INTRODUCTION. l5 



revisit those seas which had first given him a taste 

 for the sea-service : he offered himself to the 

 American Company, to conduct their ship Suwa- 

 roff, which sailed for their colonies in 1813. The 

 directors of the Company however declined his 

 offer, because they feared that he was too young. 

 Count Romanzoff, on the contrary, was so taken 

 at the first acquaintance, with the enthusiastic zeal 

 of this young man in his profession, that he did not 

 hesitate to confide to him the command of the 

 expedition to Beering's Straits, not doubting that 

 his zeal was accompanied with the qualifications 

 and knowledge requisite for such an undertaking. 

 Having obtained, at the beginning of 1814, per- 

 mission from His Majesty the Emperor, to make a 

 journey to England, I resolved to go by way of 

 Sweden, in order to bespeak the ship at Abo, to be 

 built after a design of Mr. Rasumoff. Lieutenant 

 Kotzebue accompanied me to Abo, and at the 

 latter end of May, I contracted with a ship-builder, 

 named Erick Malm, to build us, for the sum of 

 30,000 roubles, a vessel of 180 tons burthen ; which 

 should be launched at the beginning of May in 

 the following year. According to the wish of 

 Count Romanzoff) it was to be called the Rurick. 

 It is but justice to Mr. Malm, to say, that he 

 neglected nothing on his part, to build the vessel 

 with a degree of durability, that could hardly be 

 expected from a fir ship ; and no greater proof can 

 be given of the excellence of the workmanship. 



