Across Siberia to America - Part 4.
Hold my vodka: A tragic end to a loyal son.
Newer subscribers may want to look at the earlier episodes in this series:
In our last episode, Khvostov and Davydov have finally managed to return to St Petersburg, in spite of their, well, detention in Okhotsk and then in Yakutsk. After a variety of adventures, they finally make it back to Europe. In this episode, Khvostov, at least, has the opportunity for further swashbuckling heroism in the naval wars in the Baltic, before Vice-Admiral Shishkov finally invites them to winter in St Petersburg. A reunion with old friends, however, has tragic consequences.
SHISHKOV’S NARRATIVE (Concluded)
Khvostov and Davydov barely had time to rest for two or three months after returning to St Petersburg, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Finland, His Lordship Graf [Earl] Buxgewden, learning of their return from America and hearing much about their excellent skill and courage, wrote to Minister of Naval Forces Chichagov, asking for the two officers to be seconded to him, for service against the enemy. The Navy Minister asked their consent. The American company was reluctant to part with them, but they, in spite of the constraints of their circumstances, under all the sorrows they endured, answered that they were always ready to serve the Tsar and the fatherland.
They were sent immediately to Finland, and the day after they arrived, were sent in boats out to sea. A detachment under the command of Captain Selivanov was sent by some necessity to one of the enemy's islands. It consisted of 20 boats and one sailing ship, of which 15 leading boats were placed under the special command of Khvostov, Davydov commanding the remaining five. This is known from the action reports of Lt. Khvostov. In the battle that took place 18 August (1809) between the islands of Sudzal and Vorcello, he was the main reason for the victory over the enemy, who met them by surprise, and with three times their strength. The report published about this battle says, “Captain first-class Selivanov, speaking to the Commander-in-Chief with particular gratitude of the courage of the whole detachment, testifies to the excellence of Lt Khvostov, who exemplified incredible indifference to danger, neglecting the raining hail of grapeshot, and in spite of the fact that 4 boats were sunk under him and only one of the 6 oarsmen remained, he went forward and struck the enemy. The land commanders, too, made the same kind of reports of his courage to the Commander-in-Chief. All the lower ranks praise him, and overall, the moment of his appearance rallied their courage.”
It is known that when the Commander-in-Chief heard firing and learned through that about the approach of a first-rate enemy force, which had not been considered close there, he did not expect any of our boats to be saved, and when this detachment returned intact and Khvostov arrived with a report of victory, then his pleasure was so great that, when those in the guardhouse saluted him as he passed, he said, not to me, not to me, to the victor, and pointed to Khvostov. The detailed description and accounts from the land commanders in the matter of the courageous exploits of this Officer seemed to exceed all likelihood, so the Commander-in-Chief wanted to hear from the lower ranks. For this purpose he went to where the boats were drawn up to the shore. He asked both sailors and soldiers: tell me, fellows, who was most responsible for our victory? All cried with one voice: Khvostov!
This is the very thing that is expressed in the words of the report: All the lower ranks praise him. We may say the hand of Providence saved him in this battle: four times the enemy crushed the ship under him with cannonballs and buckshot, each time plunging him in the water, and 4 times he appeared from the depths of the sea, without in the least losing his presence of mind, driving around everywhere ahead, ordering, encouraging people, and commanding them to follow him. When the first boat was smashed under him, and he climbed out of the water and sat in another, his first word was: Forward! When a cannonball hit his second boat squarely, putting a hole in it and killing several men, the men, in confusion, seeing that water was pouring into the boat, and not having anything with which to plug the hole, wanted to turn back. But Khvostov threw off his uniform, ordered them to stuff it into the hole and shouted: Row forward! Such courageous deeds attracted general respect from all.
Although uninjured, however, he felt the consequences of his adventures all through his body. For his rest the Commander-in-Chief allowed him to live on his yacht, but he did not rest on it for long. Soon he left with Davydov for a different part of the sea, where Vice-Admiral Myacoyedov commanded the ships under sail and oars entrusted to him. There, in addition to various other labors and dangers, they were victors in two battles, one that took place 6 September at Palvo Island, the other 19 September at Tevsalo Island. Entrusted with important forces, Khvostov everywhere showed rare agility, skill in orders, and fearlessness, striking at an enemy superior in numbers, as Vice-Admiral Myacoyedov in his report testifies with the highest praise. Davydov, always together with Khvostov, was slightly wounded in the leg, also showed excellent courage everywhere, and is highly commended. At the end of the campaign, as winter approached, the Commander-in-Chief, wishing to reward them for their deeds and the labors they have suffered, numbered them among his retinue and ordered them to go to St. Petersburg to remain there until called for, to recover their health. But fate was everywhere putting obstacles to their exaltation and happiness………………………..
