The Adventures of Agent 007 in Circassia (James Stanislaus Bell)
In the list of travelers who have visited over the years in Circassia, some stand out in a special way. The matter is in a vivid character, which distinguished their activity from other colleagues. One of such bright personalities was an Englishman (and maybe a Scot) James Stanislav Bell — an adventurer, a smuggler, a writer, an artist and a desperate spy of Her Majesty the Queen. He managed to live for three whole years in Circassia and make a lot of interesting trips along the shores of the future resorts of the Krasnodarskiy krai.
James Stanislav Bell was born in a wealthy family of English bankers in 1797, which did not help him continue his profession. The foolish nature and reputation of an adventurer from an early age entrenched him and prevented him from making a career in public office. It is known that he tried to engage in commercial and political affairs from the early years of his life. In 1833, he was noted as the Portuguese consul in Glasgow, where, in this capacity, he recruited mercenaries to participate in the civil war in Portugal. Later, he showed up in the Ottoman Empire, where he worked as a scout under the cover image of the merchant.
The Circassian story of the adventures of James Bell began in 1836. By this time, he had already made a fortune in earning money by smuggling and exploring the seaside of the Black Sea coastline of the Russian Empire. Since 1829, after the conclusion of the Andrianople peace treaty with Turkey, Russia has acquired the Circassian coast of the Black Sea. However, control of these lands was not complete. Adyge (Circassians), opposed to the Russian authorities, enjoyed the support of Britain, France, Polish emigration. From abroad they received weapons and ammunition. Only in one year 1830 from Turkey to the shores of the Caucasus arrived up to 200 Turkish and British ships that delivered military cargo. To stop this contraband, the Russian authorities since 1830 have established a blockade of the coast, ordering the ships of the Black Sea Fleet to cruise along the Caucasian coast, detaining violators. Bell brazenly bypassed the blockade with a risk to him and once caught.
In November 1836 the Russian military brig “Ajax” detained the British schooner “Vicksen” in the port of Sujuk-Kale (now Novorossiysk). At the time of detention, 8 guns, 800 poods of gunpowder and a significant number of weapons had already been unloaded from its side. If in Europe the story of the detention of the schooner “Vicksen” was widely covered, the Russian public learned about it only half a century later, when in 1886 an article about this incident was published in the “Marine Digest” by Pavel Wolf, the son of the Ajax brig commander Nikolai Wolfe. Before that, it was forbidden to write about this incident in Russia, although there was no mystery, and the Russian military vessels’ harassment of “Turkish coaches and seizure of small ships that were caught somehow in forbidden relations with the mountaineers of the Caucasus was considered a common thing,” wrote “Sea collection”. The ship was confiscated in favor of the government, renamed Sujuk-Kale and included in the Black Sea fleet. At first it was used as a transport, then it was armed with 10 guns and it continued to serve as a warship. The crew, including Bell, was sent to Odessa, and from there to Constantinople, at the expense of the Turkish side. Bell resisted and threatened that he would not recognize the blockade. As it turned out later, his whole adventure was an English government provocation against Russia. He saw his schooner much later, but nothing he could do to return it.
There was a small diplomatic scandal, which diplomats were allowed behind the scenes. Bell became scapegoat, which did not stop him from continuing his adventure. He immediately decided to go back to Circassia on the Turkish vessel by the March 20 (April 1) in 1837, “prescribed to take with him a considerable range of gifts, such as rifles, swords” and a solid stock of gunpowder in the amount of 5 thousand piastres. The company was made by John Longworth, who worked under the cover of a correspondent for the Times. Arriving to the Adyge (Circassians), the British organized, as it appears in the documents, “constant and correct intercourse with the port of Samsun”. The Russian government tried to intercept Bell, but he escaped the security cruisers. To do this, he had to suffer for some time from thirst and fear of being caught — the ship could not catch the wind for a long time and a good time to park off the coast. With notes on the preparation of the ship in Turkey and the swim in the direction of Circassia, James Bell begins his book “The Diaries of Stay in Circassia”.
