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Title: Bering's Voyages: An Account of the Efforts of the Russians to Determine the Relation of Asia and America Vol. I

Date of first publication: 1922

Author: Frank A. Golder (1877-1929)

Date first posted: Mar. 15, 2021

Date last updated: June 16, 2022

Faded Page eBook #20210337

This eBook was produced by: Howard Ross & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net

{p. ix}

The discovery of the northwest coast of America by the Russians deserves far more consideration than it has yet received. Our information on the subject is very fragmentary—a chapter here and a chapter there in the histories of the Russian Far East and the American Far West. This neglect is due not so much to lack of interest as to lack of material and to the peculiar problems which the handling of the material presents. But these difficulties are gradually disappearing, and it is now possible to undertake a task that twenty years ago seemed out of the question. In this work the author has made the actors tell their own story of the discovery of the northwest coast of America. It would have been worth while to bring together all the interesting material relating to the subsidiary voyages of Bering’s second expedition—the voyages of Spanberg to Japan and the explorations along the Arctic coast—but neither time nor space permitted it.

Volume 1 includes an account of the log books and reports of the navigators, and Volume 2 deals with the journal of Steller, which throws much light on the second expedition and furnishes valuable scientific data. In the translation the terminology of the navigators has been retained and their ideas faithfully rendered in so far as it was possible, considering that their penmanship was not always legible, nor their language grammatical, nor their expressions intelligible. With these original data before him the reader is in a position to form an independent conclusion respecting the controversies raging around this voyage. This book is not the last word on the subject, and it is hoped that other investigators will use its material to make further studies in the field.

The late Captain E. P. Bertholf, until within two years of his death in 1921 Commandant of the U. S. Coast Guard, and an authority on the waters and shores of Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, has made a distinct contribution to science by plotting out scientifically the tracks and landfalls of the {p. x} St. Peter and the St. Paul. In addition he read the manuscript and suggested improvements. Lieutenant Raymond Burhen, U.S.N., and Captain Sam Hoyt, of Seattle, have helped in the matter of nautical expressions. To all these gentlemen the author is sincerely grateful. He takes this occasion also to testify publicly to the courtesy and genuine good will of the Russian archivists and scholars of the old régime with whom he had contact in Petrograd and Moscow in his search for material. They were ever ready to inconvenience themselves to help him in his work. Some of these men have been forced from their position and their country, and others, like Professor Lappo-Danilevski, have died of starvation. They were real scholars and true gentlemen, and it is with a feeling of reverence and gratitude that this tribute is paid to them.

{p. 1}

The numerous naval expeditions of the sixteenth century in search of a short passage to Asia gave the geographers a fairly good idea of the waters and shores of the Atlantic and of those parts of the Arctic that were nearest to Europe and European settlements. Equally helpful in making the Indian and the South Pacific waters familiar to the educated world were the voyages via the Cape of Good Hope route to the Indies, China, and Japan, the annual voyages of the Spanish naval officers between Mexico and the Philippines, and the occasional raids of the English freebooters along the Spanish-American coast. From the early years of the seventeenth century onward more or less reliable maps existed for the Pacific Ocean south of the parallel which runs through Cape Mendocino and the northern part of the main island of Japan, but for the vast region north of that line not a single map that could in any way lay claim to accuracy was to be found before the time of the Bering voyages. It was not even known whether the North Pacific area was all land or all water, whether Asia and America were separated or united (Fig. 1).

There were many reasons for believing that islands or a continent were to be found in that northern region. When the Jesuits came to Japan in the middle of the sixteenth century they learned that north of Japan proper there was a body of land called Yezo, but they could not fully inform themselves as to its shape and size. A somewhat similar report reached Europe from another quarter. Richard Cocks, an English merchant in Japan, in a letter written in 1611, made mention of “an island called Yedzo, which is thought to be rather some part of the continent Tartaria.”

{p. 2}

But this was not the only vague information the cartographers had to go on. The credulous were as eager as ever to hear of islands with golden streets, and they accepted as a fact every baseless rumor which helped to confirm them in their belief. One of these rumors was that in the year 1582, or thereabouts, a Spanish vessel in going from Manila eastward ran into a storm which drove her to an island situated in latitude 37° 30′ N. and some 400 miles east of Japan. The inhabitants of this island were hospitable and rich to such an extent that even the pots and pans were made of gold and silver.

Vizcaíno and Vries

The Spanish government attached enough importance to current gossip to send Sebastian Vizcaíno from Mexico in search of the rumored El Dorado. He spent the autumns of 1611 and 1612 in cruising north, south, and east of Japan without, however, being able to locate the prize. In the meantime the Dutch traders heard the story, and they in turn became interested. In 1639 the Dutch East India Company instructed Mathijs Quast and Abel Janszoon Tasman to find the gold island, but all their efforts were in vain. Four years later the company sent another expedition in command of Maerten Gerritszoon Vries. He sailed north and east of Japan, sighting the island of Yezo without, however, being able to determine either its shape or its size, and came among (what are now known as) the Kurile Islands. The two southernmost of these, Kunashiri and Itorup, he thought were one island, which he named State Island and the other, Urup (which he thought to be part of the American continent), Company Land. But neither gold nor silver did Vries find, though he sailed north to Sakhalin, south to Formosa, and east 460 miles from Japan. The Vries discoveries were put on the map by Jansson in 1650. The preceding year (1649) another cartographer, Texeira by name, published a map on which he marked the discoveries (in the early part of the seventeenth century) of a certain Juan de Gama just about where Vries placed his Company Land, that is to say between latitude 40° and 45° N. (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1—Section of a map of the northern hemisphere by Guillaume Delisle, July, 1714, to illustrate the contemporary knowledge of the North Pacific. Note the “Terre de la Compagnie” and the “Côte découverte par Dom Jean de Gama.”

{p. 3}

Company Land and Gama Land

It is no wonder that these three reports, that of the Jesuits, Vries, and Texeira, of the three poorly described territories, Yezo, Company Land, and Gama Land, bewildered the cartographers. They were at a loss to know whether the lands in question were islands or continents, whether they were parts of America or of Asia, whether they were three distinct lands or one and the same. On the maps of the second half of the seventeenth and the early part of the eighteenth century all these views, and many others besides, found expression. Johann Baptist Homann of Nuremberg, on his map of about 1712, suggested that Terra Esonis was probably the northwest coast of America and the same land that Gama discovered; on the other hand Guillaume Delisle, in a memoir which he read before the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1720, made the statement that Yezo was a part of Asia and that Japan was a peninsula of it. The difference in the point of view of these two men gives an idea of the confusion on the subject that existed at the beginning of the eighteenth century. There was only one way of clearing up these difficulties, and that was by actual investigation.

The Russian Advance in Siberia

During the century and a half that the cartographers were losing themselves in their speculations and paper explorations of the North Pacific the Russian trappers, traders, tribute gatherers, and missionaries were wandering over the length and breadth of Siberia and pushing their discoveries to the “Eastern” Ocean. They had not, however, a clear idea of what they were doing; they had not even a very good mental picture of the land they discovered.