On 4 October last (1809) they ran into the previously mentioned American shipowner Wolf, with whom during their time on Sitka Island they went to California [D’Wolf’s diary says that he remained at Sitka during Khvostov’s San Francisco voyage in the ship he had sold to Rezanov, but they surely had become well acquainted during the long winter. –JT.] and were very friendly. This shipbuilder, together with Professor Langsdorf [Langsdorf had sailed to the Pacific with Rezanov in Nedezhda, and was instrumental as an interpreter to the success of the trading mission to San Francisco. His diary, and tradition, say that since he was a man of science, he was able to converse with the Spanish padres from whom the Russians bought their supplies – in Latin. JT.], who was also there, and was also friends with them, had been looking for them. As Wolf had to go to Kronstadt the next day to sail back to America on his ship, they agreed to spend this evening at a farewell dinner at Langsdorf’s residence on Vasilievsky Island. They were there a little late, and arrived at two o'clock in the morning at the Isakievsky Bridge, which at this time was already raised for the night. Having some need to be home early in the morning, they felt some urgency to cross over to the other side. Then (according to stories about the circumstance itself) a barge passed under the bridge. It seemed to them that they would have time to jump from one side of the bridge onto the barge, and then jump out from the barge again to the other side of the bridge. But in this attempt, it is not known how they missed, but both suddenly fell into the water, and both were drowned. The darkness of the night, the fast current under the bridge, and the strong wind helped the Neva to bury them in its depths.
Such was the end of these two, such excellent and worthy, and such unhappy seafarers! Their bodies have never been found. Let’s keep silent about the regret of friends, and the sorrow of their poor parents. No pen can represent that.
With this brief description of their lives, I must now say in what state this travel journal of theirs, now published into the world, remained. Davydov, on his return from Finland, lived at my house. Reading some of his black notes and comic letters, which during his time in America he wrote from various places and at various times to his friends, I found in them many good passages and curious remarks, for which reason I began to advise him that he should bring all this into a decent and lasting description of his two sojourns in America. But he excused himself by saying that all the papers necessary for the project, such as inventories, drawings, charts, maps, etc. were taken from them in Okhotsk, without a doubt, along with all their belongings. However, I insisted that at least from those black papers that he had left, and remembering what was lacking in them, he try to compose a description. He still made the excuse that he did not have enough time, for he was engaged in office and was appointed to be sent to Kronstadt. I requested permission for him to stay here and pursue this composition without hindrance.
When the first journey was half written, on examining his notebooks and finding them worthy of publication, I proposed to the Minister their printing through the Admiralty Department. The Minister agreed to this and gave to the Department a proposal to consider at a scientific meeting. The meeting approved it, and the Department ordered the printing. Meanwhile Davydov continued, and finished the first journey, though he still had not started the second. Death interrupted the exercise at a time when not more than eight sheets of the first journal were printed. His second was left in black notes and letters to his friends, in such a way that bringing them into a decent and coherent narrative requires no small consideration, time, and work. I keep them with me, and I hope (the collection can be done without the journal itself) eventually to bring them to such a state in which they can be published. The essence of this journey lies in his letters to his friends, but they were not written for publication. They are filled with various details and jokes, some rather mean-spirited; however, there are also a lot of sharp and funny ones.
Finally, the reader will not think I add too much when, in order to preserve the memory of these two of mariners, well known to me, I frankly describe here their manners and characteristics.
