REPORT OFFLEET-CAPTAINBERING ON HISEXPEDITION TO THEEASTERNCOAST OFSIBERIA.
REPORT OFFLEET-CAPTAINBERING ON HISEXPEDITION TO THEEASTERNCOAST OFSIBERIA.
To the most Serene Sovereign, the high and powerful, the Empress of all the Russias:
A short relation of the Siberian Expedition upon which was sent
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.
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 asshamani, each of whom owns small idols or figures which they callshaitan. 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 calledpoorga. 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 theyassak[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 calledListvennik[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.
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.
9These 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.
ITINERARY FORBERING'SFIRSTEXPEDITION.Dates corrected to ordinary calendar, beginning at midnight.
ITINERARY FORBERING'SFIRSTEXPEDITION.Dates corrected to ordinary calendar, beginning at midnight.
SYNOPSIS OF THEVOYAGE.
SYNOPSIS OF THEVOYAGE.
The dates are reduced to the Julian calendar from the nautical account. The longitude is stated in degrees east from Greenwich.
June 10/21, 1728. The vessel, which was named theGabriel, was launched at the Lower Kamchatka fort and loaded with a year's supply of provisions for forty men (B. C. H. M.). She resembled the packet boats used in the Baltic.
Notes.—This vessel was constructed of the Kamchatkan spruce, a species according to Kittlitz closely resemblingAbies canadensisof America. There is also a smaller species,A. mertensiana, and by distillation of these two trees the deficiency in their supply of tar or pitch was made up. The rigging, sail-cloth, oakum and anchors had been transferred with great labor from Tobolsk. The planking and timbers were doubtless fastened with trenails and not with spikes, so the amount of iron used was much smaller than it would be in most modern vessels. The provisioning of the expedition is the subject of a fanciful paragraph garbled from Bering's original report, which has been quoted by every one of the historians of the voyage from D'Anville to Lauridsen. I transcribe it from Brooke's translation of 1736, pp. 437-8.
"The provisions consisted of Carrots for want of Corn (=grain or wheat), the fat of Fish uncured served instead of Butter and salt fish supplied the place of all other meats."
Campbell in Harris' Voyages, p. 1020, still further enlarges this statement and Lauridsen puts it
"Fish oil was his butter and dried fish his beef and pork. Salt he was obliged to get from the sea," and "he distilled spirits from 'sweet straw.'"
This gives a totally false idea of the supplies provided for the expedition. Bering received from Yakutsk over forty-two tons of flour, and large numbers, fifty at a time, of the small Siberian cattle were driven on the hoof to Okhotsk where their flesh was partly dried and partly salted. On his return he delivered surplus supplies to the proper officers in Kamchatka and at Okhotsk ever 30,000 lbs. of meal, flour and salt meat. There were at that time no carrots to be had in Kamchatka as Bering himself testifies. Salted salmon then as now, formed a staple article of diet in Kamchatka and was without doubt included in his stores. The delicate fat obtained by boiling the bellies of the salmon, is annually prepared in Kamchatka and is regarded to this day as a great delicacy (cf. Voyage of theMarchesa, 2d edition, p. 135.) A store of it might without any hardship be furnished to the commander for use as butter. Salt he obtained as it is usually obtained by evaporating sea-water, and the absence of strong drink of European origin was supplied by a distillation of the stalks of the bear's foot or "sweet herb" of the Cossacks (Heracleum dulceKittlitz), long used for that purpose by the Russians in Siberia and from which, even in modern times, according to Seemann, the Kamchadales secured additions to their scanty supply of syrup or sugar.
The supplies then of the expedition, were not inferior to those in common use at sea at that period, and as far as health is concerned were certainly less likely to result in an invasion of scurvy than the use of salt beef and pork alone would have been.
It must be remembered that the fare on naval vessels all over the world in those days, was rude and coarse to a degree now long unknown and that it was not until the voyages of Cook, nearly half a century later, that the antiscorbutic and varied regimen, now usually enforced by law in maritime nations, was even thought of.
