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Description

Detailed Russian-Language Chart of the Area Around Sitka, Alaska, Prepared During Russian Ownership of Alaska.

Superb Russian blue-backed nautical chart, recording state-of-the-art Russian knowledge of the region around Sitka (or Novo Archangelsk, in Russian), the capital of Russian America.  The present chart is larger and more detailed than the Tebenkov atlas map of the area; the other up-to-date Russian mapping of the region.

The southern end of the map reaches midway into Prince of Wales Island. Port Protection is noted with an anchor and labeled. The northern end of the map goes close to the top of the Lynn Canal (so-called in Russian on the map), near present-day Haines, Alaska. The detail of the chart is best around Sitka, where the maker has recorded mountains and their peak elevations, as well as coastline minutiae. Elsewhere the confidence fades, and coastlines give way to speculative dotted lines. Port Conclusion, Port Mary, and other ports are noted.

The East Ocean (ВОСТОЧНАГО ОКЕАНА) Chart Series

This is "No. 10 Л. С." of the ВОСТОЧНАГО ОКЕАНА [Vostochnago Okeana] series of charts, an extremely important and rare group of maps published by the Hydrographic Department of the Russian Navy in the late 1840s and early 1850s.  This series was the successor to the Sarychev atlas of the Northern Pacific from 20 years earlier. The cartobibliography of the later series is spotty at best, but it appears to match a collection of maps described in the literature as A. F. Kashevarov's Atlas of the Eastern Ocean.  Postinkov and Falk have this to say about it: 

The copy preserved in Russia contains thirty-six printed charts, engraved between 1844-1854, showing the coasts of the Arctic Ocean, of the Bering, Anadyr, Okhotsk, and Japanese seas, the Gulf of Alaska and San Francisco Bay, the Tlingit [Koloshenskie] Straits in Alexander Archipelago, and the entry into the Columbia River. The title page has been lost, while the table of contents was done by hand and does not contain the atlas compiler's name, nor the date and place of publication. All of these data are known only from V. V. Kolgushkin's catalogue, where it is noted that the atlas was kept in a cardboard case inscribed  Atlas of the Eastern Ocean, Compiled from Various Journals and Charts by A. Kashevarov.

At least two other reference to the Kashevarov atlas date it to 1850:

В 1850 г. А. Ф. Кашеваровым был издан «Атлас Восточного океана с Охотским и Беринговым морями». Как и атлас Сары-чева, он составлен по материалам русских и иностранных исследователей. Район, вошедший в атлас, ограничен координатами 35—69° с. ш. и 120—225° з.д. и охватывает Охотское и Берингово моря, Алеутские острова и часть побережья Северной Америки — всего 10 карт. Кроме них, имеется еще шесть входных карт: пять — в порты Русской Америки и одна — в Петропавловский порт.

In 1850, A.F. Kashevarov published the Atlas of the Eastern Ocean with the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Seas. Like the Sarychev atlas, it is based on Russian and foreign researchers. The area included in the atlas is limited to coordinates 35-69 ° s. sw. and 120-225 ° w. and covers the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea, the Aleutian Islands and part of the coast of North America - only 10 maps. In addition to these, there are six more input cards: five to the ports of Russian America and one to the port of Petropavlovsk.

It is interesting that this series was published contemporaneously with the 1852 Tebenkov Атлас северо-западных берегов Америки (Atlas of the Northwestern Coast of America...), the plates for which were returned to St. Petersburg from Sitka in 1851 (see Lada-Mocarski 137). The present map, with its title date of 1853, obviously draws on the Tebenkov map number VIII (which in turn drew on Tebenkov's own experience in the Pacific, native cartography, and the journals of other Russian sailors). However, the present map is expanded in terms of detail and coverage compared with its Tebenkov analog.

The maps from the ВОСТОЧНАГО ОКЕАНА series represent the apotheosis of Russian America-Era mapping of the northern Pacific, surpassing those of Tebenkov and his predecessors.  We have been unable to trace any complete sets of the maps, though Postnikov and Falk reference one at the Library of Congress and Kolgushkin records the copy in the copy in Russia. An 1864 Russian catalog of marine charts gives a title list for the Vostochnago Okeana Atlas, and we have traced some of the constituent charts:

Генеральная карта Ледовитаго моря и Восточнаго океана [General Map of the Arctic Sea and East Ocean... 1844] Library of Congress G9780 1844 .R8

Ледовитаго моря отъ Чаунской губы до Мыса Ледянаго [Arctic Sea from Chaunskaya Bay to Cape Ledyanago...]

