Russians try to tame 'Sea Wolf' Captain Alexander MacLean (Part 2)

A Russian vessel, photographed by Leonhard Stejneger, circa 1890s. Smithsonian Institution Archives

• Published Aug 4, 2019 9:37 AM KST
• Updated Aug 4, 2019 5:38 PM KST

By Robert Neff

After being caught almost red-handed poaching seals from a Russian island, Captain MacLean was summoned, along with most of his crew, to appear aboard the Russian warship Alert. This he complied with, but once aboard the Russian warship, a fight broke out and eventually the Americans were overpowered.

A prize crew was then sent to the schooner. According to MacLean, “the American flag was floating at the masthead, and as the halyards were hammed and cut, it was no easy matter to get down. Several attempts were made but were unsuccessful. A young Russian sailor at last succeeded in climbing to the masthead. He was unable to pull the flag down, so he cut and tore off all he could of it.”

Only a small portion of the American flag remained.

MacLean was furious with this “insult to the American government” and protested loudly but was ignored. The Russian flag was then hoisted up and “the portion of the American flag cut from the masthead was brought to the deck and torn into small pieces, which were then thrown overboard.”

MacLean, his crew and the J. Hamilton Lewis were taken to Vladivostok where they were to be tried for “fitting out for sealing in Russian waters” ― basically, poaching. As soon as they arrived, the schooner was formally confiscated and renamed.

For two months they remained interned in Vladivostok, free to explore the city by day but had an 8 p.m. curfew, at which time they had to return to their confinement. It isn't clear where they were confined as there are conflicts in the sources ― either in a prison or on the schooner.

They were far more fortunate than the captains and crews of four other sealing schooners (three British and one American) caught poaching in Russian waters about the same time by another Russian warship. The captains were presented a letter, written in Russian, acknowledging they had been caught poaching and told to sign it. If they refused to sign it, they would be sent to Siberia to work in the mines as prisoners.

“Under compulsion they signed, and they and the crews then underwent a taste of Russian prison life, twenty-one men being kept for days in a room 11x11 [feet] with a leaky roof and a broken floor.” At some point they were thrown out and left to fend for themselves on the beach. Fortunately for them a steamship from Canada arrived and they were able to seek passage on it.

MacLean, however, did not know of their treatment and probably wouldn't have cared. He was a tough man and so it comes as no surprise that he was soon in trouble for challenging authority.

According to him, it was customary for the citizens of the city to yield the wooden sidewalk whenever they encountered Russian officials or military officers. One day, he encountered three officers walking abreast on the sidewalk and refused to step aside ― into the muck-filled street ― so that they could pass.

An altercation occurred and the officers soon found themselves in the muck. A group of Russian soldiers sprang to the assistance of their officers and soon MacLean was subdued. For his insubordination, he was hauled before the magistrate for failure to show “proper respect to the Russian uniform.”

MacLean never went to trial. Like many accused poachers (the lucky ones), he and his crew were held for a few months and then expelled from Russia ― without his schooner. They were first sent to Wonsan, Korea, where they probably stayed for one or two days. From Wonsan, they were put aboard a Russian steamer (probably the Vladimir under the command of Captain Bollman) and taken to Nagasaki, where they were handed over to the American consul, William H. Abercrombie.

MacLean filed protests with the American consulate and then returned to the United States to San Francisco, where he continued to lodge complaints. Unbelievably, despite being caught red-handed, an international tribunal found him innocent of poaching. He felt vindicated and was determined to get his revenge. MacLean was on his way to piracy.