The force crowded together on the littleGabrielis enumerated by Lauridsen presumably from the account of Bergh.
It consisted beside the commander, of Lieutenants Martin Spanberg and Alexie Chirikoff; Second Lieutenant Peter Chaplin, Doctor Nieman, a quartermaster, eight sailors, a worker in leather, a rope maker, five carpenters, a boatswain, two cossacks with a drummer and nine marines, six servants, stewards, etc., and two Kariak interpreters, a cabin boy and a pilot, in all forty-four persons.
It is not clear from Lauridsen's account whether in the above list are or are not included the two mates, Richard Engel and George Morison, or the cartographer Potiloff, who started with Bering from St. Petersburg. Luzhin was left behind, being ill.
July 13/24. The variation of the compass was determined to be 13° 10' easterly (L.). In the afternoon (being the 14th nautical reckoning) the vessel left the Kamchatka river. (B. C. H.) They steered to the northeast along the coast, which was kept in sight to the north and west, in from nine to twelve fathoms water. As the point of departure Cape Kamchatka was determined to be in north latitude 56° 3' (M. L.)
Notes.—The variation of the compass in 1885 was 2° 30' easterly (Schott). As will be seen by the Table of Positions, the latitude above given for the cape is not the same as that adopted by Bering on his chart. The depth mentioned shows that theGabrielmust have kept within a few miles, probably not exceeding ten, from the shore and the very slow progress made, as indicated by the log, not much exceeding two miles an hour gives rise to the suspicion that, in the early part of the voyage, in order to keep their survey continuous, they probably lay to during the hours of darkness. Off Karaginski Island the variation of the compass was determined to be the same as at the mouth of the Kamchatka river.
From this date to the 27th, the accessible authorities give no data, and the expedition probably pursued its way uneventfully.
July 27/Aug. 7. This day a prominent Cape was passed at a distance of some three miles. [It was named St. Thaddeus, after the saint on whose holy day it was again seen on the return voyage.] Many grampus, porpoises, seals and sealions were seen (L.).
Notes.—This Cape St. Thaddeus is not the cape of the same name on modern charts, but the cape now known as Cape Navarin. This is evident from Bering's chart. Bering's position for the cape is in error about fifteen miles in latitude and three degrees in longitude on his chart, while in the list of positions, the error is only about five miles of latitude and half a degree in longitude.
From near Cape Thaddeus Bering stood across Anadyr Gulf, out of sight of the low land, missing Anadyr Bay, and thereby falling into the error of placing on his chart the mouth of the Anadyr River south of the cape. The error was subsequently corrected by G. F. Müller.
Lauridsen observes (American edition, p. 30), that "having sailed past the Anadyr River without quite being able to find their bearings, in regions of which they had not a single astronomical determination," etc. This is absurd. They had a compass and there is no reason why they should not find their bearings, and it is certain they were there to make observations and not to verify those already made. No apology is needed for Bering's determination to press more rapidly northward. It was in accordance with common sense, considering the lateness of the season and the uncertainty of what they had to accomplish before the season closed.
Aug. 1/12. Festival of the Holy Cross. The expedition saw land to the northward and soon after entered a great bay which they named Holy Cross Bay. This they explored to the river at its head which they named Bolshoia (Great) River, and on the western point of entrance the latitude was, Aug. 2/13, observed to be 65° 35' north, while the longitude by dead reckoning was estimated at 182° 15' east of Greenwich, and the magnetic variation ¾ of a point easterly.
Notes.—Lauridsen says (p. 31, American edition) that in Holy Cross Bay theGabrielspent two days under sail in search of fresh water and a place to anchor. This is extremely singular, as there is an anchorage immediately at the entrance to the bay, on the starboard hand, and runs of fresh water are abundant. The application of an obvious correction10to the list of positions given by Campbell makes the position at the western elbow or spit, at the mouth of Holy Cross Bay, that which is given above. This position is over a degree too far west and over six miles too far south. But Lauridsen (quoting Campbell without observing the blunder?) not stating the source of his information, gives a position (N. Lat. 62° 50') which is two hundred and twelve miles too far south and the English translation improves upon this by making it 60° 50', or three hundred and thirty-two miles south of the truth, or two hundred and sixty-five miles south of the entrance to the bay as platted on Bering's own chart.
