CHAPTER XIX.

THE STAY ON BERING ISLAND.--FAUNA OF THE ISLAND.--A RICH FIELD

FOR STELLER.--HIS DESCRIPTIONS IMMORTALIZE THE EXPEDITION.--THE

SEA-COW.--ITS EXTERMINATION.--NORDENSKJÖLD REFUTED.--PREPARATIONS

FOR WINTERING.--SAD DEATH OF BERING.--AN ESTIMATE OF HIS

WORK.--CHIRIKOFF'S RETURN.--THE CREW OF THE ST. PETER LEAVE THE

ISLAND.--THE GREAT NORTHERN EXPEDITION DISCONTINUED.--BERING'S

REPORTS BURIED IN RUSSIAN ARCHIVES.--BERING HONORED BY COOK.

The island upon whose shores Bering, after a voyage of four months,

was cast, was a high, rocky, and uninviting country. The snowless

mountains of Plutonic rock, wild and jagged, arose perpendicularly

out of the sea, and deep ravines with seething mountain streams led

into the treeless interior.[86] There was snow on only the highest

peaks, and on this cold November night the coast appeared to the

shipwrecked unfortunates in all its naked and gloomy solitude, and

hence great was their surprise on landing to find the island teeming

with animal life, yet undisturbed by human habitation. The Commander

Islands, as the group is now called, consist of two large islands and

a few rocky islets. The most easterly of the former is Copper Island

(Mednie), about thirty-five miles long and three miles wide, covered

with high, steep, and jagged mountains, which lie athwart the main

trend of the island, S. E. to N. W., and terminate precipitously,

often perpendicularly, with a narrow strand at the base scarcely fifty

feet wide. On a somewhat larger scale, the same description applies

to Bering Island, which, according to Steller, is 23-1/2 geographical

miles long and nearly 3-1/4 wide. It is situated about 30 geographical

miles from Kamchatka, between latitude 54° 40' and 55° 25' north, and

longitude 165° 40' and 166° 40' east of Greenwich. Only on the west

coast, within the shelter of the Sea Lion Island (Arii Kamen) and a

lesser islet, is there a fairly good harbor, where the Russians later

founded the only colony of the island, consisting of a few Aleuts who

cultivate some vegetables, but maintain themselves principally by

hunting and fishing. For this purpose they have built, here and there

on the east coast, some earth-huts which are used only temporarily.

The very high mountains, having a trend from N. W. to S. E., almost

everywhere extend clear to the sea, and only here and there along the

mouths of the brooks do semicircular coves recede from 700 to 1300

yards into the interior. In Bering's day these coves or rookeries

contained a fauna entirely unmolested by human greed and love of chase,

developed according to nature's own laws, for which reason great

scientific interest attaches to the stranding of the St. Peter. Of this

animal life Steller gives us in his various works descriptions which

are unexcelled in power and fidelity. These have made Bering's second

voyage immortal. Naturalists will again and again turn to them. For

this reason it would seem that Steller had no ground for complaint that

Bering had taken him from his real field of investigation: Kamchatka--a

complaint made in our day by O. Peschel--for on Bering Island he first

found that field of labor and that material, the description of which

has immortalized his name.[87]

[Illustration: STELLER'S TRIUMPHAL ARCH.]

With the exception of the Arctic fox, the higher fauna of these islands

were found exclusively among the sea mammals. The most important furred

animal at that time was the sea-otter (_Enhydra lutris_, Linn.), which

lived in families on the coast during the whole year, especially,

however, in the winter. Its velvety fur brought about 100 rubles on the

Chinese border, and hence this animal later became the object of a most

eager search. Nordenskjöld says these otters have been driven away, not

only from Bering Island, but also from other grounds, where formerly

they were slaughtered by the thousand. This statement, however, is not

entirely correct. The sea-otter may still be found on Bering Island,

and on the adjacent Copper Island (Mednie) it is frequently found,

and is protected by just such laws as Nordenskjöld demands for its

preservation.

The greatest number of marine animals here were found to belong to the

family of eared seals (_Otariidoe_); namely, the sea-lion (_Eumetopias

Stelleri_), from which oil is obtained, and the fur-seal (_Callorhinus

ursinus_), which is still the world's most important fur-bearing

animal. Since the close of the last century, the Russian government

has with great care sought to protect this animal, and has built up a

national enterprise which yields a large annual income, and which makes

it possible for the Russo-American company which has a lease of the

business, to kill annually about 30,000 seals and still increase the

stock. On this point, too, Nordenskjöld's statements are unreliable

and misleading. He puts the annual catch much too high, which, at the

time, caused no slight trouble between the Russian government and the

company.[88]

On the whole, it seems humiliating to West Europe that it is only

decried and tyrannical Russia that has understood how to protect this

useful animal. When Russian America, the present Alaska, in 1867

was sold to the United States, some of the best seal fisheries, the

Pribyloff Islands, were a part of the purchase. The United States has

found it profitable to retain the Russian regulations for seal hunting,

for those small islands alone yield the interest on the sum paid for

the whole territory.

The eared seals put in their appearance on the Commander Islands in the

spring, and are found in the rookeries by the hundreds of thousands

until August or September. They proved of the greatest importance for

the support of the shipwrecked expedition, and after the sea-otter for

a circuit of many miles had been driven away, they furnished a part of

the crew's daily means of sustenance.

But the most interesting animal on Bering Island was the sea-cow

(_Rhytina Stelleri_),[89] a very large and ponderous animal from eight

to ten meters long and weighing about three tons. It was related to

the dugong and lamantine of the southern seas, and the _manatus_ which

occurs in Florida and along the Gulf coast. Its habitat seems to

have been confined to the shores of the Commander Islands, where it

was found in great numbers. Its flesh was very excellent food. Later

it was eagerly sought after by the Siberian hunter, whose rapacity

exterminated the whole species in less than a generation. The last

specimen is said to have been killed in 1768, and hence museums have

been very unsuccessful in procuring skeletons of the animal. In his

"Voyage of the Vega," Nordenskjöld attempts to show that sea-cows were

seen much later, even as late as 1854; but as he bases his assumption

chiefly on the statements of some Aleutian natives, who, according

to what Dr. Leonhard Stejneger recently has proved, confounded the

sea-cow with a toothed whale (denticete), there seems to be no reason

whatever for modifying the results arrived at by Baer, Brandt, and

Middendorff.[90]

Without this animal wealth it would have gone hard with Bering's

expedition as it did later with the unfortunate La Pérouse, whose

monument has found a place in Petropavlovsk by the side of Bering's.

It would have been hopelessly lost on Bering Island. None of the

participants would have seen Asia again, none would even have survived

the winter 1741-42, for when the St. Peter stranded, there were on

board only a few barrels of junk, a small quantity of groats, and some

flour. The flour had been lying in leathern sacks for two years, and

in the stranding had been saturated with turbid sea water, and hence

was very unfit for food. How fatal, therefore, Waxel's and Khitroff's

opposition to Bering might have been.

It was the night between the 5th and 6th of November that the St. Peter

reached this coast. On the 6th the weather was calm and clear, but

the crew were kept on board from weakness and work, and only Steller

and Pleniser could go ashore with a few of the sick. They immediately

betook themselves to examining the country, and walked along the coast

on either side. Was this an island, or was it the mainland? Could

they expect to find human assistance, and could they reach home by

land? After two days of exploration, Steller succeeded in satisfying

himself on these points, although it was nearly six months before he

definitely ascertained that the place was an island. Unlike Kamchatka,

the country was treeless, having only a few trailing willows of the

thickness of a finger. The animals of the coast were entirely new and

strange, even to him, and showed no fear whatever. They had no sooner

left the ship, when they saw sea-otters, which they first supposed to

be bears or gluttons. Arctic foxes flocked about them in such numbers

that they could strike down three or four score of them in a couple of

hours. The most valuable fur-bearing animals stared at them curiously,

and along the coast Steller saw with wonderment whole herds of sea-cows

grazing on the luxuriant algæ of the strand. Not only he had never seen

this animal before, but even his Kamchatkan Cossack did not know it.

From this fact, Steller concluded that the island must be uninhabited.

As the trend of Kamchatka was not the same as that of the island, and

as the flora was nevertheless identical, and as he moreover found a

window frame of Russian workmanship that had been washed ashore, he was

convinced that the country must be a hitherto unknown island in the

vicinity of Kamchatka.

Bering shared this view, but the other officers still clung to their

illusions, and when Waxel, on the evening of the 6th, came ashore, he

even spoke of sending a message for conveyance. Steller, on the other

hand, began to make preparations for the winter. In the sand-banks,

near an adjacent mountain stream, he and his companions dug a pit and

made a roof of driftwood and articles of clothing. To cover up cracks

and crevices on the sides, they piled up the foxes they had killed.

He exerted himself to obtain wild fowl, seal-beef, and vegetable

nourishment for the sick, who were gradually taken ashore and placed

under sail tents upon the beach. Their condition was terrible. Some

died on deck as soon as they were removed from the close air of their

berths, others in the boat as they were being taken ashore, and still

others on the coast itself. All attempts at discipline were abandoned,

and those that were well grouped themselves into small companies,

according to their own pleasure and agreement. The sick and dying were

seen on every hand. Some complained of the cold, others of hunger and

thirst, and the majority of them were so afflicted with scurvy that

their gums, like a dark brown sponge, grew over and entirely covered

the teeth. The dead, before they could be buried, were devoured by

foxes, which in countless numbers flocked about, not even fearing to

attack the sick.

More than a week elapsed before the last of the sick were taken ashore.

On November 10, the Commander was removed. He was well protected

against the influence of the outer air, and was laid for the night

under a tent on the strand. It snowed heavily. Steller passed the

evening with him and marveled at his cheerfulness and his singular

contentment. They weighed the situation, and discussed the probability

of their whereabouts. Bering was no more inclined than Steller to think

that they had reached Kamchatka, or that their ship could be saved. The

next day he was carried on a stretcher to the sand pits and placed in

one of the huts by the side of Steller's. The few that were able to

work sought to construct huts for all. Driftwood was collected, pits

were dug and roofed, and provisions were brought from the ship. Steller

was both cook and physician--the soul of the enterprise. On November

13, the barrack to be used as a hospital was completed, and thither the

sick were immediately removed. But still the misery kept increasing.

Steller had already given up all hopes of Bering's recovery. Waxel,

who had been able to keep up as long as they were on the sea, now

hovered between life and death. There was special anxiety on account

of his low condition, as he was the only competent seaman that still

had any influence, since Khitroff, by his hot and impetuous temper,

had incurred the hatred of all. Moreover, those sent to reconnoiter,

returned with the news that in a westerly direction they could find

no connection with Kamchatka or discover the slightest trace of human

habitation. It became stormy; for several days the boat could not

venture out, and the ship, their only hope, lay very much exposed near

a rocky shore. The anchor was not a very good one, and there was great

danger that the vessel would be driven out to sea, or be dashed to

pieces on the rocks. The ten or twelve able-bodied men that were left,

being obliged to stand in icy water half a day at a time, soon gave

way under such burdens. Sickness and want were on every hand. Despair

stared them in the face, and not until November 25, when the vessel was

driven clear ashore and its keel buried deep in the sand, did their

condition seem more secure. They then went quietly to work to prepare

for the winter.

