The rival fur
companies on the west coast of America were now engaged in the merry
game of cutting each other's throats--literally and without restraint.
A strong hand was needed--a hand that could weld the warring elements
into one, and push Russian trade far down from Alaska to New Spain,
driving off the field those foreigners whose relentless
methods--liquor, bludgeon, musket--were demoralizing the Indian
sea-otter hunters.
Destitute and bankrupt, Baranof was offered one-sixth of the profits to
become governor of the chief Russian company. On August 10, 1790,
about the same time that John Jacob Astor also embarked in the fur
trade that was to bring him in contact with the Russians, Baranof
sailed to America.
Fifty-two men the ragamuffin crew numbered, exiles, convicts, branded
criminals, raggedly clad and ill-fed, sleeping wherever they could on
the littered and vermin-infested decks; for what did the lives of a
convict crew matter? Below decks was crammed to the waterline with
goods for trade. All thought for furs, small care for men; and a few
days out from port, the water-casks were found to be leaking so badly
that allowance {319} of drinking water was reduced; and before the
equinoctial gales, scurvy had already disabled the crew.
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