[10In Harris' Voy., 2d ed., ii, p. 1021, Bering's table of positions is printed:
This should read, errors and misplacements corrected:
The words in parentheses are added by the writer for clearness. It is somewhat surprising that in using this table nobody seems to have recognized these errors.]
Bering's table in his report and Bering's chart as printed by D'Anville differ from each other fifteen miles in latitude and two degrees and twenty-five minutes or nearly seventy-five miles in longitude. The chart is the more correct, but it differs more than thirty miles in latitude and nearly a degree in longitude from the modern observations of Lütké and Rodgers for the same locality. After leaving Holy Cross Bay, the voyage was continued to the southeast along the "high and rocky coast" of which Lauridsen (probably paraphrasing Bergh) says that "every indentation was very carefully explored." This is obviously a flight of fancy, since a good part of this coast is low and sandy, while there is no indication of two excellent harbors which it affords, on any of the charts of Bering or his successors in that century.
Aug. 6/17, 1728. This day, the festival of the Transfiguration, found theGabrielentering a small bay, which on that account was named Transfiguration (Preobrazhenia) Bay. Here they anchored (L.). Lieutenant Chaplin was sent ashore for water and found native huts but no people.
Notes.—This bay has never been surveyed, and on the best modern charts is merely indicated, while on many others it is omitted altogether or the name transferred to the anchorage north of Cape Bering or to Plover Bay. Bering's position for the spit at the entrance of Transfiguration Bay is two degrees and a quarter too far east and sixteen miles too far north by the table, but his chart gives the position much more closely, with a difference from Rodgers' chart of not exceeding five miles.
Aug. 7/18. They proceeded along the coast in a south-southeasterly direction.
Note.—The total eclipse of the moon of this date could hardly have been observed by Bering, since the moon must have been close to the horizon and first contact of the shadow occurred only about five minutes before the moon set. As Bering does not mention it, it is not likely that he noted the eclipse.
Aug. 8/19. At seven in the morning a skin-boat (umiak or bidarrá) was observed to be launched from the shore, eight men getting into it and rowing toward the vessel (B.). They approached within hail, and were understood, through the aid of the Kariak interpreters on board theGabriel, to enquire whence the vessel came and what was the object of the expedition in entering these waters. After much persuasion one of the natives left the skin-boat and swam, sustaining himself on two inflated seal-skins tied by a pole, to theGabrieland came on board and the others, seeing that no harm befel him, came nearer the vessel shortly afterward (M. B. C.). The interpreters had some difficulty in understanding all the natives said, but it was gathered from their conversation that these people called themselves Chukchi (or by an analogous name); that they were acquainted with the Russians, by report or otherwise, that there were numerous settlements of their people along this shore; that the Anadyr River lay far to the west (L.); that to the south and east lay an island which would soon be visible to the people on theGabrielif they continued on the course they were then steering; that in the vicinity of this island the shore of the mainland changes its direction and extends beyond to the north and then to the westward (B. M. C. H.). The man who had boarded the vessel was given some presents and sent back to the native boat, in the hope that he would persuade his comrades to come on board theGabriel, but, suspecting some evil design, the natives pulled away toward the shore and disappeared. According to Bergh, Chaplin's journal expresses regret that more important information could not be obtained owing to the difficulty in interpreting what was said by the Chukchi. At noon the latitude was estimated to be 64° 30'. In the afternoon the cape mentioned by the Chukchis was seen.
Notes.—The account given in Bering's report, and variously rendered by Müller, Brooks, D'Anville and Campbell, differs in several details from that given in Chaplin's journal and described by Bergh and Lauridsen. The various English versions of both fail in clearly rendering the important point gained by this interview with the natives, which was, that, at a short distance, the main coast changes its direction and turns to the north and west. These Chukchis pointed the way to the strait for the party on theGabriel, and their account proved to be accurate in every particular.