In December the whole crew was lodged in five underground huts

(dug-outs) on the bank of the stream near the place of landing.[91]

The ship's provisions were divided in such a way that every man daily

received a pound of flour and some groats, until the supply was

exhausted. But they had to depend principally upon the chase, and

subsisted almost exclusively upon the above mentioned marine animals

and a stranded whale. Each hut constituted a family with its own

economical affairs, and daily sent out one party to hunt and another

to carry wood from the strand. In this way they succeeded in struggling

through the winter, which on Bering Island is more characterized by

raging snowstorms (poorgas) than severe cold.

Meanwhile, death made sad havoc among them. Before they reached Bering

Island, their dead numbered twelve, the majority of whom died during

the last days of the voyage. During the landing and immediately

afterwards nine more were carried away. The next death did not

occur until November 22. It was the excellent and worthy mate, the

seventy-year-old Andreas Hesselberg, who had plowed the sea for fifty

years, and whose advice, had it been heeded, would have saved the

expedition. Then came no less than six deaths in rapid succession;

and finally in December the Commander and another officer died. The

last death occurred January 6, 1742. In all, thirty-one men out of

seventy-seven died on this ill-starred expedition.

When Bering exerted his last powers to prevent the stranding of the St.

Peter, he struggled for life. Before leaving Okhotsk he had contracted

a malignant ague, which diminished his powers of resistance, and on

the voyage to America scurvy was added to this. His sixty years of

age, his heavy build, the trials and tribulations he had experienced,

his subdued courage, and his disposition to quiet and inactivity,

all tended to aggravate this disease; but he would nevertheless,

says Steller, without doubt have recovered if he had gotten back to

Avacha, where he could have obtained proper nourishment and enjoyed the

comfort of a warm room. In a sandpit on the coast of Bering Island,

his condition was hopeless. For blubber, the only medicine at hand,

he had an unconquerable loathing. Nor were the frightful sufferings he

saw about him, his chagrin caused by the fate of the expedition, and

his anxiety for the future of his men, at all calculated to check his

disease. From hunger, cold, and grief he slowly pined away. "He was,

so to speak, buried alive. The sand kept continually rolling down upon

him from the sides of the pit and covered his feet. At first this was

removed, but finally he asked that it might remain, as it furnished him

with a little of the warmth he so sorely needed. Soon half of his body

was under the sand, so that after his death, his comrades had to exhume

him to give him a decent burial." He died on the 8th[92] of December,

1741, two hours before daybreak, from inflammation of the bowels.

"Sad as his death was," says Steller, "that intrepidity and seriousness

with which he prepared to meet death was most worthy of admiration." He

thanked God for having been his guide from youth, and for having given

him success through life. He sought in every way possible to encourage

his companions in misfortune to hopeful activity, and inspire them with

faith in Providence and the future. Notwithstanding his conviction

that they had been cast upon the shores of an unknown land, he was

not disposed to discourage the others by expressing himself on this

point. On the 9th of December his body was interred in the vicinity of

the huts, between the graves of the second mate and the steward. At

the departure from the island there was placed upon his grave a plain

wooden cross, which also served to show that the island belonged to

the Russian crown. This cross was renewed several times, and in the

sixties, so far as is known, twenty-four men erected a monument to his

honor in the governor's garden (the old churchyard) in Petropavlovsk,

where a monument to the unfortunate La Pérouse is also found, and where

Cook's successor, Captain Clerke, found his last resting place.

With Bering that mental power, which had been the life of these great

geographical expeditions and driven them forward toward their goal, was

gone. We have seen how his plans were conceived; how through long and

dreary years he struggled in Siberia to combine and execute plans and

purposes which only under the greatest difficulties could be combined

and executed; how by his quiet and persistent activity he endeavored

to bridge the chasm between means and measures, between ability to

do and a will to do,--a condition typical of the Russian society of

that time. We have seen how he surmounted the obstacles presented by a

far-off and unwilling government, a severe climate, poor assistants,

and an inexperienced force of men. We have accompanied him on his last

expedition, which seems like the closing scene of a tragedy, and like

this ends with the death of the hero.

He was torn away in the midst of his activity. Through his enterprise a

great continent was scientifically explored, a vast Arctic coast, the

longest in the world, was charted, a new route to the western world was

found, and the way paved for Russian civilization beyond the Pacific,

while enormous sources of wealth--a Siberian Eldorado--were opened

on the Aleutian Islands for the fur-hunter and adventurer. Russian

authors have compared Bering with Columbus and Cook. He certainly

was for Russia, the land of his adoption, what the two former were

for Spain and England--a great discoverer, an honest, hardy, and

indefatigable pioneer for knowledge, science, and commerce. He led

Europe's youngest marine out upon explorations that will ever stand in

history as glorious pages, and as living testimony of what Northern

perseverance is able to accomplish even with most humble means.

And yet he only partly succeeded in accomplishing what for sixteen

years had been the object of his endeavors. His voyage to America was

merely a reconnoitering expedition, which, in the following summer, was

to have been repeated with better equipments.

Chirikoff, who on the expedition in 1741, about simultaneously with

Bering,[93] discovered a more southerly part of the North American

coast, returned to Avacha in such an impaired condition that, in 1742,

he could undertake no enterprise of importance.[94] On account of

the great misfortunes that overwhelmed the expedition, Laptjef was

prevented from completing the charting of Kamchatka. Thus we see that

on every side of Bering's grave lay unfinished tasks. These tasks

were inherited from the Dano-Russian explorer by his great successor

Cook, and other younger navigators. Moreover, his death occurred at

an extremely fatal period; for in these same dark December days while

Bering was struggling with death in the sandpits of Bering Island,

Biron, Münnich, and Ostermann lost their supremacy in St. Petersburg.

The Old Russian party, the opponents of Peter the Great's efforts at

reform, came into power, and during Elizabeth's inert administration,

all modern enterprises, the Northern Expedition among them, were

allowed to die a natural death. At Avacha and Okhotsk affairs wore

a sorrowful aspect. The forces of the expedition had been decimated

by sickness and death, their supplies were nearly exhausted, their

rigging and sails destroyed by wind and weather, the vessels more or

less unseaworthy, and East Siberia drained and devastated by famine;

only Bering's great powers of perseverance could have collected the

vanishing forces for a last endeavor. On September 23, 1743, an

imperial decree put an end to any further undertakings. Meanwhile,

the crew of the St. Peter had, in August, 1742, returned to Avacha

in a boat made from the timber of the stranded vessel. Chirikoff had

previously departed for Okhotsk, to which place also Spangberg returned

from his third voyage to Japan. Gradually the forces of the various

expeditions gathered in Tomsk, where, first under the supervision of

Spangberg and Chirikoff, and later that of Waxel and other officers,

they remained until 1745. Thus ended the Great Northern Expedition.

But Bering's ill fate pursued him even after death. During the

reign of Empress Elizabeth, nothing was done to make known the

results of these great and expensive explorations, nor to establish

the reputation of the discoverers. The reports of Bering and his

co-workers, which make whole cartloads of manuscript, were buried in

the archives of the Admiralty. Only now and then did a meager, and

usually incorrect, account come to the knowledge of the world. Some

of the geographers of that day insisted that the Russian government

system of suppression merely aimed at excluding the rest of Europe

from that profitable maritime trade through the Arctic seas for which

the Northern Expedition had opened the way. Ignorance on this subject

was so great that Joseph de l'Isle ventured even before the French

Academy to refer to himself as the originator of the expedition,--to

rob Bering of his dearly bought honor, and to proclaim to the world

that Bering accomplished no more on this expedition than his own

shipwreck and death. With Buache he published a book and a map to

prove his statements. The name De l'Isle at that time carried with

it such weight that he might have succeeded in deceiving the world

for a time, if G. F. Müller had not, in an anonymous pamphlet written

in French, disproved these falsehoods. But even Müller's sketch in

_Sammlung Russischer Geschichte_ (1758), the first connected account

published concerning these expeditions, has great defects, as we have

seen, not only from the standpoint of historical accuracy, but it also

shows a lack of appreciation of the geographical results obtained by

Bering. Hence it would have been impossible for Cook to render the

discoverer long-deferred justice, if he had not known D'Anville's map

and Dr. Campbell's essay. Thus it was West Europe that last century

rescued Bering's name from oblivion. In our day the Russian Admiralty

has had this vast archival material examined and partly published, but

much must yet be done before a detailed account can be given of the

enterprises we have attempted to sketch, or of the man who was the

soul of them all. We hardly feel disposed, with Professor Von Baer,

to urge the erection of a monument in St. Petersburg, as a restitution

for long forgetfulness, former misjudgment, and lack of appreciation.

As Russia's first navigator and first great discoverer, he certainly

has merited such a distinction. We shall, however, consider our

task accomplished, if we have succeeded in giving in these pages a

reliable account of the life and character of a man who deserves to

be remembered, not only by that nation which must ever count Vitus

Bering among her good and faithful sons, but also by the country that

harvested the fruits of his labors.

[Illustration: BERING'S MONUMENT IN PETROPAVLOVSK.

(FROM WHYMPER.)]

FOOTNOTES:

[86] Dr. Stejneger, to whom the translator is indebted for various

notes and corrections of scientific interest, says: "The mountains

which Steller and his companions saw were not eruptive rocks. The

whole island consists of a more or less coarsely grained sandstone or

conglomerate,--Plutonic rock cropping out only in isolated spots. The

mountain streams of Bering island are anything but 'seething'; on the

contrary, they are as a rule very quiet."

[87] Dr. Stejneger, ever on the alert to honor Steller, says in

_Deutsche Geographische Blätter_, 1885: "It was due to Steller that not

only a majority of the participants survived, but that the expedition

won a lasting name in the history of science. Bering left his name

to the island upon which he died, and the group to which it belongs.

Komandorski (Commander Islands), was named after his rank. Moreover,

Bering Sea, Bering Strait, a peninsula in Asia, and a bay in America

have been named in honor of him. But what is there in these regions

to remind one of the immortal Steller, the Herodotus of these distant

lands? Search the map of the island of which he has given such a

spirited description. His name is nowhere to be found, while three

capes have received the names of Bering's lieutenants and helmsmen, who

were the authors of the whole misfortune: Waxel, Khitroff, and Jushin.

