The Flag of the Russo-American Company
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19005 Coast Highway One, Jenner, CA 95450 ■ 707.847.3437 ■ [email protected] ■ www.fortross.org Title: The Flag of the Russo-American Company Author(s): Dr. Svetlana G. Federova Published by: Academy of Sciences, U.S.S.R. iSource: Fort Ross Conservancy Library URL: www.fortross.org Fort Ross Conservancy (FRC) asks that you acknowledge FRC as the source of the content; if you use material from FRC online, we request that you link directly to the URL provided. If you use the content offline, we ask that you credit the source as follows: “Courtesy of Fort Ross Conservancy, www.fortross.org.” Fort Ross Conservancy, a 501(c)(3) and California State Park cooperating association, connects people to the history and beauty of Fort Ross and Salt Point State Parks. © Fort Ross Conservancy, 19005 Coast Highway One, Jenner, CA 95450, 707-847-3437 7 ,t:» ~ He,n·s: Thl' Central Pacific Hailroad. - Ground brokl' January Sth. 186.3. completed :\Ia~ · 8th. 186!J. Stanford: The PacifiC' H.ailroad ground hrokt•n - Jan~·· Sth 1863, an ~l complett'd l\la~· 8th 1869. (!'\ole omission of "Cmtral," ab breviation of "January.'' and addition of "and.'') SIDE NO. 4 - Hewt's: (in nine diagonall~·-rising lint's: "Directors'' onlv in quotes): "Directors" - Hon. Leland Stanford - Charles Crocker - ~lark Hopkins - E. H. l\liller. Jr. - C. P. Huntington - E. B. CrockPr - A. l'. Stanford - Charles :\Iarsh. Stanford: (in on I~· eight diagonall~ · -rising lint's): Directors of Photo courtesy of State H ermitagc Museum, Leningrad the - C.P.H..R. of Cal. - Hon. Leland Stanford - C. P. Hunting ton - E. B. Crocker - l\-lark Hopkins - A. P. Stanford - E. H. l\liller. Jr. (Note addition of railroad's initials. t'tc .. and omission of two .nanws - Charles Crocker and Charles \Iarsh.) The Flag Of The Russo-American In addition to all tlwse diffen•nc·t'S. thP eugra\'ing on the HPwes Golden Spikt• is much more expertlY and n£'ath- dom•. with unifonn Company lettering throughout. Tht' engra,·ing on the Stnuford gold spike is less controlled. with amateurish flourishes and varied styles of letters. \ Vritten by DR. SvETLAKA G. FEDEROYA, Academy of Sciences, U.S.S.R. ":\(\· father would sav, error was error,-nn matter where it fell. -whe.ther in a fraction,:...or a pound.- 'twas alike fatal to truth. and Edited by Wayne Colwell, she was kt>pt down at the bottom of her well. as ine\"itahl( ln· a l\ational Historic Sites Service of Canada. mistake in the dust of a buttt>rfl~·'s winl!.-a., in the disk of the Translated b~· Dr. Paul Woolf, San Francisco State College, from sun. the moon. and all the stars of ht>;wen put together."-Lanrt•Jll"C Sterne, in Tristram Shandy, Book II , Chap. HI. Ot Aliaski Do Ognennoi, Academy of Sciences, 1\loscow, 1967. The very end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries ·--~." ~14.W,.. , . J? -1' -- -'~ "l witnessed a new stage in the acquisition by Russia of the islands 6~.0~..%'~ i and shores discovered by her in Northwest America. In July of __ ... ~aDn_qfif of SCB~.~.. !.~.s_c~IJ, ; 1799 Tsar Paul I signed a grant charter forbidding the free hunt 8 J: LV B 'W' A ing of fur-bearing sea animals in Pacific waters, and instead, gave I --- a ariia"'7 ! L--- a t\venty year monopoly for the exploitation of all the natural wealth of the region to the H.usso-American Company. The Com pany was given the right to occupy, as Russian possessions, all the newly discoverd lands along the shores of Northwest America, as well as the Aleutian, Kurile, and other islands not only to the north of the 55th parallel, which were already Hussian possessions, but also to the south "pro\'iding those were not occupied by any other countries and were not their dependencies." The Company SILVERSMITH'S RECEIPTED BIU FOR THE LAST SPIKE " ·as gi,·en permission to use Crown timber for building ships at t Proha= iv m Motm~ s hand•·rinng. ior thr "-"0 other oarmen names are m i n~l l eC bc-l.rra· Sote the Civil \\:'ar re,·rnue stuno. ••h1d1 ..,.u rull rrqwred at tbt tune on an:r l c~ or commrrctal document. 