The people of this part of the coast call themselvesTsau-chú, which is their tribal name. The similar name of another branch living near the Anadyr River has been corrupted into the word Chuk-chi, by the Russians, from which we derive our general name for these people. Lauridsen says "Breden var 64° 41'" which in the American edition stands, "the longitude (sic) was 64° 41'." But the original and all the variants of Bering's own report make the latitude 64° 30' which is correct. If it had been 64° 41' they would have been north of their own position for Transfiguration Bay, from which their course had been S.S.E., therefore the 41' is certainly erroneous.
On Bering's chart he refers to the point of the coast where the shore changes its direction under the nameChukotskago Noss, which means the promontory of the Chukchi, though this is not the same as the Chukchi Cape of the Anadyr Cossacks, who so denominated the eastern extreme of Asia, which they knew from report and by the voyage of Deshneff. There can be no reasonable doubt that Bering named his cape after the people who had described it to him, although the imperfections of the record leave this to be inferred. Bering's map gives the latitude of the south extreme of the cape as about 64° 02', and it is erroneously represented as extending south of the latitude of the northwest end of St. Lawrence Island. Its real latitude is about fifteen miles further north. Cook made it 64° 13'. Chaplin's journal (according to Lauridsen) makes it 64° 18', which would agree with the latest surveys very nearly, though the coincidence must be regarded as a happy accident in view of their imperfect tables, instruments and methods. Bering's report places its eastern extreme in 64° 25' and (wrongly) in the same longitude as the west end of St. Lawrence Island.
Aug. 10/21. St. Lawrence's day. The island referred to by the Chukchi was seen and the vessel stood toward it, about two o'clock in the afternoon. Twice, an officer with a four-oared boat was sent to reconnoiter the coast more closely, but he saw only what appeared to be huts without inhabitants (C). The island (of which only the northwest hilly portion was seen, owing to the hazy weather) was named after the patron saint of the day and the course of the vessel was changed to the northward.
Aug. 11/22. At noon the latitude was estimated at 64° 20', and at sunset an attempt was made by the determination of the magnetic variation to get the longitude (L.).
Notes.—An illustration of the want of care with which Lauridsen has weighed his comments, it may be pointed out that he claims (p. 32, Am. Ed.) that on reaching latitude 64° 20' theGabrielwas in Bering Strait, while two pages later, on her return southward, he declares her to have got out of the strait on reaching latitude 64° 27'! As a matter of fact, at the present day, the whalers and traders of this region consider that Cape Chaplin (more commonly known as Indian Point) forms the southwest point of entrance to the strait; and this point is situated in latitude 64° 25' and E. longitude 187° 40', as determined by the writer in 1880. This is perhaps the point referred to by Bering as the eastern point of his Chukotskoi Cape.
The magnetic method of determining the longitude would give correct results only accidentally, as previously explained. The result announced by Lauridsen for the present occasion is 25° 31' east from Lower Kamchatka Ostrog or 187° 51' east from Greenwich, which would be within a few miles of the latest determinations. But it is obvious from Bering's map that he could not have made his position less than 28° 45' east from Lower Kamchatka, and the position above given is perhaps an interpolation from modern sources, which has been misunderstood or mistranslated. As Lauridsen has paraphrased, not quoted, it is impossible in the absence of Bergh's original to determine who is responsible for the incongruity. An interpolation seems the more likely since Bering himself gives the longitude as 189° 55' E. Gr.11
[11A glance at Bergh shows that this statement of Lauridsen is simply a blunder. Bergh only says they obtained the magnetic variation (25° 31' easterly) by anamplitudeobservation! Longitude is not mentioned, nor Kamchatka.]
Aug. 12/23. From noon of the 11th to noon of this day, theGabrielsailed sixty-nine miles, but the difference of latitude was only 21 miles. The wind was light to fresh and the weather overcast (L.).