The man that rescued and immortalized the expedition has fallen into

oblivion. I consider it an honor that it has been granted to me to

render long deferred justice to this great German investigator. The

highest mountain peak on Bering's Island will henceforth be called

Mount Steller."

In speaking of a description by Steller of some rock formations on the

western coast that resembled ancient ruins, Dr. S. says in the same

article: "I landed at the only remaining one of these arches, under

which Steller had probably walked. It is a fine specimen of a natural

triumphal arch, standing quite by itself. In honor of Steller I called

it Steller's Triumphal Arch. No monument marks his resting-place on

the desert steppes of Siberia; Russia has never forgiven him for his

ingenuous criticism of the injustice of her courts; but Steller's name

will nevertheless live. His Triumphal Arch, gaily decked with the

variegated lichens _Caloplaca murorum_ and _crenulata_, and adorned

with the lovely white golden-eyed blossoms of the _Chrysanthemum

arcticum_, is a monument that does fitting honor to the great

naturalist."--TR.

[88] Dr. Stejneger, in "Contributions to the History of the Commander

Islands," published in Proceedings of U.S. Nat. Museum, 1882, p. 86,

calls attention to Professor Nordenskjöld's erroneous statement, and

gives the exact figures.--TR.

[89] The correct name of this animal, Dr. Stejneger informs me, is

_Rhytina gigas_.--TR.

[90] Dr. Stejneger says, after a very careful and exhaustive discussion

of this question: "It may thus be regarded as fairly proved that the

unknown cetacean, which in 1846 was observed near the southern end of

Bering Island, was a female narwhal. But, whatever it may have been,

one thing is absolutely sure: _it was not a sea-cow_!" For references

see Note 65.--TR.

[91] These pits or earth huts lay in a direction from north to south.

Next to Steller's hut was the miserable pit in which Vitus Bering, a

hundred and forty-eight years ago, drew his last breath. August 30,

1882, Dr. Stejneger visited this place, of which he gives the following

description in _Deutsche Geographische Blätter_, 1885, pp. 265-6: "I

was first attracted to the ruins of the huts in which the shipwrecked

crew passed a winter a hundred and forty-one years previous. On a

projecting edge of the western slope of the mountain, in the northern

corner of the valley, stands a large Greek cross. Tradition says that

Bering was buried there. The present cross is of recent date. The old

one, erected by the Russian company, was shattered by a storm, but

the stump may still be seen. No one thought of erecting a new one,

until Hr. von Grebnitski attended to the matter. Directly southeast

of the cross, close to the edge of a steep declivity, about twenty

feet high, lie the fairly well preserved ruins of the house. The walls

are of peat, about three feet high and three feet thick. They were

covered with a very luxuriant growth of grass, and, moreover, swarms of

mosquitoes helped make investigation very unpleasant work. * * * The

floor was covered with a thick turf, the removal of which was out of

the question. I probed the whole surface with a bayonet, but nothing

of significance was found. * * * A part of the crew were undoubtedly

lodged in the sandpits under the barrow, of which Steller speaks. And

in fact traces of the pits still exist, although they no longer have

any definite form, being, moreover, so overgrown with vegetation that

nothing could be ascertained from them. Some Arctic foxes had burrowed

there. At our approach the whole brood came out, and in close proximity

stood curiously gazing at us. Steller and his companions are gone, but

the Arctic fox, which played them so many tricks, is still there. The

pits, now merely an irregular heap of sand filled with burrows, lie

close to the brook, where it curves sharply toward the west, cutting

into the declivity on which the house stands."--_Author's Note to

American Edition._

[92] Old style

[93] Bancroft, who, strange to say, calls Chirikoff "the hero of this

expedition," gives a detailed account of the voyage of the St. Paul

after its separation from the St. Peter. Lauridsen does not do this,

for the obvious reason that he considers Chirikoff's expedition of but

comparatively little importance, although he doubtless would be willing

to second Bancroft's estimate of Chirikoff as a man "who, amongst

Russians, was the noblest and most chivalrous of them all." There seems

to be no reason to doubt that Chirikoff sighted the coast of Northwest

America about thirty-six hours before Bering did. On the 11th of July

signs of land were seen, and on the 15th land was sighted in latitude

55° 21', according to Bancroft, who, at this point in his narrative,

exclaims: "Thus was the great discovery achieved." Chirikoff's return

voyage was fraught with hardships and suffering. Before the expedition

reached Avacha Bay, October 8, twenty-one were lost. The pilot Yelagin

alone of all the officers could appear on deck, and he finally brought

the ship into the harbor of Petropavlovsk. Croyère, the astronomer,

died as soon as he was exposed to the air on deck. Chirikoff, very ill,

was landed the same day. Eventful as the expedition in some respects

was, it nevertheless possesses no particular geographical or scientific

interest, for there is great doubt even as to where landings were made

and what islands were seen. Bancroft speaks very cautiously on these

points. Sokoloff, however, declares emphatically that the land first

discovered by Chirikoff was a slight projection of the coast between

Capes Addington and Bartholomew of Vancouver's map. Moreover, the lands

in these regions received no names from the St. Paul, whereas the

St. Peter forged, along the islands of the North Pacific, a chain of

names, many of which are still the permanent possession of geography.

When it is furthermore remembered that Chirikoff was one of Bering's

assistants, that the fitting out of the expedition was under the

charge of Bering, and that upon him rested all responsibility to the

government, it is certainly impossible for any fair minded person to

accept the statement that Chirikoff "must ever be regarded as the hero

of this expedition." Bancroft does not, however, approve of Sokoloff's

vainglorious expressions concerning "the achievements of Chirikoff,

a true Russian, as against Bering the Dane." Principally in the one

fact of a few hours' priority of discovery, Solokoff finds proof of

"the superiority of the Russians in scientific navigation!" Bancroft

occasionally reminds the reader that "Russian historians are perhaps a

little inclined to magnify the faults of Bering the Dane," and in this

instance administers to Sokoloff the following reproof: "So the learner

is often apt to grow bold and impudent and despise the teacher. The

great Peter was not above learning navigation from Bering the Dane." In

speaking of Bering's death, Bancroft further retrieves himself--indeed,

seems quite to supersede his former opinion--by saying: "Thus passed

from earth, as nameless tens of thousands have done, the illustrious

commander of the expeditions which had disclosed the separation of the

two worlds and discovered north-westernmost America." See History of

Alaska, p. 68 _et seq._--TR.

[94] Note 66.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

BERING'S REPORT TO THE ADMIRALTY FROM OKHOTSK, DEC. 5, 1737.[95]

From the instructions forwarded to me by His Imperial Highness, I

learn that the Imperial College of Admiralty is inclined to the

opinion that the expedition is lingering along idly on account of

my heedlessness. This arouses in me no little anxiety for fear that

I may incur undeserved wrath; yet in this matter I await the will

of his Imperial Highness and the most gracious resolution of the

Imperial College. For although, from the time the expedition was put

in my charge until the present time, I have faithfully and diligently

sought as quickly as possible to build vessels, put out to sea, and

begin the execution of my work proper, everything has suffered delay

on account of unexpected obstacles over which I have had no control.

Prior to our arrival in Yakutsk, not a single pood of provisions had

been sent to Okhotsk for the crew there, not a single vessel had been

built for transporting these provisions and supplies, and not a single

magazine had been built at the stopping places on the Maya and Yudoma

rivers. No laborers were to be had, and no arrangements whatsoever

had been made by the Siberian government officials, notwithstanding

the fact that an imperial ukase had ordered these things. We have

done all this. We built transports, demanded laborers from Yakutsk,

and with great difficulty brought our provisions in these transports

to Yudomskaya Krest,--yes, with superhuman efforts our command and

these laborers--since even upon my demand but very few were sent--also

brought the supplies at Yudomskaya Krest (12,000 poods of flour and

rice) to Okhotsk. Moreover, at the stopping place on the Maya, at

the mouth of the Yudoma, at the Cross, and on the Urak, we erected

magazines and dwellings for the forces, and also built four winter-huts

between Yudomskaya Krest and Urak as places of refuge during the

winter. Furthermore, in accordance with our plans, we built, in 1736,

at the stopping place on the Urak, fifteen, and during this year, 1737,

sixty-five vessels on which to float the provisions down the Urak. Of

these, forty-two are still at the place of construction, the remaining

thirty-seven having departed with provisions in 1735. All of this has

been done under my orders, not by the government officials of Siberia.

In Yakutsk, where I was at that time staying, we built two vessels,

the boat Irkutsk and the sloop Yakutsk, and in 1735 sent them out on

the expeditions assigned to them. We took pains to provision them

well, and furthermore sent four barges to the mouth of the Lena with

additional provisions for them. In 1736 the Yakutsk had the misfortune

to lose its chief, Lieut. Lassenius, and many of the crew. Others

were hopelessly ill, and hence, as I feared that the work assigned to

this expedition would not be accomplished, I was obliged to man the

vessel anew from Yakutsk. The sick were taken to Yakutsk to be nursed.

I did all that was possible for them, and by the help of God they were

saved. For these same two ships I sent, in 1736, from the provisions

of my command, two lighters with provisions, and during the present

year, 1737, I have likewise sent a boat to the mouth of the Lena, as

the provisions sent in 1735 were nearly exhausted. But from the voivode

in Yakutsk we received no support whatever. From this it is evident

that my stay in Yakutsk was necessarily prolonged. Nor was it possible

for me to go to Okhotsk with my men until I had sent some provisions

ahead. Otherwise I should have taken the risk of starving them to

death, putting an end to all hopes of accomplishing anything, and thus

incurring a heavy responsibility. Some of my men remained in Yakutsk

in charge of the affairs of the expedition there, and to forward

provisions. Others remained at the Maya harbor, Yudomskaya Krest,

and at the Urak landing, to guard the magazines and attend to the

transportation of necessaries to Okhotsk, for it is not yet possible to

feed so many at Okhotsk. The fact that the voivode in Yakutsk made such

long delay in appointing commissioners to receive and send me supplies,

prevented me from keeping my men together and availing myself of their

assistance. As early as June 2, 1735, I demanded the appointment of

three commissioners and such assistants as I thought necessary, to be

stationed along the route. The authorities at Yakutsk did not comply

until the present year, 1737, and then only after repeated demands on

my part. But if I had neglected to attend to these matters, and had

hastened the departure to Okhotsk, the voivode--in my absence--would

have done nothing, and it remains to be seen how the transportation

to Yudomskaya Krest will be attended to. * * * As the difficulties

with which we have had to contend are very obvious, and although as a

consequence the immediate starting out of the expedition is improbable,

I can, nevertheless, conscientiously say that I do not see how I could

have in a greater degree hastened the work of the expedition, or how

I could have intensified the zeal with which I have worked from the

very beginning. Through this report I therefore most humbly seek at the

hands of the Admiralty a considerate judgment, and hope that it will

show that matters have not been delayed through my carelessness.

