I was loath to leave when the time allotted for my stay had expired, but there was no help for it. So, equipped in the fashionable rig with which the draper furnished me, I turned my face toward St. Petersburg. The Superintendent was kind enough to propose that Kutsnetsoff should accompany me to my journey’s end, which proposal I gladly accepted. On the morning of the 17th, I took leave of the good friends who had shown me so much kindness, and stepped into my carriage, rode through the suburbs, and at noon emerged into the open country. We passed many villages and large towns, but continued on without stopping at any of them except to take our meals.
On the 21st of October, 1807, we reached the gates of St. Petersburg, and, after going through a thorough examination of passports, were permitted to go on. We drove at once to the Company’s establishment, where I was kindly received and entertained by Mr. Booldakoff, the first director of the Russian American Company. It was evening when I arrived, and as neither Mr. B. nor any one in the house could speak English, I remained partially ignorant of the business which most interested me until the next morning. A gentleman then came in who accosted me in good round English, and I was quite overjoyed at the sound. This was Mr. Benedict Cramer, a gentleman with whom I became very intimate in business afterwards. He was the senior partner of the house of Cramer, Smith, & Co., and was also one of the directors of the Company.
He soon threw light upon my whole business by saying that his partner, Mr. Smith, was in the United States, and had seen my owners and assured them that the bills of exchange, the duplicates of which had reached them through the hands of Mr. Moorfield, were good. Mr. Moorfield had been out with a ship in the course of the season, the bills had been accepted and paid with fifteen per cent advance, because Spanish dollars, in which they were payable, commanded that premium. The proceeds had been invested in hemp, iron, and manufactures and sent to America; and the business had been transacted through his house. “You have now nothing to do,” he concluded, “but to take all the pleasure you can while you remain with us.” I shook him heartily by the hand, and made him a low bow; after which we walked out together to his place of business. He introduced me to his brother and Mr. L. Harris, the American Consul, who was connected with his firm; and in the same way I became acquainted with a number of influential gentlemen, from whom I received many civilities.
Mr. Booldakoff, whose house I made my home, showed me every attention. He took me in his carriage to all the places of note in the city, and had an audience with the Count Ramansoff, the Prime Minister, to whom I was presented. In short, every mark of respect that could be accorded to a stranger was shown me.
XI.
I sail down the Baltic in a Dutch Galiot.—Take Passage at Elsinore in the Mary for Portland.—Put in at Liverpool.—Home again.—Conclusion.
Things went on so smoothly and pleasantly at St. Petersburg that I took no note of time. Six days had already slipped by before I began to think of making a further move. There were no American ships at Cronstadt when I arrived, but I was told that there were always opportunities till the last of November to obtain a passage to England, so that I felt quite easy. Just as I commenced preparations for starting, however, war was declared between Russia and England, and all foreign ships left Cronstadt. I now thought it doubtful whether I could obtain a passage to England, but I made all haste for the port, to make a trial, at least. Mr. Booldakoff gave me a letter to the harbor-master, the Consul one to his Vice, the Messrs. Cramer one to Messrs. Belfour, Ellah, & Co., at Elsinore. With these I took leave of my St. Petersburg friends, and started; but when I arrived at the Mole I was quite discouraged to find that there was not a merchant-vessel in sight. I called on the Vice-Consul, but he knew of no way to help me. Though thinking it would be useless, I determined to present my letter to the harbor-master. He read it, and after a little reflection, and a number of questions about my journey, said that I had better go down to the Mole head with him, and see what could be done.
We found, on inquiry, that there was one solitary vessel, a small galiot, lying at anchor below the Tolbeacon, about three miles off. She was bound for London, and he thought I could get a passage in her, if I were willing to try; at the same time he offered to send me aboard. I jumped at the proposition, and told Parker to get our goods and chattels into the boat as soon as possible. Thanking the harbor-master for his assistance, I started off for the galiot. She was a small craft, of seventy or eighty tons burden, loaded with tallow. The skipper was a little old Dutchman, short of five feet in height, and a mate and cook composed his crew. I asked him if he would take me as passenger to London. “Yaw,” says he. “And will you let my man work his passage?” “Yaw, goot,” says he. I paid the officer of the boat for his trouble, and he left us. Being now at leisure, I began to look round to see what kind of a ship and accommodations we had got. She was rather a flat-bottomed vessel, carrying lee-boards, to keep her from drifting to the leeward when sailing by the wind. I questioned the skipper about the provisions, and he believed that there were enough, such as they were. The cabin was a trunk, so called, above the deck, abaft the mainmast, in which there were two boxes with slide-doors. One was his berth, and the other the mate’s. He informed me that I must sleep with him, and my man must turn in and out with the mate. I thought this a fair arrangement, and so we settled it.
It was morning when I went on board; and after dinner, which consisted of beans and buckwheat pudding, we got under way. The wind was light but favorable, so that we crept along down the Gulf at about the same rate we used to go in our little Russian vessel. The weather was moderate and the sea smooth, and after so much land-travel I enjoyed the change very much. We continued to grope along until we reached the island of Bornholm, in the Baltic. Here we took a westerly gale, which would have put a stop to our progress if we had not fortunately got under the lee of the island, and continued sailing from one end to the other of it for two days, when the gale abated, and the wind changed. This enabled us to continue on our course, so that on the 13th of November we reached Elsinore. Here I presented my letters from the Messrs. Cramer, and was kindly received by Messrs. Belfour, Ellah, & Co.