Notes.—If the above statement be taken literally with the assumption that they were at noon of the 11th in latitude 64° 20' and E. longitude 188° from Greenwich, it would give their position for noon of the 12th as 64° 49' and longitude 190° 45' E. Gr., which does not at all accord with the subsequently narrated course, etc. If we proceed on the hypothesis that it means that the log recorded 69 miles and that only 29 miles were made good (which might easily happen if the polar current were running strong on the west side of the strait) and that their course was parallel with the Siberian shore in a general way they would have been, at noon of August 12th, in latitude 64° 49' and longitude 188° E. Gr. or thereabouts, which agrees very fairly with the known circumstances.
Aug. 13/24. A fresh breeze and cloudy weather. TheGabrielsailed the whole day with no land in sight and the difference in latitude was only 78 miles at noon, reckoned from noon of the 12th. The wind diminished toward night.
Notes.—On the same hypothesis as to the meaning of "difference in latitude" as the words are used by Lauridsen, theGabrielat noon of the 13th would have been ten or twelve miles south from East Cape and in about latitude 65° 55'. If the words are to be taken literally, as a navigator would use them, theGabrielwould have been about fifteen miles to the northward and eastward of East Cape, which agrees much less with the subsequently detailed circumstances. With the nautical day beginning at noon on the 13th according to Lauridsen the weather began to be calm and cloudy which would check their progress.
Aug. 14/25. This is the festival of Saint Demetrius of Africa. A current was experienced during this day which was estimated to have helped the vessel northward eight miles and three quarters. This current ran from south-southeast to north-northwest. From noon of the 13th to noon of this day the vessel sailed 29 miles in addition to the current drift. At noon the latitude was estimated to be 66° 41' and high land was visible astern. At three o'clock in the afternoon high mountains were observed to the southward, which, says Chaplin, "were probably on the continent."
Notes.—Under any hypothesis either the run of the vessel was underestimated or the latitude was overestimated. Adding the estimated run to the position attained under our hypothesis for the 12th and 13th it will put theGabrielat noon, August 14th, in about north latitude 66° 24' and longitude E. Gr. 191° 30'. Chaplin's reckoning as given by Lauridsen would have put theGabrielmore than fifty miles off shore when the land spoken of would have been out of sight. Our hypothesis puts her about twenty-eight miles N.E. true from East Cape when the high land of either shore, under favorable circumstances, might have been seen even if the sky were overcast. Clouds do not interfere with seeing, unless attended by fog or haze. During this day theGabrielhad sailed between East Cape and the islands now known as the Diomedes; the shore being near by. Why then should it be noted in the log that "high land was seen astern" at noon? The high land of Siberia they had seen and sailed along for days in full sight of it. It seems to us that this excludes the idea that the log refers to the Siberian highland and that what was seen was the loom of land not before seen, as of the Diomedes or even of America. It may not have been clear to the commander and yet have been marked enough for the subordinate officer to have put it in his log, with the dead reckoning and daily notes.12On several old charts mention is made of land seen by Spanberg which is supposed to have been America, after Gwosdeff had confirmed the existence of the American mainland in that direction and Synd had landed upon it. This suggestion is not unimportant in connection with the subsequent conduct of Bering and will be referred to again in its proper connection. The further fact that all early printed versions of Bering's list of positions, refer to the modern Diomedes only as the island ofSt. Demetriusand that this day was the festival of that obscure saint, lends further confirmation to the above suggestions.
[12Lauridsen gets over the discrepancy by putting the word "still" before "seen" (Am. Ed., p. 41), but there is nothing in the original sources to confirm this view of the matter.]
Aug. 15/26. TheGabrielappears to have continued to sail in a northeasterly direction until three o'clock in the afternoon, having been aided by the current to the extent of 8¾ miles and sailed 65 miles; many whales were seen and the depth averaged between 23 and 36 fathoms. Since the 13th the water had appeared whitish or discolored. The wind was moderate and the weather cloudy. Between noon and three o'clock the vessel made seven miles against a head wind. The position of theGabrielat that time was estimated to be in north latitude 67° 18' and 30° 17' east longitude from the town of Lower Kamchatka (C. corrected).