It is on account of these obstacles, together with the fact that

there was much work to be done in Okhotsk, that I have been unable

to prepare, in a short time, the ships necessary for the voyage. My

command has had to work at Spangberg's ships, which are now ready.

But also in Okhotsk, on the "Cat" (Koschka), where these vessels and

packet-boats are being built, everything was bare and desolate. There

was not a building there,--nowhere to stay. Trees and grass do not grow

there, and are not found in the vicinity on account of the gravel. In

spite of the fact that the region is so barren, it is nevertheless

very well suited for ship-building. It is a good place for launching,

for starting out, and as a harbor of refuge for these ships. There is,

in fact, no better place on this coast. Hence, according to Spangberg's

directions, a house was built on the "Cat" for the officers, and

barracks and huts for the men. For these buildings our men hauled the

clay, made the tiles, brought wood from a distance of three to four

miles, and carried fresh water from a distance of about two miles; for

although the Koschka is situated at the mouth of the Okhota, the water

in the river is very salty on account of the tide-water. Moreover, we

have built storehouses and a powder magazine. I enclose three diagrams,

showing what has been done in the years 1735, 1736, and 1737. My men

in Okhotsk are now preparing ship-biscuits for the voyages, and are

floating the necessary timber for the boats twenty miles down the

river. They burn the charcoal used in forging, and the necessary pitch

must be prepared and brought from Kamchatka, as there is no pitch-pine

in the vicinity of Okhotsk.

In addition to this we are obliged to make our own dog-sledges, and

on these bring our provisions from Yudomskaya Krest to the Urak

landing. There is, too, much other work in Okhotsk that must be done in

preference to ship-building, for it is quite impossible to get anything

in the way of food except the legal military provisions, consisting

of flour and groats. I must state, in this connection, that in the

summer some cattle are sent with the transports from Yakutsk. These are

obtained at the regular price and are distributed among the crews; but

on account of the great distance, and the reluctance of the Yakuts to

sell to others than the yassak collectors, except when in great need,

the supply has been limited.

Notwithstanding the fact that the authorities at Okhotsk were directed

to prepare fish for the expedition, I found that nothing whatever had

been done in this regard; but, on the contrary, they monopolized the

supplies of the Tunguses, who furnished my first expedition with an

abundance of fish, and upon whom I had depended. For this reason we

are forced to give the men leave of absence in the summer, so that

they may obtain food by fishing, thus causing a loss of time and

neglect of the work of the expedition. Our force might be divided

into different parties, for ship-building, fishing, and miscellaneous

work, but we have not found it expedient to do this. Especially on

account of the fact that many have been assigned to the work of

transportation, there are not as many engaged in ship-building as

necessary, or as was ordered by the Imperial College of Admiralty.

Lack of sufficient provisions has prevented this. Here in Okhotsk we

have but a small number of laborers. The rest, for whom there will be

no provisions until in the spring, we have sent to Yudomskaya Krest to

bring provisions and other necessary supplies on dog-sledges to the

Urak landing, and to construct at this place twenty new barges for use

in the spring of 1738. New barges must be built every year, for those

that are floated down the Urak can not be returned on account of the

swiftness of the current. They are, however, used for other purposes

in Okhotsk. It takes four men ten days to build a barge, and four

or five to man one. I most respectfully ask the Imperial College of

Admiralty to consider the number of men employed at this work, and what

they are accomplishing. All of this, too, is being done by my forces.

From the government officer in Okhotsk, Skornjakoff-Pissarjeff, we

have not, since the day of our arrival here up to the present time,

received the slightest assistance in transportation, ship-building,

or anything else whatsoever. Nor have we any hope of obtaining any

such assistance in the future. And even if we should demand support

from him, we would only have long and fruitless negotiations with him,

for while in Yakutsk, he sent me a written notification (February 28,

1737), refusing to assist in the transportation from Yudomskaya Krest

to Okhotsk.

In addition to the facts here adduced, together with my earlier

reports to the Imperial College of Admiralty, wherein I have given an

account of my efforts for the progress of the enterprise and shown

the impossibility of an early consummation of the main object of

my expedition, I appeal to the testimony of all the officers of my

command. All of which is respectfully submitted.

BERING, _Commander_.

FOOTNOTES:

[95] Abridged from the Russian.

NOTES.

1. List of Russian Naval Officers. St. Petersburg, 1882.--V. Berch: The

First Russian Admirals.--Scheltema: _Rusland en de Nederlanden_, III.,

p. 287.--L. Daae: _Normænd og Danske i Rusland_.

As Berch hints that Bering had many enemies in the Department of the

Marine, I have made inquiries on this point. Admiral Th. Wessalgo

informs me that Berch's account is entirely without foundation. Bering

demanded and got his discharge in 1724, because he was dissatisfied

with the regulations governing promotions.

2. _Sammlung Russ. Geschichte_, III., p. 50.--P. Avril's Accounts of

America, collected in Smolensk, 1686.--Vaugondie: _Memoires_, p. 4.

_Les géographes des 16' et 17' siècles ont toujours pensé que la mer

separait l'Asie de l'Amérique._

See also a very interesting essay on the first Russian accounts of

America: The Great Land, Bolshaia Zemlia, in the Memoirs of the

Department of Hydrography (_Zapiski_), Vol. IX., p. 78.

The name Anian Strait has arisen through a misunderstanding of Marco

Polo's book (lib. III., cap. 5). His Ania is no doubt the present Anam,

but the Dutch cartographers thought that this land was in Northeast

Asia, and called the strait that was said to separate the continents

the Strait of Anian. The name appears for the first time on Gerh.

Mercator's famous maritime chart of 1569.

Dr. Soph. Ruge: Fretum Aniam, Dresden, 1873, p. 13.

3. G. F. Müller, in _Schreiben eines Russ_. _Officiers von der Flotte_

p. 14, seeks to take to himself all the honor for our knowledge

of Deshneff's journey, but this is not tenable. See _Beiträge zur

Kenntniss des russischen Reiches_, XVI., 44. Bering did not collect

his information concerning Deshneff in Kamchatka, but in Yakutsk, and

referred Müller to this matter.

A. Strindberg: _P. J. v. Strahlenberg_, in the Swedish Society for

Anthropology and Geography, 1879, No. 6.

4. V. Berch: The First Voyage of the Russians, pp. 2-5.

5. Bering's report to the Admiralty, in The First Voyage of the

Russians, p. 14, together with his original account in _Description

géographique, historique de l'empire de la Chine. Par le Père_ J. B. Du

Halde. La Hague, 1736, IV., 562.

6. G. W. Steller: _Beschreibung v. dem Lande Kamtschatka_. Frankfurt,

1774.

Krasheninikoff: The History of Kamtschatka. Glocester, 1764.

7. A species of bears-foot, _Sphondylium foliolis pinnatifides_. Cleff.

8. Bering's fear of the Chukchees may seem in our day to put him

in a bad light; but they who are familiar with the history of this

people know that at the time of Bering they were very warlike. Both

Schestakoff and Pavlutski fell in combat with them. _Neue nordische

Beiträge_, I., 245.

J. Bulitsheff: _Reise in Ostsibirien_. Leipzig, 1858, p. 33.

9. The ship's journal, kept by Lieut. P. Chaplin, is the basis of this

presentation. The first Voyage of the Russians, pp. 31-65. Von Baer has

used it to some extent, but no other West European author.

In Bering Strait there are two Diomede islands. The boundary line

between Russia and North America passes between them. The Russian

island is called Ratmanoff or Imaklit, the American Krusenstern or

Ingalisek. Sea W. H. Dall: Alaska, Boston, 1870, p. 249.

10. That Bering himself was the author, would seem to be shown by the

fact that Weber who knew and associated with Bering, uses _verbatim_

the same expressions concerning the first expedition. See Weber: _Das

veränderte Russland_, III., 157.

11. Cook and King: Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. III., 244.--The only

place where I have found any testimony to show that America was seen

from the Gabriel is a chart by J. N. De l'Isle: "_Carte Génerale des

Découvertes de l'Admiral de Fonte_," Paris, 1752, on which chart,

opposite the Bering peninsula, a coast line is represented with the

words: "_Terres vues par M. Spangberg en 1728, frequentées à présent

par les Russes, qui en apportent de très belles fourrures_."

12. The Academy's map, 1737.--Müller's map, 1758.

13. See A. Th. v. Middendorff: _Reise in den Aeussersten Norden und

Osten Sibiriens_., IV., 56.

Concerning Bering's determinations of longitude and latitude, O.

Peschel says: "_Auf der ganzen Erde gibt es vielleicht keine wichtigere

Ortsbestimmung, als die von Petropaulovski, insofern von ihr die

mathematischen Längen in der Beringsstrasse abhängen, welche die

Erdveste in zwei grosse Inseln trennt. Mit lebhafter Freude gewahrt

man, dass schon der Entdecker Bering auf seiner ersten Fahrt trotz

der Unvollkommenheit seiner Instrumente die Längen von Okhotsk, die

Südspitze Kamchatkas und die Ostspitze Asiens, bis auf Bruchtheile

eines Grades richtig bestimmte."--Geschichte der Erdkunde_, pp. 655-56.

A list of Bering's determinations is found in Harris's Collection of

Voyages, II., 1021, London, 1748.

About the middle of the eighteenth century there was a violent attack

on Bering's determinations. Samuel Engel, Vaugondie, and Bushing tried

to show that according to these Asia had been put too far east. S.

Engel: _Remarques sur la partie de la relation du voyage du Capt.

Cook qui concerne le détroit entre l'Asie et l'Amérique_. Berne,

1781.--M. D. Vaugondie: _Mémoire sur les pays de l'Asie_, etc., Paris,

1774.--Bushing's Magazine, VIII., IX.

14. Cook and King: Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, III., 473: "In justice

to the memory of Bering, I must say that he has delineated the coast

very well, and fixed the latitude and longitude of the points better

than could be expected from the methods he had to go by. This judgment

is not formed from Mr. Müller's account of the voyage or the chart

prefixed to his book, but from Dr. Campbell's account of it in his

edition of Harris's Collection and a map thereto annexed, which is

both more circumstantial and accurate than that of Mr. Müller." The

chart which Cook refers to is a copy of Bering's own chart as given by

D'Anville.

Concerning East Cape, Cook says: "I must conclude, as Bering did before

me, that this is the most eastern point of Asia," p. 470.

16. See Steller's various works, especially the introduction to the one

on Kamchatka, where it is stated that Bering returned "_ohne doch das

geringste entdeckt zu haben_." This introduction was written by J. B.

