No. 14. Letter from the chief manger of the Russian American Colonies to the manager of the island of St. Paul. Written from Sitka, August 10, 1866. You are instructed to continue the seal catch in the following man ner: 1. Twenty thousand salted sealskins every year, and 2. Next year, 37,000 dried sealskins, and in the following years, if you have no special instructions, 30,000 every year. Do not kill any small gray seals in future. No. 15. Letter from the chief manager of the Russian American Colonies to the manager of the island of St. Paul. Written from Sitka, April 9, 1867. The board of administration has notified me that Messrs. Oppenheim & Co., after receiving the sealskins sent by us, expressed the wish that only salted sealskins be sent them; and you are therefore instructed to prepare 40,000 salted sealskins for the summer of 1868, and to stop drying the skins for the present. Send to Sitka all the dried sealskins which you have on hand, and, in addition, send this year 35,000 salted sealskins, which are needed, according to the last dispatch of the board of administration, instead. of dried ones. If I did not instruct you last year not to kill the gray seals, you are now instructed not to kill any of them, as a very large quantity of grey sealskins have accumulated at New Archangel. B.-RELATING TO THE VISITS OF FOREIGN WHALERS TO BERING SEA. No. 16. Letter from the board of administration of the Russian American Company to Captain of the Second Rank Nicholas Yakovlovitch Rosenberg, chief manager of the Russian American Colonies. No. 897.] JULY 13, 1850. In reply to your predecessor's dispatch No. 464, of October 15, 1849, the board of administration has the honor to inform you that the circumstances stated therein in regard to the visiting of the island of St. Paul by foreign whalers, as well as the interrogatory papers, have been communicated to our minister in the United States, with the request that steps may be taken to prevent the Americans from invading the integrity of the Russian limits and of the property rights of the company. At the same time the board of administration expects that you, like your predecessor, have taken all necessary measures for guarding the Pribilof Islands, which are of such importance to the company, from a repetition of similar attempts on the part of foreigners; and until the clearing of those waters from whalers by means of a war cruiser, of whose sending the board has already received information, you are directed to order the company's cruisers to pay particular attention to the Pribilof Islands. Signed in the original: V. POLITKOVSKY, Presiding Officer. N. KUSOF. No. 17. Letter from the board of administration of the Russian American Company to Captain of the Second Rank Nicholas Yakovlovitch Rosenberg, chief manager of the Russian American Colonies. No. 561.] APRIL 18, 1852. In transmitting to the governor-general of eastern Siberia the contents of your dispatch No. 501 (May 24, 1851) concerning the visits of foreign whaleships to the colonial seas, the board of administration requested his excellency, in order to save the company from injury caused by such occurrences, to issue instructions making it the duty of such armed cruisers as his excellency, may have at his disposition to patrol the colonial seas, especially around the Commander Islands, where, as you report, the foreign whalers assemble in great numbers in the sum mer season. Informing you of this, the board of administration would instruct you at the same time to fit out a company's cruiser independently of the naval cruiser and to instruct it to cruise in those places where, on closer investigation, it may appear to you necessary. Signed in the original: V. POLITKOVSKY, Presiding Officer. A. ETHOLIN, Member. SEIZURES OF AMERICAN AND BRITISH VESSELS BY RUSSIA IN 1892. [Extract from the Victoria News of August 31, 1891.] RUSSIAN PIRACY-SEALERS TAKEN IN THE OPEN SEA-THREE VICTORIA CRAFT SEIZED AND THEIR CREWS THREATENED WITH SIBERIA-A 'FRISCO VICTIM ALSO. Startling story of outrage, insult, and pillage.-The captured crews turned heartlessly adrift.-To secure passage home they sign away everything.-How they arrived at Victoria. The Russian Government is following much the same high-handed policy as that pursued by the United States regarding the sealing matter. The officers of the Czar have perpetrated an outrage in that connection that for wantonness exceeds even the acts of the United States' vessels. The Victoria schooners, Rosie Olsen, Ariel, and Willie McGowan and the San Francisco schooner C. H. White, have been seized upon the high seas by the man-of-war Zabiaka. The seizures took place nearly 50 miles south of Copper Island and in the open ocean, July 18 and and July 28. Notwithstanding the vigorous protests of the respective captains they and their crews were made prisoners and taken to Petropaulovsk, where they were turned loose upon the beach without either food or shelter. Their schooners were confiscated, and threats made that the captains would be sent to the salt mines of Siberia if they made any protests. Finally the entire complement of the four vessels were taken off by the American bark Majestic on August 9, and reached Royal Roads yesterday afternoon. [Extract from the Victoria News of September 10, 1892.] MORE RUSSIAN SEIZURES-THE VANCOUVER BELLE GONE, Besides other schooners not yet identified. The lost boats' crews picked up by the Russians. Four more sealing vessels, including three Canadian and one