Aleksei Ilich Chirikov: Encyclopedia Arctica 15: Biographies
Aleksei Ilich Chirikov
EA-Biography (Hans Johansen)
ALEKSEI ILICH CHIRIKOV
Aleksei Ilich Chirikov (1700? - 1748), the most outstanding of
Bering's officers during both of his expeditions, was commander of the
ship
St. Paul,
which in 1741 first reached the northwest coast of
America.
About Aleksie Ilich Chirikov's (= Tschirikof) parentage and youth
we find nothing in the numerous papers on Bering's expeditions. (In a
small popular Russian book by E. Younga, 1941, we find, however, the rather
unlikely statement that he was the son of one of the master carpenters who
built the ships of Peter the Great.) He must have been born about the year
1700, as in 1716 he began his service in the Russian Navy. In 1721 he
graduated with honors from the school for naval cadets, recently founded
by the Naval Academy in St. Petersburg, and was given the rank of sub-lieuten–
ant. After some years' service in the Navy he was made an instructor at the
Naval Academy. In 1725 he was assigned to Bering's first Kamchatka Expedi–
tion, with the rank of lieutenant.
All chroniclers of Bering's expeditions agree that not only was Chirikov
the cleverest of Bering's collaborators, but also the most wympathetic. He
is described as very intelligent, full of initiative, endurance, and courage,
and besides was modest, sociable, and liked by everyone. It is highly charac–
teristic that among the numerous complaints over the members of the expeditions
EA-Biog. Johansen: Aleksei Ilich Chirikov
that kept pouring in to St. Petersburg from Siberia, there was hardly ever anything about Chirikov, a fact that nevertheless did not stop him from giving the arch-enemy of the expeditions, the harbor-master in Okhotsk, Skorniakof Piasarif, a good hiding.
During Bering's first expedition Chirikov distinguished himself by
the transports. It was also he who proposed to continue the voyage westward
along the Siberian coast when the ship had sailed through Bering Strait. As
is well known, Bering was later reproached for not having taken this piece
of advice, and thus for not having proved that Asia and America are separate
continents. After the homecoming to Petersburg, Kirikov was in 1730 made
a lieutenant, and as early as 1733, a captain.
At the same time he was appointed second-in-command to Bering during
the Great Northern Expedition. Here he set forth a series of proposals
which materially improved the instructions and the very organization of the
expedition. His greatest achievement, however, was his leadership of the
second expedition ship, the
St. Paul
, from Kamchatka to the American coast,
and back to Kamchatka.
Both ships wet out simultaneously, on June 4th, 1741, from Petropavlovsk
on Kamchatka, steering their course southeastward in an attempt, according
to instructions, to find the mythical Gama Land. They arrived as far south as
46° N. lat. without finding any land, and then altered the course toward
northeast. During a gale on June 20, Chirikov's ship became separated from
Bering's Vessel, the
St. Peter
, and thereafter he continued the Voyage on
his own. At 55° 21′ N. lat. Chirikov reached the American coast on July 15th.,
that is 1 1/2 days earlier and about 3° farther south than Bering. It was
near Cape Addington, west of the Prince of Wales Island. As there were no
good anchorages, Chirikov sailed on northward along the coast. On July 17th,
EA-Bi ^ o ^ g. Johansen: Aleksei Ilich Chirikov
at 57° 50′, he sent out Fleet Master Abram Dementiev with 10 armed men in a boat to examine the coast and try to find a suitable anchorage. After waiting for a week, the emissaries still had not returned. On July 23rd a fire was sighted near the coast, and the following day Chirikov sent out 4 men under Boatswain Saveliev in the other smaller boat to investigate. This party did not return either. On the 25th, however, two boats with natives turned up, but did not venture near the ship. Whether Chirikov's 15 men had been killed by the natives or whether they had been swamped in the tidal rips so characteristic of this coast, remains a mystery.
After the loss of both boats, it was impossible to attempt a closer
examination of the country. Therefore, on July 26th the
St. Paul
set
course back toward Kamchatka.
During the voyage home they sailed, like Bering, first along the
south coast of Alaska, and later along the Aleutians. On the 8th of
September, at the island Adak of the Andreanof group, they had a clash with
Aleutian natives, of whom Chirikov gave a good description in his journal.