By actual navigation they had learned that the Ob, Yenisei, and Lena emptied into the “Icy” Sea, that the Amur, Ud, and Okhota flowed into the Eastern Sea; but they were ignorant as to whether there existed a passage between these two seas. They {p. 4} knew that one could go by water from the mouth of the Ob to the mouth of the Lena, from the mouth of the Amur to the mouth of the Okhota, but they did not know whether one could navigate from the mouth of the Lena to the mouth of the Okhota. They were not agreed among themselves whether there was land to the north and east of the two last-named rivers. Many of these Siberian hunters believed that not far from the mouth of the Kolyma River a large continent (bolshaya zemlya) extended northward and that the Asiatic mainland stretched out indefinitely to the eastward. Something was also said and known of the Anadyr and Kamchatka Rivers, but they were supposed to discharge their waters into the Arctic. According to some curious Siberian maps of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries eastern Asia ended somewhere near the mouth of the Okhota River and northern Asia close to the Yana River, and the two parts together, where they joined, formed a right angle. The areas which now go by the name of Kamchatka and the Chukchi Peninsula were then unnoticed. This may have been due to the Siberians’ ignorance of the country or to their ignorance of the science of map making.

Peter the Great’s Interest

When Peter the Great came into power he took deep interest in the activities of his energetic Cossacks and tried to give them intelligent guidance. He sent many of his Swedish prisoners of war into Siberian ports to teach his subjects to build sea-going vessels, to use nautical instruments, and to construct modern maps. Between 1700 and 1715 Kamchatka and the Kurile Islands were discovered and explored, and the terra incognita in Asia was pushed still farther eastward. Reports of these discoveries reached the scientific men of Western Europe, and when Peter came among them in 1716 and 1717 they discussed with him the question of the North Pacific and urged him to settle once for all the problem whether Asia and America were united. Peter accepted for himself and for his country the honor and the {p. 5} responsibility, and carried the undertaking through successfully, although at the time his success was somewhat doubted. When Bering’s second expedition came to an end in 1749, Bering Strait had been discovered, the Arctic coast of Asia from the White Sea to the Kolyma River had been charted, and the North Pacific coast of America from Cape Addington to Bering Island had been placed on the map. This was Russia’s share in the work of discovery and exploration, and a very important contribution to geographical knowledge it was.

{p. 6}

On his return to his capital in 1718 Peter the Great went to work at once on the problem of the relation of Asia to America. He ordered two of his officers, Fedor Luzhin and Ivan Evreinov, to proceed to Asia to make certain investigations for him and “to go to Kamchatka and farther, as you have been ordered, and determine whether Asia and America are united; and go not only north and south but east and west, and put on a chart all that you see.”^[1] They left Russia in 1719, reached Kamchatka in 1720, cruised among and explored the Kurile Islands in 1720 or 1721, returned to St. Petersburg in 1722 or 1723, and made a verbal report to the emperor. Just what they reported is not known, but it is certain that they did not “determine whether Asia and America are united.”

Peter the Great’s Orders

This failure did not discourage Peter; it probably convinced him that in order to be successful the undertaking would have to be maintained on a larger scale than he had contemplated in 1718. The time was more favorable now than before for such work; the Peace of Nystad gave him the leisure and the peace of mind for planning great things. Unfortunately his health began to fail, and, as he realized that he had not long to live, he made more haste. On December 23, 1724,^[2] he set matters in motion by drawing up the following orders:

Fig. 2—Facsimile of paragraphs 3 and 4 of Peter the Great’s orders of December 23, 1724, for Bering’s first expedition, with comments in his own handwriting. For translation, see the text, p. 7. This document is found in the Archives of the Ministry of Marine: Papers of the Admiralty Council, 1724, No. 29, Petrograd.

{p. 7}

Orders of Peter the Great for the Selection of Officers for the First Expedition^[3]

December 23, 1724.

Ukase to the Governor of Siberia, Prince Dolgorukov^[6]

Account of the Expedition

On the strength of the recommendations of the Senate and the Admiralty Council the tsar selected Vitus Bering^[7] to lead the expedition and gave him as lieutenants Martin Spanberg^[8] and Alexei Chirikov. In the early part of January, 1725, he also drew up and signed the instructions;^[9] but, owing to his failing health, he had to leave the execution of them to his friend Count Apraksin.^[10] The death of Peter on January 28, 1725, did not in the least {p. 9} disturb the plans of the undertaking. Catherine was determined to carry out all the policies and ambitions of her husband. Already, on January 24, the vanguard of the party had left the capital, but Bering and several others did not leave until February 5, the day the instructions were handed to him, as may be read in the report of Bering which follows.

Report of Fleet-Captain Bering on His Expedition to the Eastern Coast of Siberia^[11]

To the Most Enlightened, August, and Great Empress of All the Russias [is submitted] a short account of the Siberian Expedition undertaken by Her Imperial Majesty’s humble servant. Fleet Captain V. I. Bering.^[12]

On February 5, 1725, I received from Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Catherine Alexeyevna,^[13] of illustrious and immortal memory, the instructions drawn up by the hand of His Imperial Majesty Peter the Great, of deserving and eternal fame, a copy of which follows:

{p. 10}

Fig. 3—Map showing the route of Bering’s first expedition. Scale 1:50,000,000. Of the land journey, between St. Petersburg and Okhotsk, both the outward and the return routes are shown; of the sea voyage, between Okhotsk and Bering Strait (overland across Kamchatka), only the outward route is shown. (Based, for the land journey, on the text herewith and the tables (see bibliography) of Bering’s report, and, for the sea voyage, on the map, reproduced in Fig. 6, accompanying Berkh’s work of 1823 (see bibliography), which is based on the log book kept by midshipman Peter Chaplin.)

{p. 11}

In the orders given me by General-Admiral Count Apraksin^[15] it was stated that I was to ask for mechanics and supplies from the provincial government at Tobolsk and that I was to make monthly reports to the Admiralty College.^[16]

On January 24, before I received the instructions, there was dispatched by the Admiralty College in the interest of the expedition one of my lieutenants with 26 men and 25 wagonloads of materials. Altogether there were under my command 33 men, and they were sent by way of Vologda. From St. Petersburg to Tobolsk we passed en route the following cities: Vologda, Totma, Veliki Ustyug, Solvychegodsk, Kai, Solikamsk, Verkhotura, Turinsk (also called Epanchin), and Tyumen.^[17]

On March 16 Tobolsk was reached and there we remained until May 15 because of the cold weather. During the stay I requisitioned the necessary material for the expedition. On May 15 we started down the Irtish to Samarovsk in four boats, known in Siberia as doshcheniki.^[18] They were loaded with supplies brought from St. Petersburg as well as other things gathered at Tobolsk. In the last-named city there were added to my company, at my request, a monk, a commissar, petty officers, and soldiers to the number of 34.

