On the Ohotsk Sea we had calms with light winds, and made very slow
progress. One day while the men were exercising at the guns, the look
out reported a sail. We were just crossing the course from Ayan to
Ghijiga, and were in the Danzig’s track. The strange vessel shortened
sail and stood to meet us, and before long we were satisfied it was
our old acquaintance. At sunset we were several miles apart and
nearing very slowly. The night was one of the finest I ever witnessed
at sea; the moon full and not a cloud visible, and the wind carrying
us four or five miles an hour. The brig was lying to, and we passed
close under her stern, shortening our sail as we approached her.
Everybody was on deck and curious to learn the news.
“SDRASTVETEH,” shouted Captain Lund when we were in hearing distance.
“SDRASTVETEH,” responded the clear voice of Phillipeus; and then
followed the history of the Danzig’s voyage.
“We had a good voyage to Ayan, and staid there four days. We are five
days out, and passed through a heavy gale on the second day. Going to
Ghijiga.”
Then we replied with the story of our cruise and asked for news from
Europe.
“War in progress. France and Austria against Prussia, Italy, and
Russia. No particulars.”
By this time the ships were separated and our conversation ended. It
was conducted in Russian, but I knew enough of the language to
comprehend what was said. There was a universal “eh!” of astonishment
as the important sentence was completed.
Here were momentous tidings; France and Russia taking part in a war
that was not begun when I left America. A French fleet was in Japanese
waters and might be watching for us. It had two ships, either of them
stronger than the Variag.
As the Danzig disappeared we went below. “I hoped to go home at the
end of this voyage,” said the captain as we seated around his table;
“but we must now remain in the Pacific. War has come and may give us
glory or the grave; possibly both.”
For an hour we discussed the intelligence and the probabilities of its
truth. As we separated, Captain Lund repeated with emphasis his
opinion that the news was false.
“I do not believe it,” said he; “but I must prepare for any
emergency.”
In the wardroom the officers were exultant over the prospect of
promotion and prize money. The next day the men were exercised at the
guns, and for the rest of the voyage they could not complain of ennui.
The deck was cleared of all superfluous rubbish, and we were ready for
a battle. The shotted case for the signal books was made ready, and
other little preparations attended to. I seemed carried back to my
days of war, and had vivid recollections of being stormed at with shot
and shell.
From Ohotsk to the mouth of the Amoor is a direct course of about four
hundred miles. A light draught steamer would have made short work of
it, but we drew too much water to enter the northern passage. So we
were forced to sail through La Perouse Straits and up the Gulf of
Tartary to De Castries Bay. The voyage was more than twelve hundred
miles in length, and had several turnings. It was like going from New
York to Philadelphia through Harrisburg, or from Paris to London
through Brussels and Edinboro’.
A good wind came to our relief and took us rapidly through La Perouse
straits. There is a high rock in the middle of the passage covered
with sea-lions, like those near San Francisco. In nearly all weather
the roaring of these creatures can be heard, and is a very good
substitute for a fog-bell. I am not aware that any government allows a
subsidy to the sea-lions.
We saw the northern coast of Japan and the southern end of Sakhalin,
both faint and shadowy in the fog and distance. The wind freshened to
a gale, and we made twelve knots an hour under double reefed mainsails
and topsails. In the narrow straits we escaped the heavy waves
encountered at sea in a similar breeze. Turning at right angles in the
Gulf of Tartary, we began to roll until walking was no easy matter.
The wind abated so that by night we shook out our reefs and spread the
royals and to’gallant sails to keep up our speed.
As we approached De Castries the question of war was again discussed.
“If I find only one French ship there,” said the captain, “I shall
proceed. If there are two I cannot fight them, and must run to San
Francisco or some other neutral port.”
Just then San Francisco was the last place I desired to visit, but I
knew I must abide the fortunes of war. We talked of the possibility of
convincing a French captain that we were engaged in an international
enterprise, and therefore not subject to capture. Anossoff joined me
in arranging a plan to cover contingencies.
As we approached De Castries we could see the spars of a large ship
over the islands at the entrance of the harbor. A moment later she was
announced.
“A corvette, with steam up.”
