EXHIBIT B B.
Note.
No. 2530.]
The undersigned, gerant of the Imperial ministry of foreign affairs, referring to the note which General Clay, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America, had the goodness to address to the chancellor of the Empire, dated March 4 (16) last, has the honor to inform him that he has just been put in possession of information which, according to the desire of the Federal Government, the Imperial cabinet had hastened to request from the ministry of marine, concerning the incident which occurred in the Sea of Okhotsk between an American whaler and a vessel of the Imperial navy.
Here is what appears from this information:
The schooner Aleoute, under the command of Lieutenant Etoline, had been sent on a mission from Nicolaievsk to Oudsk to revictual that country. He was obliged by the great quantity of floating ice to enter the Gulf of Tougoursk; there he encountered on July 14, at about 20 miles south of the Strait of Chantarsk, near the eastern coast, the American whaler Java occupied in melting the fat of a whale which it had just captured. Considering that, according to the laws in force, foreign whalers are interdicted from fishing in the Russian bays and gulfs at a distance less than 3 miles from shore, where the right of fishing is reserved exclusively to Russian subjects, Lieutenant Etoline requested the captain of the Java to leave the Gulf of Tougoursk, which he thereupon did.
The same day the Aleoute set sail for the Bay of Mangou, where she arrived the day following the American whaler Caroline Foot, the captain of which, accompanied by the captain of the Java, presented himself before Lieutenant Etoline and declared that he had no right to interdict his fishing for whales wherever he thought fit. Lieutenant Etoline replied that there were established rules in regard to the matter, and that if they insisted on infringing them he would find himself obliged to prevent them from so doing.
The captain of the schooner Caroline Foot having stated that he came into the Gulf of Tougoursk on account of injuries, Lieutenant Etoline offered him every assistance in his power, and on his request delivered him 7 poods of biscuits from the stores of the Aleoute, after which the two vessels went to sea.
The 19th of July, that is to say, four days after, the schooner Aleoute encountered a whale, at which the commander fired a practice shot. At this moment he perceived at about 16 miles distance an unknown sail and a little after three boats, of which the nearest was at least 3 miles away, in the direction in which the shot had been fired. That night all these disappeared.
This incident is entered in the log book of the Aleoute in the following terms:
“July 19, at 9 o’clock at night, at anchor in the Bay of Mongou; fired a trial shot at a whale.”
From these data General Clay may easily convince himself that the incident in question must have been greatly exaggerated and perverted to make it to be represented as a grievance on the part of the American whaler in regard to the commander of the Aleoute.
Following the statements exchanged between them of the pretention of right on the part of the captain of the Java to fish wherever he found it convenient and of the necessity under which Lieutenant Etoline found himself to remind him of the existence of laws governing the right of fishing in the territorial waters of a foreign State, it is possible that the commander of the Java may have in fact taken as a menace directed against him the practice shot fired from the Aleoute.
But it is incontestable that the commander of the Aleoute was within his rights when he reminded the American captains of the laws in force and of the obligation he was under to cause them to be respected. He certainly did not pass the limits of his right in firing, four days after, a cannon shot at a whale floating in Russian waters. He had not the least intention of giving to the American whalers useless [Page 86] notice, since they went away without difficulty, and the distance which separated the Aleoue from the vessel and boats at that moment in sight excluded all such idea.
Lieutenant Etoline proceeded in regard to them conformably to the good relations between the two countries, since he offered his assistance in repairing their injuries and provided them with supplies. Finally the commander of the Aleoute did not believe it his duty to inform the Russian authorities of this incident, since it seemed to him insignificant, and since for his part his conscience was clear that he had not passed the limits of his rights nor failed in his duties.
The undersigned flatters himself with the hope that the Federal Government, being informed of these details, will consider the incident closed.
Meanwhile he seizes the occasion to renew to General Clay the assurance of his most distinguished considerations.