From Samarovsk I sent ahead my marine guard,^[19] who carried with him orders from the provincial government of Tobolsk to the towns along the way to have boats prepared at Yeniseisk and Ust-Kut,^[20] but {p. 12} he himself was to proceed to Yakutsk. After leaving Samarovsk we went up the Ob to Surgut and to Narim, thence up the river Ket to Makovska Post.^[21] Along the course that we followed from Tobolsk to Makovska live the Ostyaks,^[22] who were formerly idolaters but through the labors of Metropolitan Philophei^[23] of Tobolsk were converted to Christianity in 1715. We proceeded overland from Makovska to Yeniseisk and there went aboard four boats and worked our way up the rivers Yenisei and [Upper] Tunguska to the mouth of the Ilim River. On the Tunguska there are three rapids (poroga) and several rocky shoals (shkver). In the rapids there are large submerged rocks across the whole width of the stream so that a boat can get through in only one or two places; the shoals likewise have rocks above and below the surface but they [the shoals] are not very large. The shoals differ from the rapids in that the former have little water and continue for a verst or two at a stretch, which causes some trouble in getting over them. At Yeniseisk I took for my service, in accordance with instructions from Tobolsk, 30 carpenters and blacksmiths. The rapids and shoals made it impossible to go up the Ilim to Ilimsk, and on that account there were sent out from that town smaller craft. On these the heavier materials were taken to Ilimsk, but the lighter were transported to the same place in the course of the winter.

Lieutenant Spanberg with 39 men, carpenters and laborers, was sent overland to Ust-Kut, where, during the winter, they constructed 15 barges for taking the men and supplies down the Lena to Yakutsk. With the other members of the party I wintered at Ilimsk because there were not enough accomodations for all at Ust-Kut and we could not go through to Yakutsk owing to the snow and cold, the lack of teams, and the uninhabited country. According to orders from Tobolsk we were to receive our food supplies from Irkutsk and Ilimsk, as no grain grows at Yakutsk. During the winter I went from Ilimsk to Irkutsk to consult with the voivode^[24] of that city, who formerly held a similar position at Yakutsk, about that country, of which we knew very little, and to find out the best way of going from there to Okhotsk and Kamchatka. Towards the end of the winter I took over to Ust-Kut {p. 13} my whole company, which included 20 carpenters and blacksmiths from Irkutsk and two coopers from Ilimsk.

Fig. 4—Facsimile of map showing the route of Bering’s first expedition across the Stanovoi scarp from Yudoma Cross by way of the Urak River to Urak near Okhotsk. (Drawing by Spanberg found among the Bering Papers No. 24 in the Archives of the Ministry of Marine in Petrograd.)

Translation of key: Upper left (village of Yudoma Cross): A, powder house; B, warehouse; C, living quarters; D, barracks; E, underground room (cellar?); F, guardhouse; G, native huts; J, Yudoma River.

(Dotted lines indicate winter route. In summer goods were portaged from Yudoma Cross to the headwaters of the Urak.)

Lower right (village of Urak): A, warehouse; B, cemetery; C, barracks; D, tavern; E, pilot’s house; F, bathhouse; G, storerooms of employees; H, native huts.

Along the Tunguska, Him, and Lena Rivers, as far as the Vitim,^[25] live the idolatrous Tungus who have deer for riding, but those who have no deer make their homes along the banks of streams and subsist on fish and get about in birch canoes.

In the spring of 1726 we left Ust-Kut in 15 barges and went down the Lena to Yakutsk. From the Vitim down along the Lena, on both banks, live the Yakuts and a small number of Tungus. The Yakuts have many horses and cattle which supply them with food and clothing, but those that have but few of these animals live on fish. They are idolaters; they worship the sun and the moon and, of the birds, the swan, the eagle, and the raven. They hold in high respect their priests, whom they call shamans, who keep in their possession small idols (bolvanov) known to them as shaitany. They claim to be of Tatar origin.

On arriving at Yakutsk I called for help to assist my men on the barges, and, as soon as they came, I dispatched Lieutenant Spanberg in 13 of the boats that were built at Ust-Kut and drew but little water down the Lena to the Aldan and from there up the Maya and the Yudoma. These barges were loaded with materials which could not be transported overland, besides other naval and land stores. I had hoped that this freight could be taken by water as far as Yudoma Cross,^[26] a much cheaper way than sending it by horses. That same summer I, with a small number of my men, went from Yakutsk to Okhotsk on horseback, taking with us a pack train, each horse carrying only a five-pood^[27] load, and in this manner we brought over sixteen hundred poods of provisions. It was impossible to make use of wagons owing to the mud and the hills. At Okhotsk Post there are only ten Russian dwellings. Lieutenant Chirikov was left behind to winter at Yakutsk with the understanding that he was to come overland to Okhotsk in the spring.

Towards the end of December, 1726, I received word from Lieutenant Spanberg that his boats were ice-bound in the Gorbea River,^[28] about 450 versts from Yudoma Cross, and that he had made sleds and was hauling on them the most needed material. I made up a party from my own men and those of the ostrog and gave them dog teams and supplies, and sent them to the relief of the lieutenant. He arrived with his company about the first part of January, 1727, without, however, bringing in any of the material, which he left in four different places along the uninhabited trail. They had been on the road ever since November 4 and during that time had suffered greatly from hunger, having been compelled to eat the dead horses that had dropped by the wayside, the harness, their leather clothing, and boots. Fortunately they found at Yudoma Cross the 150 poods of flour which we had left behind when some of our horses gave out.

{pp. 14, 15}

Fig. 5—The eastern section of the map accompanying Bering’s report of his first expedition. Reproduced from W. H. Dall’s facsimile (Appendix No. 19, U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Rept. for 1890, Pl. 69) of a copy of the map prepared for use in Sweden, with transliteration of the Russian names, in 1889 in the collection of Baron Klinckofström. Compare with Bering’s route and the coast outlines on Figs. 3 and 6.

{p. 16}

Along the Aldan and Maya live the same kind of Yakuts as those on the Lena; but on the Yudoma, that part which is near Okhotsk Post, are the wandering coast Tungus, or Lamuts, as they call themselves. They have many deer, on the backs of which they ride summer and winter and which, as well as the wild deer, supply them with their food and clothing. Here, too, are to be seen the pedestrian Tungus who live near the sea and along the banks of the streams and depend on fish for their sustenance. They have the same religion as the Yakuts.

About the first part of February I gathered 90 men and several dog teams and gave them to Lieutenant Spanberg with orders to bring in whatever was left on the Yudoma. He himself returned during the first days of April, but some of his men did not come in until the middle of the month. Even then they failed to bring in everything, and it was necessary to send another party of 27 men to Yudoma Cross, which stayed away until May but brought in all the material on pack horses. In these regions people never go in winter from Yakutsk to Okhotsk or other far-off places on horseback; they go on foot, dragging behind them sleds—the kind we used between the Gorbea and Okhotsk—with such things as are needed, each sled carrying from 10 to 15 poods. A trip like this takes from eight to ten weeks. The snow here is sometimes seven feet deep, and in places even deeper, and people who travel in winter dig their way through the snow to the ground and there pass the night.

On June 30, Lieutenant Spanberg sailed for the mouth of the Bolshaya River on his newly built ship^[29] which was loaded with all the materials. He had orders to discharge the cargo, send one of the petty officers with carpenters to Kamchatka to prepare ship timber, and return himself to Okhotsk.

