Henry Gyselaar

Here is my historical fiction story of my character, Henry Gyselaar.

Hi, I'm Henry Gyselaar. Born on December 31, 1796, I always wanted to be a sailor. In Sakhalin, Russia, where I was born, I became a sea captain in 1814. I loved the sea and was known to be adventurous. My family is only my dad, mom, and me. My father said I was just like him with my reptile green eyes and charcoal black hair.

In 1798, our family sailed to Sitka, Alaska to make a living. Sometime in the October of 1815 some fur traders passed through the town and told us of this place called Fort Ross. Good food, nice scenery, and decent accommodations are all good attributes about Fort Ross. I wish those attributes were the same for us on our trip there! I left on the ship Lydia along with the ship Albatross on December 1, 1815.

The journey was long and rough. Only 15 people were on each ship. I was the only one in my family to go to Fort Ross. Even when we dried our food, on this 5-month trip it got pretty stale. Our only hope for fresh food was salt-water fish we caught along the way. We carried supplies such as iron, gunpowder, and tobacco [which I personally hate] to Fort Ross. We barely made it.

Then things got worse. When we reached land, we were not at Fort Ross. Instead, we landed south of a river. It was 8:30 in the evening. We all settled down for the night. At least we were on land. We had two horses so that meant two people riding and twenty-eight walking. I decided that this must be the Sonoma River. It should be a twelve-mile hike to Fort Ross, so that would be a day's hike.

In the morning, we packed up and moved out. We decided to leave the ships there for now. I was one who rode on a horse so I could look ahead. We made it to Fort Ross in the evening. As a visitor, I became a cook. My best friend is a cook too. His name is Efin Munin. In fact that is how I met him.

I'm very busy at Fort Ross cooking and making fires, but when I get a chance, I go outside and explore. Fort Ross is a reasonable place as far as I'm concerned and I'm happy to be here.

You can check out my friends' Historical Characters, too Mark/Ivan Kuskov, Michael/ keith

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