Excavation project leader Rick Knecht says the crew constructed five small survival huts after their supply ship, bound from Sitka to Kodiak Island, wrecked on the treacherous reef during a storm in January 1813. There were between 20 and 23 people aboard the supply vessel.
Knecht says the crew salvaged building materials from the wreck, including some of its 10 cannons. They created a blacksmith shop and were able to produce iron harpoons for hunting seals and sea otters for food, he said.
"This was a significant challenge, because iron is very labor intensive to produce from ore. But they had blacksmith tools, and they made it happen," said Knecht, a professor of archaeology at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.
The shipmates also salvaged metal and fabric from the ship to create clothing, bedding and cooking tools, he said.
The researchers discovered large areas covered with barnacle shells, sea urchins and mussel shells. Archaeologists say that's evidence the men dug pits, filled them with water and used hot rocks from their cook fires to steam shellfish and other seafood.
Knecht says the group survived despite limited food and brutal conditions.
"We had sub-zero temperatures, probably dropping as low as -22 below zero Fahrenheit with very high winter winds," he said. "These guys would have been working very hard on a day-to-day basis just to stay warm."
Researchers believe many of the other people on the ship went in search of help and died of hypothermia or were killed by native hunters.
Only two of the eight shipmates who constructed the survival huts were identified by name: Alexander Kuskof, a high-ranking officer of the Russian-American Company, and Herman Levashef, an Orthodox priest.
The Russian-American Company was a privately chartered business that played an important role in Russian-North American exploration, fur trade and colonization in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Archaeologists found personal belongings believed to have been carried by Kuskof and Levashef, including a seal made from a walrus tusk, copper buttons and a piece of a telescope, Knecht said.
The archaeologists have finished excavating the site, which is on a national wildlife refuge, and are writing a report on their findings. They hope to return in 2024 to search for evidence of the fate of the other members of the ship's crew.
