88 CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



INTERFERENCE WITH UNITED STATES VESSELS. 



The correspondence referred to shows that the captain of 

 "Europa." the " Europa," a United States whaling- vessel, complained 

 to the Department of State at Washington that the Captain 

 of a Russian armed steamer had stated that he was author- 

 ized to drive United States whalers away from the vicinity 

 of the Settlement of Okhotsk, in the Sea of Okhotsk, and 

 " Eudeavour." that lie had tired on the ship's boat of the bark "Endeavour" 

 of New Bedford. 



It appears also from the same correspondence that on the 



"Java.' L'Tth of July, 1807, the United States bark "Java" was 



cruizing for whales in Shantar Bay and standing towards 



Silas Richard's Bluff, when a Russian Commander ordered 



SewanUoCiay, iiim out of the bay, and thereupon Mr. Seward 



ises^Vof/ii, Part 115 in(|uired of the Russian Government what instruc- 



ii> ^°- 12- tions had been issued relating to fisheries in this sea. 



EXPLANATIONS BY KUSSIA. 



westmaun to In really to this inquiry, the following explanation was 

 Secretary o f rcccivcd from M. de Westmaun, Acting Minister of Foreign 

 i86r5oth"(Jon"^' -^fli^ii'S at St. Petersburg, which shows the claim of juris- 

 2nd sess., Senate diction of Russia to havc been confined to 3 miles only in 

 p.^253.°'^'''^"'^'^*''i^^^''^''-'i'ii^ gulfs and bays, in this part of the very waters 

 covered by the Ukase of 1821 : 



NO CLAIM OF JUlUSinCTIOX BEYOND 3-MILE LIMIT. 



These are the circuinstauces : The schooner "Aleont," under the 

 command of Lieutenant Etoliue, had been sent in commission from 

 Nicolaievslv to Oudrk. The abundance of floating ice liaviug forced 

 him to enter into the Oulf of Tougoursh, he there met, the 14th 

 •July, at about 20 miles to the south of the Straits of Chantarsk, near, 

 the eastern coast, the American whaler ".Java," occu])ied in render- 

 ing the oil of .1 captured whale. Considering that foreign whalers are 

 forbidden by the laws in force to lish in the Russian gulfs and bays 

 at a distance of less than 3 miles from the shore, where the right of 

 fishing is exclusively reserved to Russian subjects, Lieutenant Etolino 

 warned ("invita") the captain of the "Java" to "bear oft'' from the 

 ( Julf of Tougoursh, which he at once did. The same day the '•Aleont" 

 made for the Bay of Mawgou, where arrived, on the next day the 

 American whale schooner "Caroline Foot," whose captain, accom- 

 panied by the captain of the "Java," calleil on Lieutenant Etoline, 

 and declared that he had no right to prevent them from hshing for 

 whales wherever they liked. Lieutenant Etoline replied that there 

 were in that resi)ect cstal)lished rules,("rcgies'"), and if they insisted, 

 absolutely, upon breaking them, that he would be coiiiix'lled to 

 prevent them. The captain of the schooner "Caroline Foot" pre- 

 tending ("ayant pretendu") that he had entered into tlie 15ay of 

 Tougoursh in consequence of "deviations from his course," Lieu- 

 tenant Etoline oifered at once all assistance in his power; and, upon 

 request, delivered him 7 ponds of biscuit from the stores of the 

 "' Aleout," after which the two slii))s again went to sea. The lUth of 

 .July, that is, four days afterwards, the schooner "Aleont" met a 

 whale, upon which the Commander caused a trial lire to be made. At 

 the same moment was seen, at about IB miles distance, a sail, name 

 unknown, and, nearer, three "chaloupes," the nearest of which was 

 at least 3 miles in advance in the direction of the cannon tire. In the 

 evening all these ships had disappeared. That incident is registered 

 ill the books of the "Aleont" in the following terms: "The littli of 

 .July, at i) in the (evening, at anchor in the liay of Mawgons, tired a 

 cannon shot i'or.jjractice at a whale afloat." From thes(! facts O'enrral 

 Clay will be convinced that the incident alluded to has been exag- 

 gerated, and even perverted ("denature") much in order to bo repre- 

 sented as a cause of grievance against the Commander of the 

 "Aleout" on the part of the American whalers. 



