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The Hudson’s Bay Company Venture in Siberia

by John MacFarlane 2020

Casco

The Casco berthed in Vancouver BC at the Evans, Coleman Evans wharf. (Photo from the August Brabant collection.)

In 1920 and 1921 the Vancouver waterfront was abuzz with rumors of Canadian commercial initiatives into Siberia. Successful American fur trading and commercial activity based out of Seattle, such as Hibbard & Swenson, was noticed by the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). Although there was not a good track record for commercial concerns there were numerous entrepreneurs who were seeking gold, minerals, and furs as well as opportunities to sell consumer goods to the local population. The Royal Bank of Canada opened a banking branch in Vladivostok. There was a belief that the Bolshevik revolution would be unsuccessful and lead to business and trade opportunities.

The political connections to Canada with this area are complex. Canada had already intervened in the Russian Revolution in Siberia. Canada sent 4,192 soldiers (including a detachment of RCMP) as part of the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force. Between the formation of the force in August 1918, and its return to Canada (between April and June 1919), its employment was intended to prevent war materiel from the Far East from being employed against the allies. This initiative was ineffective and a political embarrassment.

The Russian political situation was completely in flux, and some of the last areas to come under Bolshevik control were in Siberia. The Far Eastern Republic was a nominally independent state that existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of the Russian Far East. It was created to act as a buffer between Soviet and Japanese holdings. Once Soviet power was firmly established in Siberia, the republic was to be absorbed into the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic.

In 1920 the Hibbard & Swenson trading post at Anadyr was attacked by Bolshevik forces who forced the store manager to flee into the hills. Some time afterward Hibbard & Swenson counter attacked, capturing 18 Bolshevik soldiers and executing them. The region was not peaceful and there were obvious risks. While Japan had warships in the region based out of Petropavlosk, there were no British or US warships, nor any diplomatic personnel in the region from whom the HBC could seek assistance in an emergency. In 1920 Hibbard & Swenson suffered a setback with loss of their steamer, the Kamchatka which caught fire and was abandoned at sea as a burning derelict losing $300,000 in cargo ($4 million in 2020 value).

In 1921 the Hudson’s Bay Company chartered the old US steamship Casco and appointed Captain L.R.W. Beavis as Pilot under Captain Oliver Lee. The Captain carried his wife and young son with him. The ship was steel–hulled (118’ x 24’ x 12’ 400tons) that had been built in 1920 for the Mexican trade but was found almost immediately to have been too small to be effective and profitable.

NAME

(Photo from the August Brabant collection.)

Upper row left to right: A. Hoogendijk (HBC Siberian Manager); C.H. French (British Columbia HBC District Manager); V.W. Elphick (Kamchatka HBC Manager (from London UK)); E.K. Skuce (Gas boat and fur expert); Captain T.P. O’Kelly (Assistant HBC Fur Trade Commissioner); R. George (Manager HBC Wholesale Grocery Vancouver); L. Romanet (General HBC Fur Trade Inspector); Mr. Mashikin (Merchant, Petropavlovsk); Lower row left to right: George Askew (Designer and builder of shallow draft river boats); J. Melnyk (gas engineer and trader); A.J. Morton (Manager, HBC Wholesale Tobacco Vancouver); F.B. Wombell (HBC British Columbia District Accountant) and A. Mashabin.

Key Personnel

left to right: V.W. Elphick (Kamchatka HBC Manager); A. Hoogendijk (HBC Siberian Manager); and Captain T.P. O’Kelly (Assistant HBC Fur Trade Commissioner) (Photo from the August Brabant collection.)

Captain L.R.W. Beavis

Captain Lancelot R.W. Beavis

Captain L.R.W. Beavis was an experienced master of full rigged ships and steamers having served throughout the world. He was appointed as nautical adviser to the expedition, pilot for Siberian and British Columbia waters and chief transportation officer for the Okhotsk Sea.

Captain Beavis seems to have had a frosty relationship with the ship's captain and the senior HBC officials. He later wrote disparagingly about them in his biography.

Casco launches

The gas tunnel launches alongside the Casco after construction in Vancouver BC. Their names are lettered with Cyrillic characters. (Photo from the August Brabant collection.)

Designer and builder George Askew was engaged to design shallow draft gas launches to be taken to Siberia as deck cargo on the Casco.

