The last week before Easter,
provisions were so low the whole crew were compelled to indulge in a
Lenten fast; but on Easter Monday, behold a putrid whale thrown ashore
by the storm! The fast was followed by a feast. The winds subsided,
and hunters brought in sea-lions.
It was quite apparent now no help was coming from Kadiak. Baranof had
three large boats made of skin and wreckage. One he left with the men,
who were to guard the remnants of the cargo. A second he despatched
with twenty-six men. In the third he himself embarked, now in a raging
fever from the exposure of the winter. A year all but a month from the
time he had left Asia, Baranof reached Three Saints, Kadiak, on June
27, 1791.
Things were black enough when Baranof landed at Kadiak. The settlement
of Three Saints had been depending on the supplies of his wrecked ship;
and {322} when he arrived, himself in need, discontent flared to open
mutiny. Five different rival companies had demoralized the Indians by
supplying them with liquor, and egging them on to raid other traders.
Southward, toward Nootka, were hosts of foreign ships--Gray and
Kendrick and Ingraham from Boston, Vancouver from England, Meares from
East India, Quadra from New Spain, private ventures outfitted by Astor
from New York.
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