Lieutenant Chirikov came from Yakutsk July 3, bringing with him in accordance with my instruction 2,300 poods of flour. We loaded the flour on Spanberg’s ship, which had returned, and on an old boat,^[30] which had come in from the Bolshaya River, and sailed with my company for Bolsheretsk Post on August 21. The supplies that were still in the boats on the Gorbea I sent back to Yakutsk in charge of the pilot and the men who had been detailed to watch over them, with orders to get a receipt for them and then hasten back with some part of the {p. 17} supply of iron and tar and join me in Kamchatka in 1728. At the mouth of the Bolshaya River we had to discharge the cargo into small boats and take it to Bolsheretsk. This post had only 14 Russian houses. The heavier materials and part of the supplies were loaded into small boats and sent up the Bystra River,^[31] a stream with a swift current, to within 120 versts of the Upper Kamchatka Post. That same winter we left Bolsheretsk on dog teams for the Upper and Lower Kamchatka Posts. Each evening we made a camp in the snow and covered over the opening. This country has some bad blizzards, called purgas,^[32] and if a person is hit by one of them in an open place without having time to construct a shelter he is in danger of being snowed over and freezing to death. In the upper ostrog there are 17 houses; in the lower, 50; and in the other place, where the church is, there are 15 more. In all three places there lived, during our stay, not more than 150 persons [Russian]; their chief occupation is collecting tribute. The natives who drove the teams that brought us over from Bolsheretsk prepared 300 poods of whale blubber from a whale that had been washed ashore in the fall. In place of money they [the natives] were given Chinese tobacco. In southern Kamchatka live the Kurils, in the northern the Kamchadals. They have a common language, but there are a few minor differences. A small number of these people are idolaters. The others do not believe in anything and are strangers to all good customs (i chuzhdi vsiakykh dobrykh obychaev). Neither the natives of Kamchatka nor the Russians who live there sow any grain. Of domestic animals they have only the dog, which is used for driving, hauling, and for furnishing clothing. The food of the natives consists of fish, roots, berries, wild birds, and sea animals in season. In the neighborhood of the Yakutsk monastery, which is about a verst from the Kamchatka church, there are raised at the present time oats, hemp, and radishes. Turnips are cultivated in all three ostrogs, and they reach such a size as is seldom seen in Russia, four of them making a pood. I took over to the monastery above mentioned some rye and barley and had it sown, but whether it matured or not I cannot tell, for sometimes early frosts kill the crop. In cultivating the soil the people are handicapped by lack of draft animals.

From all aborigines under Russian jurisdiction tribute in fur is collected. The natives have many evil practices. If a woman or a beast gives birth to twins one of them must be killed at once. Not to do so {p. 18} is a great sin. It is a practice among the Kamchadals, if one of them is very sick, even a father or a mother, to take him out into the forest and leave him there, be it summer or winter, with just enough food to last a week, and as a result many die. The homes of the dead are not again occupied, and the dead themselves are not buried but are thrown into the woods, where the dogs devour them.^[33] The Koryaks burn their dead; this custom is now forbidden, but the law is not strictly enforced.

When I reached Lower Kamchatka Post the timber for our ship was in large part ready. We went to work on her April 4, 1728, and with the help of God had her completed by July 10.^[34] The timber we hauled on dog teams. Tar, since we had not brought any with us and the natives had none on hand as they did not know how to make it, we manufactured out of a tree known there as listvennik.^[35] For lack of anything better to take along on the sea voyage, we distilled liquor from grass by a process known in that country;^[36] salt we boiled out of sea water; butter we made from fish oil; and in place of meat we took salt fish. We had on board enough provisions to last 40 men a year. On July 14 we sailed from the mouth of the Kamchatka River out to sea and followed the course laid down by the instructions of His Imperial Majesty Peter the Great and here marked on the chart.

On August 8, when we were in latitude 64° 30′ N., eight men who claimed to be Chukchi (a people known for a long time to the Russians of the country) rowed to us from the shore in a leathern boat and, when near, asked who we were and why we came. On being invited on board, they put one man over, who, with the help of large inflated seal bladders, swam over to have a talk with us. A little later the boat moved up to us and the men in it told us that large numbers of Chukchi live along the shore, that a short distance from here the coast turns to the west, and that not far ahead of us is an island. We located this island, which we named St. Lawrence, in honor of the day, and found on it a few huts but no people, although I twice sent the midshipman to look for them.

By August 15 we came to latitude 67° 18′ N. and turned back because {p. 19} the coast did not extend farther north and no land was near the Chukchi or East Cape and therefore it seemed to me that the instructions of His Imperial Majesty of illustrious and immortal memory had been carried out. Had we gone on and met with unfavorable winds we might have been prevented from returning to Kamchatka that season, and to have wintered where we were would not have been wise because there was no wood of any kind and the native population does as it pleases, is not under Russian control, and has nothing to do with the Russian tribute collectors.^[37]

From the mouth of the Kamchatka River to the point from which we turned back the coast is mountainous, almost as straight as a wall, and covered with snow even in summer.

On August 20 there came to our ship four boats containing 40 Chukchi like those who had visited us before. They offered for sale meat, fish, {p. 20} water, about 15 red and white fox skins, four walrus tusks—all of which they disposed of to the crew for needles and such like articles. They told us that their relatives go to the Kolyma on deer and not by boat, that farther along the coast live some of their people, that they had known the Russians for a long time, and that one of their number had been at Anadyrsk Post to trade. The rest of their conversation did not differ greatly from what was said by those who had been to see us before. On September 2 we sailed into the mouth of the Kamchatka River and passed the winter in the Lower Kamchatka Post.

Having repaired the ship, which had been laid up, we left the mouth of the Kamchatka River on June 5, 1729, and set an easterly course, because the inhabitants of Kamchatka said that in clear weather land could be seen across the sea. We made a careful search for it over a distance of 200 versts but could not find it. We circumnavigated and charted the southern part of Kamchatka, which up to this time had not been surveyed, and then sailed to the mouth of the Bolshaya River and from there to Okhotsk Post. At the request of the authorities at Yakutsk I left with the government officials in charge of the posts of Lower Kamchatka and Bolsheretsk 800 poods of flour, dried meat, salt, and groats.

It was July 23 when we reached the mouth of the Okhota River, where I handed over the ship and all that went with it to the officer in command. We hired horses and went to Yudoma Cross, and from there we proceeded by boats and rafts down the Aldan to the portage (belskoi perepravy) and lower, where we again took horses and rode on to Yakutsk. From Okhotsk to Yakutsk it took us from July 29 to August 29 and to September 3.^[38] On September 10 we went in two boats up the Lena and proceeded until October 1, when we were blocked by ice and therefore spent a part of the autumn in the village of Peleduye.^[39] By October 29 there was sufficient snow on the ground, and the banks of the Lena were firm enough on account of the ice to permit us to go on. We followed the [Upper] Tunguska and the Yenisei to Ilimsk and Yeniseisk, passing Russian settlements on the way. From Yeniseisk to Tomsk we continued along the river Chulym,^[40] meeting with more Russian settlements and villages of newly converted Tatars. Between Tomsk and Chauska Post^[41] we passed through other Russian settlements. From Chauska to Tara we crossed the Barabinsk Steppe, from Tara to Tobolsk we followed the river Irtish and met with Tatar villages. At Tobolsk we arrived January 10, 1730, and left there on the 25th of the same month for St. Petersburg, going over the same country as on the outward journey to Tobolsk. On March 1 we reached St. Petersburg.

