Alaska was discovered by the expedition of Gvozdev and Fedorov in 1731. But before them, even before their first voyages, during the lifetime of Peter the Great, another expedition was equipped. Peter wondered if there is a northeastern passage, is it possible to sail from Arkhangelsk to India and China? Are Asia and America Connecting or Separated by a Strait?
A manuscript dated 1732 tells about this. Author - Peter Semenovich Stern, a member of the expedition. The manuscript was discovered in the archives of the Samara local historian Vladimir Timofeevich Lisovsky after his death. As follows from the attached letter from Lisovsky, it was previously kept in the library of the Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, the manuscript was damaged in a fire in the library of the academy in 1875. The fault here is not only the fire, but also the poor storage conditions, and the efforts of home-grown restorers. Where she was later, how she got to the Samara ethnographer, remains a mystery. But here is a reconstruction of this document.
Like Lomonosov
The questions of Peter the Great were raised before the expedition, which left Avacha Bay in the summer of 1720. It was commanded by Mikhail Rudnev, captain-commander, a graduate of the Naval Academy (later, almost the same path was repeated by Bering and Chirikov). The expedition failed completely and was soon forgotten. And that is why one of the participants in that campaign should be remembered - Fyodor Shcherba. He was an interesting person. Self-arising talent, like Lomonosov. He studied in Moscow, then in Heidelberg and the Sorbonne. Polyglot, encyclopedist. He dreamed of creating a universal science where all areas of human knowledge would converge. It would seem that such a person should be no less famous than Lomonosov.
Expedition of Captain Rudnev
Rudnev's expedition left on two packet boats "Passat" and "Apostle Paul". Fyodor Shcherba himself insisted on participating in it. Petr Stern also became a member of the expedition. The candidacy of this astronomer and miner was proposed by the Admiralty Board on the proposal of the Academy of Sciences. Stern became something of an adjunct, Shcherba's assistant.
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At fifty degrees north latitude, in heavy fog, the ships lost sight of each other. Until now, nothing is known about the fate of the "Apostle Paul". And "Passat", on board which were Rudnev, Shcherba and Stern himself, continued sailing to the northeast.
At the end of July, a high bank appeared. In search of a convenient place, the Passat went around this island and found a narrow bay, but failed to enter it. And at night a storm broke out, and the ship crashed on the rocks. Only Shcherba, Stern and three sailors escaped.
Tracing the path of the Passat, we can assume that this happened about fifty-first or fifty-second degrees of latitude. Longitude is more complicated. The nearest known islands there are Aleutian ones, but Rudnev could hardly reach one of them so quickly. In a word, they escaped, and the population of the island - a tribe that called itself the "people of Theia" - met them hospitably. Unable to leave the island, the Russian navigators remained to live there. Neither Shcherbe nor Stern, not to mention the sailors, managed to master the complex and peculiar language of the aborigines, but they somehow explained it.
Secret cults of theia
The views of the "people of theia" as presented by Peter Stern looked completely unusual. First of all, they didn't have any gods. Nothing like religion, although this is contrary to world experience. Not a single human culture, especially a primitive one, did not do without religious ideas. Perhaps Stern was mistaken here or he was not allowed into the holy of holies. But theia had just enough secret cults. They practiced magic, but understood, as we would now say, in a natural-scientific sense. Magic as expanding the boundaries of knowledge of the world and control of the forces of nature.
Not without a romantic story. Fyodor Shcherba fell in love with the daughter of one of the shamans, and this feeling was mutual. He taught her the Russian language and the basics of European sciences, and she, initiated into magical secrets, probably revealed something to Shcherba. However, Stern did not really know anything about it. They called her Anfisa, which, obviously, was consonant with her real name.
black mist
The survivors lived on the island for about four years. They built a house where Shcherba and Anfisa settled in one half, and Stern in the other. The sailors lived in the camp, together with theia. And then something incredible happened. Once the shamans performed a certain ritual. Stern writes that the sky darkened during the day, tornadoes were walking around the island. Then he saw what he calls "black fog" appeared over the horizon. This fog was advancing, it enveloped the island, it became dark as deep at night, and stars glittered in the darkness. This lasted only a few minutes, then the black fog subsided and the day returned.
