Phoenix (1794)
The first ship built in Russian America.
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Built for the Shelikhov-Golikov Company, the vessel known as Phoenix or Feniks was the inaugural ship constructed in Russian America, with construction overseen by British mariner James George Shields, who was employed by the Russian Navy, and it relied heavily on locally sourced materials.[1] On 24 August 1799, the vessel was last observed as it left Okhotsk heading for Kodiak Island, and it was lost at sea later that year.[1]
Key facts and history
The cargo lost was worth 569,328 rubles, and the total financial loss was 622,328 rubles.[1] The construction of the ship was directed by James George Shields, a British mariner working for the Russian Navy.[1] Among all vessels operated by Russian American fur trading companies of that era, this ship was the largest and most significant.[1] The catastrophe claimed 103 lives, which included 92 promyshlenniki, Captain James Shields, and Bishop Joasaph Bolotov, along with the ship itself.[1]
Because of the loss of Phoenix and its many colonist passengers, the pace of Russian colonization in the Americas was greatly reduced, and Governor Baranov's plan to found a colony south of Sitka was abandoned.[1] The death of Bishop Joasaph dealt a severe blow to the Orthodox Church in America, and a new bishop for the American diocese was not appointed for 40 years.[1]
What the cited sources add
Black's 2004 book "Russians in Alaska, 1732-1867", published by the University of Alaska Press, provides confirmation that Phoenix was launched in the summer of 1794.[2][3]
References
- Wikipedia, "Phoenix (1794)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Grinëv, "Russian Maritime Catastrophes during the Colonization of Alaska, 1741–1867", The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Fall 2011, p. 178–194 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Open Library record, ISBN 9781889963044 ("Russians in Alaska, 1732-1867"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
- Wikipedia, "Phoenix (1794)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Black, "Russians in Alaska, 1732-1867", University of Alaska Press, 2004, p. 146 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Phoenix (1794) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Russian colonization of North America
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Phoenix (1794) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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