She displayed her flag—an English one. As we dropped anchor in the
harbor a boat came to us, and an officer mounted the side and
descended to the cabin. The ship proved to be the British Corvette
Scylla, just ready to sail for Japan. Escaping her we did not
encounter Charybdis. The mission of the Scylla was entirely pacific,
and her officer informed us there had been war between Prussia and
Austria, but at last accounts all Europe was at peace. The war of
1866 was finished long before I knew of its commencement.
De Castries Bay is on the Gulf of Tartary, a hundred and thirty-five
miles from Nicolayevsk. La Perouse discovered and surveyed it in 1787,
and named it in honor of the French Minister of Marine. It is in Lat.
51° 28′ N., Lon. 140° 49′ E., and affords good and safe anchorage.
Near the entrance are several islands, which protect ships anchored
behind them. The largest of these islands is occupied as a warehouse
and coal depot, and has an observatory and signal station visible from
the Gulf. The town is small, containing altogether less than fifty
buildings. It is a kind of ocean port to Nicolayevsk and the Amoor
river, but the settlement was never a flourishing one.
Twelve miles from the landing is the end of Lake Keezee, which opens
into the Amoor a hundred and fifty miles from its mouth. It was
formerly the custom to send couriers by way of Lake Keezee and the
Amoor to Nicolayevsk to notify consigners and officials of the arrival
of ships. Now the telegraph is in operation and supercedes the
courier.
In 1855 an English fleet visited De Castries in pursuit of some
Russian vessels known to have ascended the Gulf. When the fleet came
in sight there were four Russian ships in port, and a few shots were
exchanged, none of them taking effect. During a heavy fog in the
following night and day the Russians escaped and ascended the Straits
of Tartary toward the Amoor. The Aurora, the largest of these ships,
threw away her guns, anchors, and every heavy article, and succeeded
in entering the Amoor. The English lay near De Castries, and could not
understand where the Russians had gone, as the southern entrance of
the Amoor was then unknown to geographers.
We reached this port on the morning of September eleventh. The Variag
could go no further owing to her draft of water, but fortunately the
Morje, a gunboat of the Siberian fleet, was to sail for Nicolayevsk at
noon, and we were happily disappointed in our expectations of waiting
several days at De Castries. About eleven o’clock I left the Variag
and accompanied Captain Lund, the doctor, and Mr. Anassoff into the
boat dancing at the side ladder. Half an hour after we boarded the
Morje she was under way, and we saw the officers and men of the
corvette waving us farewell.
The Morje drew eight feet of water, and was admirably adapted to the
sea coast service. There were several vessels of this class in the
Siberian fleet, and their special duty was to visit the ports of
Kamchatka, North Eastern Siberia, and Manjouria, and act as tow boats
along the Straits of Tartary. The officers commanding them are sent
from Russia, and generally remain ten years in this service. At the
end of that time, if they wish to retire they can do so and receive
half-pay for the rest of their lives. This privilege is not granted to
officers in other squadrons, and is given on the Siberian station in
consequence of the severer duties and the distance from the centers of
civilization.
In its military service the government makes inducements of pay and
promotion to young officers who go to Siberia. I frequently met
officers who told me they had sought appointments in the Asiatic
department in preference to any other. The pay and allowances are
better than in European Russia, promotion is more rapid, and the
necessities of life are generally less costly. Duties are more onerous
and privations are greater, but these drawbacks are of little
consequence to an enterprising and ambitious soldier.
The Morje had no accommodations for passengers, and the addition to
her complement was something serious. Captain Lund, the doctor, Mr.
Anassoff, and myself were guests of her captain. The cabin was given
to us to arrange as best we could. My proposal to sleep under the
table was laughed at as impracticable. I knew what I was about, having
done the same thing years before on Mississippi steamers. When you
must sleep on the floor where people may walk about, always get under
the table if possible. You run less risk of receiving boot heels in
your mouth and eyes, and whole acres of brogans in your ribs. The
navigation of the Straits of Tartary is very intricate, the water
being shallow and the channel tortuous. From De Castries to Cape
Catherine there is no difficulty, but beyond the cape the channel
winds like the course of the Ohio, and at many points bends quite
abruptly. The government has surveyed and buoyed it with considerable
care, so that a good pilot can take a light draught steamer from De
Castries to Nicolayevsk in twelve or fifteen hours. Sailing ships are
greatly retarded by head winds and calms, and often spend weeks on the
voyage. In 1857 Major Collins was nineteen days on the barque Bering
from one of these ports to the other.
