Legation of
the United States,
St.
Petersburg, October 3, 1888.
Received October 20.
No. 201.]
[Inclosure in No. 201.]
Mr. Wurts to
General Vlangaly.
Legation of the United States,
St. Petersburg, September 20 (October 2),
1888.
Your Excellency: I am instructed by my
Government to call the attention of the Government of His Imperial
Majesty to the danger and hardship of the situation to which are exposed
whaling and other vessels in the waters of Bering or Okhotsk Seas, by
reason of the regulation of the Imperial Government which obliges all
foreign vessels to go for repairs, stores, or assistance to the port of
Petropaulovski, a town on the lower end of the peninsula of
Kamschatka.
This is illustrated by the report of the commander of the United States
ship Thetis communicating to the Navy Department
of the United States a copy of a notice served upon the American whaling
ship Belvedere by the commanding officer of the
Russian corvette Alert during the whaling season
of 1887. The Belvedere was at the time in Plover
Bay, in Bering Sea, into which harbor she had put for the purpose of
making necessary repairs; and among other things the notice contains is
a statement that the captains of foreign vessels cannot repair or obtain
stores for their ships on the coasts of Bering or Okhotsk Seas, or the
peninsula of Kamschatka, but for all purposes must go to Petropaulovski,
a settlement on the lower end of the peninsula above mentioned.
The Department of State of the United States is informed that the reason
for this order is the desire of the Imperial Government to prevent an
illicit traffic in intoxicating liquors, which has been carried on by
foreign whaling vessels with the native Indians on the coasts and
islands in the quarter referred to. To the accomplishment of this
important design the Department of State does not desire to interpose
any obstruction, and it recognizes the practical difficulties which the
subject presents to the Imperial Government, with the long line of coast
to be policed.
But the Department of State is reliably informed, and its information is
readily supported by an inspection of the extent of the coasts in
question, that vessels of the whaling fleet are compelled, by stress of
weather and other casualty, to seek such places of refuge as Plover Bay
to repair and refit. For example, the distance from that harbor to
Petropaulovski is believed to be about 800 miles.
This fact alone establishes the impossibility of American whaling ships
pursuing their ancient and accustomed occupation in the remote waters in
question, under such an interdiction as the notice apparently seeks to
impose.
In bringing this matter to the attention of the Imperial Government I
sincerely trust that the Government of His Imperial Majesty will
recognize the justice of the complaint of the Government of the United
States, and that it will take such measures as may be necessary with a
view of securing the American whaling fleet against molestation when
seeking the harbors of the coasts and islands referred to for purposes
legitimately connected with or incident to the object of their
voyages.
I avail, etc.,
