Of your Imperial Majesty the most humble servant and fleet-captain,
W. I. BERING.
On February 5 of the late year 1725 I received from her Imperial
Majesty the Empress Ekaterina Alexievna, of happy and well-deserving
memory, the autographic instructions of his Imperial Majesty Peter the
Great, of happy and well-deserving memory, a copy of which is hereunto
affixed.
_Instructions._
(1.) There should be built on the Kamchatka [River], or at some other
place adjacent, one or two boats with decks.
(2.) With these boats [you are directed] to sail along the coast which
extends northwards and which is supposed (since no one knows the end of
it) to be continuous with America.
(3.) And therefore [you are directed] to seek the point where it
connects with America and to go to some settlement under European rule,
or if any European vessel is seen, learn of it what the coast visited
is called, which should be taken down in writing, an authentic account
prepared, placed on the chart and brought back here.
* * * * *
The following were the instructions given me by the former General
Admiral Count Apraxin, in which were written: "Artisans, laborers and
whatever, in my opinion, is necessary for the expedition, are to be
demanded from the chancellor's office of the government of Tobolsk and
monthly reports sent to the Imperial Admiralty College."
Before receiving these instructions, January 24, a lieutenant and 26
men of my command had been ordered to service on the expedition by the
Admiralty College with the necessary equipment for 25 wagons. The whole
number of my command sent out amounted to 33 men who were ordered to
Vologdie and from St. Petersburg to Tobolsk by a route which passed
through the towns here named: through Vologdie, Totma, Upper Ustiuk,
Solwichergodsk, Kaigorodok, Solkamsk, Verkhoturia, Turinsk, Epanchin
and Tiumen.
On the 16th day of March we arrived at Tobolsk and were there until the
15th day of May because of the lateness of the season interfering with
travel. During the delay at Tobolsk requisitions were made for the
necessary outfit for the expedition.
May 15th we left Tobolsk by water down the Irtish to Samarovska Yama,
on four boats of the kind called by the Siberians "dostcheniki," on
which were loaded all the outfit brought from St. Petersburg or
obtained at Tobolsk; together with a chaplain, commissary, sub-officers
and thirty-four soldiers.
I had previously sent a garde-marine officer, on a small boat furnished
by the Tobolsk authorities in obedience to the orders of the Naval
College, to the proper settlements where the preparation of
freight-boats had been ordered on the Yenisei and Uskut rivers, and I
ordered him to sail to Yakutsk.
From Samarovska Yama the Obi river was ascended to Surgut and to Narim,
and thence the Ket river to Makovska post. From Tobolsk to Makovska as
we traveled live Ostiaks who were formerly idolaters, but, since the
year 1715, through the labors of the Metropolitan of Tobolsk they have
been converted to the true faith. From Makovska post to Yeniseisk the
route lay overland. From Yeniseisk to the Ilima-mouth we proceeded also
in four boats by way of the Yenisei and Tunguska rivers. On the
Tunguska there are three rapids and several shoals; rapids be it
understood where across the whole width of the river large rocks stand
high in the water, with a passage only in one or two places; and
shoals, similarly under water and above water but composed of small
stones, alternate with rapids and with places where the water in the
river is shallow for the distance of one or two versts, and which are
not surmounted without a great deal of labor. From Yeniseisk in
pursuance of orders from Tobolsk we took thirty men, carpenters and
smiths.
On the Ilima river, on account of rapids, bars and shoal water, the
barges could not be taken to Ilimsk. For a certain distance only small
canoes were available, for which reason the heaviest part of the outfit
was reserved to be sent by sledges in winter.
Lieut. Spanberg, with a party of thirty-nine carpenters and laborers,
went by land from Ilimsk by the Uskut to the river Lena, to prepare
during the winter fifteen barges on which the command and its equipment
should be floated down to Yakutsk. I remained with the rest of the
party near Ilimsk just below the Uskut, because at Ilimsk there are few
houses and on account of the difficulties involved in a winter journey
to Yakutsk, from the deficiencies of transportation, the deep snow and
the severe cold, which prevented us from proceeding.
