Twenty-five-year-old Major Nikolai V. Busse rendezvoused with Admiral Gennadii I. NevelÂŽskoi at Petrovskoe, an outpost on the northern Pacific seaboard, in late August 1853. Having first gone to Petropavlovsk, on the Kamchatka Peninsula, he was now arriving under special orders from Nikolai N. MuravËĂ«v, Eastern Siberiaâs powerful governor-general. Busse had previously served in the renowned SemĂ«novskii Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Mikhail S. Korsakov, now MuravËĂ«vâs closest assistant. Patronage serving him well to this point, the young Lutheran nobleman from St. Petersburg was in Petrovskoe to discuss with NevelËskoi a mission for which both were poorly prepared. It involved establishing a post in southern Sakhalin to directly challenge Japanâs control there, and reconnoitering the area for future settlement.
Busse would eventually die of syphilis in 1866. Five years later, the diary he kept during this mission was serialized in the thick journal Vestnik Evropy (The European Herald) and immediately published as a book.1 In it, Busse evinces that imperial mindset that, as Aleksandr Kamenskii writes, âextended beyond the nationâs traditional frontiers, while at the same time Russians refused to come to grips with the implications of the changes taking place within the newly expanded frontiers.â2 This refusal, or perhaps inability, to grasp such implications would be shared by nearly every Russian official who ever came into contact with Sakhalin. Busseâs diary also offers a rare glimpse of what Sakhalin was like before Russians arrived en masse. Because it appeared during the relaxed censorship following Nicholas Iâs death and, moreover, because it did not conform to the formalities conditioning NevelÂŽskoiâs and othersâ published memoirs, Busseâs diary offers an immediate account of early Russian military efforts to landscape the island.
NevelËskoi and Busse
At the time of the Busse Expedition, the so-called Amur Fleet was quite small and thus indicative of Russiaâs limited presence in what later became known as the Russian Far East (RFE). As late as 1855, the fleet consisted of just the frigate Avrora; the transports Dvina, Irtysh, and Baikal; the corvette Olivutsa; and the schooner Kheddo (constructed in Japan by the Russians).3 Similarly indicative were the primitive conditions at Petrovskoe, where some 50 sailors and soldiers occupied half-a-dozen log cabins. Forty-year-old Admiral NevelËskoi was the regionâs commanding officer and was, according to Busse, âa small man, with a friendly, wrinkled face covered with pockmarks, a large bald spot surrounded by disheveled gray hair, and rather small gray eyes that he screwed up, giving him an elderly, senile look.â4 NevelÂŽskoiâs wife was with him, and may have been the only female in camp. When Busse arrived, the brig Shelikhova was at NevelÂŽskoiâs disposal, but for some reason they instead boarded the transport Baikal (which would have a long and storied history with Sakhalin) to sail the 200 miles north to unite with the expeditionary force waiting at Aian. Headquarters of the Russian-American Company, which since 1845 had held charter over Sakhalin, Aian was a port-of-call for international whalers yet probably offered living conditions similar to Petrovskoeâs. After a journey that stretched to four days due to a lack of wind, Busse and NevelÂŽskoi reached Aian, where the latter promptly got into a heated argument with Aleksandr F. Koshevarov, the Russian-American Company representative, over which ship Busse could use for his expedition. NevelÂŽskoi won the argument; and on 3 September, he, Busse, and some 70 sailors and soldiers departed Aian aboard the Nikolai.5
Early in his diary, Busse describes Sakhalinâs importance as being essentially military, explaining that it formed part of a geographical line of defense running from Ezo (i.e., Hokkaido) along the North Pacific coast to Aian. If necessary, the island could aid in the defense of Nikolaevskâthen just a stockade guarding the mouth of the Amur, that mighty river that led into the heart of northern Asia and upon which N. N. MuravËĂ«v and others placed high hopes and dreams. Yet NevelÂŽskoi and other investors also valued Sakhalin for its probable coal deposits: besides being a navy admiral, he was a shareholder in the Russian-American Company.6 With regard to Sakhalin, this intertwining of official duty with vested interest would be a recurring motif in the decades that followed.