Fig. 6—Facsimile of Berkh’s map of 1823 (see bibliography) showing the route of Bering’s first expedition from Okhotsk to Bering Strait and return. Mean meridional scale 1:16,000,000 (originally 1:9,000,000). The dates have been identified and added from Berkh’s abridged version of midshipman Peter Chaplin’s log book. On sea they represent noon positions. Berkh’s plotting of the ship’s tracks has been slightly modified for August 18-20 and August 29, 1728. It would also seem as if the position of the tracks on August 10, 1728 (Bering’s report implies that a landing was made on St. Lawrence Island, cf. p. 18) and June 10-17, 1729 (Chaplin’s log book) might be susceptible of other interpretation. But otherwise, so far as known, Berkh’s map is the standard, and only modern, reconstruction of the tracks of Bering’s vessels on his first expedition. It does for that expedition what Captain Bertholf’s map (Pl. 1) does for the second.

The vessels in which the several sections of the tracks shown were sailed are: August 22-September 2, 1727, Fortune (Bering and Spanberg) and nameless vessel (Chirikov and Chaplin; it is this vessel’s track that is shown); July 15-September 1, 1728, St. Gabriel; June 6-July 3, 1729, St. Gabriel; July 14-23, 1729, St. Gabriel.

{p. 21}

Shestakov’s Earlier Expedition

After the Russians had conquered Kamchatka they pushed northward and established trading relations with the natives of East Cape. While they were in that neighborhood the traders heard that across from the cape there was a large country (bolshaya zemlya), and occasionally they saw the inhabitants of that country who were held captive by the Chukchi. The adventurous Cossacks decided to subdue these people, as well as the Chukchi, and force them to pay tribute. One of their leaders, Afanasi Shestakov, went to St. Petersburg to persuade the government to let him undertake this task. On March 23, 1727, the Senate gave him the necessary authority^[1] and force for the work in hand. It was Shestakov’s plan to attack by land and sea the Chukchi and other hostile natives on the mainland and when they were conquered to send a force to the land beyond East Cape. With that in view the Cossack leader took possession in 1729 of all the sea-going vessels Bering had left behind him at Okhotsk.

The campaign of 1730 ended disastrously for the Russians. Some of the boats were wrecked, the land forces were either waylaid or defeated in open fight, and in one of these Shestakov lost his life. Out of all this great undertaking only one important thing was accomplished—the sighting of new land opposite East Cape.

Gvozdev’s Expedition

Shestakov was succeeded in command by Dmitri Pavlutski, captain of dragoons and a well-known Chukchi fighter. In addition to the other information about the “large country,” Pavlutski had received in 1730 the report of one Melnikov on {p. 22} that subject which tended more and more to confirm him in the belief that such a bolshaya zemlya really existed. During the winter of 1731-1732 Pavlutski sent word to the officers of the St. Gabriel who were with the ship at Lower Kamchatka Post to bring him supplies to the Anadyr in the spring and after that go in search of the land opposite East Cape.^[2] When the time came for sailing only one of the officers, Michael Spiridonovich Gvozdev was physically fit for duty, and he took command of the ship and set the course for the bolshaya zemlya. His achievement did not impress Pavlutski very much, and it was not until several years later that he was made to write out his report, which, with unimportant sections omitted, runs as follows:^[3]

From his own account it is quite evident that Gvozdev was not aware that he had sighted the American coast. He thought he had discovered an island. He says that after anchoring near the first and second islands he steered for the “large country” [third island] and from there to the “fourth island.” This is all that is known of Gvozdev’s voyage.

{p. 25}

When Bering returned to Russia he made his report to the Empress and to the officers of the Admiralty and the Senate and tried to persuade them that “the instructions of His Imperial Majesty . . . had been carried out.” Some clapped their hands while others shrugged their shoulders. The doubters maintained that as long as the coast and waters between the Kolyma River and East Cape were unexamined the problem of the relation of Asia to America was unsolved. They were not without arguments. They called attention to the numerous Siberian rumors that a large body of land (bolshaya zemlya) existed north of the Kolyma River and another east of East Cape. Were these two or more distinct continents or islands or were they one? Were they part of Asia or part of America? These and such like questions were asked. They were fair questions. Bering was expected to answer them but could not answer them satisfactorily.

Bering’s Proposal of a Second Expedition

He was not altogether discredited; for it was realized that he had done a good piece of work, even if he had not done it as well as he should. That he had ability no one doubted, and it was believed that with his experience and the lesson taught him he would do much better if he were given another chance. Bering, no doubt, desired another chance, and he submitted to the Empress the following propositions^[1] which would tend to encourage her to send another expedition.

{p. 26}

The question of a second voyage must have been raised even in 1730, for early in 1731 arrangements for the undertaking were already made. The desire to determine the relation of Asia and America was not the only argument advanced in favor of the expedition. Some of the reports on that subject submitted to the Empress pointed out the benefits to be derived from territorial and commercial expansion, additional naval bases, and the discovery of precious metals. No doubt all these reasons had their weight with those in authority.^[2]

{p. 27}

Land Versus Sea Expedition

Another question that came up was how this expedition should be sent—by land or by water. There seems to have been a difference of opinion on that subject. Count Nikolai Golovin^[3] and Admiral Sanders submitted separate memoirs to Her Majesty recommending that two ships with naval and other supplies be chartered to go from Russia to Kamchatka by way of Cape Horn and Japan. After discharging their cargoes and resting the crews the ships could proceed on their voyage of discovery in the North Pacific. Count Golovin even offered to lead the expedition in person if the proper support were assured him.

A number of reasons were given why the sea route was preferable to the overland route. In the first place there would be a saving of time. It would take from ten months to a year for the sea voyage from St. Petersburg to Kamchatka and a year or a little more for the work of exploration and the return to Russia; on the other hand it would require two years to transport naval and other stores overland to Kamchatka, two more years to build sea-going vessels, and two more years to make the voyage and bring back the results to St. Petersburg.

Why the propositions of these two prominent men were not accepted is not clear. Perhaps because by 1731 and 1732 the expedition had ceased to be regarded in the light of purely maritime and geographic discovery and had come to be looked upon as one of scientific investigation in the larger sense, both by land and sea, in the Arctic Ocean as well as the Pacific. It had been decided to send along scientists of the newly founded Imperial Academy of Sciences to make a study of the people and the resources and to secure other scientific data about Siberia and the lands to be discovered. Then, too, in order to settle beyond dispute the much-debated question of the relation of Asia to America, it had been determined to survey and chart the Arctic coast from the White Sea to the mouth of the Kamchatka River. It was assumed as a matter of course that the leader of the expedition {p. 28} could supervise its various activities, and therefore it would be necessary for him to be within land reach of the different parties. These may or may not have been the reasons, but the fact remains that Bering and his parties were ordered to proceed overland.

Naval Preparations

Because of the great distance to the Pacific, the difficulty of transporting material, and the lack of laborers, skilled and unskilled, for the building of sea-going vessels, the naval part of the expedition needed most attention. On July 30, 1731,^[4] Grigori Pisarev (who had been appointed commander of the port of Okhotsk on May 10, 1731)^[5] was ordered to proceed to his post and make ready for Bering’s coming. Pisarev was told to take, from different regions of Siberia, Russians and Tungus and settle them in the neighborhood of Okhotsk and Yudoma Cross—the Russians to be put to cultivating the soil and the Tungus to watch the flocks of sheep and the herds of horses and cattle which Pisarev would introduce. For the peopling of Okhotsk Pisarev had instructions to pick up at Yakutsk 300 young and strong men from those who were in prison for debt or for other crimes. In addition he was to take from Russia 20 ship carpenters to build four or six ships, under the supervision of naval architects who were to be sent by the Admiralty College, and from Ekaterinburg a number of iron workers to smelt iron and forge anchors and such things.