To these reasons [was added] the necessity, according to the orders
from the authorities at Tobolsk, of drawing the provisions for the
expedition from Irkutsk and from Ilimsk down to Yakutsk because at the
latter place grain is not cultivated. During our wintering at Ilimsk I
made a sledge journey to Irkutsk to advise with the local Voivod who
had previously been Voivod at Yakutsk and who understood what would be
needed by us in transporting our outfit from Yakutsk to Okhotsk and
Kamchatka, since I did not possess any actual information in regard to
that region. During the last days of winter travel I went over to the
Uskut and obtained from Irkutsk twenty additional carpenters and smiths
for the work of the expedition and two coopers from Ilimsk.
On the Tunguska, Ilima and Lena rivers to the Vitim live the so-called
Tunguses, people who own reindeer which they use as draught animals,
while those who do not own deer live near the rivers on fish and travel
in canoes made of birch bark. These people are idolaters.
From Uskutsk on fifteen barges, in the spring of 1726, we descended the
Lena to Yakutsk. From the river Vitim down to the Lena, on both banks
live Yakuts with a smaller proportion of Tunguses. The Yakuts possess
herds of cattle, plenty of horses and cows by which they subsist, and
are contented with the product of their herds, depending but little on
fish except where their cattle are too few. They pay an idolatrous
reverence to the sun and moon as well as to birds, such as the swan,
eagle and crow. They also hold in great honor their own fortunetellers,
known hereabouts as _shamani_, each of whom owns small idols or figures
which they call _shaitan_. By their own account these people are of
Tartar origin.
On reaching Yakutsk in boats I required the aid of all the people of my
command. Thirteen flat-bottomed barges which had been constructed at
Uskutsk, under Lieut. Spanberg, proceeded by water on the Lena down to
the Aldan to ascend that river, the Maya and the upper Yudoma. Such a
cargo could hardly have been transported to that distance overland on
horseback where but little in the way of subsistence was obtainable
from land or water. The Cross of Yudoma might only be reached with
great difficulty, but if successful the expense would be less than if
the material had been carried on the backs of horses. I myself with a
few people crossed from Yakutsk to Okhotsk with pack horses, as is the
general custom. The load or pack taken is only about five puds to one
horse, less than by the telega [ordinary cart], the deep mire and high
mountains to be traversed not permitting more, though my supplies
amounted to 1600 puds. At the post called Okhotsk is a Russian village
of only ten houses, and Lieut. Chirikoff was left to winter at Yakutsk
with orders to come overland to the Okhotsk post in the spring.
In the last days of December, 1726, a message asking for assistance was
received from Lieut. Spanberg, who had been dispatched by the river,
saying that the boats had failed to get within 450 versts of Yudoma
Cross and were frozen in on the Gorbeh River, where he was transporting
by sledges a cargo of outfit indispensable to our party. I sent at
once, from among those who were wintering with me at the post of
Okhotsk, a party with dogs and supplies and brought in the Lieutenant
to the post on the first day of January, 1727, but without any of the
outfit, he having left the Gorbeh river November 4th, 1726. His command
had been obliged by hunger to eat the flesh of their horses and even
the rawhide harness, the skin of their fur clothing and the untanned
uppers of their shoes. Their cargo was all left at four different
places along the route, which lay through uninhabited country. The only
addition to their means which they had been able to secure, was some of
our own flour, to the amount of 150 puds, which on my overland journey
I had been obliged to leave near Yudoma Cross on account of the death
of some of my pack-horses.
Along the rivers Aldan and Maia live Yakuts of the same stock as those
of the Lena and Yudoma rivers. But near and around the post of Okhotsk
wander the seaside Tunguses and some Lamuts with their herds and many
reindeer, who travel about winter and summer where their deer can find
pasturage; and some pedestrian Tunguses who live near the sea and
rivers and are professional fishermen as among the Yakuts.
February 1, ninety men with some dogs and sledges were collected and
sent under Lieut. Spanberg to bring in the outfit left behind by the
Yudoma river, and by the 1st of April about half of it had been
transported safely to Okhotsk. Since more remained I sent twenty-seven
men to Yudoma Cross to bring over the rest of the material on
pack-horses from that place, who returned in May.
In this region in winter time from Yakutsk to Okhotsk and other distant
places people always travel on foot in parties of eight or ten, hauling
their own sledges after them. Those belonging to our command, when sent
from Gorbeh to Okhotsk, brought down ten or fifteen puds or more, the
snow being seven feet deep in places and travelers in winter being
obliged to dig out a camp every evening, down to the ground to keep
warm.
June 30, Lieut. Spanberg in his newly built vessel sailed across the
sea to the port of Bolsheretsk with a cargo of outfit and supplies and
the material for the shipbuilders and workmen of our command, sent to
Kamchatka to get out the timbers for a vessel, being ordered to return
again for us.