S. (Scherer).

16. In Petermann's _Mittheilungen_, 1879, p. 163, Dr. Lindemann

says that Bering turned back "without having seen, strange to say,

either the Diomedes or the American coast." The author's authority is

evidently W. H. Dall, an extremely unfortunate historian. The latter

says: "Bering, naturally timid, hesitating, and indolent, determined

to go no farther for fear of being frozen in, and returned through the

Strait--strange to say--without seeing the Diomedes or the American

coast." See Dall: Alaska and its Resources. Boston, 1870, p. 297.

17. _Geschichte der Entdeckungen im Norden_, p. 463.

18. C. C. Rafn: _Grönlands historiske Mindesmærker_. Copenhagen, 1838,

III.

19. Hazii: _Karten von dem Russ. Reiche_, Nürnberg, 1788.--T. C.

Lotter: _Carte géogr. de Siberie_, Augsburg.

20. Harris's Collection of Voyages, II., 1021, Note 34.

21. V. Berch: The First Voyage of the Russians.

22. _Beiträge zur Kenntniss des Russ. Reiches_, XVI.

23. The name appears earlier on the chart which accompanies Gmelin's

_Reise durch Sibirien_, IV., 1752, and in Steller's _Reise von

Kamtschatka nach Amerika_. But both of these authors must here be

considered an echo of Müller.

24. See Müller's own review of the Russians' early knowledge of

the peninsula in Vol. III. of _Sammlung Russ. Geschichte_. Even as

late as 1762 the Cossacks could travel among the Chukchees only in

disguise.--Pallas: _N. Nord. Beiträge_, I., 245.--During Billings's

expedition hostilities were still smoldering.--East Cape is 600 miles

from Anadyrskoi Ostrog.

26. J. D. Cochrane has, in Narrative of a Pedestrian Journey,

London, 1825, App. p. 299, attempted to establish Pavlutski's route,

unsuccessfully, however, we think. On the whole, accounts and opinions

concerning Pavlutski are so uncertain, that it is impossible by means

of the literature on this point, to give a final opinion. See Fr.

Lütke: _Voyage autour du monde_, II., 238. "_Sauer dit que Pavlovtsky

vint jusqu'au détroit de Bering; ce qui, au reste, n'est pas en lui

même vraisenable_."

26. Pallas: _N. Nord. Beiträge_. I. Chart.--Martin Sauer: An Account of

Com. Billings's Geog. and Astr. Expedition. 1785-94. Chart.

27. M. Sauer: An Account, etc., p. 252, Note.--Fr. Lütke: _Voyage

autour du monde_, II., 238. Note and chart: _Carte de la Baie de Sct.

Croix. Levée par les emb. de la Corvette le Seniavine_, 1828, where the

original Serdze Kamen is found in its proper place with the original

Chukchee name, _Linglingay_.

28. Steller: _Beschreibung von dem Lande Kamtschatka_, p. 15. Steller

sways back and forth between Müller's views and the account that

he himself obtained of the real state of affairs. He met Müller in

West Siberia in 1739, when the latter was filled with his supposed

epoch-making discoveries in Yakutsk archives. In _Reise nach Amerika_,

p. 6, Steller says: "_So verblieb es nichts desto weniger auf Seiten

der damals gebrauchten Officiere bey einer kurzen Untersuchung des

Landes Kamtschatka, von Lopatka bis zu dem sogenannten Serze Kamen,

welche bey weitem das Tschuktschiske Vorgebirge noch nicht ist._" He

has so little knowledge of Bering's work that he can immediately go

on to say: "_Gwosdew ist viel weiter und bis 66 Grad Norderbreite

gekommen_."

29. How varying the views on this subject have been even in the

narrowest academical circles may be seen from the following: In a

German edition of _Atlas Russicus_, 1745, Serdze Kamen appears as a

mountain in the center of the Chukchee peninsula. (By Calque, placed at

my disposal by A. Thornam, of St. Petersburg. In the French edition the

name is not found at all.) On the maps which accompany J. E. Fischer's

_Sibirische Geschichte_, 1768, and Ginelin's work, Serze Kamen and

Kammenoie Serdze are found, but in different places of Bering Strait,

both different from Müller's.

30. Cook and King: Voyage, etc., I., 469: "Thus far Bering proceeded in

1728, that is, to this head, which Müller says is called Serdze Kamen

on account of a rock upon it shaped like a heart. But I conceive that

Mr. Müller's knowledge of these parts is very imperfect. There are many

elevated rocks upon this cape, and possibly some one or other of them

may have the shape of a heart.

"At four in the morning the cape, which, on the authority of Müller, we

have called Serdze Kamen, bore S. S. West." III., 261.

31. Gvosdjeff's _Reise_. Note 121.

32. _Beiträge zur Kenntniss, etc._, XVI., 44. Note.

33. Philip Johann Tabbert, ennobled in 1707 and called Von

Strahlenberg, was born at Stralsund in 1676, and taken captive after

the battle of Pultowa as captain in the army of Charles XII. He was

banished to Tobolsk, traveled some years with Dr. Messerschmidt in

Siberia, and together with other Swedish officers he made several maps

of Siberia, which, without his knowledge or consent, were published

in Holland by Bentinck, 1726, in _L'Histoire des Tartares_, etc., and

reprinted in various works such as _La Russie asiatique, tirée de la

Carte donnée par ordre du feu Czar_. In 1730, Strahlenberg's own work

appeared in Leipsic; it is marked by its minute knowledge of details.

His representation of the Chukchees peninsula deserves attention as

evidence of the knowledge the Cossacks had of this region, whereas

there is nothing original in his representation of the coast-lines of

Eastern Asia. Baer says that Strahlenberg's book and map was made by

a Leipsic student, and that whatever it contains that is of value is

taken from Messerschmidt. _Beiträge_, XVI., 126. Note 18.

34. This map is reproduced in Nordenskjöld's Voyage of the Vega.

35. Steller: _Reiss von Kamtschatka_, etc., p. 6, where a very

erroneous and unreasonable account of the result of Bering's first

expedition is given.

36. Kiriloff's map is found in _Russici imperii Tab. Generalis et

Specialis_, Vol. XLIII.

37. Strangely enough, no original copy seems to have remained in the

archives of the Admiralty. Berch insists that no such copy exists. I

investigated the matter in 1883, and later Mr. A. Thornam has examined

the archives for this purpose, but without result.

38. Du Halde writes: _Ce Capitaine revint á Sct. Petersburg le premier

jour de Mars de l'année 1730, et apporta une relation succinte de

son voyage, avec la Carte qu'il en avoit dressée. Cette Carte fût

envoyée au Sérénissime Roi de Pologne, comme une présent digne de son

attention et de sa curiosité, et Sa Majesteté a bien voulu qu'elle me

fût communiquée en me permettant d'en faire tel usage qu'il me plairot.

J'ai cru que le Public me scauroit quelque gré de l'avoir ajoutée à

toutes celles que je lui avois promises._

In the Swedish geographical journal, "Ymer," 1884, there is an

interesting account by E. W. Dahlgren of the copies of Bering's chart

in Sweden.

39. Gmelin: _Reise durch Sibirien_. Introduction.

40. Bering's proposition was formulated as follows: (1) As the waves,

according to my observation, are smaller east of Kamchatka [than in

the open ocean], and, moreover, as I have on Karaginski Island found

large fir-trees washed ashore, which do not grow in Kamchatka, it is my

opinion that America or some intervening land can not be very far from

Kamchatka (150-200 geographical miles). In case this is so, commercial

relations with that country that would be to the advantage of the

Russian empire could be established. This matter can be investigated,

if a vessel is built of from 45 to 50 tons burden. (2) This vessel

ought to be built at Kamchatka, as at this place more available timber

is found than at other places [on the east coast]; moreover, provisions

for the crew, fish and other animals are easily obtained. Besides,

greater assistance can be obtained from the Kamchadales than from the

inhabitants of Okhotsk. (3) It would not be without advantage to find

out the sea-route from Okhotsk or Kamchatka to the mouth of the Amoor

and farther on to the Japan Islands, as we there have hopes of finding

inhabited regions. It would be well to establish commercial relations

with them, especially with the Japanese, which promises the Russian

empire no small advantage in the future. For this purpose a ship of

the same size or a little smaller than the first might be built. (4)

The expenses of this expedition in addition to the salaries and the

materials, which could not be secured there, but would have to be taken

along from here or Siberia, would, including the transport, amount to

ten or twelve thousand rubles. (5) If it is considered advisable to

chart the northern coast of Siberia, especially from the mouth of the

Obi to the Yenisei and hence to the Lena, this can be done by sailing

down these rivers or by expeditions by land, as these regions are under

Russian rule.

VITUS BERING.

April 30, 1730.

These propositions were first published by Berch in "The First

Russian Admirals," and later reprinted by Sokoloff in _Zapiski

Hydrograficheskago Departamenta_ (Journal of Hydr. Dept.), St.

Petersburg, IX., Appendix.

41. Part II. is based upon the works of Von Baer, Middendorff, and

Sokoloff.

42. General List of Russian Naval Officers, St. Petersburg, 1882.

43. _Zapiski_, IX., 250.--_Beiträge zur Kenntniss_, etc.,

Introduction.--Sokoloff: "Chirikoff's Voyage to America," St.

Petersburg, 1849.--Bering's wife was suspected of having acquired

goods illegally, but there is no proof of this. When she, in the year

1738, returned from Siberia, the Senate, influenced by the numerous

denunciations of her conduct, issued an ukase that her goods should

be examined. At the inspection on the borders of Siberia it was found

that she had a suspiciously large quantity of furs and other things.

She rather overawed the authorities, however, and returned to St.

Petersburg unmolested. Sokoloff gives no information as to whether the

furs were illegally obtained or not. She was very much younger than

Bering; in 1744, on making application for a widow's pension, she gave

her age as 39 years.

44. The author is indebted to Admiral Th. Wessalgo for the following

archival accounts.

_The Admiralty to Captain Bering, Feb. 26, 1736._

Your expedition is a very protracted one, and apparently it

is being conducted somewhat carelessly on your part, which is

shown by the fact that it has taken nearly two years to reach

Yakutsk. Moreover, it appears from your report that your stay in

Yakutsk will be too long; in fact, there seems to be no reason

to hope that you will succeed in getting any farther. As a

consequence of all this the Admiralty is extremely dissatisfied

with your arrangements, and will not let matters go on without an

investigation. If in the future any negligence whatever occurs, an

investigation will be instituted against you for insubordination

to the decrees of His Imperial Highness and for negligence in an

affair of state.

_The Admiralty to Captain Bering, Jan. 31, 1737._

Inasmuch as you--in spite of the express orders of the Admiralty,

wherein it is stated that your expedition is protracted and is

carelessly conducted--have not reported to the Admiralty the cause

of your delay, and say nothing about when you intend to leave

Yakutsk, you are hereby deprived of your supplemental salary, and

will receive only the regular salary, until you send such a report,

and until you continue on the expedition which has been entrusted

to you.

