Читать книгу The Ship, the Saint, and the Sailor - Bradley G. Stevens - Страница 9

CHAPTER 2

THE

SAINT

THE NATIVES OF KODIAK BELONG to a branch of the Alutiiq people called the Koniag, and the name Kodiak comes from the Alutiiq word Kikh’tak. As usual in the days of European expansion, the explorers misinterpreted Native place and tribal names, often substituting the general for the specific. When asked who they were, Native Americans would respond by saying, “We are the People” in their local language, whether it was Iroquois, Cheyenne, Lakota, or Klinkit. But to the invaders, these became the names for each specific tribe. The Russians were no different. Upon arriving in Kodiak, they asked for the name of the place. “Kikh’tak,” the locals answered, meaning “island.” And so, the Natives’ word for “island” became the name of one particular island. Over time, its pronunciation was changed to Koniag, then Kad’yak or Kadiak, and then finally Kodiak. In the days of colonization by the Russian-American Company, the island was commonly known as Kad’yak. Thus, when a new ship was purchased for use in the Alaskan trade, it was named the Kad’yak, in honor of the island that would become its home port.

Russians first came to Alaska in 1741, with the expedition of Vitus Bering. Bering’s men were the first to see the continental landmass of the Alaskan mainland, but only the mountaintops of what is now the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park were revealed through the mist. Bering’s men never set foot on the mainland of Alaska, but they did go ashore to Kayak Island and the Shumagin Islands west of Kodiak, where they traded with Alaska Natives. Continuing westward, Bering’s ship was finally wrecked on an island off the coast of Kamchatka, now known as Bering Island, where he died in December 1741. After spending the winter there, the survivors constructed a small boat from the wreckage of Bering’s ship and returned to Kamchatka, which was only a three-day sail away. Of the seventy-six men who started the voyage with Bering, only forty-five returned to Russia, the remainder having died from sickness or scurvy. The survivors brought with them hundreds of sea otter pelts and told stories of vast numbers of sea mammals they had encountered. These stories encouraged other hunters and explorers to follow the Aleutian Island chain east to the American continent. Over the next fifty years, numerous outposts were established, often in association with Alaska Native villages, in order to hunt sea otters and other marine mammals.

The first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska was established by Grigorii Shelikhov, a fur trader from Kamchatka. He chose Kodiak Island as the location for his settlement and set out to establish his colony in 1783 with three ships, one of which was named the Tri Sviatitelia, or Three Saints. He landed in a bay on the southwest end of the island, now called Three Saints Bay, in August 1784. From the outset, Shelikhov’s plans were to create an extensive Russian empire in Alaska. Although Russian Imperial edict prohibited mistreatment of Alaskan Natives, he fully intended to establish his colony by force. At Three Saints Bay, the Russians attacked the Native village and massacred a large number of Kodiak natives at Refuge Rock on Sitkalidak Island. Thus, Russian-American relations were off to a rocky start.

Over subsequent years, though, Shelikhov’s views moderated, and he learned that the only way to maintain his colonies was to improve his relations with Alaska Natives, which he did through gifts and better treatment. He admonished his workers for mistreatment of the Natives, and eventually established a school where Native boys (mostly captured) would be taught the Russian language, mathematics, and navigation. Shelikhov returned to Russia in 1786 and eventually hired a local merchant named Alexander Baranov to take over management of his American colony. In 1799, Shelikhov’s company was granted a charter by Russian Emperor Paul and became known as the Russian-American Company (RAC). The charter was to last for twenty years and gave the Company a monopoly to extract resources from the Alaskan territories, with the main goal being to hunt for furs from sea otters and sea lions, which would be traded to China for a lucrative profit. At that time, the region was referred to simply as Russian America; the word Alaska was not applied to it until it was sold to the United States in 1867.

Alexander Baranov arrived in Three Saints Bay in 1791 to find a struggling outpost populated by Russian fur hunters, or promyshleniki. The location was unsuitable for many reasons, including the lack of a deep water bay. In 1792, the settlement at Three Saints Bay was wiped out by a seismic sea wave (what we now call a tsunami), forcing the Russians to abandon it. Searching for a better location, Baranov resettled at the northeast tip of the island where a deep water channel between small islands formed a protected harbor, which they named Paul’s Bay, after Emperor Paul. This became the town of Kodiak.

