The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vitus Bering: the Discoverer of Bering Strait, by Peter Lauridsen This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Vitus Bering: the Discoverer of Bering Strait Author: Peter Lauridsen Translator: Julius E. Olsen Release Date: June 19, 2014 [EBook #46032] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VITUS BERING: THE DISCOVERER *** Produced by Richard Tonsing, Jana Srna, Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) RUSSIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1725-1743. VITUS BERING: THE DISCOVERER OF BERING STRAIT. BY PETER LAURIDSEN, Member of the Council of the Royal Danish Geographical Society, Editor of Jens Munk's "Navigatio Septentrionalis." Revised by the Author, and Translated from the Danish by JULIUS E. OLSON, Assistant Professor of Scandinavian Languages in the University of Wisconsin. WITH AN INTRODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN EDITION BY FREDERICK SCHWATKA, Medallist of the Paris Geographical Society, and of the Imperial Geographical Society of Russia: Honorary Member of the Bremen Geographical Society, and the Swiss Geographical Society of Geneva; Corresponding Member of the Italian Geographical Society, etc., etc.; Author of "Along Alaska's Great River," etc., etc. CHICAGO: S. C. GRIGGS & COMPANY, 1889. COPYRIGHT, 1889, BY S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY. PRESS OF KNIGHT & LEONARD CO. CHICAGO. CONTENTS. LIEUT. SCHWATKA'S INTRODUCTION vii TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE xii AUTHOR'S PREFACE xv PART I. BERING'S FIRST EXPEDITION. CHAPTER I. Russia and England in the work of Arctic exploration.—Vitus Bering's rank as an explorer 3 CHAPTER II. Bering's nativity.—Norwegians and Danes in the service of Peter the Great.—Founding of the Russian navy 6 CHAPTER III. Plans for Bering's First Expedition.—Peter the Great's desire to know the extent of his empire.—The Northeast passage 12 CHAPTER IV. Bering's knowledge of Siberian geography.—Terrors of traveling in Siberia.—The expedition starts out.—The journey from St. Petersburg to the Pacific 19 CHAPTER V. The building of the Gabriel.—The discovery of Bering Strait 29 CHAPTER VI. The task assigned by Peter the Great accomplished.—History of the cartography of East Siberia.—Captain Cook's defense of Bering 35 CHAPTER VII. Bering's winter at the fort.—Indications of an adjacent continent.—Unsuccessful search for this continent.—Return to St. Petersburg.—General review of the results of the First Expedition 50 PART II. THE GREAT NORTHERN EXPEDITION. CHAPTER VIII. Bering's plans for a second expedition.—The greatest geographical enterprise ever undertaken 61 CHAPTER IX. The Great Northern Expedition on its way through Siberia.—Difficulties and dangers encountered and overcome 77 CHAPTER X. Delay of the expedition caused by the death of Lassenius and his command in the Arctic regions.—Dissatisfaction of the Senate and Admiralty with Bering's work 91 CHAPTER XI. Final Preparations for the Pacific expeditions 99 PART III. THE VARIOUS EXPEDITIONS. CHAPTER XII. The Arctic expeditions.—The Northeast passage.—Severe criticisms on Nordenskjöld 107 CHAPTER XIII. The discovery of the Kurile Islands and Japan from the north 117 CHAPTER XIV. Preparations for Bering's voyage of discovery to America.—Founding of Petropavlovsk.—The brothers De l'Isle 127 CHAPTER XV. The discovery of America from the east.—Steller induced to join the expedition.