Davydov as captains. Rezanov also intended to have a possession ceremony at the mouth of the Columbia River. On March 14th they spotted the mouth of the Columbia River, but bad weather forced them out to sea. They tried again on March 20 but were again unable to enter the river. The Lewis and Clark Expedition departed their winter post of Fort Clatsop and the mouth of the Columbia on March 23, 1806, apparently unaware that the Juno was nearby. The Juno made further attempts on March 31 and April 1 but finally headed south to San Francisco where they stayed six weeks and arrived back at Sitka June 21. Rezanov of course blamed Lt. Khvostov for the failure to enter the Columbia River.

At Sitka, the newly constructed Avos was ready and was assigned to Lieutenant Gavril Davydov. While at Sitka in August 1805, Rezanov wrote extensive letters and reports including secret orders to Lt. Nikolai Khvostov on the Juno and Lt. Gavril Davydov on the Avos to attack Japanese colonies on the Kurile Islands and Sakhalin Island, both areas that had been claimed by Russia. On June 24, 1806, Juno with Lt. Khvostov and Count Rezanov departed Sitka with Rezenov saying he will lead the punitive expedition against Japan.

At the seaport of Okhotsk, Siberia Rezanov later gave more secret instructions to Lt. Khvostov and Lt. Davydov and then departed Okhotsk for St. Petersburg. Davydov was to go to Aniva Bay on Sakhalin Island to wait for the Juno. After dropping off Rezenov in Okhotsk, Juno was to meet Avos and attack the Japanese island of Sakhalin, and then Uriup in the Kuriles was to be attacked and the locals taken prisoner.

Rezanov later sent Khvostov orders that said it is too late in the year to attack Japan, and that he should return to Kodiak. But if necessary Khvostov was to go to Avina Bay and call off the Avos and Lt. Davydov. Due to the conflicting orders, Khvostov rushed ashore for an explanation, but Rezenov had already left Okhotsk for St. Petersburg. Lt. Khvostov on the Juno proceeded with the attack anyway and burned a small settlement and took four prisoners at Sakhalin Island.

By Mid-October 1806 the Juno and Lt. Khvostov was back at Petropavlovsk after burning Japanese villages at Sakhalin Island. At Petropavlovsk Lt. Khvostov and Lt. Gavril Davydov on the Avos were reunited and spent the winter.

On his way to St Petersburgh by way of Irkutsk, the capital of Siberia, Count Nikoli Rezanov died March 1, 1807, at Krasnoyarsk after contracting a fever. That May Lt. Nikolai Khvostov on the Juno and Lt. Gavril Davydov on the Avos again departed Kamchatka to attack the Japanese at Sakhalin Island with more villages burned. Upon their return to Okhotsk, Khvostov and Davydov were promptly arrested for attacking the Japanese. Since Rezenov had ordered them to keep their orders a secret, but had also died, they had difficulty explaining their situation. They escaped captivity and were again arrested at Yakutsk but were later exonerated.

Lt. Nikolai Khvostov age 33 and Lt. Gavril Davydov age 24 were eventually reunited with Captain John DeWolf with whom they had spent the winter of 1805-1806 at Sitka. On October 4, 1808, the men celebrated all night and then said their goodbyes. While crossing the Neva River to rejoin DeWolf, inseparable friends Khvostov and Davydov attempted to jump to and from a passing boat that was in a canal, and after falling off the boat both the Russian Navy officers drowned.

The Juno continued to be used by the Russian-American Company. It departed from Sitka on its last voyage July 1811, headed for Petropavlovsk. On November 15, 1811, during a storm-tossed voyage there were only eight men available to handle the three masted ship, which had a rich cargo of goods valued at 200,000 rubles acquired by Alexander Baranov from China and other trading ships. They were only twenty-five miles from their destination of Petropavlovsk when the Juno was driven onto the rocks and lost. There were three survivors.

My appreciation and gratitude are offered to the Estate of Roger Wendlick for providing the materials used in this article.

Robert Heacock
February 2024.

Sources:

Moulton Journals
Alexander Baranov – A Pacific Empire by Elton Engstrom and Allan Engstrom, 2004
Russians in Alaska: 1732–1867 by Lydia T. Black, University of Alaska Press, 2004
Alaska Historical Society article by Tobin Shorey, May 29, 2015

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