Ледовитаго и Берингова морей съ сѣверозапад нымъ берегомъ Америки, отъ мыса Лисбур на до полуострова Аляски [Arctic and Bering Seas with the Northwest Coast of America, from Cape Lisburne to the Alaskan Peninsula] Yale Beinecke 848cea B45 1858

Берингова моря, съ сѣверовосточнымъ берегомъ Азіи между мысами Олюторскимъ и Чукотскимъ [Bering Sea, with the Northeast Coast of Asia between the Capes Olutorsky and Chukotka.]

Сѣверной половины Охотскаго моря [Northern Half of the Sea of Okhotsk]

Южной половины Охотскаго моря [Southern Half of the Sea of Okhotsk]

Полуострова Камчатки [No. 4 Kamchatka Peninsula... 1851] BLR 58548

Камчатскаго берега между мысами Шипунскимъ и Поворотнымъ [Kamchatka Coast between Capes Shipunsky and Povorotny] BLR 58549

Алеутскихъ и Комондорскихъ острововъ [Aleutian and Komondorsky Islands]

Полуострова Аляски и Алеутскихъ острововъ [Alaskan Peninsula and Aleutian Islands... 1847] UAF-G4372 A425 1847 G54

Восточнаго океана, между остравами Баранова и Кадьякомъ [Eastern Ocean, between the Islands of Baranof and Kodiak] UAF-G4372 A4231 1847 G52

Сѣверозападнаго берега Америки съ Колошенскимъ архипелагомъ [Northwest Coast of America, with the Koloshensky Archipelago]

Сѣверозападнаго берега Америки, между портомъ Монтерей и Зундомъ Королевы Шарлотты [Northwest Coast of America, between Port Monterey and Queen Charlotte Sound.]

Пролива Купріянова, между островами Кадьякомъ ж Афогнакомъ [Kupriyanova Strait, between the islands of Kodiak and Afognak]

Входовъ къ Новоархангельскому порту [Entrance to the Port of New Archangel]

Пролива Врангеля | Входа въ рѣку Колумбію [Wrangel Strait | Entry to the Columbia]

Сѣверной половины Колошенскаго архипелага [Northern Half of the Koloshensky Archipelago]

Южной половины Колошенскаго архипелага [Southern Half of the Koloshensky Archipelago]

Амурскаго лимана съ частію Татарскаго пролива [Amur esturary with part of the Tatar Strait]

Залива Св. Ольги [St. Olga Bay]

Залива Св. Владиміра [St. Vladimir Bay]

Части Сангарскаго пролива, съ гаванью Хакодаде [Parts of the Sangarsky (i.e., Tsugaru) Strait, with Hakodate Harbor]

Сангарскаго пролива [Sangarsky (i.e., Tsugaru) Strait]

Сѣвер. части Японскаго моря [Northern Parts of the Sea of Japan]

Восточнаго берега полу-острова Корея [East Coast of the Peninsula of Korea]

Планъ входа въ бухты Новгородскую и Экспедиціи (въ заливѣ Посьета) [Plan of the Entry into Novgorod and Expedition Bays (in Posyet Bay)]

Планъ залива Де-Кастри [Plan of De Kastri Bay]

[Планъ] Нагасакской бухты [Plan of Nagasaki Bay]

Острова Тсу-Сима, съ планомъ бухтъ Фугу и Адзи [Tsu-Sima Islands, Fugu and Aji Bays]

Западнаго берега Японскаго моря отъ з. Св. Владиміра до з. Америка [West Coast of the Sea of Japan, from St. Vladimir Bay to America Bay]

Despite Postinkov and Falk's comments this collection of charts was probably unstable and it is doubtful that it was ever issued with a title page. 

The map has a few manuscript changes along the bottom edge. Namely, it has been checked for accuracy by an Ensign Safonov: "As of  January 1, 1867, there have been no changes. Ensign Safonov." And with the printed longitude designation "East From Petersburg", Safonov has crossed out "Petersburg" and written "East from Pulkovo", this is akin to crossing out "London" and writing "Greenwich" to add specificity to longitude. 

The manuscript dating of 1867 is noteworthy, as this is the year that Russian American was turned over to the United States. It is possible that this chart was checked as part of the hand-over process.  Indeed, Postnikov and Falk highlight the process by which the Tebenkov and Vostochnago Okeana Atlases were given to the United States in the hope that it would help facilitate the land sale and make American excursions into Russian America unnecessary.

We extend our thanks to Denis Khotimsky for his assistance in cataloging this map.

Reference
Alexey Postnikov and Marvin Falk, Exploring and Mapping Alaska: The Russian American Era, 1741-1867, page 433.