American-Russian Investigation of the NEVA Wreck and Survivors? Camp: 200th Anniversary Expedition, Sitka, Alaska

Sitka Historical Society, Inc, Sitka AK

Investigators

Abstract

The PIs propose a 3-year underwater archaeological investigation for the wreck of the Russian American Company frigate Neva, and the excavation of a site where possibly 26 survivors waited for rescue for 24 days in 1813. The proposed project would support three-years of collaborative research among Untied States and Russian scholars to investigate the shipwreck of the Neva, which was wrecked off Kruzoff Island near Sitka in January 1813 and a site on the adjacent mainland which is believed to have been the 1813 survivor's camp. The research coincides with the two hundred year anniversary of the shipwreck. The research will include underwater reconnaissance and archaeology at the purported shipwreck site, archaeological excavation at the survivor's camp, archival research, interviews, metallurgical, faunal analysis, XRF of glass artifacts, and public education. The applicants point out that the Neva is one of the most important ships in the history of Russian America because it was used in the first Russian voyage around the world and was engaged to retake Sitka from the Tlingit Tribes in 1804.