316 



APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



The contract which was disap- 

 proved by the Ini])erial Govern- 

 ment was conclnded by Pigott on 

 the 18th June, 1819, for a period of 

 ten years by Mr. Riccord, Com- 

 mander of the Kamchatka district, 

 and Court-Councillor Dobello on 

 behalf of the Government, parties 

 of the first part, and the above- 

 named Englishman Pigott on be- 

 half of himself and his partners, 

 Davis, Ebbets, and Meek, captains 

 of American merchant-vessels, of 

 the second part, for the purpos e 

 of whaling and hunting marine ani- 

 mals for their furs'and oil on the 

 coasts of Kamchatka and of East- 

 ern Siberia, in the harbors, bays, 

 and straits, and on the islnnds, for 

 their own benefit and profit, with- 

 out any duty or royalty, and with 

 the privilege of carrying the Rus- 

 sian flag, and with the additional 

 privilege of fishing and of ship- 

 ping the catch from Kamtchatka 

 on payment of 50 kopeks per pond 

 on salted fish. This contract was 

 naturally considered by the Gov- 

 ernment to be injurious to the in- 

 terests of the Company, since all 

 the benefits acc rued to fo rei gners, 

 and no provision was made to pro- 

 tect the native inhabitants of 

 those regions who depend for their 

 principal means of subsistence 

 upon fish, which under this con- 

 tract would have been carried away 

 by foreigners before their longing- 

 eyes. 



Having thus reached the convic- 

 tion that the real object of these 

 scheming foreigners, with whom it 

 appears that Dobello was allied on 

 terms of intimacy, was not only 

 to obtain the privilege of killing 

 whales and of trying out their 

 blubber, or the chase of other ma- 

 rine animals which frequent our 

 waters that wash the coasts of East- 

 ern Siberia, but rather to gradually 

 obtain control over our Kurile and 

 Aleutian Islands for the purpose 

 of hunting sea-otters and fur-seals, 

 which object, had it been obtained, 



The Agreement with Pigot which 

 hasnot been approved is the Agree- 

 ment concluded on the 18th June, 

 1819, for ten years between the Su- 

 perintendent of Kamtchatka, Mr. 

 Ricord, and " Court-Councillor " 

 Dobello, in the name of the Gov- 

 ernment on the one hand, and the 

 aforesaid Englishman Pigot on the 

 other hand, for himself and for his 

 partners, Davis, Ebbets, and Meek, 

 cai)tains of American merchant- 

 vessels, with reference to fishing 

 for whales and extracting oirirom 

 these antrotlier marine animals on 

 the shores of Kamtchatka and on 

 those of all Eastern Siberia, in the 

 harbours and bays and amongst 

 the islands, for their own benefit 

 and free of all duties, with permis- 

 sion to fly the Russian flag, and 

 also with reference to catching fish 

 to export from Kamtchatka, a duty 

 of rA) copecks to be paid on every 

 pood of fish taken and salted by 

 them. This Agreement, it appears, 

 is considered by the Government; 

 a mischievous one, because it con- 

 tains no provision that would bene- 

 fit the inhabitants of Kamtchatka 

 and Okhotsk, and, moreover, the 

 people of Kamtchatka, Avho are 

 often in want of fish on account of 

 the scarcity of salt and the want of 

 fine days for drying the fish, would 

 very likely be deprived, under the 

 Agreement, of 30,000 poods of fish 

 a-year, w hich would be cauglitand 

 c arried otV by the above-mentioned 

 foreig ners ! 



Ilaving'discussed the scheme, 

 which has very properly been re- 

 jected, of the crafty and enterpris- 

 ing foreigners, with whom Dobello 

 appears to be closely allied as a 

 result of his long acquaintance 

 with them, and who, if they had 

 been given permission to catch 

 whales aind other marine animals 

 and to extract their oil, would have 

 brought numbers of ships manned 

 by all kinds of crews, and would 

 have freiiuented not only the har- 

 bours and bays of Eastern Siberia, 

 but also our KurUe and Aleutian 