Official Order for the Expedition

The official order for the expedition, in which Bering is mentioned as commander, was announced by the Senate on April 17, 1732,^[6] and this was followed up on May 2 of the same year by a general outline of the undertaking.^[7] On December 28, 1732, the {p. 29} Senate issued the principal instructions,^[8] and a summary of the main articles that relate directly to the voyage to America is here given.

Advance Parties

Detachments of the expedition began leaving St. Petersburg in February, 1733, but Bering, who brought up the rear, did not get away until April, waiting apparently for supplementary instructions, which were issued in March,^[14] permitting him to build the ships at Okhotsk or in Kamchatka. The route followed was the same as the one taken at the time of the first expedition. Spanberg was in the lead and had orders to hasten to Okhotsk to supervise the completion of the ships which Pisarev was supposed to have on the ways or perhaps launched. When Spanberg reached his destination early in 1735 he found no Pisarev, no ships, no quarters, no food, no Russian agriculturalists with full granaries, no Tungus with herds of fat cattle, nothing but the old cheerless and bare village that he had left behind him five years before. He was probably not surprised, for he must have heard on the way of the worthlessness and the evil deeds of Pisarev.

{p. 33}

Difficulties

Not only at Okhotsk but elsewhere in Siberia the well-laid plans of the Senate and the Admiralty College miscarried. Bering, in place of being left free to look after the important work of leader, had to tarry at Yakutsk and other such places to do the work of a petty officer. He had to recruit men, requisition horses and supplies, and start them towards Okhotsk. Either the local authorities in Siberia could not or would not help him. One blamed another; Bering’s own officers sided sometimes with one and sometimes with another; and as a result the mail carriers. especially provided for the expedition, were loaded down with charges and countercharges instead of reports of progress. The authorities at the capital were naturally greatly displeased. They tried to help Bering by relieving him of the control of the scientists and of the work of supervising the Arctic explorations. Notwithstanding this, month after month passed with comparatively little headway made. When the undertaking was planned it was assumed that in four years Bering would be ready for sea. According to Bering’s own estimates the cost would be 10,000 to 12,000 rubles; but at the end of that period he was no farther than Yakutsk and the cost had run up to 300,000 rubles. At the capital there was considerable dissatisfaction, which the Admiralty College was made to feel. In 1738 the Imperial Cabinet, after taking into consideration the cost up to that time, the burden it threw on the Siberian people, the little progress made, asked the Admiralty College “to look into the Kamchatka Expedition and see if it can be brought to a head, so that from now on the treasury should not be emptied in vain.”^[15]

The Admiralty had to throw the blame on somebody and, justly or unjustly, blamed Bering and as leader held him responsible and even went so far as to cut his pay in half from the beginning of the year 1738 until July, 1740. Bering was caught between two millstones which slowly but surely crushed him. {p. 34} When the time came for his sea voyage he was pretty much discouraged and worn out, his physical strength was gone, and with it went the initiative and daring so necessary for a work of this kind. On his death bed Bering complained^[16] that too much had been expected from him—a man already advanced in years—and that those who should have stood by him failed to do so. In that great Russian world he stood alone, the target of the malcontents and the envious. That he was not wholly to blame may be seen from the orders of the Admiralty College to the local authorities in Siberia threatening them with torture unless they gave Bering more help. Finally, in 1739, the Admiralty commissioned two officers on special duty to go to Siberia to take charge of the transportation of the supplies, and with their assistance most of the things needed for the voyage were deposited at Okhotsk in the autumn of 1740.

Preparation for the Sea Voyage

Since coming to Okhotsk in 1737 Bering had been very busy supervising the building of the two ships for his voyage to America. In June, 1740, they were launched and named the St. Peter and the St. Paul. Each measured 80 by 20 by 9 feet, had two masts and was brig-rigged, and carried fourteen guns, two and three pounders. All the needed supplies were loaded on these two vessels and on two freight boats, and on September 4 this small squadron left Okhotsk for the Bolshaya River (Fig. 3) in Kamchatka, where they anchored on September 20. Here Bering left the two freight boats because they were not strong enough to weather the autumn storms, and with the St. Peter and the St. Paul he sailed away for Petropavlovsk harbor in Avacha Bay (inset on Pl. 1) and made that port on October 6. Petropavlovsk was a new harbor, having been surveyed and charted in 1740 by one of Bering’s officers; and, judging from the sketch which he made (Fig. 7), Bering and his company constituted the whole population of that village. At this uninhabited spot the winter was spent in preparation for the great voyage.

Fig. 7—Facsimile of a manuscript map of the Harbor of St. Peter and St. Paul (Petropavlovsk) by Elagin, 1740, in the Archives of the Hydrographic Section of the Ministry of Marine, Petrograd. No. 1957.

Translation of key:

1, traveling church

2, warehouse

3, powder house

4, Captain Commander

5, Captain Chirikov and Lieutenant Chikhachev

7, professor of astronomy and adjunct

8, higher and lower officers

9, Lieutenant Waxel

10, Lieutenant Plautin

11, fleet-masters and navigators

12, quarters for the crew and workmen

13, blacksmith shop

14, medical quarters

15, guard house

16, lower officers

17, native Kamchadal earthen hut

18, native summer houses raised on a platform and covered with grass

19, bath house

20, fresh-water spring.

[In lower right corner:] Depth is indicated in fathoms.

Fig. 8—The Harbor of St. Peter and St Paul, looking south toward Avacha Bay (cf. with Fig. 7). The ships in the harbor are probably the St. Peter and the St. Paul. (From an old engraving practically identical with an engraving in Steller’s “Beschreibung von dem Lande Kamtchatka.” 1774, opp. p.17.)

{p. 35}

According to Steller, one of the scientists who went along, it had been Bering’s original plan to depart from Kamchatka for America early in May, 1741, and, after discovering that continent, to winter on it and return to Asia in 1742; but owing to a number of unforeseen accidents he was unable to bring this about. While at Okhotsk he had prepared the sea biscuit for the voyage, and these were lost at the mouth of the Okhota River in 1740 as they were being taken to Kamchatka. Then, again, because the two freight boats were unseaworthy he had to leave them behind at the Bolshaya River and have the supplies transported by the natives in the course of the winter. This was such a huge task that even the much-abused natives revolted, and it was some time before they were humbled and forced to do the bidding of the officers. As a result of all these misfortunes Bering was late in starting and not oversupplied on his departure.

On April 23, 1741, the navigation officers began to keep their records, and from this date on we will let them tell their own story.

{p. 36}

The following is a translation, from the hitherto unpublished originals in the Russian archives,^[1] (1) of the log book of Bering’s vessel, the St. Peter, covering the period from April 23, 1741, to August 9, 1742, and describing the preparation of the ship for sailing, the voyage from Kamchatka to the Alaskan coast and return to Bering Island (June 4-November 6, 1741), the wreck of the St. Peter and the death of Bering, the life of the survivors on that island, and the building of a replacing vessel, the hooker St. Peter; and (2) of the log book of the hooker St. Peter from August 10 to September 7, 1742, describing the return voyage to Petropavlovsk, the home port in Kamchatka (August 13 to 27), and the attempted continuation of the voyage to Okhotsk and final return to Petropavlovsk (September 1 to 6).

