CONTENTS.--Introductory remarks.--Instruments and Methods.--Sources of
information.--Translation of Bering's Report.--Bering's List of
Geographical Positions.--An Itinerary of the Expedition.--Annotated
Synopsis of the Voyage compiled from all accessible data.--Comparative
Table of Geographical Positions.--Resumé of the results of the
Expedition.
In 1648 the tide of exploration and adventure setting eastward through
Siberia, impelled the fitting out of seven small trading boats on the
Kolyma river. Three of these, in charge of Simeon Deshneff, Gerasim
Ankudinoff and Feodor Alexieff, respectively, reached Bering Strait.
Ankudinoff's boat was wrecked on East Cape, but his party was
accommodated on the others. There were hostilities with the Chukchi,
the two boats were separated, and Deshneff's alone finally reached
Kamchatka. Next year he constructed the trading post on the Anadyr
river subsequently known as Anadyrsk.
There is a tradition that in 1654 a trader named Taras Stadukin
followed Deshneff's route, made a portage across the neck of East Cape,
circumnavigated Kamchatka, discovered the Kurile Islands, and finally
reached the Gulf of Penjina in safety.
In 1711 an emissary named Peter Iliunsen Popoff was sent to East Cape
by the Russians to induce the Chukchi to pay tribute. In this he
failed, but brought back an account of islands beyond East Cape, and of
a continent reported by the Chukchi to exist beyond these islands. Some
statements which he made in regard to the people of this continent were
regarded by geographers of the last century as fictitious, but with our
better knowledge, they set the seal of authenticity upon Popoff's
report and show that his journey was really made.
The political disorders which prevailed in Western Russia about this
period, prevented any attention from being directed to the reports of
these explorations, which were preserved in the archives at Yakutsk.
Somewhat later the attention of geographers was directed toward this
unknown corner of the world and the subject was brought to the notice
of Peter the Great. He took great interest in it, drew up instructions
for an expedition with his own hand and delivered them to Count Apraxin
with orders to see them executed. A few days later, in January, 1725,
he died; but the Empress desiring to carry out all the plans of her
deceased husband as closely as possible, ordered their execution.
Fleet-Captain Vitus Ivanovich Bering was nominated to the command of
the expedition and Lieutenants Martin Spanberg[1] and Alexie Chirikoff
to be his assistants.
[Footnote 1: So spelled by Bering himself.]
This expedition forms the subject of this paper. It has been treated of
by various geographers and biographers, but so far the original report
of Bering, printed in 1847 in the Russian language, has never been
faithfully translated into any other language; while his map has never,
in its entirety, been published at all. Reduced sketches derived from
the maps and more or less mutilated and garbled versions of the report
have appeared in sundry collections of voyages, and upon these the
latest contributions to the history of the expedition have been in
great part based.
Believing that the original report is a document of sufficient historic
and geographic interest to be made accessible to those who do not read
Russian, and that the errors of existing works make a critical review
of the subject desirable, I have translated the document in question
and prepared a general review of the present state of our knowledge in
regard to the expedition.
Bering's Report being written in archaic and badly spelled Russian,
with a singular disregard of punctuation and other literary niceties,
the translation presented unusual difficulties, in solving which I have
had the kind coöperation of that excellent Russian scholar Mr. J.
Curtin. I am indebted to the Reverend Father Richards, president of
Georgetown University, and Father Maas of Woodstock College, Md., for
valuable information in regard to the church festivals and saints,
whose names were utilized in the nomenclature of Bering's new
discoveries. To Mr. Marcus Baker, Messrs. Gannett and Woodward, and Mr.
C. C. Darwin of the Geological Survey; Dr. S. Hertzenstein of the
Zoological Museum of the Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg; Baron
Nordenskiöld of Stockholm, and Baron Robert Klinckofström; Drs. Holm
and Stejneger of the U. S. National Museum, and Prof. Julius Olson of
Madison, Wisconsin, I am indebted for numerous favors and courteous
assistance, and to all of these gentlemen I desire to express my
thanks.
In conclusion I desire to state that I am well aware this paper cannot
be regarded as a finality, but as a contribution to the geographical
history of North America it will not be without its value, while the
fact that I have myself spent parts of three summers in scientific
exploration of the coast visited by Bering and first charted by him,
has greatly helped me in my discussion of minor details of his work.
[Illustration: BERING'S CHART OF HIS FIRST VOYAGE. FROM D'ANVILLES
ATLAS. 1737. The first published map of his Explorations.]