The voyage was very difficult, as they could not renew their fresh–
water supply, and thus could not make proper food. Continuous gales
wore down the already diminished strength of the crew. The greater part
were ill with scurvy, and many died — 21 men in all — among them both
the officers Chikhschev and Plautin, also de la Croyere, the astronomer.
Chirikov himself was lying ill from the 16th of September, and the ship
was commanded by Fleet Master Ivan Yelagin. Finally on October 9th, after
4 months' uninterrupted voyage without any possibility for renewing the
drinking water or other supplies, they reached Petropavlovsk on Kamchatka.
Chirikov immediately sent a preliminary report on the voyage to St. Petersburg.
EA-Biog. Johansen: Aleksei Ilich Chirikov
Chirikov did not consider his task completed, and the following
spring, 1742, he set out again to examine the westernmost of the Aleutians,
which at that time he took to be a part of the American continent. He
came to Attu and established it to be only an island. On June 16th
he decided to turn back, as his health was again failing, and also his
only officer, Flest Master Yelagin had fallen ill. On the way home they
sailed close past the southern point of Bering Island without having the
faintest idea that there on the island were the survivors of Bering's
shipwrecked crew, together with Lieutenant Waxell, in the greatest distress.
On July 1st, Chirikov arrived at Petropavlovsk, and in August sailed on to
Okhotsk; from there he went to headquarters in Yakutsk. From here he sent
Fleet Master Yelagin with the reports, logbooks, and charts to the Admiralty
in St. Petersburg, and at the same time, owing to not having recovered from
his illness, applied for being exempt from his service in the expedition.
This was, however, not granted immediately, so he had to take care of the
winding up of the expedition at Yensisk, until in 1745 Captain Sven Waxell
took over.
After the homecoming to St. Petersburg, Chirikov was made a committee
member of the Moskva Branch of the Admiralty. In 1746 he wrote a very
important contribution regarding the utilization of the expedition's results,
proposing, among other things, that the Aleutians and the newly discovered
northwestern parts of America be put under Russian control. In 1747 he was
introduced to Empress Elizabeth. Chirikov died, a captain-commander of
rank, in 1749, as a result of his health having been undermined by scurvy.
He was married and had several children. His wife and daughter followed
him to Siberia.
EA-Biog. Johansen: Aleksei Ilich Chirikov
Chirikov's importance for geographical science lies in his great
theoretical and practical influence on the organization and carrying out
of Bering's second expedition. He brought the first news of the American
northwest coast and the Aleutians. His proposal for the colonization of
East Siberia, the Aleutians, and northwestern North America no doubt
influenced the later Russian occupation of these territories.
References
By Chirikov:
Chirikov's
Report on the Voyage of the Voyage of the St. Paul".
First published by F. A. Golder in "Bering's Voyages" Vol. I, New York, 1922.
The Russian original published in "Ekapeditsija Berings, Sbornik dokumentov"
(Bering's expedition, a collection of documents, ed. by A. Pokrovski)
pp. 273-285, Moskva 1941.
Other reports of Chirikov and many letters
ibid
.
Chirikov's
proposal of 25 July 1746 about the utilization of the expedition's
results. Published in Sokolov, A. "Severnaya ekspeditsiya 1733-43,
Zapiski Hydrograficheskogo Departmenta, Vol. 9, pp. 453-459. St. Petersburg,
1851.
By Others:
Sokolov
, A. Bering i Chirikov (Bering and Chirikov). Severnaya Pohela,
St. Petersburg, 1849.
Sokolov, A.
Severnaja ekspeditsiya 1733-43 goda (The northern expedition
1733-43). Zapiski Hydrograficheskogo Departamenta, Vol. 9, pp. 190-469.
St. Petersburg, 1851.
Davidson, G.
The tracks and landfalls of Bering and Chirikov on the northwest
coast of America from the point of their separation-------San Francisco, 1901.
Also in Trans. and Proc. Geogr. Soc. of the Pacific, Ser. 2, Vol. I.
Golder, F.A.
Bering's Voyages. Vol. I, p. 283-327: The Journal of Chirikov's
vessel, the "St. Paul," and Chirikov's Report on the Voyage of the "St. Paul."
New York, 1922.
Younga, E.
Kolumby rosskiye (Russian Columbuses) in the series "Library of
the red Fleet." Moskva-Leningrad, 1941.
Hans Johansen
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