The Log Book of the “St. Peter”

With the help of God this journal was begun this April 23, 1741, on the ship St. Peter by Fleet Master Sofron Khitrov, under the command of Captain Commander Bering, in the Harbor of St. Peter and St. Paul, which is in Avacha Bay, latitude 53° 1′ N; longitude, reckoned from St. Petersburg, according to the observation of the professor of astronomy, {p. 37} Delisle de la Croyère, 127° 31′; variation of the compass ½ rhumb easterly.^[2]

In the Harbor of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul

April 23, 1741

Today with the help of God we began to load the ship St. Peter, on which worked eighteen men. The main shrouds were made fast to the mainmast, the preventer stay was also loosely secured; calked inside the ship, and near the mainmast hole nailed blocks for opening the cannon portholes; cleaned the hold, and in the afternoon took on ballast.

April 24, 1741

This day there were eighteen men at work, and they brought aboard the ship various rigging, also topmasts and yards; the cannons were secured on the port side while the starboard side was being calked. In addition we took on ballast.

April 25, 1741

Sixteen men were at work on board the ship. They rigged the mainsail and fore-topsail yards, worked about the rigging, and did some carpenter work.

April 26, 1741

This being Sunday there was no work.

April 27, 1741

There were seventeen men at work. Water and ballast were put into the hold. We rigged the fore and main yards; and other things were also done.

April 28, 1741

This being the coronation day of Her Imperial Majesty there was no work.

April 29, 1741

Twenty-one men at work, rigging shrouds, backstays, and stays to the main-topmast and fore-topmast and stowing casks of water in the hold.

April 30, 1741

A strong unsteady wind from the NE accompanied by rain. We put barrels of water into the hold, raised the best bower anchor clear off the ice and secured it to the port side of the ship, and made fast the shore anchor line to the anchor on shore.

{p. 38}

May 1, 1741

Put casks of water in the hold, broke the ice around the small bower anchor, and let go into the water. Took on wood.

May 2, 1741

Eleven men worked today. In the hold wood was stowed between the casks. To the mainsail and fore-topsail yards were secured ties and blocks. We hoisted on board the spritsail yards from the ice, put the jib boom in the hoop, hauled aboard the small anchor from the ice, secured the hawser on the port side, did carpenter work in the cabin. Four inches of water in the hold.

May 3, 1741

Sunday and no work.

May 4, 1741

A light wind from SW. In the morning there was frost and snow. Sixteen men were at work in the boatswain’s storeroom, on the port side of the caboose; doors were made; and on the starboard side beds for the lower officers were furnished. Other work was done also.

This day Captain Commander Bering with Captain Chirikov and all the higher officers and navigators held a council, to which was invited the astronomer, Professor de la Croyère, to decide what course to sail first after leaving Avacha Bay in order to locate the Terra de Gama, which is indicated on the chart of the above-named professor and which extends northward to latitude 47°. [The following decision was made.]

Fig. 9—Facsimile of signatures of Bering and his officers, probably from the “Decision on First Course to Sail” of May 4, 1741, which see for names.

May 5, 1741

Wind from SW. Seventeen men at work. On the main and fore shrouds the catharpings were fastened. Planed on the inside of the ship. Strengthened the foremast and nailed planks near the windlass.

{p. 40}

May 6, 1741

Wind from S. Gloomy weather. Seventeen men at work. On the fore-topsail the hoop was repaired, on both masts the chain plates were secured, and to the fore-topsail yards the gear was fitted. Water was brought from shore and stowed away in its place.

May 7, 1741

Variable and uncomfortable SW wind. From shore there were brought two cannon, two falconets, and three gun carriages. We did also other kinds of work.

May 8, 1741

Wind from the NE and unsteady. Seventeen men were at work; rigged the fore and main-topsail yards and topsail sheets and clew lines. Stowed barrels of water in the hold, made fast two cannon, stowed 90 poods^[3] of strip iron under the commander’s cabin.

May 9, 1741

Unsteady wind from the E and gloomy weather. This being the day of Nikolai the Wonder-worker there was no work.

May 10, 1741

Wind from the S. Snowy weather. We hauled the ship farther from shore and let out the spare anchor from the port side of the stern and did other work about the ship.

May 11, 1741

Wind from the E. The sky was overcast, and it rained and snowed. Nineteen men were at work; they brought casks of water and ten barrels of salt meat which they stowed aft in the hold, and they did other work as well.

May 12, 1741

Easterly wind with gloomy damp weather. Nineteen men were working. They brought aboard ship’s stores. Scraped the foremast and worked on the rigging. There was in the hold 7¾ inches of water, and after pumping out there was 2½ inches left.

May 13, 1741

Wind from the S and unsteady. Seventeen men were at work bringing casks of water and stores from shore, polishing the foremast, putting in place the running rigging. Today we corrected the compasses with the meridian line—six of these compasses had a variation of ½ rhumb east, and one ordinary steering compass in a copper case had ¾ rhumb east.

{p. 41}

May 14, 1741

Wind from the E. Seventeen men at work, putting the rigging in order, stowing away the stores in the hold, greasing both topmasts with fat, and fastening bull’s-eyes.

May 15, 1741

Wind from S. Eighteen men at work. The anchor which was down forward on the port side was hoisted on board and put in the hold, and in its place was secured the spare anchor. Spare yards and topmasts were brought aboard and made fast. Ship stores were brought from shore.

May 16, 1741

Light wind from SSE. There were eleven men at work who bent on the mainsail and foresail, both topsails, and the skyscraper. Dried the spare sails in the wind.

May 17, 1741

Sunday and no work.

May 18, 1741

Wind from E. Twenty-one men are at work. The port side of the ship from the upper wales was calked and pitched. Stores were brought on board. Water in the hold 5½ inches.

May 19, 1741

Unsteady wind from ENE. Cloudy, but occasionally it lightens in the E. Twenty-two men working, putting chocks under the longboat, calking and pitching the starboard side, bringing aboard provisions and boatswain’s stores as well as the articles to be given as presents.

May 20, 1741

No wind, wet snow. Twenty-three men were working. At the order of the Captain Commander, Ensign Lagunov took out from one of the casks on board a bucket of vodka and gave it to Adjunct Steller. We floored the powder room, made a bed for Adjunct Steller in the Commander’s cabin. Examined the leak at the bow near the foremast and made repairs in the Captain Commander’s cabin.

May 21, 1741

Heeled the ship on both sides and greased the under side. Gloomy weather and still. Twenty-two men were working today.

{p. 42}

May 22, 1741

No wind, cloudy weather. This day the crew with its bags came aboard the St. Peter and did different kinds of work. Forward there was 8 feet 10 inches of draft, and aft 9 feet 4 inches, a difference of six inches.

May 23, 1741

No wind. The crew has divided itself into two watches. Jib, mainsail, fore-topsail, staysail, and main-staysail were bent on. The deck over the crew’s quarters was calked and pitched from below. Six inches of water in the hold.

May 24, 1741

This being Sunday there was no work. We hoisted the flag and the jack and dressed ship.