_The Admiralty to Captain, Bering, Jan. 23, 1738._

From Captain Chirikoff there has been received by the Admiralty

a report from Okhotsk with an accompanying copy of a proposition

laid before you by Chirikoff, suggesting measures for a more speedy

completion of the Kamchatka expedition under your charge. As no

steps had been taken by you in this direction as late as May 8 of

the same year, the Admiralty has concluded to demand an answer

from you, if any plans have been made on the basis of Chirikoff's

proposition, and if, contrary to our expectations, nothing has been

done, we desire to know _why_,--since, according to the orders

issued to you Feb. 21, 1737, you were instructed to show zeal and

solicitude for the activity of the expedition, and that any neglect

on your part would make you liable to the same punishment as that

suffered by Lieutenants Muravjeff and Pauloff for negligence in

conducting expeditions entrusted to them.[96]

(These officers were reduced to the rank of ordinary sailors.)

According to Bering's reports there were engaged in the Great

Northern Expedition, excluding the Academists and the crew on the

White Sea expedition, the following number of men:

In the year 1737 1738 1739

From the Admiralty 259 254 256

From Siberia 324 320 320

--- --- ---

Total 583 574 576

45. To an inquiry directed to the Russian Admiralty asking the reason

for Bering's long stay in Yakutsk, Admiral Th. Wessalgo has given me

the following information:

"In Yakutsk, which was the base of operations for the whole expedition,

Bering was to secure wood, iron, and other materials for the building

of the necessary ships, and, what is most important, he was to secure

provisions, of which a yearly supply of 16,000 poods was necessary.

Although the furnishing of provisions had been assigned to the Siberian

authorities, they did nothing, in spite of urgent and repeated demands;

hence Bering had to undertake this work himself. Moreover, the immense

amount of materials and provisions collected here was to be sent to

Okhotsk, a task which presented insurmountable obstacles: the country

was a wild and desolate region, the local authorities refused their

co-operation in promoting the enterprise, there was constant contention

and disagreement among the various officers in charge, who were more

concerned in their own personal interests than in the common weal, and

Bering himself--was a weak character."

46. Stuckenberg: _Hydrographie des russischen Reiches_,

II.--Krasheninikoff: _Kamtschatka_.--Pallas: _N. Nord, Beiträge_,

IV.--Sarycheff: _Reise_, etc.--_Zapiski_, etc.: IX., 331.--Schuyler:

Peter the Great, II., 544.

47. On account of the Chukchee war, D. Laptjef was to go from Kolyma

to Anadyr and from there send word to Bering for a vessel or to go

himself to Kamchatka for it,--in either case he was to sail around

the northeast point of Asia, and reach the mouth of the Kolyma. When

he, in 1741, arrived at Anadyr, Bering had departed for America, and

hence he could do no more than build some boats, by means of which he,

in 1742, charted the lower course of the Anadyr, and returned in 1743

to Yakutsk. _Zapiski_, etc.: IX., pp. 314-327.--_Beiträge_, XVI., pp.

121-122.

48. Baer says: _Es hätte dieser Expedition auch die volle Anerkennung

nicht fehlen können, die man ihnen jetzt erst zollen muss, nachdem die

verwandte Nordküste von Amerika nach vielfachen Versuchen noch immer

nicht ganz bekannt worden ist. Auch hätten wir den Britten zeigen

können, wie eine solche Küste aufgenommen werden muss, nämlich in

kleinen Fahrzengen, zwar mit weniger Comfort, aber mit mehr Sicherheit

des Erfolges.--Beiträge_, XVI., 123.

Middendorff: _Reise_, etc., IV., Part I., 49, says: _Mit gerechtem

Stolze dürfen wir aber in Erinnerung rufen, dass zu seiner Zeit

Russland im Osten des Nordens durch seine "Nordische Expedition" nicht

minder Grosses vollbracht, als die Britten im Westen_.

Petermann's _Mittheilungen_, 1873, p. 11: _Der leitende Gedanke zur

Aussendung jener Reihe grossartiger Expeditionen war der Wunsch * * *

eine nordöstliche Durchfahrt zu entdecken_.

49. A. Stuxberg: _Nordöstpassagens Historie_. Stockholm, 1880.--Th. M.

Fries: _Nordöstpassagen_. Nær og Fjærn 1880, No, 417.

A. E. Nordenskjöld: The Voyage of the Vega.--In a long and favorable

review of Nordenskjöld's book in _Beiträge zur Kenntniss des russ.

Reiches_, St. Petersburg, 1883, VI., 325, the Academist Fr. Schmidt

expresses himself in the following manner concerning Nordenskjöld's

presentation of the history of the Northeast passage: _Die dritte

Gruppe bilden endlich die russischen Reisen im Eismeer und an den

Küsten desselben, die ebenfalls ausführlich behandelt werden. Hier

fällt es uns nun auf, dass im Bestreben, jedem das Seine zukommen zu

lassen, die weniger bekannten Mitarbeiter an der Erweiterung unsrer

Kenntniss, denen wir gewiss ihre Verdienste nicht absprechen wollen,

fast möchte ich sagen auf Kosten unsrer berühmten gelehrten Forscher

hervorgezogen scheinen, von denen namentlich Wrangell und auch Baer

an mehreren Stellen Angriffe zu erdulden haben, die wir nicht für

gerechtfertigt halten können. Auch Lütke * * * kommt sehr kurz weg._

This criticism might be applied to other parts of Nordenskjöld's

historical writings.

50. St. Petersburg Academy's Memoirs (Bull. phys. math. Tom. III., No.

10.)

51. _Beiträge_, etc., IX., 495. Baer says: _Es ist höchst erfreulich,

die mit schweren Opfern erkämpften Verdienste unserer Marine-Officiere

vom vorigen Jahrhundert von dem neuesten Reisenden in vollem Maase

anerkannt zu sehen.--Nach Herrn v. Middendorf ist nun gerade

Tscheljuskin der beharrlichste und genaueste unter den Theilnehmern

jener Expedition gewesen. Wir wollen ihn also gern vollständig in

integrum restituiren._

52. _Zapiski_, etc., IX., 308. Chelyuskin's original account is found

in the same volume, pp. 61-65. The German translation appears in

Petermann's _Mittheilungen_, 1873, p. 11.

53. Cook and King: Voyage, etc., III., 391: "For the group of

islands, consisting of the Three Sisters, Kunashir and Zellany (which

in D'Anville's Atlas are placed in the track we had just crossed)

being, by this means, demonstratively removed from that situation, an

additional proof is obtained of their lying to the westward, where

Spangberg actually places them, between the long. 142° and 147°. But

as this space is occupied, in the French charts, by that part of the

supposed Land of Jeso and Staten Island, Mr. Müller's opinion becomes

extremely probable that they are all the same lands; and, as no reasons

appear for doubting Spangberg's accuracy, we have ventured in our

general map to reinstate the Three Sisters, Zellany and Kunashir, in

their proper situation, and have entirely omitted the rest."--Cf. O.

Peschel's account, p. 467, 2d Ed.

54. W. Coxe: An Account of the Russian Discoveries. London, 1781.

55. The pre-Bering explorations of Northwest America did not extend

beyond the northern boundary of California, and had not succeeded in

ascertaining a correct outline of the country. In the oldest maps

of the new world, that of Ortelius (1570), Mercator (1585), Ramusio

(1606), and W. Blaew (1635), California is represented as a peninsula;

but on the maps of later cartographers as W. Samson (1659), Wischer

(1660), J. Blaew, Jansen (1662), Fr. de Witt (1666), and Nic. Samson

(1667), the country is represented as an island, and this view was held

until G. de L'Isle (1720) adopted in his atlas the old cartography of

the peninsula.

Gvosdjeff's expedition to Bering's Strait in 1732 is but slightly

and very imperfectly known in West Europe. It was undertaken by

Ivan Fedoroff, Moschkoff, who had accompanied Bering on his first

expedition, and the surveyor Gvosdjeff. Fedoroff is thus the real

discoverer of America from the east, and the world has given Gvosdjeff

the honor simply for the reason that the reports of Fedoroff and his

associate were lost and he himself died the year after. There is an

interesting account of this enterprise in _Zapiski_, etc., IX., 78.

56. G. W. Steller: _Reise von Kamtschatka nach Amerika_. St.

Petersburg, 1793.

57. R. Greenhow: History of Oregon, California and the Northwest

Coast of North America, 3d ed., New York, 1845, p. 216.--W. H. Dall:

Alaska and its Resources. Boston, 1870, p. 257.--Milet-Mureau: _Voyage

de la Pérouse autour du Monde_, II., 142-144 and Note.--Vancouver:

Voyage, etc.--Oltmann's: _Untersuchungen über die Geographie des neuen

Continentes_. Paris, 1810, II.

58. A. J. v. Krusenstern: _Hydrographie_, etc., p. 226,--O. Peschel:

_Geschichte der Erdkunde_, 2d ed., p. 463 and Note.

59. According to Wrangell, Dall and others, both Indians and Eskimos

inhabit this region. Clans of the great Tinné tribe, Ugalenses, stay

during the summer on the Atna River, and during the winter on Kayak

Island; but on the coast of the continent from Ice Bay to the Atna

River there are also found Innuits, the Ugalakmuts.--See Vahl: Alaska,

p. 39. The people that Bering found on the island must, according to

Sauer, have been Chugachees, Eskimos that live about Prince William's

Sound.

See also H. H. Bancroft, Native Races, San Francisco, 1882, Vol. I.--TR.

60. Gavrila Sarycheff: _Achtjährige Reise im nordöstlichen Sibirien,

auf dem Eismeer und dem nordöstlichen Ocean_. Leipzig, 1806, II.,

57.--Sauer: An Account, etc., p. 198. "This perfectly answers to

Steller's account of the Cape St. Elias of Bering, and is undoubtedly

the very spot where Steller landed, and where the things above

mentioned were left in the cellar. Thus it is very plain that Cape

St. Elias is not the southern point of Montague Island, but Kay's

Island."--G. Shelikoff: _Erste und Zweite Reise_. St. Petersburg, 1793.

61. _Zapiski_, IX., 303.--The Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1882. Maps.

62. Dall: Alaska and its Resources, p. 300.--Vahl in his work on Alaska

repeats Dall's opinion in a somewhat milder form.

63. Krusenstern: _Recueil de Mémoires Hydrogr._, II., 72.--Cook and

King: Voyage, III., 384.--The Geodetic Coast Survey, 1882.

64. Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, under date of June 9, 1889, writes the

translator: "The locality indicated in Lütke's map is correct. It is

consequently on the eastern side of the island. Steller's statement

that it was on the northern side is easily explained as follows:

The valley where he landed opens toward the northeast, and the

corresponding valley on the other side of the island runs southwest;

this side consequently became the southern side. At the time of the

shipwreck the magnetic deviation was much more easterly than it is now,

so that _by compass_ the direction of the eastern coast was much more

E.-W. than at present. Throughout his description of Bering Island,

Steller says north and south, where we would say east and west.