United States craft, have been seized by the Russians in the vicinity of Copper Island, and several missing boats are supposed to have met with the same misfortune. This news was brought by the sealers E. B. Marvin and W. P. Sayward which arrived in port yesterday, and renewed the excitement created in Victoria by the first intelligence of the Russian outrages. The names of the vessels latest seized have not yet been ascertained, except that the Vancouver Belle from Vancouver is known to be one of them; the other Canadians are supposed to be the Maud S., Geneva, or Dora Sieward-two of these three-though this is not positively known. The owners of the Marvin and Sayward were amongst the happiest men in Victoria yesterday when they learned that their smart little craft were at the entrance to the harbor. [Extract from the London Standard of September 10, 1892.] THE CAPTURED SEALERS. [From our correspondent.] OTTAWA, Friday night. The minister of marine is preparing a case to submit to the British Government relative to the seizure of Canadian sealers by the Russian cruisers off Copper Island. He says the seizures were made, not in Bering Sea, but in the North Pacific, and that they are most glaring violations of the treaty between Russia and Great Britain in 1888 (sic). [From the London Financial Times, of September 15, 1892.] THE SEIZURE OF SEALERS BY RUSSIANS. VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, 13th September. A comparison of the statements made by the captain of the Russian cruiser which seized a number of Canadian sealers in the Northern Pacific and the regular charts prepared by the agents of the marine department shows that the schooner Willie McGowan was 42 miles from the nearest land when seized. The Rosie Olsen also appears to have been 38 miles and the Ariel 30 miles out at sea. The sealer Agnes Macdonald arrived here to-day and reports that when 20 or 30 miles from Copper Island she put out her boats, which were, however, soon driven in by the Russians. The Vancouver Belle and other vessels have been seized, all they contained being confiscated. The Russians are said to have declared that they would seize the British schooners wherever they found them, no matter what distance from the shore. The sealer Libbie will probably make a trip to the Southern Pacific.Reuter. [Extract from dispatch of United States Consul Myers to the Assistant Secretary of State, dated Victoria, October 8, 1892.] The British vessels reported as seized by the Russians off Copper Island are the Carmelite, Willie McGowan, Rosie Olsen, Vancouver Belle, Ariel, and Maria. Letter from Collector Milne, of Victoria, to the Canadian minister of marine and fisheries. [Published in the London Times of November 11, 1892.] VICTORIA, B. C., October 8, 1892. The COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, Victoria, B. C.: SIR: As requested by you, we have measured the distance on the chart of Bering Sea, as given by you, showing the exact places where the three British schooners were seized by the Russian cruiser Zabiaka and the Russian Fur Company's steamer Kotik. Schooner Willie McGowan, latitude 50° 50' N., longitude 167° 50′ E., a distance of 42 miles from Copper Island, the nearest land. Schooner Rosie Olsen, latitude 54° 24' N., longitude 165° 40′ E., a distance of 38 miles from Bering Island, the nearest land. Schooner Ariel, latitude 54° 10′ N., longitude 167° 40′ E., a distance of 30 miles from Copper Island, the nearest land. Yours, respectfully, JAMES GAUDIN. Sworn statement of Captain Furman, of the schooner C. H. White, seized by the Russian Government in 1892. STATE OF CALIFORNIA, City and County of San Francisco, ss : LAWRENCE MAGNUS FURMAN, being duly sworn, deposes and says as follows, to wit: Occupation. My full name is Lawrence Magnus Furman; I am 37 years of age; 1 was born in the city of Gottenburg, Sweden; I am now a resident, and at all the times when the events took place in regard to which I make this affidavit I was a resident of the city and county of San Francisco, State of California; I am now and at all the times when the events took place in regard to which I make this affidavit I was by occupation a master mariner; I have an interest in the claim of the Eagle Fishing Company against the Russian Government, to support which claim I make this affidavit; that interest is as follows: I own one share of the capital stock of the Eagle Fishing Company, and am a director thereof; I have no contingent interest in said claim other than should said Eagle Fishing Company recover damages, I will receive a dividend of the amount recovered as owner of said share of stock. There are fifteen hundred shares of the stock of said corporation now in force. I am not the agent or attorney for the said claimant, or for any person having an interest in said claim. I am a duly naturalized citizen of the United States of America, but I can not now produce a certified copy of the record of my said naturalization but will hereafter produce the same if necessary. Voyage of schooner C. H. White. I was on the 7th day of May, A. D. 1892, the duly acting and qualified master of the American schooner C. H. White, belonging to said Eagle Fishing Company, which said vessel on said day duly cleared from said port of San Francisco for a hunting and fishing voyage in the North Pacific Ocean, having at the time all the necessary and requisite legal papers on board, as will more fully and at large appear by the memorial and papers on filé |