Petersburg gave the order to seize “this malicious English bankrupt, who is swarming like a plague from corner to corner.” For the living English was awarded a reward of 500 golden coins for each. However, the instruction allowed and physical elimination, not stipulating a specific price: “their heads, as criminals, will be evaluated.” But the prize remained unclaimed — Bell stayed in Circassia for three years and compiled detailed descriptions and a map of places.
During these years, James Bell had studied in detail all aspects of the life of Circassians (Circassians). At first he traveled, accompanied by John Longworth and translator Luke, in the Crimean War accompanied by the artist and scout William Simpson. Secret landing was carried out in the valley of the river Subashi (now Sailor gap), next to the modern Golovinka. From here Bell makes a short trip to the south in Vardan and then to Sochi. In his diary he leaves notes about gardens, fields and auls, noble people, meetings, events. Here he first gets acquainted with Prince Aubla Ali-Akhmet, whose aul stood on the site of Fort Navaginsky in Sochi and was burned during the landing of the Russian landing. Bell needed information on the natural properties of the region, which he successfully coped with — its geological descriptions of mineral deposits (and even oil) are described in detail. In his notes, there are a lot of references to the properties of local forests, construction types of wood. He was obviously preparing material for the English manufacturers, since he hoped that Circassia would become independent with the full support of Britain. Quite soon, political affairs dragged the Englishman to the north. In Sochi, he spent only a week, after which he went to Sudzhuk-Kale, then by sea, then by land — through Tuapse and Pshada. At that time, not all the fortifications of the Black Sea cordon line were built and the path was relatively calm.
From Pshada Bell went through the mountains to the valley Abin where Circassian Congress was held. The issues of war and peace with Russia were being resolved. Bell left us with vivid descriptions of the princes and told the general meaning of the talks. Further his adventures passed along the headwaters of these rivers, as well as in the Psekups valley and in the bay of Novorossiysk. Here begins more in-depth notes on the structure of Circassian society, relations in society, Adyge etiquette. For all the years in Circassia, Bell managed to capture and describe almost all aspects of the Adyge world — culture, holidays, legal proceedings and laws, the history of the origin of tribes, ancient monuments, captives and slaves, trade, the construction of houses, weddings and funerals, the education of women and their position in the society, climate, geography, masters, medical practice and prejudices, relations of princes and peasants in different tribes, winemaking and gardening, languages and dialects, and so on. In the same period he was able to personally meet with Shapsugian wark (knight) “Lion of Circassia”, as he called him, — Kyzbech Tuguzhuko Sheretluko, known for its relentless struggle against the Russian troops for the freedom of Adygs (Circassians) and desperately audacious behaviour on the battlefield. Communication with the severe Circassian warrior, his psychological and external features are well described. But, he called him for some reason Haji Gezil Beg.
From James Bell’s diary:
“I was very impressed by the number of people with a pleasant appearance that gathered here; their characteristic features are a tall mill, a developed chest, strong shoulders, a thin mill, a small foot, a lively and piercing look. It is here that you can fairly say: “Man is the most beautiful product of the country”. “ When I noticed the prince that I had never seen potatoes in this country, he began to assure me that there is a lot of potatoes here. The next day he brought us samples of his potatoes, which turned out to be nothing more than beautiful Jerusalem artichokes — apparently, this vital food is not known here, like carrots, turnips and many other valuable vegetables; in fact, only beans, onions, beets and cabbage are bred here; the last two kinds of vegetables are salted and eaten with honey!”
… The view of land as a property belonging to all should be considered, in my opinion, one of the first reasons for many features of the social order of the Circassians; on the basis of this view on the ground as possible, in my opinion, deduce that the distant ancestors of the people were nomads of the plains, who preferred breeding herds of sheep and goats and cattle are constantly engaged in farming, introduced between them, in all probability, in more recent era. We also see that in determining and paying fines, as well as for any transactions, a certain number of cattle serves as a yardstick, which, however, can be replaced, by mutual agreement, with other values.