July 3d, Lieut. Chirikoff arrived from Yakutsk with 2300 puds of flour,
according to my instructions.
August 21, we loaded the new vessel which had returned from the land of
Kamchatka, and another old boat which had been at Bolsheretsk, with the
flour, and the whole command then at Okhotsk proceeded across the sea
to Bolsheretsk. The officer who had been left to guard the provisions
which had not arrived from the wintering place on the Gorbeh river was
directed to float them down again and take a receipt from the
authorities at Yakutsk and endeavor, the following year, to deliver to
the command in Kamchatka some part of the provisions, iron and tar.
It was necessary to take the supplies from the mouth of the [Bolshoia]
river to the post of Bolsheretsk by water in small boats. At the post
were fifteen houses inhabited by Russians. For the ascent of the
shallow river small boats had been built as I desired that the outfit
and the most necessary part of the provisions should be transported to
the upper Kamchatka post, a distance of 120 versts by water. The
transportation between Bolsheretsk and Upper and Lower Kamchatka in
winter was entirely carried on by the use of the native dogs. Every
evening it is necessary to dig out the camp in the snow, in order to
get shelter from whirlwinds of snow which in this region are called
_poorga_. If one makes camp in an open place free from snow, these snow
squalls are liable to overwhelm the party and they may perish.
At Upper Kamchatka there are seventeen and at Lower Kamchatka fifty
houses, at another place [Middle Kamchatka] where there is a church are
fifteen houses, and in all these settlements there are not over 150
Russian subjects, who live by the collection of the _yassak_ [tribute
money], beside those who were brought to the country on our expedition.
In coming over to Bolsheretsk we brought 300 puds of whale blubber
obtained from a whale cast up by the sea, which served us as money,
together with the Circassian tobacco which is here commonly so used.
In the southern part of Kamchatka live Kuriles, in the northern part
Kamchadales, whose language is peculiarly their own with but few
introduced words. Of these people some are idolaters, others believe in
nothing and are strangers to all honesty. The Russians who live in
Kamchatka and the indigenes grow no grain and have no domestic animals
except draught dogs. They dress and subsist upon what they can get,
principally fish, roots and berries, in summer time wild fowl and large
marine animals. At present in the wilderness of Yakutsk, the convent,
which is of the same age as the Kamchatka churches, cultivates barley,
hemp and turnips. Here only turnips are grown by the people of the
three settlements, but they grow very large, in Russia they are
smaller, here there may be four turnips to a pud. I brought with me on
my journey some rye which was sowed around the establishments near us,
but whether it ripened or not I did not ascertain. The frost strikes
early into the ground in this region and the absence of cattle renders
it difficult for the people to plow.
The natives described and from whom the yassak [tribute] is collected,
belong to the Russian Empire and are all savages. They are known for
their dirt and bad passions. If a woman or any animal brings forth
twins then one of them is smothered, the hour it is born, and it is
regarded as a great fault if one does not smother one of the two.
The Kamchadales are very superstitious. If there is any one who is very
ill, even a father or mother, or near the point of death, they will
carry them out into the woods and leave them without nourishment for a
week together whether it be winter or summer, from which treatment many
die. The dead are not covered with earth but are dragged out and left
to be eaten by dogs. The house of a man who has died is abandoned.
Among the Kariak people it is the custom to burn the body, although
this is forbidden.
By the time of our arrival at the Lower Kamchatka post the ship-timber
for our vessel was in large part prepared, and upon the 4th of April,
1728, was put upon the stocks for the vessel, which, with God's help,
was finished by the 10th of July, the timber being hauled by dogs. Tar
was made from the native tree which is called _Listvennik_ [spruce],
since the tar which we should have brought with us had not arrived.
Before this it was not known here that tar could be obtained from the
native trees. So also for the sea voyage, the deficiency of spirit made
from grain was supplied by a liquor distilled from herbs, and salt was
made by boiling sea water. To increase our store of sea provisions, in
place of cow's butter, fat was tried out from fish, in place of meat
fish was salted. The vessel was provisioned with everything needful for
forty men for a year. On the 14th day of July we went out of the mouth
of the Kamchatka river into the sea, in obedience to the autographic
orders given me by his Imperial Majesty Peter the Great, as the map
constructed for that purpose will show.