Note.—The nautical day Aug. 15 extending from noon of the 14th to noon of the 15th is altogether omitted from the American translation of Lauridsen's book. The position for the turning point estimated by Chaplin is manifestly by dead reckoning, as the sky was cloudy. It was not adopted in the list of positions published by Campbell in Harris' Voyages nor on Bering's map. In the former the longitude he adopts is 27° 37' east of Lower Kamchatka fort, and this agrees exactly with the point on the coast in Du Halde's engraving of Bering's map where the mountains cease to be put down near the shore, the point on the north coast of Siberia where Lauridsen, and Chaplin as quoted by him, say Bering did not go, and the point which has been generally regarded as Bering's farthest!
If we apply the distance and direction from Chaplin's journal to the course of theGabrielplatted from his preceding data, literally, it will put the turning point of the voyage in N. latitude 67° 32' and E. longitude 193° 37' or thereabouts, which is about thirty-five miles off the American coast southwest from Cape Seppings. But if we do this the position is far from agreeing with Chaplin's. By applying the hypothetical correction which we have heretofore used, the position would be in latitude 67° 24' and E. longitude 193° 15' from Greenwich or 31° east from Lower Kamchatka fort, agreeing more nearly with Chaplin. On the other hand the position off Cape Seppings agrees better with Chaplin's figures for the remainder of the day.
At this point the commander of the expedition determined to turn homeward. TheGabrielwas put on a course S. by E. by compass (S. by W. ½ W. true, the variation allowed being 2½ points easterly) before a brisk seven knot breeze, making better time than is recorded for any part of her outward voyage.
Notes.—Lauridsen says13that, in terminating the outward voyage, Bering "announced that as he had now accomplished his task it was his duty, according to his orders, to return." Müller and other authorities quote, more or less modified in the translation, the reasons given in Bering's report. But, as there is no reason to suppose these were uttered to the ship's company officially at the time, a consideration of them may be deferred until the total results of the voyage are discussed. The course set, according to Chaplin's journal, would, if made good, have carried theGabrieleast of the Diomedes and close to Cape Prince of Wales. The northwesterly current referred to by Chaplin and recognized by most navigators who have since visited those seas, would have carried the vessel more to the westward, as was actually the result, and it was probably allowed for.
[13Bergh (p. 54) quotes Chaplin's journal, which says: "At three o'clock Captain Bering announced:that it was necessary for him, in spite of his instructions, to turn back, and put the vessel about with orders to steer S. by E. by compass." The italics are Bergh's, who adds that, in the journal of Lieut. Chirikoff, the same statement is made in the same words. I transliterate the italicized phrases according to the schedule for Russian letters published inNature, Feb. 27, 1890. "Chto nadlezhit emu protiv ukazu vo ispolnenie vozvratit'sya." This plain statement, which proves that (at the moment) Bering recognized that he was not fulfilling his orders, is suppressed by Lauridsen and of course by Bering himself when he came to prepare his official report. Lauridsen however is not satisfied with suppressing the truth, which would have weighed so heavily against his hero and his argument, but, with the truth in his possession, he has inserted in his book a statement which is diametrically opposed to it as above cited.]
August 16/27. Saint Diomede's day. TheGabrielhad kept on her course with a free wind making more than seven knots (miles) an hour. At nine in the morning they found themselves off a high promontory on the west, where there were Chukchi habitations. On the east and seaward they saw an island, which it was proposed to call after the saint of the day. At noon the vessel had made since the previous noon 115 miles and had reached latitude 66° 02'. Continuing on their way, with a fresh breeze and cloudy weather, they sailed along the Asiatic coast near enough to observe many natives and at two places they saw dwellings. At threeP.M.very high land and mountains were passed (probably the highlands near St. Lawrence Bay).
