Another Version of the Wreck of the Neva

• Published in: International journal of maritime history Vol. 27; no. 2; pp. 285 - 301
• Main Author: Bland, Richard L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.05.2015; International Maritime Economic History Assn
• Subjects: Overwintering; Ships; Wrecks; shipwreck; Alaska; Baranov; Russian-American Company
• DOI: 10.1177/0843871415571040
• ISSN: 0843-8714

As 1813 dawned, Alexander Andreevich Baranov had been chief director of the Russian-American Company (RAC) since its inception in 1799. Having been in Russian America for 23 years, he had wanted to go home to Russia for some time and had petitioned the RAC board of directors several times to replace him. In 1810, the Board of Directors had sent Collegiate Assessor Ivan Gavrilovich Kokh (Johann Koch) to replace Baranov. However, while the ship was over-wintering in Kamchatka on its way to Novo-Arkhangel’sk, Kokh unexpectedly died. A second replacement was soon found in Collegiate Councilor Terentii Stepanovich Bornovolokov, who made his way to Kamchatka, then set off from there to Novo-Arkhangel’sk (present-day Sitka) on the ship Neva in the summer of 1812. On 9 January 1813, virtually within sight of Novo-Arkhangel’sk, the Neva was wrecked. In 1849, Alexander Ivanovich Markov published an account of the shipwreck, which has been translated and annotated to form the subject of this research note.