August 8th, having arrived in north latitude 64° 30', eight men rowed
to us from the shore in a skin-boat, enquiring from whence we came and
what was our business there. They said they were Chukchi, (whom the
Russians of these parts have long known) and as we lay to they were
urged to come to the vessel. They inflated some floats made of sealskin
and sent one man swimming to us to talk, then the boat came up to the
vessel and they told us that on the coast lived many of their nation;
that the land not far from there takes a decided turn to the westward,
and they also said that at no great distance from where we were, we
should see an island. This proved true, but we saw nothing valuable
upon it except huts. This island in honor of the day we named St.
Lawrence, but we were not able to see any people upon it, though an
officer was sent in a boat from the vessel on two occasions to look for
inhabitants.
On the 15th of August we arrived in the latitude of 67° 18' and I
judged that we had clearly and fully carried out the instructions given
by his Imperial Majesty of glorious and ever deserving memory, because
the land no longer extended to the north. Neither from the Chukchi
coast nor to the eastward could any extension of the land be observed.
If we should continue on our course and happen to have contrary winds
we could not get back to Kamchatka before the close of navigation and
might be obliged to winter in that region, not only without a harbor,
but where no fuel could anywhere be obtained, where the native people
do not acknowledge the authority of the Russian government, but are
wholly independent and united against us in refusing to pay tribute.
From the mouth of the Kamchatka river and all the way to this place
along the seacoast wind elevated mountains, resembling a wall in
steepness, and from which the snow does not disappear in summer.
On the 20th of August four canoes were observed rowing toward us,
containing about forty people who were Chukchi of the same sort as
those whom we had met before. They brought for sale meat, fresh water,
fish, fox skins, of which fifteen were of the white fox, and four
walrus teeth, which my people bought of them for needles and
flint-and-steels. They said that some among them had been overland with
reindeer to the Kolyma river and that they never went by sea to the
Kolyma; but, at a great distance, by the seashore lived some of our
people, born Russians, people whom they had known for a long time, and
one of them said that he had been at the Anadyr post to trade. To other
questions they gave the same answers as the Chukchi previously seen.
On the 2d of September we entered the mouth of the Kamchatka river and
wintered at the post of Lower Kamchatka.
On the 5th of June, 1729, having repaired the vessel which had been
laid up, we went out of the mouth of the Kamchatka river and put to sea
to the eastward, because the inhabitants of Kamchatka declared that on
fine days land could be seen across the sea. Though none of our own
people had observed it, we went out to determine the authenticity of
the information. We sailed nearly 200 versts and saw not the slightest
trace of land. We sailed around the south point of Kamchatka to the
mouth of the Bolshoia river, making a chart of this part which had not
previously been delineated. From the mouth of the Bolshoia river we
sailed across the sea to the post of Okhotsk having left at Lower
Kamchatka and at Bolsheretsk, out of the supplies received by us from
the authorities of Yakutsk, flour, meal and dry salt meat to the amount
of 800 puds.
On the 23d of July the vessel reached the mouth of the Okhotsk river,
where the outfit and supplies of the expedition were turned over to the
governor and I, with my command, on hired horses, crossed over to
Yudoma Cross and thence in canoes down the Aldan river, crossing over
at Belskoi and below, and carrying everything on pack horses over to
Yakutsk.
The whole journey occupied the time from Okhotsk, July 29th, to Yakutsk
on the 29th of August. We remained in Yakutsk until September 3d, and
from September 10th until October 1st traveled in two barges on the
Lena when we were arrested by ice at the settlement of Peleduie. Here
we were detained until the 29th of October, by the absence of snow and
the presence of small ice in the Lena. When the ice solidified we
proceeded to Ilimsk and from Ilimsk to Yeniseisk on the Tunguska river,
stopping at Russian settlements; and from Yeniseisk to Tomsk with
Russians and converted Tartars; from Tomsk to Chausk Ostrog, Russian
settlements; from Chausk to Tari by the Barabinskoi steppe; from Tari
to Tobolsk by the Irtish river among the Tartars; arriving at Tobolsk
January 10, 1730. From Tobolsk for St. Petersburg we left on the 25th
of the same month, following the same route by which we originally
reached Tobolsk from the capital. We arrived in St. Petersburg March 1,
1730.
* * * * *
_Note._--The extensive tabular itinerary covering two quarto pages,
showing the details of the route traversed in going to Kamchatka, the
distances and directions from point to point (except during the sea
voyages), the native tribes in the region traversed, etc.--is not
reproduced, as it contains no information of importance in the present
connection. The other table, showing the astronomical position
estimated for the more important places is herewith transcribed.