The two 37’ tunnel launches were specially designed by George Askew and built by shipwright P. McMillan at Askew’s False Creek boatyard. They were built of fir and cedar and powered with engines by William and Victor Vivian. The launches were intended to navigate shallow Siberian rivers in search of customers with which to trade. They carried gas fuel tanks that gave them a range of 1,000 miles. Each launch, with a crew of two, pushed a barge that carried cargo.

Casco alongside

The Casco berthed in Vancouver prior to departure. (Photo from the August Brabant collection.)

Kathryn Askew (grand daughter of the builder) stated "Both words (names) I see on the boats look a bit weird. They are either modified or they are just pretending to sound Russian. They look like a version of a word. Sobel instead of sobol (sabel) and vesen instead of vesna (spring). In university I studied a history of Russian language and I know how to find a related word from Old Russian. I couldn’t. It is a bit of a mystery for me. This is not very helpful in order to translate but what the author of an article can do is to mention that both words look like a variation of existing words: ‘sable’ and ‘spring’ in Russian and the author could give an example in the brackets (весенъ and сабель). It also could be someone’s name too.)".

Casco carried a crew of 15 and had accommodation for 15 passengers. She sailed for Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula, carrying trade goods, including rifles and axes in her cargo. She carried the two gasoline launches and the two barges as deck cargo. At Petropavlovsk, Beavis struggled to get the tunnel launches into the water. The rigging on the Casco was completely inadequate for this purpose and they were forces to purchase large spars and blocks to accomplish their task.

Petropavlovsk became the base of operations. Officials there were bribed to issue the necessary permits and authorizations for the venture. The crew did some casual fishing for food along coast during their explorations.

In the summer of 1921 a HBC trading post on the Tigel River was established, and the farthest point reached that year. At that time the Ruble was experiencing inflation and was considered worthless by the traders. Direct barter was employed between the HBC and local inhabitants. The HBC was primarily interested in Russian sable but also white fox, red fox, squirrel and ermine.

Political upheaval in the region caused great uncertainty. The Russian Governor and police chief were arrested and executed. In November 1921 the Red forces were forced out and replaced by White Forces who Beavis described as "out for loot". This group sought a vessel with which to mount operations on the coast and they approached Beavis about the two tunnel launches who refused. Beavis immediately ordered the launches disabled so that they could not be seized by force and used. However, the HBC gas engineer was conscripted to operate a launch seized from another trader, named Wittenburg.

At Petropavlosk there was an explosion in one of the gas launches. Crew members G.A. Clucas and John O. Overhill were killed. The engineer,Sydney Elvey, was badly burned in the incident when he tried to rescue Clucas.

Sailing toward the north the next principal centre encountered by the group was Anadyr, on the Bering Sea, where there was also a wireless station. There Beavis encountered a young Canadian woman, a Miss Kelly, who with her family had constructed a sternwheeler for use in prospecting for gold. Both Swenson & Hibbard and the HBC had a trading post there.

Casco at Sea

The Casco at Sea (Photo from the August Brabant collection.)

The Casco departed Petropavlosk on September 28th, bound for Vancouver via Hakodate Japan. She took 30 days in the crossing carrying a Russian man, his wife and three children as passengers.

In 1922 they returned to Siberia, travelling to the northern shore of the Okhotsk Sea in a chartered Japanese vessel. Icebound ports made progress difficult. Competition from Seattle trader Olaf Swenson was fierce. But in spite of these difficulties they established trading posts at Ayan on the southwest side of the Okhotsk Sea. Ayan was a place where a pack horse trail moved goods inland and brought furs to the coast in trade. A minor gold rush brought two dozen American miners to the river that summer. These miners were later forced out of the country by Bolshevik forces.

In 1922 the trading venture was supported by the Baychimo, a chartered Japanese steamer the Koyo Maru (operated in the Okhotsk Sea by Captain Beavis and wrecked in 1923 at Saghalien). The Ruby and the Lady Kindersley. Beavis transferred to the Ruby in 1923 for Okhotsk Sea operations. By this time the Bolshevik forces were firmly in charge and made life very difficult for the HBC. At one point they commandeered the Ruby to pick up their partisans and wounded soldiers up the coast. After further difficulties Beavis sailed in the Ruby for Dutch Harbour and arrived in Seattle in October.

Although the Baychimo was sent in 1924 the political situation had worsened to the point where she did not get beyond Japan. Beavis reflected well on these years later in life. He appears to have enjoyed the whole affair even though it was a bit of a commercial disaster for the HBC.


To quote from this article please cite:

MacFarlane, John (2020) The Hudson’s Bay Company Venture in Siberia. Nauticapedia.ca 2020. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Siberia_Casco.php

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