IVAN FEDOROVICH KRUZENSHTERN RANDOLPH V, ZANDER

Adam Johann CIvan Fedorovich) yon Kruzenshtern was born on his parents’ estate in Estonia on 8 November 1770. After tutoring at home and three years at the Reval (Tallinn) Lutheran Church School he entered the Naval Cadet Corps at the age of 15. With the out- break of the Swedish War in 1788 he and his classmates were called to active duty as midshipmen. Kruzenshtern served in Mstislav (Capt Mulovskii) and was in four engagements, ending the war as a lieutenant. On shore duty at Kronshtadt he and Lt Yakov Bering, a grandson of the great explorer, became fast friends, and in 1793 the two were among a small elite detached to study naval science with the Brit- ish Fleet. Bering died shortly; Kruzenshtern remained abroad for six eventful years. He saw action in British men-of-war off North America, in the West Indies, and in home waters. Leaving the war zone (and making over his considerable accrued prize money to the enlisted men of his ship), Kruzenshtern set out for India on the frigate Oiseau: he proposed inter ~Zi~ to observe trade routes and opportunities of possible benefit to Russian commerce. At Calcutta he met a Baltic compatriot, Torkler, whose knowledge of the Northwest Pacific and whose visions of a profitable Russian- Amer±can/Chinese commerce impressed Kruzenshtern. Accordingly, he made his way to Canton for personal observation. He returned to Europe in 1799 on an East Indiaman, a seasoned sailor, a broadly informed practical scholar, and a proponent of active projection of Russian presence in far places. Kruzenshtern’s first chief, Capt Mulovski±, had been scheduled to lead a Russian expedition around the world; the 1788 War intervened. Kruzenshtern now revived the project, arguing its commercial poten- tial as well as its training, scientific, and prestige value. In spite of the fleet’s generally admirable record earlier against the Swedes and the Turks, including the logistical tour de foroe of moving the Baltic Fleet in the Archipelago Expedition to a battle-ready presence in the Levant, the High Command at the turn of the century tended to lack confidence and self-esteem. There were those who considered Russian seamen incapable of sustained and distant voyages; some supported the project but proposed that English officers be engaged to carry it through. The plan languish- ed until Count Rumiantsev, the Minister of Commerce, convinced Alexander I of its merit and of Kruzenshtern’s ability. Once per- suaded, the Emperor became an enthusiastic supporter, so much so that he vetoed Kruzenshtern’s request for extended leave (he had just been married) and provided as consolation an annual stipend to Mme Kruzenshtern of 1500 rubles to help with the household economy during her husband’s projected long absence. The expedition’s two ships - Nadezhda, 430 tons, and Neva, 370 tons - were bought in England and made ready at Kronshtadt. The Tsar designated both as men-of-war. Kruzenshtern himself commanded N~dez~d~, Capt-Lieut Yuri Fedorovich Lisianskii the other. The Emperor himself paid for fitting out Nadez~d~, Rumiantsev and the Russian-American Company together underwrote Neva. Officers and men were 100% Russian (in the broad sense), as were the accompany- ing savants. A State Counselor and director of the Russian-Ameri- can Company, N. P. Rezanov, as ambassador-designate to Japan, was a passenger. The two ships cleared Kronshtadt on 26 July 1803, stopped at Fal- mouth for a last titivation, and on 14 November for the first time carried the Russian naval ensign across the equator. Rounding Cape Horn in atrocious weather in February 1804, the ships made their way to the Hawaiian Islands. Lisianskii sailed north to Kodiak Island, passing many months covering much of the coast of Russian America in detail. In addition to his cartographic and scientific work, he took on a cargo of furs for the China trade and set sail for his scheduled autumn rendezvous with Kruzenshtern in 1805 at Macao. Kruzenshtern made for Petropavlovsk-on-Kamchatka, then the princi- pal Russian regional maritime base. Surviving a typhoon en route, he refitted, then proceeded to Japan to deliver Ambassador Rezanov at Nagasaki. The Japanese were dilatory and intractable. After a six months cat-and-mouse game, they finally rejected both Rezanov and the presents he bore from the Tsar to the Mikado. Rezanov was personally embittered by the rebuff. His hope of devel- oping trade relations with the reclusive Japanese had come to naught, and he allowed personal pique to color his judgment. Toward the end of 1807 he sent from Novoarkhangel’sk a Russian warship to clear out the Japanese from the Kuriles and Sakhalin. The move served no real policy and confirmed the Japanese in their xenopho- bia, which endured against the Russians long after Rezanov’s death i~ the same year of 1807. Following the rebuff, Kruzenshtern spent his months methodically carrying out the most thorough European exploration ’til then of much of the Japanese coast as well as the Kuriles and Sakhalin, where he made his only major blunder. Misjudging hydrographic evidence and being unable to penetrate far enough into the Straits of Tatary, he accepted the earlier wisdom that Sakhalin was a penin- sula, not an island. Fog, ice, treacherous currents, and poor charts made exploration north of Japan especially hazardous, but Kruzenshtern was aggressive to the limits of prudence. Nadezhda ran aground once; she was wrestled free and, after a final refit at Petropavlovsk, set sail for the Macao rendezvous, mapping parts of the China coast en route. It took a full two months to negotiate the sale of Lisianskii’s furs and wangle Chinese clearance to depart. Early in 1806 the two ships set out for home via the Cape of Good Hope. The ships travelled separately. At St. Helena, Kruzenshtern learned that Russia and France were at war, so he elected to sail north around Scotland en route to the Baltic. On 19 August, just over three years out of Kronshtadt, Kruzenshtern dropped anchor at his home port. Lisianskii had preceded him by a fortnight.

The Emperor rewarded all hands generously. The officers were pro- moted one grade. The two ship commanders received the Order of St. Vladimir Third Class and pensions of 3000 rubles per year. Lieutenants received i000 ruble pensions, midshipmen 800. Enlisted men were offered the option of immediate retirement with pensions of 50 to 75 rubles per year.