February 27, 1557-8, the first Russian embassy arrived in
the neighbourhood of London. It came in rather remarkable circumstances. The
Russian Emperor, Ivan Vasilivich, thought the time had now arrived when his
country ought to enter upon formal commercial relations with England. He
therefore charged a noble named Osep Napea to proceed thither with a goodly company,
and bearing suitable presents for 'the famous and excellent princes, Philip and
Mary, King and Queen of England.' It appears that among the gifts were a number
of the skins of the sable, with the teeth, ears, and claws of the animal
preserved, four living sables, with chains and collars, 'thirty luzarnes rich
and beautiful,' six great skins such as the emperor himself wore, and a great
jerfalcon, with a silver drum used for a lure to it in hawking.
The expedition sailed in several English vessels from the
port of St. Nicolas, in Russia, but was very unfortunate in the voyage. Several
vessels being thrown away, or forced to seek shelter on the coast of Norway,
one called the Edward Bonaventure, containing the ambassador, arrived with
difficulty, after a four months' voyage, on the east coast of Aberdeenshire, in
Scotland, along with a smaller vessel, called her pink. There they were driven
ashore by a violent storm, near Kinnaird Head, when a boat containing the grand
pilot, with the ambassador and seven other Russian gentlemen, making for land
in the dark, was overwhelmed and beaten on the rocks: thus the pilot and
several of the Russians and mariners were drowned, and only the ambassador
himself and two or three others were saved. The ship became a total wreck, and
such of her valuable goods as came on shore, including the gifts to the English
monarchs, were pillaged by the rude people of the coast; but the ambassador and
his small company were speedily received under care of the gentry of the
district, and treated with the greatest kindness.
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