Laden with artefacts
Most Kiwis have never heard about the 1820 Russian expedition to New Zealand, exactly 200 years ago this week.
Even John Macnaughtan, who was appointed Russia’s Hon Consul in Auckland in 1994, was surprised when he first heard of this early historical encounter.
Over the past 26 years he has made a point of spreading the word about this peaceful and articulately recorded encounter, and even made sure President Putin knew about it. Yeltsin and Gorbachev before him, too. Unfortunately, Covid-19 sunk Russian hopes of importing a celebration, including a visit from their training tall ship Nadezhda.
So it’s been up to Aucklandbased (for 25 years) Sergey Permitin, the chairman of the Russia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce, to fly the flag for the Mirnyi Vostok 200 celebrations.
Over the next week he will produce on location in Queen Charlotte Sound some Russian language visual podcasts that will detail the day-to-day events of that original expedition to keep the record going. And no doubt they will be well received in Russia.
Tradeable cargo on board
The Russian Antarctic expedition of 1819-21, which also took in Queen Charlotte Sound, was hugely significant in the annals of modern exploration. It set forth on July 4, 1819, from the port of Kronstadt, near St Petersburg.
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen had charge of the 900-ton Vostok (East), while Mikhail Lazarev captained the smaller 531-ton Mirnyi (Peaceful).
Both were roomy transports compared with Cook’s vessels (the Endeavour was only 370 tons), making them ideally suited to the collection of ‘‘enthnographica’’. No longer was it fashionable to just roam the world; there had to be some sort of scientific purpose.
The expedition’s instructions, although roughly defining the route and schedule, were surprisingly sweeping, to ‘‘pass over nothing new, useful, or curious that you may have a chance to see … as may widen any area of human knowledge.’’
Bellingshausen was well aware of the value of tradeable items for the securing of artefacts, and his ships were loaded with the largest non-essential cargo ever seen: axes, knives, saws, chisels, copper and iron wire, beads, mirrors, steel flints, candles, tumblers, belts, even rolls of red flannelette and ticking material, as well as a large quantity of broken iron, nails and buttons.
A naval entente existed between Britain and Russia at that time, and after a final briefing with the now venerable Sir Joseph Banks in Portsmouth, the ships left Europe for their expected two-year voyage.
In Rio de Janeiro they loaded on their last fresh killed meat and wine before heading south to Antarctica, getting to within 30 kilometres of what is now Princess Martha Land, charting everything as they went.
Sailing westward fully one quarter of the globe, the two ships then struck up to spend a month at Port Jackson in Australia, before setting course for the Tuamotu Archipelago in the Society Islands.
Day after day they battled in vain, the Tasman storms pushing them further and further eastwards down to New Zealand. On May 18, 1820, facing a heightening gale, the Vostok signalled her companion to abandon tack and rendezvous in Queen Charlotte Sound.
Comprehensive accounts
The choice of Queen Charlotte Sound was no accident. Cook’s favourite anchorage featured prominently in Purdy’s 1816 cruising guide The Oriental Navigator. Most importantly it was a place of known Ma¯ ori habitation.
On arrival the Russians let off some rockets ‘‘to announce our arrival to the native living in the interior. I thought it probable that they would assemble from various localities to visit us.’’
But unlike Cook, who recorded 400 Ma¯ ori living in the area bounded by Motuara Island, Ship Cove, and Little Waikawa Bay, the Russians would find a muchreduced population of about 80.
The comprehensive Russian accounts, sketches and collections from their 1820 visit to To¯ taranui, as the Ma¯ ori called this part of Queen Charlotte Sound, are particularly important as the Ma¯ ori tribal group who inhabited this nexus of trade and movement between the two main islands (namely Rangita¯ ne, Nga¯ ti Tara, Nga¯ ti Apa, Nga¯ ti Tahu, Nga¯ ti Kuia and Nga¯ ti Tu¯ matako¯ kiri) were slaughtered by Te Rauparaha’s musket-wielding Nga¯ ti Toa and Te A¯ ti Awa allies only seven years after the Russian visit.
According to some historians, these raids were close to genocide, there being a complete break in traditional regional history around this time. In effect, the Russian accounts are a cameo insight into a traditional trading culture already tinged by European contact.
Bellingshausen’s insistence from the outset that both sides observe respectful good conduct was almost certainly the contributing factor that made this expedition one of the most successful ever to come here. He forbade his crew any sexual contact with Ma¯ ori, and insisted no gospel be preached. For the visiting Russians, it was about maintaining respect for a proud people.
The Mirnyi carried an obligatory priest, but not once in the two-year voyage did he even get a mention in Bellingshausen’s 12 volumes of journals.
Ivan Simonov, the expedition’s astronomer and keen ethnographer, oversaw the bartering with Ma¯ ori, who began visiting the ships in increasing numbers. They brought all manner of tradeable items; fresh fish and crayfish immediately featured but soon museum-grade artefacts, two of each type, were making their way into the Russian holds.
Some superb examples were a female tekoteko or ridge carving from a chief’s house, ornamental paddles, wooden fish hooks and adzes, a stylised carving of a face and numerous garments, some in stages of construction to show how they were made. Two tattooed heads were also obtained.
The Ma¯ ori proved themselves veteran hagglers, the first sight of an axe producing great excitement among them. Following Cook’s example, seeds were exchanged, the Ma¯ ori given turnip, swede, carrot, pumpkin, broad bean and peas to plant. In return the Russians took flax seed, which Bellingshausen promised to plant in the Southern Crimea. Groves of flax still flourish there today.
The visit was brief, less than two weeks. On June 2, the barometer plunged, and huge waves pounded the ships causing them to drag anchor. Two days later with little improvement, Bellingshausen ordered his ships to weigh anchor and set course for the Society Islands, where Simonov continued to pack every crevice in the ships with artefacts. Bellingshausen Atoll (Motu One) in the Leeward group of the Society Islands, along with Vostok Island in Kiribati, are named after them.
After returning to Russia in August 1821, most of the precious cargo went to become a significant collection at the Miklukho-Maklay Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography at the Academy of Sciences in St Petersburg, while some ended up as the Simonov Collection at the University of Kazan, the two locations where they still reside today.
As for the great commander Bellingshausen, his rightful glory was set back when some of his crew would later be arrested for taking part in the 1825 Decembrist uprising. Even the printing of the expedition journals was put on hold, as much due to Tsar Alexander’s displeasure as British insistence that publication might outshine English territorial ambitions, including recognition that Russia had proved the existence of Antarctica.
Finally, after it was pointed out by Russian naval authorities that other countries would claim the glory, the tsar relented, and 600 copies were published in 1831.
In Cook’s league
It is undeniable that New Zealand history has always been slanted towards Britain. The keen Russian interest in this country, which can be traced to Cook’s voyages, has never been reciprocated, as shown by our Government’s complete lack of support for the 200 celebrations.
It was on the highest point of Motuara in Queen Charlotte Sound that Cook claimed the country for his king, and the sound for his queen. But Cook exceeded his orders there to simply raise the ‘‘Union flag’’, and the British government was careful to exclude New Zealand from its published list of territories until well after the Russian visit.
Bellingshausen may have followed Cook, but they came as equals. It’s time we got that straight.
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