May 25, 1741

No wind, cloudy weather with rain. At ten o’clock in the morning Captain Commander Bering inspected the crews on board the St. Peter and the St. Paul, and as he left the last-named ship, of which Captain Chirikov was in command, the crew gave five hurrahs for the Captain Commander. From his boat the same number of hurrahs were given in return, which was answered by one more hurrah from the ship. The Captain Commander has moved his quarters to the ship. Powder, lead, and shells were brought aboard. This day Captain Commander Bering gave Captain Chirikov the signal code which is to be used on the voyage. What follows is an exact copy:

{p. 47}

May 26, 1741

No wind. We dried the upper and lower sails. At three o’clock we took in the sails. At six o’clock the wind was SSE. The Captain Commander went in the small boat to look over Rakovaya Bay.

May 27, I741

No wind, cloudy and sunshiny. Pitched the boat on both sides.

May 28, 1741

No wind, cloudy, thick weather. Members of the crew went ashore by watches to have a bath. At ten o’clock the wind was SSE. At two o’clock in the afternoon we hauled on deck the spare anchor, with the cable, which had been down at the stern on the port side, and put in its place the stream anchor with the hawser made fast at the stern. The best bower anchor was lowered in the water to be cleaned and, after that, was stowed away in the hold, and to it was bent a cable 150 fathoms long, which had been unwound and spliced.

May 29, 1741

At four in the morning a shot was fired to signal the St. Paul for religious service. Half an hour later another shot as a signal to get under way. (Main-topsail loose.) At six o’clock the small bower anchor and the stream anchor were weighed, and we were towed out of the Harbor of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul into the roadstead of Avacha Bay. After passing the leading buoy, leaving it to starboard, which was in 15 feet of water and had a white flag at the top, we entered the roadstead and let go the small bower anchor and played out 20 fathoms of cable. Took soundings and got 7, 8, 9, 10, 5, 3, 4, 9, 12, 13 fathoms and blue slimy mud. When the gun was fired we hoisted the anchor flag.

May 30, 1741

At one o’clock in the afternoon the wind was S by E; at four o’clock SE. Cleaned the small bower anchor cable. The Captain Commander issued a supplementary signal order for Captain Chirikov. In case it should be necessary to be towed, the ordinary jack should fly from the main-topmast-standing-backstays opposite the top. At four in the morning the signal was made for the lieutenant of the St. Paul to come to us, and in response navigator Elagin came and received the above signal order and returned to his ship. From six to nine in the morning we warped between S and W. During that time we made three tows of 390 fathoms each. From nine to ten we made two tows of the same length and then anchored in 9½ fathoms of water. The lighthouse at the entrance bore SE½E from us, and the native summer homes at the mouth of the Harbor of St. Peter and St. Paul NE by E. The winds were unsteady and shifted.

{p. 48}

May 31, 1741

Topsail SSE wind, cloudy weather, and occasional sunshine. Eight o’clock in the evening the wind was from the SE but changeable. The longboat, in charge of the quartermaster and six men, was sent ashore for water and returned at two o’clock in the night with the water. At six in the morning the wind was from the NE; we hoisted the prayer flag when the gun was fired, let out a quarter of a cable on the small bower anchor.

While the ship was in the harbor it was loaded with all kinds of supplies, materials, and provisions which were needed for our sea voyage. The table below gives the kind and quantity of the cargo which we took aboard the St. Peter. At the stern the ship drew 9 feet 5 inches, at the stem 9 feet 4 inches of water, difference of one inch. In addition there is the small bower anchor with a half cable, the longboat, and the small yawl, all of which are in the water.

Table of the Materials, Supplies, and Provisions Taken on Board the “St. Peter” for the Sea Voyage

June 1, 1741

At one o’clock topsail SSE wind, sun is shining. At five o’clock a very light wind from the E, which shifted to ESE by eight o’clock. We raised the small bower anchor in order to look at it and then let it go again. The lighthouse bears SE, the native summer huts in the harbor N½E. During the whole twenty-four hours the winds veered back and forth between S and E. In the hold there are four inches of water.

{p. 49}

June 3, 1741

At one o’clock the wind is SSE. At two o’clock we sent our boat ashore for water. At six o’clock we saw a ship under sail in the S heading for Avacha Bay, which proved to be the double sloop Nadezhda coming from the mouth of the Bolshaya River. At nine o’clock the wind was SE; our boat returned with water. At eleven o’clock we put out a lighted lantern at the gaff for the benefit of the above-mentioned ship. At two o’clock we took down the lantern. At eleven in the morning the Nadezhda entered Avacha Bay and fired five guns as a salute, we replied with three; when she had come abreast, those on board gave three cheers for the Captain Commander, and we returned the compliment by three cheers, and then they gave three more. At twelve o’clock the double sloop came to anchor astern of us, and the navigator Ptichev came aboard our ship to make a report to the Captain Commander, after which he left. At one o’clock topgallantsail NE by S wind.

June 4, 1741

At seven o’clock the double sloop weighed anchor and sailed into the Harbor of St. Peter and St. Paul. At one o’clock calm. At two o’clock we had the anchor apeak and beat nearer towards the mouth; at four o’clock a gentle NW wind; we put up the fore-topsail and fore-topmast-staysail and steered for the mouth. St. Paul did likewise. At five o’clock the wind is WNW; we hauled up the two topsails and were being towed SE by S. The strong tide was the only obstacle to our going out, and we were, therefore, compelled to warp SE by E with the anchor in 13 fathoms. At eight o’clock set the sails and were towed SE by E into 8, 9, 10, 12, 14 fathoms. Lighthouse Vaua bore N½E, Vilyuchensk Volcano [SW¾W?], depth of water 30 fathoms. At twelve o’clock Vaua Lighthouse bore NW by N½W, 2½ miles, Vilyuchensk Volcano WSW, Burning Volcano N½W, Isopa Point S by W; carrying all sails except the spritsail.^[5]

{p. 50}

[Transcriber’s Note—Each page of the logs has the same format. The titles of the columns are too long to be presented properly, and so the following key presents the abbreviations used in each.]

BEGINNING OF VOYAGE

♀ June 5, 1741. After Midday^[6]

Key

{p. 51}

♄ June 6, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 52}

☼ June 7, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

Fig. 10—Facsimile of a page of the log book of the St. Peter kept by Yushin: entry of June 7, 1741 (for text, see opposite page).

The present reprint of the log book differs from the arrangement of the original in that the order of columns 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in the body of the log has been changed to 1, 2, 5, 3, 4, and that, in the summary at the end, boxes 1, 2, 3 under “From Vaua” have been transposed to 2, 1, 3.

{p. 53}

☾ June 8, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 54}

SEARCH FOR DE GAMA LAND

♂ June 9, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 55}

☿ June 10, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 56}

♃ June 11, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 57}

♀ June 12, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 58}

COURSE CHANGED FOR AMERICA

♄ June 13, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 59}

☼ June 14, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 60}

☾ June 15, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 61}

♂ June 16, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 62}

☿ June 17, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 63}

♃ June 18, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 64}

♀ June 19, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 65}

SEPARATION OF THE TWO VESSELS

♄ June 20, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 66}

☼ June 21, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 67}

RENEWED SEARCH FOR DE GAMA LAND

☾ June 22, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 68}

♂ June 23, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 69}

☿ June 24, 1741. After Midday

Key

Key

{p. 70}

♃ June 25, 1741. After Midday

Key