Khvostov united in his soul two opposites, the meekness of a lamb and the ardor of a lion. At home he was a most respectful son to his father and mother, not lagging behind them for a minute during their grief or illness, and ready to sacrifice everything for them. He had an extraordinary affection for his family and friends. He would have been glad to die for a friend, even one that did not respond to him with equal feelings, but whom he once loved and become accustomed to. In conversations with friends he liked to talk and argue, but for all that he was humble to the extreme, so that he sometimes endured the offensive words of those who were hot in the dispute, and never objected to them. However, everyone knew his fearlessness. Even the strongest and most courageous of his companions, frightful to others, and even though they felt superior to him in strength (for he was of average height and mediocre strength), yet at the slightest inflammation of anger in him, which gave him firmness of mind him and fearless courage, they did not dare to irritate him. He was respectful and submissive to his commanders and those above himself. However, where necessary, he spoke without insolence, but nobly and boldly.
He was extremely helpful to all strangers, but to the poor and needy he was so compassionate that he often gave the last thing he had to them. He was like that at home and in society, but in the field of work, or on the battlefield, where the common good imposed a duty on him to sacrifice himself, or glory promised to decorate him with laurels, there his soul was kindled with such a flame that nothing could extinguish it. The more obstacles lay ahead, the more eagerness arose in him to overcome them, and the more terrible the danger grew, the more boldly he went against it.
Only his modesty equaled his courage. No one ever heard him boast, or speak about his feats. He eagerly extolled the deeds of others, but about his own he kept silent. No grief could turn him away from service, or extinguish his ardor. Brave ventures, wanderings to the ends of the earth, military actions were food for his soul. There he shone like a luminary, while in ordinary life he was an ordinary man. But for all his ardor and harsh spirit, he had a soft and sensitive heart. Eyewitnesses told the following about him: in the battle at Texel Island he was detached with a certain number of boats to meet the approaching enemy. They were already approaching and were no more than two cannon shots distant. He, with his usual cheerfulness, which was always seen in him, gave the order to prepare to fight. At that very moment they brought him a letter from his mother, in which she begged him to remember her and cherish his life. He read the letter and cried. The people who were on the boat with him, seeing him in this state, were surprised and in awe. But they did not for long see in him this triumph of nature, this tenderness and these tears; the first enemy cannon brought back to him his former fire; the blood in him boiled, his eyes sparkled, his voice rose, and throughout the battle he was always where the tumult raged most.
Also, one of his subordinates who served with him told me that in the places conquered by force of arms, his main concern was to observe that the inhabitants of the region did not suffer any insults and violence from the victors. If it happened that at night, or from rather distant places, they sent to him asking for protection, he was never hesitant to go there himself in order to sort out complaints and give just satisfaction. He died in the 34th year from his birth, that is, far from reaching those years in which Cook and Nelson achieved eternal glory. What a great hope was lost in him!
Davydov (Gavrilo Ivanovich), the author of this travel journal, was educated in the Marine Cadet Corp, and in 1798 was promoted to officer. In his youth, he was distinguished not only by his particular acuteness, but also by extreme diligence; he acquired considerable knowledge in the mathematical and verbal sciences, which is why of the 50 or 60 people presented for promotion to Officer that year he was deservedly the first to be identified. He was quite tall, well-built, good-looking, and pleasant to be around. His temper was hot, and hotter than Khvostov’s, but he was inferior to him in firmness and courage. He was gifted with liveliness of imagination and common sense, had a sharp and remarkable mind, read a good deal, loved entertainment, conversations and society, but he willingly left them to carry out labors and deeds. He did not avoid fun and festivities, but he found time to exercise and write sensibly and comically. The reader will be able to judge from the travel journal he has composed his literary knowledge and talent. He was four or five years younger than Khvostov. Their acquaintance and connection were established at the time they first traveled to America. Davydov in the first journey on departure from St Petersburg wrote to his friends: “When we parted after our farewell dinner, you returned home, and we left for God knows where, and God knows where from there, I confess that as we two found ourselves in the wagon, I sobbed and drowned in sorrowful thoughts. At that moment I looked at Nikolai (as he always called Khvostov [using the familiar form of address, without the patronymic]), and seeing that he was trying to hide his feelings, maybe in order not to disturb me anymore, I shook his hand and said, ‘Now we have only one hope, for each other.’ Here we swore eternal friendship. After that I became much calmer, and we drove in silence to Izhora.” Since that time, they were never separated, and they tasted death itself together.
In the next installment: Davydov’s narrative of the first journey to America begins. Davydov introduces himself, and then describes the meeting in April 1802 in which Khvostov recruits him to join the Russian-American Company and make the journey. They take their leave of their families and begin their journey from St. Petersburg, first to Siberia, and then on to America.