—The separation of the St. Peter and the St. Paul 135 CHAPTER XVI. Bering's place of landing on the American coast.—Captain Cook's uncertainty.—The question discussed and definitely settled 143 CHAPTER XVII. Explorations along the American coast.—Steller's censure of Bering for undue haste.—Bering defended.—Dall, the American writer, reprimanded.—The return voyage 150 CHAPTER XVIII. The discovery of the Aleutian Islands.—Terrible hardships of the voyage.—Steller's fault-finding.—Bering confined to his cabin.—Deaths on board from exhaustion and disease.—Bering Island discovered.—A narrow escape 164 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 174 APPENDIX. BERING'S REPORT TO THE ADMIRALTY FROM OKHOTSK 195 NOTES 202 INDEX 217 MAPS. INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION. A BIOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT BERING IS OF ESPECIAL INTEREST TO AMERICAN READERS DESIRING AN ACCURATE HISTORY OF A COUNTRY THAT HAS RECENTLY COME INTO OUR POSSESSION, AND THE ADJOINING REGIONS WHERE MOST OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THE INTREPID DANISH-RUSSIAN EXPLORER WERE MADE. THE THOROUGH, CONCISE, AND PATIENT WORK DONE BY MR. LAURIDSEN IS DESERVING OF WORLD-WIDE COMMENDATION, WHILE THE TRANSLATION INTO THE LANGUAGE OF OUR LAND BY PROFESSOR OLSON OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PUTS STUDENTS OF AMERICAN HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY UNDER A DEBT FOR THIS LABOR OF LOVE RATHER THAN REMUNERATION THAT CANNOT BE EASILY PAID, AND WHICH IS NOT COMMON IN OUR COUNTRY. IT IS A MATTER OF NO SMALL NATIONAL PRIDE THAT THE TRANSLATION INTO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE OF A WORK SO NEAR AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL INTERESTS SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE BY AN AMERICAN, RATHER THAN EMANATE FROM THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY OR OTHER BRITISH SOURCES, FROM WHICH WE USUALLY derive such valuable translations and compilations of old explorations and the doings of the first explorers. THE GENERAL AMERICAN OPINION REGARDING BERING IS PROBABLY SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT FROM THAT ON THE CONTINENT WHICH GAVE HIM BIRTH AND A PATRON GOVERNMENT TO CARRY OUT HIS GIGANTIC AND IMMORTAL PLANS; OR, BETTER SPEAKING, IT WAS DIFFERENT DURING THE CONTROVERSY IN THE PAST OVER THE VALUE AND AUTHENTICITY OF THE GREAT EXPLORER'S WORKS, FOR EUROPEAN OPINION OF BERING HAS SLOWLY BEEN MORE AND MORE FAVORABLE TO HIM, UNTIL IT HAS REACHED THE MAXIMUM AND COMPLETE VINDICATION IN THE ADMIRABLE LABORS OF LAURIDSEN, WHOSE PAINSTAKING RESEARCHES IN THE ONLY ARCHIVES WHERE AUTHENTIC DATA OF THE DOINGS OF THE DARING DANE COULD BE FOUND, HAS LEFT NO GROUND FOR THOSE CRITICS TO STAND UPON, WHO HAVE CENSURED PETER THE GREAT'S SELECTION OF AN ORIENTAL EXPLORER. IN SHORT, AMERICA HAS ALWAYS RESPECTED BERING AS A GREAT EXPLORER, AND OFTENTIMES HERALDED HIM AS ONE OF THE HIGHEST OF HEROES, WHATEVER MAY HAVE BEEN THE VARYING PHASES OF EUROPEAN THOUGHT ON THE SUBJECT; AND THE REASONS THEREFOR, I THINK, ARE TWO-FOLD. IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE CONTINENT WHICH BERING FIRST SEPARATED FROM THE OLD WORLD IS YET A NEW COUNTRY. SINCE ITS DISCOVERY, NOT ONLY EXPLORATION, BUT COMMERCIAL EXPLORATION, OR PIONEERING AS WE CALL IT, HAS BEEN GOING ON, AND IN THIS EVERY ONE HAS TAKEN HIS PART OR MINGLED OFTEN WITH THOSE WHO HAVE. PRESIDENTS WHO WERE PIONEERS, HAVE BEEN