[Illustration: TEACHINGS OF EXPERIENCE.]
In the straits we passed four vessels, one of them thirty days from De
Castries and only half through the worst of the passage. The water
shoals so rapidly in some places that it is necessary to sound on both
sides of the ship at once. Vessels drawing less than ten feet can pass
to the Ohotsk sea around the northern end of Sakhalin island, but the
channel is even more crooked than the southern one.
We anchored at sunset, and did not move till daybreak. At the hour of
sunset, on this vessel as on the corvette, we had the evening chant of
the service of the Eastern church. While it was in progress a sentinel
on duty over the cabin held his musket in his left hand and made the
sign of the cross with his right. Soldier and Christian at the same
moment, he observed the outward ceremonial of both. The crew, with
uncovered beads, stood upon the deck and chanted the prayer. As the
prayer was uttered the national flag, lowered from the mast, seemed,
like those beneath it, to bow in adoration of the Being who holds the
waters in the hollow of His hand, and guides and controls the
universe.
While passing the straits of Tartary we observed a mirage of great
beauty, that pictured the shores of Sakhalin like a tropical scene. We
seemed to distinguish cocoa and palm trees, dark forests and waving
fields of cane, along the rocky shores, that were really below the
horizon. Then there were castles, with lofty walls and frowning
battlements, cloud-capped towers, gorgeous palaces, and solemn
temples, rising among the fields and forests, and overarched with
curious combinations of rainbow hues. The mirage frequently occurs in
this region, but I was told it rarely attained such beauty as on that
occasion.
Sakhalin island, which separates the Gulf of Tartary from the Ohotsk
sea, extends through nine degrees of latitude and belongs partly to
Russia and partly to Japan. The Japanese have settlements in the
Southern portion, engaging in trade with the natives and catching and
curing fish. The natives are of Tunguze origin, like those of the
lower Amoor, and subsist mainly upon fish. The Russians have
settlements at Cape Dui, where there is excellent coal in veins
eighteen feet thick and quite near the coast. Russia desired the
entire island, but the Japanese positively refuse to negotiate. Some
years ago the Siberian authorities established a colony near the
Southern extremity, but its existence was brief.
At three o’clock in the afternoon of September eleventh we entered the
mouth of the Amoor, the great river of Asiatic Russia. The entrance is
between two Capes or headlands, seven miles apart and two or three
hundred feet high. The southern one, near which we passed, is called
Cape Pronge, and has a Gilyak village at its base. Below this cape the
hills border the Gulf and frequently show precipitous sides. The
shallow water at their base renders the land undesirable for
settlement. The timber is small and indicates the severity of the cold
seasons. In their narrowest part the Straits are eight miles wide and
frozen in winter. The natives have a secure bridge of ice for at least
four months of the year. De Castries Bay is generally filled with ice
and unsafe for vessels from October to March.
From the time we entered the Gulf of Tartary the water changed its
color, growing steadily dirtier until we reached the Amoor. At the
mouth of the river I found it a weak tea complexion, like the Ohio at
its middle stage, and was told that it varied through all the shades
common to rivers according to its height and the circumstances of
season. I doubt if it ever assumes the hue of the Missouri or the
Sacramento, though it is by no means impossible.
Passing Cape Pronge and looking up the river, a background of hills
and mountains made a fine landscape with beautiful lights and shadows
from the afternoon sun. The channel is marked with stakes and buoys
and with beacons along the shore. The pilots when steering frequently
turned their backs to the bow of the steamer and watched the beacons
over the stern. As we approached Nicolayevsk there was a mirage that
made the ships in port appear as if anchored in the town itself.
We passed Chinyrack, the fortress that guards the river, and is
surrounded, as if for concealment, with a grove of trees. Along the
bank above Chinyrack there are warehouses of various kinds, all
belonging to government. Soon after dark we anchored before the town,
and below several other vessels. My sea travel was ended till I should
reach Atlantic waters.