Rod Fleck, City of Forks attorney/planner, will explore the fascinating story of the wreck of the Sv. Nikolai at the Clallam County Historical Society’s History Tales presentation. The program is at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 3, at the First United Methodist Church, 110 E. Seventh St., Port Angeles. Parking and entry to the church’s social hall are on Laurel Street.

In September 1808, the Russian brig Sv. Nikolai sailed from New Arkhangel (now Sitka, Alaska). The ship wrecked about 1.5 miles north of the mouth of the Quillayute River on Nov. 1, 1808, and thus began a landmark incident in Clallam County’s history. The wife of the ship’s captain is one of the passengers, and 18-year old Anna Petrovna Bulygin becomes the first European woman known to set foot in what is now Washington. The survivors clash with the Hohs, Quileutes and Makahs and then live with them as captives until 1810. The event has been documented by the written account of one of the survivors, Timofei Tarakanov, and the oral narrative of Quileute member Ben Hobucket.

Fleck has a passion for history, particularly West End history. Shipwrecks, cemeteries, the Quillayute Air Station, and family history — particularly military ancestors — are all subjects of great interest to Fleck.

An interpretive monument commemorating the 1808 shipwreck is at 5333 Upper Hoh Road, just past the Hard Rain Café on the way to the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center. Anna Petrovna is one of the featured women in “Women to Reckon with: Untamed Women of the Olympic Wilderness” by Glynda Schaad and Gary Peterson. And Kenneth Owens and Alton Donnelly provide a thorough account in their book “The Wreck of the Sv. Nikolai.”

History Tales is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Clallam County Historical Society’s office at 452-2662 or e-mail artifact@olypen.com.