Philip Atash’sha

An Alaska Native hunter from Kodiak Island, Philip Atash’sha labored for the Russian American Company hunting sea otters along the California coast. Atash’sha was captured by the Spanish and held at Mission Santa Barbara in 1815. He and another Kodiak hunter, Ivan Kyglaia, escaped from the mission and paddled in a canoe to San Nicolas Island. Atash’sha died after living on the island for a year.

DATE OF BIRTH: Unknown
PLACE OF BIRTH: Kaguyak, Kodiak Island, Russian Alaska
DATE OF DEATH: About 1818
PLACE OF BURIAL: San Nicolas Island, Alta California, New Spain


References
Gibson, James R. and Alexei A. Istomin, with the assistance of Valery A. Tishkov. Russian California 1806–1860: A History in Documents, Vol. 1. London: Ashgate (2014): 408.

Istomin, Alexei A., James R. Gibson, and Valery A. Tishkov. Russia in California: Russian Documents on Fort Ross and Russian-Californian Relations in 1803–1850. Moscow: Nauka, 2005: 319.

Morris, Susan L., Glenn J. Farris, Steven J. Schwartz, Irina V. L. Wender, and Boris Dralyuk. “Murder, Massacre, and Mayhem on the California Coast, 1814–1815: Newly Translated Russian Documents Reveal Company Concern Over Violent Clashes.” Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 34, 1 (2014): 86, 88, 92, 94.