“ The current situation and customs of the Circassian women stemmed from a mixture of Turkish and Circassian customs, only it seems that the former predominate for married women, and the latter for unmarried women, and they are the complete opposite of European customs, especially in the upper classes.”
James Bell was also an artist. He captured many places in Circassia in his drawings, and also created the famous portrait of Kyzbech Tuguzhuko Sherletluko, which left to him. Emperor Nicholas I wanted to acquire this portrait, but Kyzbech with disdain rejected the proposal of the Russian Tsar. As for the accuracy of the descriptions, Bell had problems with the Adyg (Circassian) language perception. Many names and places were very distorted in the book, but they managed to be compared to scientists. For example, he calls Dzhubga — Zhyubga, Sochi — Sucha and so on. With the danger to life, Bell manages to conduct a survey of the fort in Anapa and the lands between him and the bay of Novorossiysk. After a year of staying in these parts Bell again goes south to the valley of Sochi. Here, his way with Longworth broke up. At this time, the situation becomes more complicated, forts appear in Tuapse, Lazarevsky, Sochi, Golovinka and Adler. The road becomes much more dangerous.
The way to Sochi is accompanied by descriptions of new Russian forts and the extent to which they affected the lives of the surrounding villages. Bell notes that the fort in Tuapse actually cut the road, but the Circassians continue to walk under Russian cannons. The garrison of the fortress prefers to shoot at the leaders — well-dressed, armed riders. Because of this, they change into simpler clothes. All this time he writes reports to England in the hope that the parliament will take note of them and render military assistance to Circassia. But the answers do not come, and the correspondence is sometimes delayed because of the harmfulness of certain Turkish skippers. In the end, Bell arrives in the valley of the Sochi River, where he finds a landing of Russian troops. With great danger to life, he manages to leave the place of landing of Russian troops, which took up the construction of the fortification of Alexandria later renamed to Navaginsky fort. A little later Bell is present at the next big Circassian congress, organized by the Ubykh prince Berzek.
In Sochi, the Englishman continues to gather information about the culture of Circassians, mentions the useful properties of boxwood, gets acquainted with runaway Kabardians. At the same time, Bell is in full swing intelligence — studying Russian forts, the state of the Russian army in them. The lack of real assistance from Britain leads to distrust of some Circassians and the appearance of dangerous for Bell rumors about him. At a critical moment, he manages to justify himself and the danger passes, but from that moment he begins to understand that it will only get worse afterwards if Britain does not act in favor of the Circassians. At the same time, due to the increased Russian presence, Bell cannot find a ship for returning home. In this situation, he was forced to stay another year.
He did not lose time and helped the Circassians in military affairs. It is thanks to Bell Ubykhs managed to grab the gun from the crashed near Fort Navaginskiy Russian ship. Circassians dragged them to Mount Battery, which hung over the fort, and Bell taught them to shoot from guns on Russian fortifications. Numerous attempts to repulse the gun failed — the Russian infantry did not have time to catch the gunners unawares, they hid the cannon. The training was not in vain.
Bell left Circassia by the end of 1839, and already in 1840, with the support of Polish deserters and Adygs (Circassians) trained by Bell, there were a number of violent attacks on Russian forts on the Black Sea and Gelendzhik cordon lines. Adygs (Circassians) learned to take fortifications by storm, use modern military tactics of that time and, if possible, artillery. At the end of his book, Bell with apparent pleasure attributes these results to his work.
In 1840, Bell issued his “Diaries of Stay in Circassia” in London. The subsequent fate of his there was no less interesting. In the same year of 1840, James Bell, with his wife and two children, went to the island of Puerto Rico, where he took up mahogany as an official British representative. He died in 1858.
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