Chapter I: Front Matter

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VIKINGS OF THE PACIFIC

The Adventures of the Explorers Who Came from the West, Eastward

Bering, the Dane; the Outlaw Hunters of Russia; Benyowsky, the Polish Pirate; Cook and Vancouver, the English Navigators; Gray of Boston, the Discoverer of the Columbia; Drake, Ledyard, and Other Soldiers of Fortune on the West Coast of America

by

A. C. LAUT

Author of "Pathfinders of the West," Etc.

[Frontispiece: Seal Rookery, Commander Islands.]

New York The MacMillan Company London: MacMillan & Co., Ltd. 1905 All rights reserved

Copyright, 1905, by the MacMillan Company. Set up and electrotyped. Published December, 1905.

{vii}

Foreword

At the very time the early explorers of New France were pressing from the east, westward, a tide of adventure had set across Siberia and the Pacific from the west, eastward. Carrier and Champlain of New France in the east have their counterparts and contemporaries on the Pacific coast of America in Francis Drake, the English 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, Jolliet 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 contemporaneous with La Vérendrye; and so the comparison 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 {viii} 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 exploits were confined to the Southwest. Other Pacific coast explorers, like La Pérouse, 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 manuscript, some in print; but it may as well be frankly acknowledged that _all_ first sources have _not_ been exhausted. To do so in the case of a single explorer, say either Drake or Bering--would require a lifetime. 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 State Department, Washington, some hundred old log-books of the Russian hunters which {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 bibliographical 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 pamphlets; and of the remaining tenth, the contents are obtained in undiluted condition by going directly to the first sources. A few of these first sources are indicated 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 Carrier 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 the 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} Gray's discovery have been obtained from the descendants of the Boston men who outfitted him, and from his own great-grandchildren. Though he died a poor man, the red blood of his courage and ability seems to have come down to his descendants; for their names are among the best known in contemporary American life. To them my thanks are tendered. Since the contents of this volume appeared serially in _Leslie's Monthly_, _Outing_, and _Harper's Magazine_, fresh data have been sent to me on minor points from descendants of the explorers and from collectors. I take this opportunity to thank these contributors. Among many others, special thanks are due Dr. George Davidson, President of San Francisco Geographical Society, for facts relating to the topography of the coast, and to Dr. Leo Stejneger of the Smithsonian, Washington, for facts gathered on the very spot where Bering perished.

WASSAIC, New York,

July 15, 1905.

CONTENTS

PART I

DEALING WITH THE RUSSIANS ON THE PACIFIC COAST OF
AMERICA--BERING, THE DANE, THE SEA-OTTER HUNTERS,
THE OUTLAWS, AND BENYOWSKY, THE POLISH PIRATE

CHAPTER I

1700-1743

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

CHAPTER II

1741-1743

CONTINUATION OF BERING, THE DANE

Frightful Sufferings 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 . . . . . 37

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 Fur-bearing Animals of
the West--Perils of the Hunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

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
America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

PART II

AMERICAN AND ENGLISH ADVENTURERS ON THE WEST COAST
OF AMERICA--FRANCIS DRAKE IN CALIFORNIA--COOK,
FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA TO ALASKA--LEDYARD, THE
FORERUNNER OF LEWIS AND CLARK--GRAY, THE
DISCOVERER OF THE COLUMBIA--VANCOUVER, THE LAST OF
THE WEST COAST NAVIGATORS

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 Treasure 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

CHAPTER VII

1728-1779

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
anchors 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 . . . . . . . . . . . 172

CHAPTER VIII

1785-1792

ROBERT GRAY, THE AMERICAN DISCOVERER OF THE COLUMBIA

Boston Merchants, inspired by Cook'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 Voyage--Fort Defence and the
First American Ship built on the Pacific . . . . . . . . . 210

CHAPTER IX

1778-1790

JOHN LEDYARD, THE FORERUNNER OF LEWIS AND CLARK

A New England Ne'er-do-well, turned from the Door of Rich
Relatives, joins Cook's Expedition to America--Adventure
among the Russians of Oonalaska--Useless Endeavor
to interest New England Merchants in Fur Trade--A
Soldier of Fortune in Paris, he meets Jefferson and Paul
Jones and outlines Exploration of Western America--Succeeds
in crossing Siberia alone on the Way to America, but
is thwarted by Russian Fur Traders . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

CHAPTER X

1779-1794

GEORGE VANCOUVER, LAST OF PACIFIC COAST EXPLORERS

Activities of Americans, Spanish, and Russians on the West Coast
of America arouse England--Vancouver is sent out
ostensibly to settle the Quarrel between Fur Traders and
Spanish 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 . . . . . . . . . . . 263

PART III

EXPLORATION GIVES PLACE TO FUR TRADE--THE EXPLOITATION
OF THE PACIFIC COAST UNDER THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN
FUR COMPANY, AND THE RENOWNED 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 Monopoly--Siege
and Slaughter of Sitka--How Monroe Doctrine
grew out of Russian Fur Trade--Aims of Russia to
dominate North Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293