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George,

On Mon, 21 Nov 2005, George Huxtable wrote:

> in case it didn't get around the list (though a copy was reflected back to

Your previous message reached me in time.

> Was this an official
> government-backed voyage of exploration, staffed by the Russian savants of
> the day, I wonder?
> Alex may know, from his reading.

This was an official government-sponsored expedition
with the purpose to establish diplomatic and trade relations.
(There was no much remaining objects of "exploration" in the neighborhood
of Japan
in 1850-s:-)
The goal was the same as of the similar US expeditions at the same time:
to "open" Japan to the West.

The expedition was headed by an admiral and included one frigate,
Pallada (Pallas) which
sailed from Kronstadt (near S-Petersburg) around the Cape of Good Hope,
with stops in England, Madeira, Kapstadt (Capetown) and Shanghai.
Two or three smaller ships sailed from the Russian Far East.

Sorry, this is out of scope of the list, but I want to quote one
impressive
detail:-) When approaching Shanghai, they had to send a small schooner
ahead "to find out the news from Europe". They worried whether Russia is
not by chance in the state of war with some European power, in which case
they could have troubles in Shanghai:-) The schooner brought newspapers,
but the news from Europe were 6 months old!

On the other hand, the writer describes all world except Japan as
"very civilized". For example he does not recommend travellers to take
too many pairs of shoes, "because excellent shoes they can be easily
made for you in an English shop
anywhere":-)

Alex.

   

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