THE WRECK OF THE SV. NIKOLAI. Two Narratives of the First Russian Expedition to the Oregon Country, 1808-1810. [Signed Copy]

Owens, Kenneth N.

ISBN 10: 0875951244 / ISBN 13: 9780875951249

Published by Oregon Historical Society Pr, Portland, OR, 1985

About this Item

This work contains the story of a ship wreck occurring in 1808--a small schooner owned by the Russian American Company set sail from New Arkhangel for the Oregon Country with 22 people aboard to explore, trade, and if possible find a site for a Russian post. Six weeks later the ship was wrecked. This work contains two accounts of the wreck of the Sv. Nikolai. One, never before given in full English translation, is the story of a Russian survivor who became the expedition's leader after the shipwreck. The second is a Quileute view, preserved for a century as part of the native oral tradition, recorded and originally published without historical identification or analysis in 1934. The book contains illustrations, an appendix, notes, and an index. Stain to front pastedown; light dampstain to a few nearby pages; light blindstamp on the FFEP; otherwise, this copy is clean and solid. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, inscribed on the FFEP.

Seller Inventory # 021321

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE WRECK OF THE SV. NIKOLAI. Two Narratives of the First Russian Expedition to the Oregon Country, 1808-1810. [Signed Copy]
• Publisher: Oregon Historical Society Pr, Portland, OR
• Publication Date: 1985
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0875951244
• ISBN 13: 9780875951249
• Binding: Cloth
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

Book by Owens, Kenneth N.

From the Back Cover

In 1808 the Sv. Nikolai, owned by the Russian American Company, set sail from New Arkhangel (modern-day Sitka, Alaska) to explore and identify a site for a permanent Russian fur trading post on the mainland south of Vancouver Island. Heavy seas drove the ship aground in late December, forcing twenty-two crew members ashore, including Anna Petrovna Bulygin, the wife of ship captain Nikolai Isaakovich Bulygin. Over the next several months the shipwrecked crew clashed with Hohs, Quileutes, and Makahs, but with little knowledge of the country, the castaways soon found themselves owing their lives to the very tribes they had fought with upon arrival. The tribes captured and enslaved several of the crew members. In 1810 an American captain sailing for the Russian American Company ransomed the survivors.

This volume combines two source accounts of the event. The first is the story of a Russian survivor, Timofei Osipovich Tarakanov, the expedition's leader after the shipwreck. The second is a Quileute account, preserved orally for nearly a century before being recorded in 1909. Combined, these wonderful accounts tell a tale of adventure with moments of high drama, heroism, a touch of comedy, and eventual tragedy.