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The ''Nikolai'' ((ロシア語:Николай)) was a schooner of the Russian-American Company sent by Chief Manager Alexander Baranov to Oregon Country in November 1808. Due a weather storm it became stuck on the Olympic Peninsula and the crew had to abandon ship. The crew quickly faced hostilities from the Hoh nation, wary of outside invaders. The crew had low food supplies and had to raid to native villages over the next year to avoid starvation. Many became the willing slaves of the Makah nation after Makah nobles agreed to free them when the next European vessel entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca. An American ship visited Neah Bay in the spring of 1810 and the RAC employees were freed and returned to Novo-Arkhangelsk. The failure of the vessel to locate a suitable location for a potential station in the Oregon Country made RAC officials refocus efforts and eventually establish Fort Ross in Alta California. The schooner was named in honor of Saint Nicholas (, ); it is sometimes referred to as the ''Sv. Nikolai''. ==Dispatched south== The ''Nikolai'' was "ordered to explore the coast south of Vancouver Island, barter with the natives for sea otter pelts, and if possible discover a site for a permanent Russian post in the Oregon Country."〔Alton S. Donnelly. ''The Wreck of the Sv. Nikolai'' ed. Kenneth N. Owens. Portland, OR: The Press of the Oregon Historical Society. 1985, p. 4.〕 The vessel had a compliment of 22, including Russian ''promyshlenniki'', an Englishman and seven Alutiiq.〔 On ,〔Donnelly (1985), pp. 44-46.〕 a weather system of strong gales and large waves marooned the ship on a beach north of the Quillayute River and James Island.〔 Members of the Hoh nation arrived that day, inspecting the stuck ship. As the Hohs investigated the Russian property, Timofei Tarakanov, an officer, instructed the ''promyshlenniki'' to "Try somehow to get them out of the camp without fighting."〔 Communication with a Hoh noble was commenced through Chinook jargon, though a Russian instigated skirmish arose.〔 Three Hohs were killed, and many of the ''Nikolai'' crew were injured by rocks and spears. In the aftermath of the fighting, the ''promyshlenniki'' "took two guns and a pistol, and we loaded all the boxes of cartridges, three kegs of powder" along with the remaining supply of provisions and destroyed the remaining armaments aboard the ship.〔 The party then began to leave the area for a location that Baranov had said a RAC ship would eventually visit. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Russian schooner Nikolai」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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