Boon Island - Kenneth Roberts [5]
Though the Deane Narrative has prevailed as the accepted version of the disaster, the sensational story of shipwreck and cannibalism nearly destroyed the captain's reputation. It is not surprising, therefore, that he seized an opportunity to secure a commission as a lieutenant in the Russian naval service, where he disappeared for eleven years. In a new career in a new country, Deane escaped public notoriety as well as his brother's private fury for having lost the Nottingham Galley.12
In the winter of 171415, Deane received his first command, a newly constructed, fifty-gun man-of-war, the Yagudil, which he was ordered to transport from Archangel to the Baltic. It was another harrowing, late-season voyage, this time around Mur-mansk and the North Cape. The experience must have brought back memories of the Nottinghaim Galley, for nearly half of the crew perished before the ship docked in Trondheim, Norway. Deane was then reassigned to the thirty-two gun frigate Samson, operating out of Reval. He took over twenty prizes in the next several years and earned a reputation as a daring commerce raider. At the end of 1719, Deane was court-martialed for an
Page 8
incident that had taken place two years earlier, when he had been obliged to give up two prizes at sea. In actuality, he had fallen victim to the jealousy of junior Russian officers who coveted his command. He was reduced to lieutenant and exiled to Kazan. A year later, during the celebration of the victory over Sweden, the Tsar granted a general amnesty to disgraced officers, and Deane was one of many mercenaries expelled from Russia. 13
Deane departed in the spring of 1722. His former patron, the High Admiral Apraksin, curiously provided him with a document indicating that he had left Russian service with the rank of captain, the title he wore for the rest of his life. Penniless, but rich in knowledge of the Tsar's naval affairs, Deane produced "A History of the Russian Fleet during the Reign of Peter the Great," a secret, detailed account of the rise of Russian naval power in the Baltic, which he used to promote himself as an expert on Russian affairs in the highest circles of the government. Though the original manuscripts have disappeared, two published versions of the history have survived. The original, anonymous manuscript was purchased by Count E. Putiatin from a London bookseller in 1892 and was then translated into Russian and published in St. Petersburg in 1895. Four years later it was issued in London by the Navy Records Society.14 In 1934 a second version of the manuscript came into the possession of another maritime collector, Captain Bruce Ingram. It was similar in all respects to the Putiatin manuscript except that it contained a final chapter entitled "The History Continued to the Commencement of 1725" and a dedication to George I identifying Deane as the author."15 In the same year that he circulated his manuscript on the Russian fleet, Deane also reissued his account of the wreck of the Nottingham Galley, now stripped of Jasper Deane's introductory and closing remarks.16
Deane's self-promotion paid off handsomely, for it brought him to the attention of Robert Walpole and of Lord Townshend,
Page 9
secretary of state for the northern department. Both were haunted by the specter of a European-wide Jacobite conspiracy and, after their ambassador was recalled in 1722, felt particularly deficient in intelligence from Russia. 17 According to Town-shend's deputy, George Tilson, "Captain Deane undertook to be useful to us and showed a letter from Admiral Apraksin, who seemed to be of power in that country, which persuaded us he might render service."18 Deane was appointed commercial consul at St. Petersburg,