"My visit to this locality in 1882, I have described in detail in

_Deutsche Geographische Blätter_ (1885), where you will also find a

sketch map of it, as well as a plan of the house in which the survivors

wintered.

"Since I wrote my account, I have been able to consult Steller's own

description of the wintering, and I find that the house which I have

described and given the plan of, was the one they built in the spring,

after the freshet which drove them out of the dug-outs (_Gruben_) on

the bank of the creek, traces of which are still visible. I also found

a number of relics at a place which I took to be the point where they

rebuilt the vessel. In a letter Mr. Lauridsen suggested to me the

probability that I had found not this place, but the locality where the

store-house was built, in which the men left what they could not carry

on the new vessel, and that the latter must have been built near the

southern end of the bay. After reading Steller's own account, however,

I feel absolutely certain that the ship was built at the northern end,

near the huts and dug-outs, at the place where I found the relics. It

is quite probable, however, that the store-house was built in very

close proximity, if not on the very spot."

65. Leonhard Stejneger: _Fra det yderste Osten_. Naturen, Vol. 8.

Kristiania, 1884, pp. 65-69.--Proceedings of the United States National

Museum, 1884. Investigations Relating to the Date of the Extermination

of Steller's Sea-Cow, by Leonhard Stejneger.--Henry W. Elliott: A

Monograph of the Seal Islands of Alaska, Washington, 1882.--_Neue

N. Beiträge_, II., 279.--G. W. Steller: _Ausf. Beschreibung von

sonderbaren Meerthieren_. Halle, 1753.--E. Reclus: _Geographie_, etc.,

VI., 794.

66. Concerning Chirikoff, full information is given in Sokoloff:

Chirikoff's Voyage to America, St. Petersburg, 1849 (Russian). He died

in 1748 at Moscow.

See also H. H. Bancroft, History of the Pacific States of North

America, Vol. XXXIII., History of Alaska. San Francisco, 1886.--TR.

FOOTNOTES:

[96] The author gives extracts from other reports of the same tenor,

which the translator has seen fit to omit, referring the reader for

further information on this subject to Bering's own report, p. 195 of

this volume.

INDEX.

A

Academists, 70, 78; leave Tobolsk, 81.

Academy of Science, Russian, 57.

Addington, cape, 189.

Admiralty Bay, 145.

Admiralty, Russian, dissatisfaction with Bering, 95.

Afgonak, island, 156.

Aïno, 124.

Akischis, strait, 124.

Alaska, 178.

Aldan, river, 23.

Aleutian Islands, 134, 140;

discovery of, 167, 187.

Aleutians, Nearer, 168.

Aliaska, 161.

Amassoff, 18.

Amchitka, 167.

America Pars, 14.

Anadyr, fort, 42.

Anadyr, river, Cossacks at, 16;

the Gabriel at, 30.

Anadyrsk, 46.

Anian, strait, 13, 15.

Anjou, 110.

Anna Ivanovna, 63.

Apraxin, 9.

Archangel Michael, ship, 100.

Arctic Coast, charting of, 62, 83.

Arctic expeditions, 107.

Arctic explorations, work of Russia and England in, 3.

Arctic foxes, 181.

Arii Kamen, 175.

Asia and America, boundary between,

13.

Atka, island, 165.

Atna, estuary, 148.

Attu, island, 168.

Avacha, 127, 134, 170, 190.

B

Baikal, lake, 91.

Balshaya, river, 26.

Bancroft, H. H., note on, 64;

note from, 73, 140;

note on identity of Kayak and St. Elias, 149;

note on, 188.

Baranoff Cliff, 109.

Barents, map of, 14.

Bartholomew, cape, 189.

Bear Islands, 18, 67.

Bellini, map by, 20, 118.

Berch, V., authority, 41;

opinion of Bering, 52, 61.

Bering Bay, 144;

incorrect location of, 146.

Bering Island, 51;

discovery of, 169;

description of, 174.

Bering Haven, 149.

Bering Peninsula, 67.

Bering, Rivière de, 145.

Bering Strait, discovery of, 32;

Gvosdjeff in, 130.

Bering, Vitus, first expedition, 2;

nativity, 6;

in Baltic fleet, 9;

in Sea of Azov and Black Sea, 10;

promotions, 10;

in Archangel, 10;

home of, 11;

discharge and re-appointment of, 11;

plans for first expedition, 12;

knowledge of Siberian geography, 19;

starts on first expedition, 21;

at Irkutsk, 22;

at Yakutsk, 22;

in relation to Serdze Kamen, 40;

return to St. Petersburg, 42, 52;

winters at the Fort, 50;

recognition in West Europe, 57;

map by, 57;

plans for Great Northern Expedition, 61;

recommendations to Senate, 65;

instructions to, 66;

chief of Great Northern Expedition, 72;

estimate of, 76, 94;

Russian name of, 77;

report to Admiralty, 89, 195;

accusations against, 94;

wife of, 94;

at Okhotsk, 99;

at Avacha, 128;

plans for expedition to America, 129;

orders from Senate, 131, 134;

taken ill, 140;

discovers American coast, 140;

stay off Kayak Island, 150;

defense of, 152;

determinations of lat., 158;

removed from the St. Peter, 182;

sickness of, 183;

death of, 186;

monument of, 187, 192;

results, 187, 190;

reports of, 190.

Betge, surgeon, 135.

Billings, map by, 45, 145, 148.

Biron, 64, 189.

Blanco, cape, 14, 37.

Blizhni Islands, 168.

Bolsheretsk, 26, 52, 119.

Borkhaya Bay, 92.

Boussale Channel, 120.

Brandt, 180.

Bredal, Peter, 9.

Broughton, Capt., at Kuriles, 120, 123.

Buache, 191.

Byistraya, river, 26.

Bykoff, river, 92.

C

California, 37.

Campbell, Dr., opinion of Bering, 29, 47, 57.

Chamisso, 137.

Chaplin, Peter, 21.

Charitonoff, 167.

Charlesvoix, Peter, _Histoire du Japan_, 20.

Chegatchoff, 135.

Chekin, 81.

Chelyuskin, 81, 109, 114, 116.

Chelyuskin, cape, 114.

Chirikoff, A., in first expedition, 21;

instructions to, 66, 75, 77, 81, 95, 96, 103, 129, 131, 134, 135;

on Pacific expedition, 139;

results, 188;

at Okhotsk, 190.

Chirikoff Island, 158.

Chi-Shima Islands, 119.

Chukotskoi, cape, doubled by Bering, 32, 44.

Chuckchee Peninsula, 40, 44, 133.

Chukli, island, 145.

Clerke, Capt., 187.

Commander Islands, 169;

description of, 175;

seals on, 179.

Controller Bay, 146.

Cook, Capt., 30;

in Bering Strait, 36;

opinion of Bering, 38, 39, 47, 48, 53, 57, 67, 112, 125, 137;

Bering's place of landing, 144, 147, 156, 158, 191.

Copper, estuary, 148.

Copper Island, discovery of, 169;

description of, 175;

sea-otters on, 178.

Corea, 126.

Cossacks, 16.

Coxe, W., 125.

Cruys, C., made vice-admiral, 8.

D

Dall, W. H., opinion of Bering, 151.

Dalrymple, A., 39.

D'Anville, atlas of, 57.

Deception Islands, 168.

De l'Isle, G., 53 _et seq._;

sketch of, 130.

De l'Isle, J. N., 18, 53, 56;

sketch of, 130, 191.

De Löwenörn, Danish admiral, 39.

Deshneff, 16, 20, 110, 111.

Diomede Island, discovery of, 33;

latitude of, 41.

Dixon, 144.

Dolgoruki, 64.

Du Halde, 32, 40.

Dwina, 67, 112.

E

Eared Seals, 178, 179.

East Cape, 32.

Endoguroff, 96.

Engel, Richard, 21.

Euratchey Island, 157.

F

Fairweather, Mt., 144, 145.

Figurnyi, island, 123.

Foggy Island, 158.

Forster, R., 39.

Fortuna, ship, launching of, 25, 100.

Franklin, 21, 68.

Fries, T. M., Prof., 112.

Fur Company, Russo-American, 178.

G

Gabriel, ship, 29, 41, 100, 119.

Gama, Juan de, 55, 133.

Gamaland, 55, 121, 130;

situation of, 133, 134;

search for, 139.

Germans and Frenchmen in Russian service, 53.

Gmelin, J. G., 68;

opinion of Lassenius, 82, 91, 93.

Golovnin, 73.

Gordon, Admiral, 9.

Gore, Capt., 120.

Great Northern Expedition, 72;

leaves St. Petersburg, 77;

transportation of stores, 87;

discontinuance of, 190;

at Tomsk, 190.

Grib, Peder, 9.

Guanahani, 144.

Gvosdjeff, M., discovery of American coast by, 130.

H

Hammond, cape, 148.

Harris, P., 57.

Hartelpol, 135.

Hazius, 40.

Herzenberg, 9.

Hesselberg, 135, 166;

death of, 185.

Holy Cross, bay, 31.

Homann, 16.

Hondius, J., 15.

Hondo, 54.

Hope (Nadeshda), ship, 100.

I

Ilarion, Rev., 21.

Ilim, river, 22.

Ilimsk, 22.

Innuit, 163.

Irkutsk, 72, 74.

Irkutsk, boat, 81.

Irtish, 21.

Iturup, 117, 124.

Ivanoff, 114.

J

Japan Islands, 62, 111;

Spangberg's expedition to, 117 _et seq._

Jeço, 124, 133.

Jefdokjejefski Islands, 159.

Jelmerland, 109.

Jerimo, cape, 124.

Jushin, 135.

K

Kadiak Island, 157.

Khariulakh, river, 92, 93.

Kamchadales, 74.

Kamchatka, conquest of, 17, 118;

charting of, 189.

Kamchatka, fort, 27.

Kamchatka, river, 30.

Kara Sea, 62, 109.

Kasanssoff, 94.

Kayak Island, 144;

identity with St. Elias, 146.

Kazan, 78.

Ket, river, 22.

Khatanga, river, 116.

Khitroff, 135, 137, 141, 148, 156, 161, 170.

Khitroff, cape, 173.

Kiriloff, J. K., 52, 57, 65, 69;

support of Bering, 73.

Kiska, island, 167.

Kisseloff, 167.

Kolessoff, 128.

Kolyma, 20.

Kompagniland, 54, 117, 133.

Konosir Island, 124.

Kosyrefski, I., explorations of, 17;

as monk, 19, 52;

at Kuriles, 118.

Kotzebue, 137.

Krasheninnikoff, 92.

Krassilnikoff, 66, 131, 156.