To get the approximate Greenwich longitude 67° should be added to the
longitudes in the table which are reckoned from Tobolsk.
I have provided a tabular itinerary, which shows the dates of the
events of the expedition, derived from Bering's Report and from other
sources, which are indicated by letters. B stands for Brookes' edition
of Du Halde; H for Campbell's version in Harris; M for Müller's
account; and L for Lauridsen. The astronomical events are taken from
Oppolzer's standard catalogue of solar and lunar eclipses.
It will be noted in the following tables there are a few discrepancies
of single days compared with Lauridsen's account or other authorities.
These I take to be due to the use in the ship's journal of the nautical
day in which the nautical second day of the month begins on the first
calendar day at noon and ends at noon on the second calendar day, so
that events occurring during the first twelve hours of the nautical day
would have a date one day later than the true calendar date.
_Catalogue of the towns and notable Siberian places put on the chart
through which the route passes, with their latitude and longitude, the
latter computed from Tobolsk._
--------------------------------------+-------------+------------
Cities and Places. | Latitude N. | Long. E. of
| | Tobolsk.
--------------------------------------+-------------+------------
Tobolsk | 58° 05' | 00° 00'
Samarofska Yama | 60 17 | 00 30
Town of Surgut | 60 51 | 5 18
Town of Narim | 58 48 | 14 35
Ketskoi post | 58 19 | -- --[9]
Losinoborski convent | 58 17 | -- --[9]
Makoffska post | 58 03 | 23 13
Yeniseisk | 58 20 | 25 12
Kashim convent | 58 37 | 32 00
House of Simakhina, Ilima river mouth | 57 25 | 35 16
Ilimsk | 56 40 | 36 44
Ust Kutskoi post | 56 40 | 38 26
Kirinski post | 57 50 | 41 01
Yakutsk | 62 08 | 57 53
Okhotsk post | 59 13 | 76 07
Mouth of Bolshoia river, Kamchatka | 52 42 | 89 51
Upper Kamchatka post | 54 48 | -- --[9]
Lower Kamchatka post | 56 11 | -- --[9]
Mouth of Kamchatka river | 56 03 | 96 10
Cape St. Thaddeus | 62 20 | 111 32
West cape, Holy Cross bay | 65 35 | 115 15
East cape, Holy Cross bay | 65 28 | 115 37
Preobrazhenia bay | 65 01 | 120 30
Chukotski cape, east end | 64 25 | 122 55
St. Lawrence island | 64 00 | 122 55
St. Diomede island | 66 00 | 125 42
Place from which we turned back | 67 18 | 126 07
South cape of Kamchatka | 51 10 | 89 51
--------------------------------------+-------------+------------
[Footnote 9: These longitudes absent from Bering's own report are
supplied by Campbell in his list, probably from the chart.]
In the Table of positions the addition of 67° will reduce the
longitudes to E. of Greenwich. It is probably from this table that Dr.
Campbell derived his list, in Harris, which is, barring some additions,
errors, and mistranslations, much the same. As Bering does not give any
longitude for Lower Kamchatka post it is highly improbable that he
observed it at that place, by means of a lunar eclipse or otherwise.
Chirikoff's observation of a lunar eclipse at Ilimsk made that point
30° 13' east longitude from Tobolsk or, approximately, 97° 13' east
from Greenwich. His pedometric observations placed Ilimsk in 103° 44'
E. Gr. On recent charts Ilimsk is in about 104° E. Gr., so that the
eclipse observation was in error about 6½ degrees. The meridian used on
the voyage of 1728 was that of Lower Kamchatka, based on pedometric
observations from Ilimsk computed by means of a traverse table. These,
according to Chirikoff's journal, gave for the Lower Kamchatka post a
meridian of 126° 01' 49" east from St. Petersburg or about 156° 02'
east from Greenwich, which is in error about six and a quarter degrees.
Discarding the eclipse observation and using only the pedometric
observations from Tobolsk to Lower Kamchatka the result for that place
is 162° 33' E. Gr., which is very near the truth. I have no doubt that
this result is what was finally used in the chart (though not in the
original report) and, therefore, that all the observations of Lauridsen
and others in regard to the alleged eclipse in Kamchatka are based on a
misunderstanding and without value.