Scenic Sitka
Friday 17 May
Sitka is the only town in Southeast Alaska that faces the Gulf of Alaska and has long been inhabited by the Tlingit people. Fur trading brought Russian settlers here in 1799 as part of a colonial merchant company, the Russian American Company, under Alexander Baranov. The town grew to become the capital of Russian Alaska and remains of those days can still be found in the Russian Orthodox Cathedral and the Russian Bishop’s House. In June 1802, Tlingit warriors destroyed the original settlement killing many of the Russians with only a few managing to escape, and Baranov was forced to levy 10,000 Rubles in ransom for the safe return of the surviving settlers. Baranov returned to Sitka in August 1804 with a large force, including the ship Neva, which bombarded the Tlingit fortification, fortunately without causing significant damage. The Russians then launched an attack on the fort and were repelled. Two more days of bombardment followed and then the Tlingit “hung out the white flag” and deserted the fort. Following their victory at the Battle of Sitka, the Russians established the settlement New Archangel which became the largest city in the region. The Tlingit then re-established their fort on the Chatham Straight side to enforce a trade embargo with the Russian establishment. In 1808, with Baranov still the governor, Sitka was designated the capital of Russian America.
Russia was going through economic and political turmoil after it lost the Crimean War to Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire in 1856 and decided it wanted to sell Alaska before British Canadians tried to conquer the territory. Russia offered to sell it to the United States, handy because the Secretary of State, William Seward, had wanted to purchase Alaska for quite some time as he saw it as an integral part of America’s reach to the Pacific Ocean. The agreement to purchase Alaska was made in April 1867 but the actual purchase and transfer of control took place in October 1867 at a cost of $7.2 million - 2 cents per acre! Sitka was the site of this transfer ceremony.
We sailed into Sitka at 8.00am and were off the ship almost immediately. Geoff, Jo and Earl on their trip to see a few local sights and a theatrical performance by the Alaska Storyteller Dancers who aim to keep Alaska’s rich Russian and indigenous history alive. I opted for a walking tour of Sitka’s heritage. This started with us being dropped off at the Alaska Raptor Centre which provides medical treatment to approximately 200 injured birds from many US States. Raptors in residence included bald eagles, golden eagles, a snowy owl, a falcon, all of whom had had some pretty bad injuries – the falcon from flying at 240 mph into the wall of a gas station in Seattle and a golden eagle that had been electrocuted. These birds are healed and rehabilitated and those non-releasable birds join the team to help teach the public and schoolchildren about the wonders of raptor natural history.
The centre was in the Sitka National History Park, located on the mouth of the Indian River, and the Park has many trails, some of which we then walked. Through towering canopies of spruce and western hemlock trees, devil’s club with their large spikey pines, (the bark of which the Native Americans used to treat rheumatism and arthritis as well as stomach and digestive ailments) blueberry and salmonberry bushes - a member of the rose family with a berry similar to a raspberry, but in hues of yellow, orange and red, and with a pretty salmon-pink flower. Interestingly no red cedar trees on Sitka. More story-telling totem poles, and the site which served as the location for the1804 conflict between the Tlingit people and the Russian fur hunters. We spotted an 8-foot-wide bald eagle’s nest high in a spruce tree, a banana slug about 8 inches long which looked pretty gross - the slime secreted by its gastropods is an anaesthetic and our guide yesterday in Ketchikan told us that as part of her initiation with her fellow guides she had to lick one, which she did, and her tongue turned numb! But sadly - no bears yet, even if there were warnings everywhere!
Next up we walked into Sitka town, not quite as charming as Ketchikan, but it was interesting to see the Russian Bishop’s House which was a cultural and educational centre in Alaska from the 1840’s to the mid twentieth century and was the residence of Ivan Veniaminov, the Russian Orthodox leader and the first Bishop of Alaska. The house is now an historic museum. Opposite the House is Crescent Harbour, one of five harbours in Sitka and it was interesting to see plenty of commercial fishing boats moored there. Our final stop in town was the Russian Orthodox Church, now rebuilt to replace the original one which burned down in 1966.
The tour finished and I took the chance to walk up to Castle Hill to the Baranof Castle State Historic Site to look at the view over the city and the place where Russian Alaska was formerly handed over to the US in 1867 and where the 49-star United States flag was first flown after Alaska became a State in 1959.
Geoff and Jo embarked on a kayak expedition - here’s Geoff’s account of it ….”we were lucky that the weather was very favourable for our kayak excursion, no wind, partly cloudy and a moderate temperature. We gathered on the shore and got fitted with lifejackets and spray curtains (this is a waist-fitted cover that attaches to the kayak and makes the kayak seating position waterproof). With these we boarded the launch which took us a mile or two down the channel to Siginaka island where the kayaks were waiting. A quick demonstration of how to get in and out of the kayak and we were off. The first thing I noticed was the tranquility and the beauty of the spruce trees to the water’s edge. There is an approximate two metre rise and fall of tide in the area, the tide was low, so we had great viewing of the barnacles and other sea life. Interesting fact, barnacles live forever and grow much bigger than the barnacles we are used to in New Zealand. We also saw a mink, but unfortunately no otters or seals. In the distance towards Mt Edgecumbe, we saw whales spouting but they were at least half a mile away from us. We kayaked about 5 to 6 kilometres around the islands before returning to base and thoroughly enjoyed the experience”
A very full-on, but incredibly informative 4-hours for me and an awesome adventure for Geoff and Jo! I’m now relaxing in my room back on the ship writing this blog. We set sail for our next stop, Juneau, just a little while ago and are currently sailing past Mt Edgecumbe which looks rather splendid in the late afternoon sunshine. It’s a dormant volcano rising to 3,200 feet – and thankfully last erupted more than 4,000 years ago!