To call the Russians fur hunters was generous; fur slaughterers is more appropriate. Wherever animals with fur existed, the Russians killed them mercilessly until they were wiped out. When Vitus Bering first explored the Aleutian Islands in 1741, there were millions of sea otters, thousands of seals, and a healthy population of Steller sea cows. By the time that Kodiak was settled fifty years later, the sea cows were extinct, and there were precious few seals and otters left in the Aleutian Islands to hunt. During the year after the discovery of the Pribilof Islands, hunters killed five thousand fur seals, but numbers declined so rapidly that hunting was suspended in 1804. Within fifty years of settling Kodiak, there would be no otters left to hunt in Russian America.

The great value of sea otters was based on the density of their pelts. Lacking an insulating layer of blubber, sea otters depended on their fur for warmth, which is denser than any other animal’s on earth. For comparison, the densest human hair is found on your average Nordic blonde, at 190 follicles/cm2. The density of sea otter fur is an astounding 400,000 follicles/cm2, over 2,000 times denser than human hair. It was like nothing the Russians had ever seen, and denser than the closest animal to which they could compare it, which was the beaver. Because of this, the Russians referred to sea otters as boobry morski, or “sea beavers,” and the furs as miagkaia rukhliad, or “soft gold”. As late as 1868, sea otter furs were valued at $50 each.

Despite the slaughter and near extinction caused by unfettered hunting of sea otters throughout their range, the idea that they could be eliminated was virtually inconceivable to the Russians. Early attempts by Shelikhov to restrain the slaughter were met with derision from Russian authorities, who decried conservation as an assault on individual rights and private enterprise. Baranov even declared that cessation of hunting could have no positive effect and would actually result in the destruction of the resource. Despite evident scarcity of sea otters, Charles Scammon, in his definitive book The Marine Mammals of the North-western Coast of North America went so far as to suggest that maybe they had just moved to “some more isolated haunt” where they could remain unmolested. Human capacity to deny the obvious ramifications of our own devastation has not changed much over time.

In Kodiak, the Russians developed a new way of hunting. Chasing after the sea otters in their ungainly wooden boats was exhausting work, and most of the otters escaped. But the Native skin boats, called kayaks, were faster, quieter, and more seaworthy, and the Natives knew how to sneak up on their prey silently. When otters rest, they wrap a blade of kelp around them as an anchor so that they don’t float away. Floating there in a kelp bed, barely above the water surface, they are hard to distinguish from the gas-filled bulbs of the bull kelp. It takes a practiced eye to find them in the middle of a large kelp bed. It didn’t take long for the Russians to realize that they could catch more otters if they forced the Natives do it for them. Starting with a two-person Native kayak—or baidarka, as they called it, meaning “little boat”—they added a third hole in the middle. A Russian overseer could sit in the middle while two Natives paddled the kayak and did all the hunting.

Hunting parties were usually organized by Baranov and lasted for months. The leaders, or Toyons, of every village were required to identify strong men who would participate in the hunt, and up to one hundred kayaks would assemble at St. Paul Harbor at a predetermined date in the spring. One Native would be designated as the partovshchik, or foreman, whose responsibility was to dole out supplies of flour, tobacco, tea, and sugar. After a blessing by the priest, the Alutiiq armada would paddle out of the harbor, not to return until the fall. Arriving at a likely site, the kayakers would spread out in a wide arc. When an otter was seen, it usually made a quick dive underwater. The closest hunter would paddle to the location where it dove and hold his kayak paddle vertically as a sign. The rest of the fleet would then form a wide circle around him. After a little while, the otter would surface to get a breath, and the hunter would launch a dart at it, causing the otter to dive again. The circle of kayaks would tighten around the frightened and exhausted animal, and as soon as it surfaced again, it would be assaulted by a rain of darts, usually killing the animal. The hunter whose dart hit closest to the head would be given credit for the kill and could claim it for payment. It was a deadly, efficient way to hunt. Although the Natives were “paid” for their efforts, it was really more a form of slavery than employment.