Notes.—From 3P.M.Aug. 15th to 9A.M.Aug. 16th is 18 hours, which at seven knots an hour (allowing the alleged excess to be the equivalent of the drift caused by the current) would amount to 126 miles. Deduct from this the seven miles sailed between noon and 3P.M.Aug. 15th in the opposite direction and we have remaining 119 miles made on the homeward voyage at a time when theGabrielwas between the Diomedes and East Cape, or at least in plain sight of both. But three hours later, at noon, according to Lauridsen, they had made only 115 miles in all, although the breeze was fresh and fair. From Chaplin's position for the turning point to latitude 66° 02' off East Cape is 96 miles. From our hypothetically corrected position for the turning point, off Cape Seppings, the distance would be to the same place 126 miles, or thereabouts. It is evident that there is a miscalculation, or an error in the record here, which, without further data, it is not possible to correct.
It is certain that Bering with whom the right of naming any new island would have rested, did not then name the island above mentioned after St Diomede. On all copies of the earlier version of his chart it appears if at all under the name of the Island of St. Demetrius. From this we may suspect that he identified it with the high land seen Aug. 14th, St. Demetrius' day, while others on board, suspecting they were not the same proposed the name of Diomede for the present island; regarding the high land as something distinct. If the hardy and self-willed Spanberg was the one who reported the land Aug. 14th, and if he saw the high land about Cape Prince of Wales, as several old charts allege, he would have been the last to admit that the relatively small and adjacent island now seen, should be identified with his discovery.
Aug. 17/28. The breeze having been strong and fair an observation at noon indicated that the latitude was 64° 27' and that theGabrielhad sailed 164 miles since noon of the 16th. In the afternoon the weather was clear and the wind became light. (TheGabrielmust have come out of the strait this afternoon).
Notes.—A distance of 164 miles from the position of the previous noon would have put theGabrielin latitude 63° 38'. The distance on the general course sailed by theGabrielfrom 66° 02' to 64° 27' is about 107 miles. It is possible that in copying or printing 104 miles has become transmuted to 164 miles. There is an obvious error here of some kind.
Aug. 18/29. (Lauridsen does not refer to any record for this day, but it is probable that the wind continued light and the weather fair and that theGabrielwas slowly working her way westward and southward in the vicinity of Cape Chukotski.)
Aug. 19/30. In the afternoon being in the vicinity of the place where they had met the Chukchi boat on the outward voyage, four baidars were seen with their crews pulling for the vessel, which accordingly lay by for them to come up with her. There were ten natives to each baidar, or forty in all. They brought reindeer meat, fish, and fresh water in large bladders for sale for which they were suitably rewarded, while the crew of theGabrielobtained from them skins of the red and the polar foxes and four walrus teeth, which the natives bartered for needles, flint-and-steel for striking fire, and iron. These Chukchi told them that they went over land to trade at the Kolyma River, carrying their goods with reindeer, and that they never went by sea. They had long known the Russians and one of them had even been to the Anadyrsk fort to trade. From this man they had hopes of gaining valuable information but he could tell them nothing more than they had learned from the first Chukchis who had been questioned.
Aug. 20/31 to Aug. 29/Sept. 9. (For this period the documents accessible to me give no information, but theGabrielwas doubtless pursuing her homeward way uneventfully along the coast of Kamchatka.)
Aug. 30/Sept. 10. A heavy storm arose with fog and theGabrielfinding herself dangerously close to the shore anchored near the land to ride it out. A note in Harris indicates that they may have been near Karaginski Island.
Aug. 31/Sept. 11. At oneP.M.the storm had abated, but in weighing anchor the cable had been so chafed by the rocky bottom that it parted and they lost the anchor, and were obliged to put to sea without recovering it.
Sept. 1/12, 1728. At five o'clock in the afternoon they approached and at seven the next morning entered the mouth of the Kamchatka river, thus ending the voyage.
Note.—TheGabrielwas secured in a slough of the river and the party went up the river to the fort of Lower Kamchatka where Bering passed the winter.
