Kola merchant Andrey Gerasimov and the White Sea company: failed cooperation and the conflict (1804-1805)

The article is devoted to the one of the aspects of the history of the White Sea Company: the relationship between management and potential shareholders. Attracting shareholders was an important area of the company’s activity, on which the success of the organization of fishing and hunting for sea animals depended. The Kola merchant A. I. Gerasimov since the 1770s was engaged in the organization of whaling and expeditions to Svalbard (Russian Grumant), maritime trade in Northern Norway and in St. Petersburg. Nevertheless, cooperation with such a profitable partner did not work out for the company. The author examines the reasons for this failure, reveals the opposite views of the merchant and the management of the company on the nature of commercial relationships. The research is based on the merchant’s letters to the board of the White Sea company in St. Petersburg and to the prominent statesman Count N. P. Rumyantsev, dated 1804-1806.