Mikhail Lazarev

1813 to 1815

Mikhail Lazarev was appointed to the command of the Suvorov, a ship owned by the Russian government, and instructed to sail to the Russian settlement in Alaska. Dr. Yegor Scheffer, a German graduate in medicine of Gottingen, joined the expedition as ship's surgeon. The Suvorov sailed, presumably from Kronstadt, in October 1813. No details are available as to the course pursued in entering the Pacific, but Lazarev evidently turned north to the west of the meridian of Tahiti. He discovered an uninhabited atoll, which he named Suvorov after his ship. The name is often incorrectly spelled Suvarov and Suwarrow. The island is in the northern Cook group in latitude 13° 15′ S. and longitude 163° 05′ W. Lazarev stayed in Alaska during the winter of 1814 and the spring of 1815. He did not get on well with his doctor, and Scheffer left the ship in Sitka. Baranov who had intended to send Lazarev in the Suvorov to establish a settlement in the Hawaiian Islands, also disagreed with Lazarev and gave up the idea. Baranov was drawn toward Scheffer through their common dislike of Lazarev. It may be assumed that Lazarev returned to Russia, for we find him later joining Bellingshausen in his expedition to the Antarctic.

It is necessary here to make a digression to maintain the sequence of events. On January 31, 1815, one of the Russian American Company's ships, the Bering, and its valuable cargo of furs from Alaska was thrown up onto the beach at Waimea Bay, Kauai. The cargo was rescued with the reluctant help of King Kaumualii's subjects, but Captain Bennett had to leave it behind. page 74When the news reached Baranov, he had to send someone to rescue the cargo. At this point Dr. Scheffer reenters the story. He convinced Baranov that he was the right man to send to Hawaii both to salvage the cargo and to establish a settlement. Schefler left Sitka on the company's ship Isabella on October 17, 1815, and arrived shortly after in Hawaii. He bought land on Oahu and Kauai, induced King Kaumualii to cede the island of Kauai to Russia, and erected two forts on Kauai. However, the Russian government rejected the proposal to annex the Hawaiian Islands, Baranov was alarmed at the expenses involved in Scheffer's activities, and Kamehameha caused Scheffer to beat a somewhat ignominious retreat to Russia.