It is certain that the residents of Kamchatka and others more or less familiar with the reports of Cossack explorations in Chukchi-land were not altogether satisfied with the summary manner in which exploration had been given up by Bering, and his apparent assumption that there was no adjacent land to the eastward except small islands. More or less such discussion and criticism could hardly have failed to reach his ears, and his reflections may have led him to think that, after all, he had been too hasty. Trees not indigenous to Kamchatka had been seen floating near the shores, no heavy breakers ever proceeded from the eastward and it was even alleged that land or the loom of land might be seen to the east from the coast mountains in very clear weather. On account of these and other reasons14which were urged by residents of the country, Bering determined to make a new trial. Instead of proceeding directly to Okhotsk across Kamchatka he fitted out theGabrielfor another voyage. Beside the fact that Luzhin, one of his cartographers, had explored the Kurile Islands lying next to Kamchatka, the vesselFortunaduring Bering's absence had doubled Cape Lopatka and was anchored in the Kamchatka River when Bering entered it on his return. It was therefore evident that the straits were navigable and the return voyage might be made that way. Spanberg was ordered to Bolsheretsk "on account of illness" (L.), and it is possible he took theFortunaback there since she had already returned to Bolsheretsk when Bering reached that port, on his way to Okhotsk.
[14The natives even claimed that a man had been stranded on the coast of Kamchatka in 1715, who stated that his own country lay to the eastward and contained forests with high trees and large rivers. (Lauridsen, op. cit. Am. ed. p. 51). Bering himself states that he made the search of 1729 at the instance of the Kamchatkan residents.]
Lauridsen has ascribed to Bering's own initiative the willingness to make another search for land as if these ideas were original with him. It is evident that this is unjustified and fanciful. Müller's account shows that the incitement to a second attempt proceeded from the residents of the country and that Bering complied with their suggestions; and Bering says so himself in his report.
On June155/16, 1729, theGabrielleft the mouth of the Kamchatka River and stood to the eastward, directly off shore. She continued on this course about forty-eight hours, sailing a distance variously estimated at from ninety to one hundred and thirty miles. The weather was foggy, no land was seen, the wind shifted to dead ahead at east northeast, and on the third day Bering gave up the search and steered for the southern coast of Kamchatka, the extreme of which is marked by the point known as Narrow (Ooskoi) Cape, or more generally as Shovel (Lopatka) Cape, from its low square termination. He determined the latitude of this cape, and passing through the strait south of it reached Bolsheretsk on the west coast of the peninsula on the second of July. Most of this time was probably spent in tracing the form of the southern part of Kamchatka. Half way between the Kamchatka River and the coast the variation was observed to be one point easterly, and off Avatcha Bay three-quarters of a point easterly.
[15Lauridsen says July, which is erroneous.]
In the American translation of Lauridsen it is said (p. 51) that Bering fixed the difference of latitude (for which one should read longitude) between Bolsheretsk and Lower Kamchatka Ostrog at 6° 29'. But on Bering's maps the difference is only 3° 50', while in his list of positions no longitude is assigned to Lower Kamchatka post. In Campbell's list it stands at 8° 39', which the correction of an evident error of 98° for 95° reduces to 5° 39'. The true difference of longitude according to the latest charts is about 5° 25'. Where Lauridsen got his figures he does not state. Campbell, in Harris, states that Bering was the first navigator to double Cape Lopatka, but theFortunahad made this voyage in 1728, though her commander is not known.
At Bolsheretsk Bering left a crew for theFortunawhich had returned thither; turned over some of his surplus stores to the local authorities and on the 14/25 July sailed from the Bolshoia River for Okhotsk. Here he arrived July 23/Aug. 3 and after some days spent in turning over government property to the local officials and procuring his horses and outfit, he left Okhotsk July 29/Aug. 9 on the overland journey to St. Petersburg. The second eclipse of the moon for the year occurred on this day, but during hours of daylight, and hence was invisible in this part of Asia.
After an uneventful but successful journey Bering arrived in St. Petersburg Mar. 1/12, 1730, bringing with him, according to Du Halde, the map and report he had prepared upon his explorations.