1DCludmg Okhotsk and to navigate all local waters; to trade with all nearby recr 1F n anc o •~• cne:u ------ -·--- - ( countries; to exploit. for the Company's use, all useful minerals; to three horizontal stripes of e<lllill width. The lower stripe was red, build in suitable places fortifications and settlements. for which the middle blue, and upper white. During the first years of its purpose the compan~· was furnished gunpowder and lead from existence this was the flag used by the Russo-American Company. Crown Siberian factories. A special clause stipulated the hiring of However, seven years after the company's founding Tsar Alexander labor.t The Russo-American Cumpany represented quite an unusual I sign"ed the edict introducing a special flag for the Company.5 enterprise for Russia. in that it comprised several functions: political, The issue of the edict was preceded by the successful comple industrial. and trade. as well as the administration of the extensive tion of the first Russian around-the-world expedition, 1803-1806, new territory. By giving the comp<\ny such wide authority the under the command of I. F. Krusenstren and U. F. Lisianski, government expected, with the compan~ ·' s help. to extend its pos which had been fitted out and financed by the Russo-American sessions on the North American continent and Pacific Islands. and Compan~ · · This expedition connected, by a giant sea route, to secure for Russia a dominating position in the strategically im Kamchatka and far away Russian-America with St. Petersburg. portant North Pacific, protecting herself primarily from England's This expedition greatly enhanced the reputation of the Company. competition. The proposal of establishing the flag was submitted by the Min The very fact of granting the Russo-American Company the ister of Trade N. P. Rumiantsev, who devoted a good deal of right to have a special flag. distinct from the Russian national attention to the affairs of the Company, and who later personally commercial flag, emphasized the desire of the government to financed several scientific expeditions to explore Russian-America single out the company from the other trading concerns, and b~· including the globe circling voyage of 0. E. Kotzebu in 1815-1818. stressing the patronage of the Crown to enhance the reputation of The text of the edict indicates that after receiving Imperial the compan~· on tlw international level. :\either Hussian nor sanction it was presented to the Senate, and on 19 September 1806 foreign publications dealing with Russian-America have an~ · informa it was forwarded for execution~ to the head office of the Company tion regarding the history of the Compan~· flag. In specialized pub (which had been transferred in 1800 from Irkutsk to St. Peters lications on flags the picture of the Company flag differs significant burg .l and also to the Admiralty and the Ministry of Trade. Simul lv from the officiallv established design . ~ For this reason the basic taneously the above depa1tments received copies of the approved ;ource for this inve;tigation was the archi,·e and museum materials flag design prepared by the heraldic office.along with the following in MoscO\\' and Leningrad. description: "The flag of the American Company has three stripes, From the time of the establishment of permanent Russian the lower red, the middle blue, and the upper and wider stripe settlements on the islands of Kodiak and Afornak. on the Kenai white. with the facsimile on it of the All-Russia state coat-of-arms Peninsula and other points by G. I. Shelikov in 1784-1786, the below which is a ribbon hanging from the talons of the eagle with flag of Russia flew over them. This fact was eyewitnessed h~· th.e the inscription thereon 'Russo-American Company's'." The flag de English seafarer John Vancouver in 179-1 when he entered Cooks sign attached to the edict was multi-colored. Bav. His arrival was welcomed by a two gun salute from the high In this way, to make the flag of the Company it was necessary A~erican ·shore where the Russian flag flew over the settlement.3 to use the national commercial flag with a change of the propor Apparently it was customary to raise the national commercial flag tions of the stripes and by adding the state coat-of-arms and the over the settlements. for when Skelikov was planning to build a inscribed ribbon. It appears that the introduction of the All-Russia new town in America, Slavorossia. one that would exceed in size state coat-of-arms was based on the fact that in 1803 Alexander I · all previous settlements. he wrote to A. A. Baranov. the chief ad became a holder of Company shares and thus took the Company ministrator of the Company in America. "Build two or three bat undt.>r his protection. This action made it obvious to the merchants terit>s in good looking towers. and on tlw tm,·ers put up the great and nobility that participation in the Company was an important national coat-of-arms. Should ~·1n1 also han· a ship~ · ard there. then stalt' afair. The banner was authorized to he raised over Russian raise on•r it the national comnwrcial flal! of Hussia. particular!· fortifications in ~orthwest AmPrica, on the Pacific Islands, as well when foreil!ners come in .