Krusenstern, 125, 146, 157;

essay by, 158.

Kunashir, 123.

Kur, 12.

Kuriles, early knowledge of, 18;

location of, 51;

Spangberg's expedition to, 117, 118;

charting of, 122.

Kurile Strait, 121.

Kushka, 99.

L

La Croyère, L. (L. De L'Isle), 66, 69, 78, 103;

sketch of, 131.

La Pérouse, 67;

at Kuriles, 120, 125, 144, 145.

La Pérouse Strait, 54.

Laptjef, C., 109.

Laptjef, D., 93, 109, 114, 189.

Larionoff, Lieut., 102.

Lassenius, Peter, arctic expedition of, 82, 92;

death of, 93, 96.

Lau, surgeon, 135.

Lauridsen, Peter, reply to Nordenskjöld, 15.

Le Mesurier, cape, 146.

Lena River, 107, 109.

Liakhov Island, discovery of, 16.

Linglin Gaï, 45.

Lopatka, cape, 51.

Losseff, 89.

Lushin, 17;

in Yakutsk, 19, 52, 119, 132.

Lütke, Admiral, defense of Bering, 38, 113.

M

Mackenzie, 21.

Malespina, 144.

Malygin, 109.

Marmot Island, 152, 157.

Martinier, 114.

Matmai, cape, 124.

Maya River, 23.

McClure, 113.

Mednie (Copper Island), 175.

Melnikoff, 67.

Menshikoff, 9, 86.

Mercator. G., 15.

Mexico, 66.

Middendorff, 110, 114, 115, 180.

Minin, 109.

Montague Island, 145, 148.

Monti, Bay de, 145.

Morison, George, 21

Müller, G. H., 32;

opinion on Serdze Kamen, 42;

at Yakutsk, 44, 53, 68, 91, 93, 118;

refutes De L'Isle, 191.

Munk, Jens, 92.

Münnich, 189.

N

Nadeshda, island, 120.

Nertchinsk, treaty of, 16.

Niakina Cove, 127.

Niemann, Dr., 21.

Nipon, island, 54, 118, 121.

Nordenskjöld, review by, 15, 110, 113-115;

note on, 116, 177-179.

Northeast passage, 13, 14;

Bering's opinion of, 35;

charting of, 36, 110, 125.

Northwest passage, 113.

Norwegians and Danes in service of Peter the Great, 7.

Notske, cape, 123.

Novaia Zemlia, 109, 111.

Novgorod, 78.

Nystad, peace of, 11.

O

Obdorsk, 81.

Obi River, 21, 107.

Obi, gulf, 100.

Ofzyn, Lieut., 79;

at Obdorsk, 81;

in Gulf of Obi, 93, 109;

saves the St. Peter, 171, 172.

Okhotsk, arrival at, 24, 62, 79;

building of, 99;

fleet in, 103.

Okhotsk, sea of, explorations in, 26.

Olenek, 34, 92.

Ostermann, 64, 73, 189.

Ostrog, Kamchatka, 27.

Othere's, 114.

P

Pallas, 45.

Patience, bay, 123.

Patience, cape, 54.

Patiloff, 21.

Pavlutski, Capt., 43, 45, 83.

Peschel, O., 117, 118, 146.

Petchora, 107.

Peter the Great, Scandinavians in service of, 7;

death of, 21, 63.

Petroff, 96, 119.

Petermann, Dr., 111, 116.

Petropavlovsk, founding of, 127.

Pissarjeff, 65, 83;

quarrel with Bering, 84;

sketch of, 85, 95;

removal of, 103, 126.

Plauting, 93-96, 135.

Plenisner, 153.

Pontanus, J. J., 14.

Popoff, Cossack, on Chuckchee peninsula, 17, 66.

Preobrashensky, bay, 31.

Pribyloff Islands, 178.

Prince William's Sound, 145, 148.

Pronchisheff, 81, 92, 93, 96, 109.

R

Reclus, 67.

Remesoff, atlas of, 16.

Ruge, Prof., 117, 119.

Russian fleet, founding of, 9.

S

Saghalin, island, 54;

charting of, 125.

Sarycheff, Admiral, at Kuriles, 120, 146, 148.

Sauer, M., 146;

description of St. Elias, 147.

Saunders, Vice-Admiral, 11.

Savjaloff, 167.

Schaep, H. C., 54.

Schelagskii, cape, 110.

Schelting, Lieut., 119.

Scurvy, 182.

Schwatka, 21.

Sea Cow, 179: correct scientific name, 179;

extermination of, 179;

importance of, 180.

Sea Lion, 178.

Sea Lion Island, 175.

Sea Otter, 177.

Seljonyi, island, 123.

Semichi Islands, 167.

Semidi Islands, 159.

Senate, Russian, orders of, 64.

Serdze Kamen, cape, 30 _et seq._

Shafiroff, 85.

Shantar Islands, 65.

Shestakoff, 18, 56.

Shumagins, discovery of, 161;

stay at, 162, 164.

Siberia, determinations of longitude in, 38;

scientific exploration of, 68.

Sievers, Peter, 9.

Sikotan, island, 123.

Skeving, 9.

Skuratoff, 109.

Soimonoff, 73.

Sokoloff, K., 75;

opinion of Spangberg, 84, 94;

Bering's assistants, 95;

opinion of Bering, 96, 100, 116;

qualifications of, 137, 159;

reproved by Bancroft, 189;

note.

Spangberg. M., in first expedition, 21;

at the Kut, 22;

winter at the Yudoma, 24;

sets sail, 26, 50;

instructions to, 66, 77, 82;

nativity of, 84;

accusations against, 94, 96;

at Okhotsk, 100;

expedition to Japan, 102, 117;

return to Bolsheretsk, 120;

results of expedition, 125;

return to Yakutsk, 126;

at Kirinsk, 126;

return from third expedition to Japan, 190.

Spangberg's Island, 123.

Staaten Eiland, 54, 117, 133.

St. Abraham Island, 168.

Stanovoi Mts., 84, 89.

St. Elias, island, 141 _et seq._

Stejneger, L., Dr., translator's preface;

note on, 173, 178;

note by, 174;

description of Steller's Arch, 176;

concerning sea-cow, 179, 180.

Steller, G. W., opinion of Bering's first expedition, 46, 57, 92;

estimate of Bering, 97;

at Okhotsk, 103;

joins the Pacific expedition, 135;

nativity and sketch of, 136;

diary of, 137;

on American soil, 141;

description of St. Elias, 147, 150;

ridicules Bering, 151;

165;

description of animal life, 176;

honored by Stejneger, 176, note;

care of the castaways, 181;

account of Bering's death, 186.

Steller, Mount, 176, note.

Steller's Triumphal Arch, description of, 176, note;

representation of, 177.

Sterlegoff, 80, 109.

St. Hermogenes, island, 152;

discovery of, 156.

St. Johannes, island, 165.

St. Kresta Bay, 31;

the Gabriel at, 31, 46.

St. Lawrence Island, 34, 41.

St. Marcus Island, 167.

St. Paul, ship, building of, 100, 102;

crew of, 135;

course of, 139.

St. Peter, building of, 100, 102;

crew of, 135;

journals of, 137;

course of, 139;

return voyage, 156 _et seq._;

at Shumagins, 164;

determinations of latitude by, 167;

stranding of, 172.

Strahlenberg, 18;

outline maps by, 20, 118.

St. Stephen, island, 158, 167.

St. Thaddeus, cape, 30.

Stuxberg, A., Dr., 111.

Suckling, cape, 146.

T

Tabbert (Strahlenberg), 55.

Taimyr, peninsula, 82, 93, 109;

cartography of, 114, 115.

Taroko, islands, 123.

Texeïra, 55.

Three Sisters, islands, 124.

Tigil, 128.

Tobol, 79;

launching of, 80.

Tobolsk, arrival at, 21.

Tolbukhin, Lieut., 102.

Tordenskjold, Peter, note on, 9.

Trane, Thure, 9.

Tumannoi Island, 158.

Tunguska River, 22.

Tuscarora, 139.

U

Udinsk, 62.

Ukamok, island, 158.

Urak, river, 23.

Ural Mts., 68.

Urup, island, 117.

Ustkutsk, 22.

Ust Maiskaya, 88.

V

Vancouver, 67, 144, 148.

Vancouver's Island, 158.

Van Dieman, 54.

Vangondie, R. de, 39.

Van Haven, 78.

Varkhoiansk, 102.

Vega expedition, 109, 113-115, 179.

Viligin, 18.

Vlaming, 112.

Volga, 80.

Von Baer, 36, 41, 48, 72, 98, 111, 115;

concerning sea-cow, 180, 192.

Voyage of the Vega, 113-115, 179.

Vries, M. de, 54, 117, 124.

W

Walton, 96, 120, 121, 126.

Walvisch Bay, 123.

Waxel, Lieut., 96, 135, 137, 152;

in command of the St. Peter, 161, 167, 169, 170.

Wilster, D., Admiral, 9.

Wingham Island, 146, 147.

Witsen, N., 15.

Wrangell, 110, 113.

Wrangell Island, 18.

Y

Yablonoi, Mts., 16.

Yakutat Bay (Bering Bay), 146.

Yakutsk, 62;

foundry at, 83.

Yakutsk, sloop, 81.

Yelagin, 127.

Yenisei, 22, 107.

Yevrinoff, 17, 119, 132.

Yudoma, river, 23.

Yudomskaya Krest, 23.

Yezo, 14, 117.

[Illustration: BERING'S CHART OF HIS FIRST VOYAGE

I.

_Efter D'Anville's Atlas 1737_

_Axel E. Aamodt's lith. Etabl._

_Reautograferet af W. Lynge._]

[Illustration:

II.

SPANGBERG'S CHART OF THE

KURILES AND NORTH JAPAN 1738-39.

The dotted coast-lines are inserted according to the

astronomer De l'Isles Chart 1732.]

[Illustration:

III.

BERING'S AND CHIRIKOFF'S EXPEDITIONS

TO AMERICA, 1741.

From Sketches by Bering, Chirikoff and Chitrof.

_Efter Zapiski Gidr. Depart. IX B._

_Axel E. Aamodt's lith. Etabl._

_Reautograferet af W. Lynge._]

[Illustration:

IV.

KAIAK ISLAND

Discovered by Bering in 1741 and

called ST. ELIAS.

From Chitrof's Journal.

_Efter Zapiski Gidr. Depart. IX B._

_Axel E Aamodt's lith. Etabl._

_Reautograferet af W. Lynge._]

Transcriber's Notes:

Simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors were corrected.

Punctuation normalized.

Anachronistic and non-standard spellings retained as printed.

Italics markup is enclosed in _underscores_.

P. 31 changed longitude to latitude as 64° 41' latitude would be in

the Bering Sea but not 64° 41' longitude.