Russian relations with the Natives were complicated. The Russians were a wild and free-spirited lot, and with few women to hold their attention, they quickly became troublesome. Some took Native women as wives, often by force. The RAC charter required the Company to treat the Natives as subjects of the Russian Empire, which entitled them to fair treatment; they were to be provided with clothing and food, as long as they provided hunting services in return. However, their services were essentially impressed. Up to 50 percent of the men in each village were required to hunt otters, for which they were paid one-fifth the value that a Russian was paid for the same furs. The Natives continued to be governed by their own Toyons, but these had to be approved by the Company manager, who was usually a senior Naval captain. Despite these stipulations, Russian overseers often treated the Native men who worked for them with contempt, forcing them to hunt until late fall instead of gathering foods that their own families needed to survive.

Despite their inhuman treatment of the Natives, the Russians were a religious group, who followed the rituals of the Russian Orthodox Church. Most of them originated from remote Siberian villages where priests were rare. Realizing that any religion was better than none, the Church at that time allowed citizens to perform their own rituals without the presence of a priest. Many of the Russian workers had come from areas of Northern Russia and Siberia, where their religious beliefs aligned and blended with those of Native groups, and over time had incorporated many Nativist traditions into their own. In Russian America, they continued this practice. Russians recognized and feared the power of Native shamans and occasionally sought their assistance with the weather or health issues. Through these interactions with lay Russians, many Alaska Natives converted to Russian Orthodoxy without any intervention on the part of the Church.

In order to tame the spirits of his workers, nourish their souls, and keep them under control, Shelikhov requested the Russian Orthodox Church to send over a lay priest to administer to the spiritual needs of the settlement and for supplies to build a church. In Moscow, this request was reviewed by none other than Empress Catherine II, who decided instead to send an entire Ecclesiastical mission, consisting of five priests led by Father Iosaf, four postulants, and a lay brother known as Father German (or Herman, in English). Most of them came from monasteries on islands in Lake Ladoga, near St. Petersburg, and were considered well suited for the mission because they were accustomed to cold weather and deprivations. Their trip to Russian America required a three-month overland journey from the monastery at Valaam to Kamchatka, followed by several months at sea. They reached their final destination, on Kodiak Island, in September of 1794.

The priests were not prepared for the crude conditions they encountered there. Kodiak was still a wilderness. There was no church; they lived in huts with bare floors, and had little to eat but dried fish. Several of the priests were dispatched to other settlements. Father Iosaf disapproved of the way in which Baranov’s men treated the Natives and sent letters back to Russia complaining about it bitterly. After several years of this, the Church decided to elevate Father Iosaf to Bishop-Vicar of Russian America, which would give him much greater authority that he could use to control the excesses of Baranov and Shelikhov. In 1799, Father Iosaf returned to Okhotsk where he was consecrated and soon set out for his return to Kodiak aboard the ship Phoenix, under the American Captain Shields. He never made it back though, as the ship was lost in a storm and sank probably somewhere in Shelikhov Strait.

Of the original mission to Kodiak, only three priests remained. One of them was Father Herman.

Father Herman felt he was destined for this life. He dedicated himself to care for the Russian men’s spiritual needs and welfare. But it was also apparent to him that the Natives deserved his attention as well. Compared to most Native Americans, the Koniag Alutiiq had a high standard of living. They were well fed, thanks to plenty of wild fish, and they were well housed; their barabara-style homes sunk into the ground were warm in winter and cool in summer. But in Father Herman’s eyes, they were poor, desperate souls in need of salvation and education; it became his mission to convert them to Christianity first, then to educate them. From this point in history we can look backwards and debate the merits of conversion, but education had definite benefits, the most serious of which was that it would allow the Natives to understand how poorly they were being treated by their Russian overseers and how badly they were being cheated in most transactions. Father Herman may not have realized the full ramifications of his new mission, but Baranov did. It was not in Baranov’s interest for the Natives to be educated, as it would only make his job more difficult.

Disagreements between Baranov and the Church came to a head in 1801 when Czar Alexander I took the throne. The new emperor’s ascension required that all Russian citizens take an oath to him, and to facilitate this, the priests called all Russian and Alutiiq men to Kodiak. Baranov viewed this request as interference with his control of the colony, and vehemently resisted it, insisting that the Natives go out hunting for otters instead. He even went so far as to exclude the priests from the settlement and threatened to ship them out of the colony.

