The Mulovsky expedition was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

naval A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operatio ...

expedition planned by

Catherine II of Russia Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

, to be led by Captain . The expedition never took place, due to the outbreak of the

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

Initial plans

In January 1787, the 22nd year of Catherine II of Russia, two edicts emerged "on the occasion of attempts on the part of English commercial traders to develop trading and commerce in the wildlife of the Eastern Sea", from the Board of Foreign Affairs and the Board of Admiralty. By the first of these, it was ordered that measures be taken "for the maintenance of our right" to the lands discovered by Russians, and by the second, to send four warships from the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

by the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

and

Sunda Strait The Sunda Strait () is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java island, Java and Sumatra. It connects the Java Sea with the Indian Ocean. Etymology The strait takes its name from the Sunda Kingdom, which ruled the western portion of Ja ...

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...

Captain and crew

Captain of the 1st. rank was appointed commander of this squadron (the number of whose ships was brought up to five) and in his instructions the

Admiralty Board The Admiralty Board is the body established under the Defence Council of the United Kingdom for the administration of the Naval Service of the United Kingdom. It meets formally only once a year, and the day-to-day running of the Royal Navy is ...

set out the problem of the protection of Russian interests in the seas between Kamchatka and America. The expedition was supplied with cast iron escutcheons and specially prepared medals; they were to go with the scientists. It was proposed that the officers keep journals with

ethnographical Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

notes and gather collections and compose dictionaries. It was ordered that, after annexing them to Russia, all the

Kurile Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the ...

be described, the island of

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...

be sailed around and described, that the voyage be continued to

Nootka Sound Nootka Sound () is a sound of the Pacific Ocean on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island, in the Pacific Northwest, historically known as King George's Sound. It separates Vancouver Island and Nootka Island, part of the Canadian province of ...

(off Vancouver Island) and that, after investigating that place, the entire coast from "Nootka to the initial point of discovery by Chirikov" be annexed to Russia if it was not already occupied by another power. The expeditions was then to proceed along the coast of Alaska and to "formally to take possession" of it, to destroy foreign armorial bearings and insignia and everywhere establish signs of its belonging to Russia.

James Trevenen James Trevenen (1 January 1760 – 9 July 1790) was an officer in the Royal Navy and the Imperial Russian Navy. Born in Cornwall "of a very respectable family", he was educated at the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth and went to sea in 1776 as ...

, a British Royal Navy officer and companion of Captain

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

, was connected with the Mulovsky expedition. In the spring of 1787, Catherine II received his project for developing the fur trade in the Pacific Ocean, which included the dispatch of three ships from

Kronstadt Kronstadt (, ) is a Russian administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Saint Petersburg, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg, near the head ...

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

: two would remain on the coast of Kamchatka, the third would take on furs obtained to China or Japan; one or two additional ships yearly would ensure communication with the Baltic, which had to become a very good school for Russian seamen, and ensure supplies for the traders. The project was received by the Empress with enthusiasm, and Trevenen was admitted into the Russian fleet as a captain of the 2nd rank. Another companion of Cook, the naturalist

Georg Forster Johann George Adam Forster, also known as Georg Forster (; 27 November 1754 – 10 January 1794), was a German geography, geographer, natural history, naturalist, ethnology, ethnologist, travel literature, travel writer, journalist and revol ...

, was invited to participate in the expedition. He was appointed "historiographer of the fleet", according to the program of the expedition actively drawn up by

Peter Simon Pallas Peter Simon Pallas Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (22 September 1741 – 8 September 1811) was a Prussia, Prussian zoologist, botanist, Ethnography, ethnographer, Exploration, explorer, Geography, geographer, Geology, geologist, Natura ...

Cancellation

''The World,'' of 23 November 1787, reported that: However the Mulovsky expedition was cancelled by Catherine II on 28 October 1787 in connection with the Russo-Turkish War. The next year the Russo-Swedish War began, during which both Mulovsky and Trevenen perished in separate naval battles against the Swedes.

Context

The conception of the Mulovsky expedition and Trevenen's project anticipated the idea of the 19th century Russian round-the-world and voyages, just as in part it did the scheme of supplying and maintaining commercial communications with

Russian America Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

References

{{Reflist

Initial plans

Captain and crew

Cancellation

Context

See also

References

Further reading