After a brief return to Petrovskoe for supplies, the Nikolai sailed south, skirting Sakhalinâs west coast. Here, NevelÂŽskoi sent ashore a handful of men under Second Lieutenant D. I. Orlov to establish a post near the IlËinsk River. (Less than a month later, lack of provisions would force these men to abandon their position and make their way to the post that Busse would establish.)7 On 17 September, the Nikolai rounded Cape Crillon, Sakhalinâs southernmost point, to enter Aniva Bay. The weather at sea had been clear, but the morningâs temperature now fell to 68° F, contributing to a mysterious fog that enshrouded the rocky shoreline. For two days, the Nikolai hugged the islandâs southern coast. âThe mountaintops of the coast could not be seen,â Busse writes, âand the tallest hills were not entirely conical. Growing on the grassy hills, a small forest made the Sakhalin coast more cheerfully inviting.â8
The expedition eventually reached a cove halfway along the Aniva shoreline called Salmon Bay, where a river still called the Susuia debouches. Deciding to visit a village they saw there, NevelÂŽskoi, Busse, and 12 sailors lowered two rowboats and a canoe into the water at 11 oâclock on the morning of 19 September. Busse claims this was a Japanese village, but it was actually the Ainu settlement of Kushunkotan, which the Japanese called Kosun-Kotan. Concerned the Japanese might have cannon or at very least prove unwelcoming, the sailors hid a cache of firearms underfoot. Should he see NevelËskoiâs party wave a flag from shore, the Nikolaiâs captain was to dispatch to the shore Lieutenant Nikolai V. Rudanovskii and 20 armed sailors as reinforcements. Should the landing party instead fire two signal shots, he was to weigh anchor, close in to a depth of 3 fathoms, and level a broadside into the village.
NevelËskoi, Busse, and the sailors waded ashore under a military flag. âIn a minute, we were surrounded on all sidesâ by both Ainu and Japanese, writes Busse.
The savages signaled they wished to receive us as friends. Several of them produced the word âAmerica.â We began explaining that we were Russian, not American. Several signaled that Americans wanted to come to Sakhalin and that, therefore, we should settle with them and defend them from the Americans. We began trading things. Bronze and steel thingsâknives, scissors, buttons, etc.âsomehow very much pleased them. They did not want our rough tobacco [makhorka]. Several Japanese approached us several times. Their faces contrasted sharply with those of the Ainu.9
Despite Busse calling them âsavages,â the Ainu were quite familiar to the Russians. This unique people also occupied parts of the mainland Siberian coast and Kamchatka, and some knew enough Russian to communicate with naval captain Vasilii M. Golovnin when he visited Sakhalin earlier in the century.10 In many ways, the Russians were actually less familiar with the Japanese, especially those on Sakhalin.
NevelËskoi asked where their leaderââtheir âgenjiâ [sic], or starshinââwas, and the villagers pointed toward a larger village nearby on a small bay framed by high hills to north and south. This was Tomari, established by Hokkaidoâs Matsumae clan during the late seventeenth century, and the Japaneseâs largest settlement and administrative headquarters on Sakhalin. NevelÂŽskoi asked that the âgenjiâ come to meet him on the beach, but the Japanese signaled they should all go to Tomari instead. The Russians feared a trap but followed nonetheless. After a short walk, they reached âthe Japanese structuresâ constituting Tomari. A group of Ainu ushered them into a large âbarnâ where half-a-dozen notables awaited them.