In 1805, the Russian colonies were visited by Nikolai Petrovich Rezanof, son-in-law to the now-deceased Shelikhov and heir to the Russian-American Company mantle. He had come on an around-the-world trip to investigate conditions in the colony. Rezanof was either an organizational genius or a complete despot, and during his brief visit he reorganized the structure of the RAC and the methods of accounting and payments, and improved the treatment of Natives. He also established a hospital, a system of courts, and a real school, which promptly took in ninety students, mostly boys. Although the monks had been charged with the task of educating the children in order to turn them into productive workers, their only real interest had been in teaching them the Catechism and how to perform as altar boys. At Rezanof’s direction, twenty additional students were sent to Father Herman to learn agriculture. Losing their students may have been a strong rebuke to the monks, but to Father Herman, it must have seemed like a recognition of his work to befriend the Natives and of their respect for him.

Despite Father Herman’s efforts to educate the children, Rezanof contradictorily wrote to Moscow that the clergy—and Father Herman, in particular—were not doing enough to subjugate the Natives to the Company’s needs. This kind of two-faced behavior was typical of Rezanof, and in an act of particular hypocrisy he accused the priests of mistreating the Natives. Unknown to both Baranov and Father Herman, Rezanof had also been pocketing the generous salaries sent by Empress Catherine II to support the Orthodox mission. After totally disrupting the status quo in Russian America, Rezanof set sail for California, where he inserted himself uninvited upon the Mexican governor, got himself engaged to the governor’s teenage daughter, then departed for Russia just as suddenly as he had arrived. Fortunately for everyone except Rezanof, he died on his return trip to Russia, before he could have any further impact on the activities of Baranov or Father Herman.

By 1807, Father Herman was in charge of the Orthodox mission in Kodiak. After several years of increasing tension and deprivations, Father Herman decided that he could no longer continue his work among the community of Russians he had come to serve. His only recourse was to leave Kodiak and relocate to nearby Spruce Island.

Father Herman settled on the southeast end of the island near a small community called Selenie, or Settler’s Cove, which later became known as Monk’s Lagoon, or New Valaam. There, he built a small chapel and, over time, an orphanage and eventually a school for Native children. It was the first Western-style school in Alaska. For the rest of his life, Father Herman dedicated himself to preaching and teaching the Natives, and for this he was highly revered. Assisting him in his efforts was a Native woman whom he called Mary.

He also found a champion in Lieutenant S. I Ianofskii, who became chief manager of the RAC in 1818. Ianofskii also happened to be married to Anna Baranovna, widow of Alexander Baranov, who had died on his way back to Russia in 1819 after being relieved of his duties as chief manager of the colony. Anna was also a full-blooded princess of the Kenaitze tribe from the area now known as Prince William Sound. During an epidemic of disease among the Aleuts, Father Herman tirelessly attended the sick and devoted himself to their healing. Seeing his efforts, Ianofskii ordered additional funding and supplies be sent to Father Herman and the orphans in his care. Later in his life, Father Herman served as protector to Anna Baranovna, who moved to Spruce Island after the death of her husband and was later buried near Father Herman’s chapel in 1836.

Although his work among the Natives was enough to earn him a place in Alaskan history, Father Herman is mostly remembered for a singular event. One day there was a terrible earthquake. The Koniags did not know what caused earthquakes, but they knew they were often followed by giant waves (what we now call a tsunami), and they were afraid. They feared that a giant wave would wash ashore and wipe out their village so close to the water. They pleaded with Father Herman to appeal to his god for divine intervention. Father Herman rose to the challenge. Picking up an icon of the Lord, he walked down to the edge of the water in the small cove. Placing the icon on the sand, he stood and announced to the assembled crowd that the water would rise no higher than this icon. To their great relief, it did not. From that time on, the small cove was known as Icon Bay.

Father Herman died in 1836 and was buried beneath his small chapel. Over a century later, in 1970, he was canonized as Saint Herman, the first Russian Orthodox Saint from the New World. His canonization was based primarily on the “miracle” worked at Icon Bay, when he saved the Natives from an impending immersion. Every year, on August 11, a pilgrimage to Spruce Island occurs. Natives and Russian Orthodox believers travel to Spruce Island where they hold a celebration for Father Herman. Some come from as far away as California or New York to attend. Even now, 170 years after his death, Father Herman still calls the faithful to Spruce Island.