Of course, this could be a superstitious description of a solar eclipse if it was written by an ignoramus. But Stern was an astronomer, and the eclipse could hardly have confused him. One way or another, the next morning the Theia tribe disappeared along with the sailors. When Stern, Shcherba and Anfisa left the house, they did not find anyone on the island. All boats were in place, so people could not sail away on them. And such boats were only suitable for coastal fishing in calm weather. Food supplies in the camp, primitive weapons, sledges - everything remained in order and inviolability. Arctic foxes, which theia tamed for sledding and hunting, were tied near dwellings. But the people disappeared, and none of the remaining three never knew what became of them, although they went around in search of the entire island. Anfisa, according to Stern, was shocked and confused no lessthan they are with Fyodor Shcherba. She couldn't explain anything. Or didn't she?
At the end of August 1724, a Russian frigate under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Feryazin anchored in the bay. It was a rescue expedition sent by the Admiralty Board in search of Rudnev. On this frigate Shcherba with Anfisa and Shtern left for Russia.
The fire burns all traces
In St. Petersburg F. Shcherba and P. Stern returned to scientific work at the Academy. A year later, Shcherba and Anfisa had a daughter, although they were not married, Anfisa did not accept Christianity. She was deeply alien to ideas about gods of any kind. Shcherba also became an ardent atheist. Stern writes about the evolution of Shcherba's views somehow evasively, but, apparently, it was not without Anfisa's influence. Leaving the academy, Shcherba devoted all his time to working on the book. He finished it in 1729, and it was called "Error". For some reason, he wrote it in Dutch, although it was this language (being a polyglot) that he did not know much. What is this book? Alas, Stern did not read it, and Shcherba, although he remained his friend, only hinted that it was a treatise somehow related to religion and magic. Apparently few people have read this book. Actually, it was not published, if we mean the publication. In the same 1729, by special order of Shcherba, a single copy was printed and bound. Shcherba destroyed the drafts. Stern reports that by that time Shcherba's character had changed a lot. He became withdrawn, gloomy, unsociable, settled with Anfisa and his daughter in a secluded house on the outskirts and rarely went out, almost never saw people. In early 1730, his house burned down. The fire raged so hard that it literally burned everything to the ground. After this fire, no one anywhere saw Shcherba, Anfisa, or their little daughter. It was assumed that they died in the fire. Although no remains were found in the ashes, this hellfire could have turned them to dust …settled with Anfisa and his daughter in a secluded house on the outskirts and rarely went out, almost never saw people. In early 1730, his house burned down. The fire raged so hard that it literally burned everything to the ground. After this fire, no one and nowhere saw either Shcherba, or Anfisa, or their little daughter. It was assumed that they died in the fire. Although no remains were found in the ashes, this hellfire could have turned them to dust …settled with Anfisa and his daughter in a secluded house on the outskirts and rarely went out, almost never saw people. In early 1730, his house burned down. The fire raged so hard that it literally burned everything to the ground. After this fire, no one anywhere saw Shcherba, Anfisa, or their little daughter. It was assumed that they died in the fire. Although no remains were found in the ashes, this hellfire could have turned them to dust …
Isn't it over yet?
This is how the story of Fyodor Shcherba ends - at least that part of it that was known to Peter Semyonovich Stern. In this story there are no answers, only questions. And the answers could be contained in Shcherba's book, because the faithful Anfisa was next to him, and no one knows what they were talking about. Probably, the book burned down, but perhaps Shcherba managed to hide it. Or take it with you - after all, it is far from the fact that Shcherba, Anfisa and the girl died in the fire. And if we assume that they disappeared, disappeared of their own free will, for some reason known to them, and set the house on fire to cover their tracks? But if so, it is possible that somewhere the only copy of the book is still kept, which may contain the clues to the secrets of the island, discovered by the expedition of Captain Rudnev, black fog and many other amazing and exciting secrets.
Andrey Bystrov
"Steps of the Oracle" No. 5