They sat on their bended knees, on straw mats. In three of the walls there was a quadrangular hearth where burned a small fire. The starshii-genji [senior Japanese leader], extraordinarily fat, occupied the place of president. A sabre was thrust beneath his belt, another lay beside him. Six Japanese (his councilors) sat in groups of three on either side of him. Near the fourth wall, opposite the starshin, a mat had been placed for us. We reclined on it and began explaining our intention to live with the Japanese on Sakhalin. The entire barn filled with animation. Nearest us, on a higher level, sat fifteen motionless Japanese in no particular order. It was funny to watch as NevelÂŽskoi tried to explain to the Japanese that Russians wanted to live peaceably with them and the Ainu, to occupy Sakhalin to defend them against the Americans. When it became apparent that the genji and his comrades understood this matter, we pulled out gifts consisting of cloth, woolen dresses, scarves, metal items, and buttons.11
The Russians also passed out bottles of rum, wine, and lemonade. NevelÂŽskoi, careful to use âKarafuto,â the Japanese name for Sakhalin, promised his hosts they would prevent the Americans from coming to the island.
The Russians spent the rest of the day exploring the local coastline in their small craft. NevelÂŽskoi felt so comfortable that only Busseâs anxious protestations dissuaded him from spending the night onshore. He also argued that continued contact with the Japanese might undermine the expedition and have grave consequences. NevelÂŽskoi disagreed: rather than return to the mainland aboard the Nikolai as originally intended, he decided to anchor off Tomari and reconnoiter the local coastline. Busse writes that tensions were already rising between the two men. He calls NevelÂŽskoi an âegotistâ and Lieutenant Nikolai K. Boshniak, who had led the first expedition to Sakhalin and was now here siding with NevelÂŽskoi, a âdaydreamerâ and âbaby.â12
On the morning of the 21st, they loaded two rowboats and a bark and set off for Tomari. Upon reaching shore, the sailors defiled in two lines and were met by a group of Ainu and Japanese. NevelÂŽskoi once more apprised the islanders of his peaceful attentions, then turned and ordered his men to sing the hymns âOur Fatherâ and âGod Save the Tsar.â Those aboard the Nikolai responded with choruses of âHurrah!â In such way, writes Busse, âSakhalin became a Russian possession. The assemblage of Ainu and Japanese stared at us in astonishment.â13
For all his surliness and self-regard, Busse seems to have genuinely empathized with Sakhalinâs indigenous population. He moreover reveals an appreciation for the absurd, writing that NevelÂŽskoi wanted to occupy Tomari but that he convinced him the Russians should instead establish themselves on the northern hill overlooking the bay. Cannon placed both there and on the southern hill, he argued, could easily bombard Tomari if needed. On the 22nd, with help from Japanese vessels, the Russians transported 4,000 poods of supplies to shore. NevelÂŽskoi seconded 59 sailors, eight hired men, and one rowboat to Busse. Then, much to Busseâs relief, he departed aboard the Nikolai, which was anyway scheduled to winter in the recently established mainland port of Emperorâs Harbor.14 Busse paid the Japanese 60 silver rubles for a small stand of sheds already on the northern hill, and immediately ordered gun emplacements and a barracks built with timber they bought from Ainu for 180 silver rubles. Thus was founded the first in a series of three successive military posts on Sakhalin that would be named after Governor-general N. N. MuravËĂ«v,15 though not until his diary entry for 10 February 1854 does Busse refer to it explicitly as âMuravÂŽĂ«vsk Post.â
Establishing a military position atop a hill made tactical sense. But this first MuravËĂ«vsk Post also marked what Rebecca Weaver-Hightower, in her study of the morphology of castaway tales, calls the âmonarch-of-all-I-survey moment.â Demotic stories like Gulliverâs Travels played an important role in generating the imperial imaginary, she explains, and in them the typical castaway/colonist strives from this moment onward to superimpose upon the given island his habitusâthe term Weaver-Hightower borrows from Pierre Bourdieu to describe the conglomeration of language, body movements, dress, behaviors, etc. that serves to order oneâs world.16 During his time on Sakhalin, Busse tried, from his hilltop, to superimpose at least part of his habitus onto the landscape below. Results were mixed.