CONTEMPORARIES WITH OUR TIMES, WHILE THOSE WHO HAVE STRUGGLED ON THE SELVAGE OF CIVILIZATION ARE NUMEROUS AMONG US, AND THEIR ADVENTURES AS NARRATED IN BOOKS ARE FAMILIAR STORIES TO OUR EARS. SUCH A PEOPLE, I BELIEVE, AM MUCH LESS LIABLE TO LISTEN TO THE LABORED LOGIC OF A CRITIC AGAINST A MAN WHO CARRIED HIS EXPEDITION SIX THOUSAND MILES ACROSS A WILDERNESS AND LAUNCHED IT ON THE INHOSPITABLE SHORES OF AN UNKNOWN SEA, TO SOLVE A PROBLEM THAT HAS BORNE THEM FRUIT, THAN OTHERS NOT SIMILARLY SITUATED WOULD BE. WHILE THE INVARIABLE RULE HAS BEEN THAT WHERE THE PATH-FINDER AND CRITIC—UNLESS THE CRITIC HAS BEEN AN EXPLORER IN THE SAME FIELD— HAVE COME IN COLLISION, THE LATTER HAS ALWAYS GONE TO THE WALL, IT IS EASY TO SEE THAT WITH A JURY THAT HAVE THEMSELVES LIVED amidst similar, though possibly slighter, frontier fortunes, such a verdict is more readily reached. THE OTHER REASON, WHICH IS NOT SO COMMENDABLE, IS THAT FEW AMERICANS AT LARGE HAVE INTERESTED THEMSELVES IN THE DISCUSSION, OR IN FACT KNEW MUCH ABOUT IT. TRUE, THE CRITICISMS ON THE EASTERN CONTINENT HAVE BEEN RE-ECHOED ON THIS SIDE OF THE WATER, AND EVEN ADDED TO, BUT, THEY HAVE CREATED NO GENERAL IMPRESSION WORTH RECORDING AS SUCH IN A BOOK THAT WILL UNDOUBTEDLY HAVE FAR WIDER CIRCULATION THAN THE DISCUSSION HAS EVER HAD, UNLESS I HAVE MISJUDGED THE TEMPER OF THE American people to desire information on just such work as Bering has done, and which for the first time is presented to THEM IN ANYTHING LIKE AN AUTHENTIC WAY BY PROFESSOR OLSON'S TRANSLATION OF MR. LAURIDSEN'S WORK. I DO NOT WISH TO BE understood that we as a nation have been wholly INDIFFERENT TO BERING AND THE DISCUSSION OF HIS CLAIMS. FAR FROM IT. IT HAS RATHER BEEN THAT IN INVADING THE BERING WORLD THEIR DISPOSITION HAS LED THEM TO VIEW THE SOLID GROUND ON WHICH HE MADE HIS MARK, RATHER THAN THE CLOUDS HOVERING ABOVE, AND WHICH THIS WORK DISSIPATES. IT IS RATHER OF THAT CHARACTER OF IGNORANCE—IF SO STRONG A WORD IS JUSTIFIABLE—THAT IS FOUND HERE IN THE PERSISTENT MISSPELLING OF THE GREAT EXPLORER'S NAME AND THE BODIES OF WATER WHICH HAVE TRANSMITTED IT TO POSTERITY SO WELL, ALTHOUGH THE AUTHORITY—REALLY THE ABSOLUTE DEMAND, IF CORRECTNESS IS DESIRED—FOR THE CHANGE FROM Behring TO Bering HAS BEEN WELL KNOWN TO EXIST FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS, AND IS NOW ADOPTED IN EVEN OUR BEST ELEMENTARY GEOGRAPHIES. WHILE THE ANIMALISH AXIOM THAT "IGNORANCE IS BLISS" IS PROBABLY NEVER TRUE, THERE MAY BE CASES WHERE IT IS APPARENTLY FORTUNATE, AND THIS MAY BE SO IN THAT AMERICANS IN BEING SEEMINGLY APATHETIC HAVE REALLY ESCAPED A DISCUSSION WHICH AFTER ALL HAS ENDED IN PLACING THE MAN CONSIDERED IN ABOUT THE SAME status THAT THEY ALWAYS ASSUMED HE HAD FILLED. ONE MIGHT ARGUE THAT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER FOR AMERICANS, THEREFORE, IF THEY HAD BEEN PRESENTED WITH A SIMPLE AND AUTHENTIC BIOGRAPHY OF THE IMMORTAL DANISH-RUSSIAN, RATHER THAN WITH A BOOK THAT IS BOTH A BIOGRAPHY AND A DEFENSE, BUT LAURIDSEN'S WORK AFTER ALL IS THE BEST, I THINK ALL WILL AGREE, AS NO BIOGRAPHY OF BERING COULD BE COMPLETE WITHOUT SOME ACCOUNT OF THAT PART IN WHICH HE HAD NO MAKING AND no share, as well as that better part which he chronicled with his own brain and brawn. I doubt yet if Americans will take very much interest in the dispute over Bering's simple claims in which he could take no PART; BUT THAT THIS BOOK, WHICH SETTLES THEM SO CLEARLY, WILL BE WELCOMED BY THE READING CLASSES OF A NATION THAT BY ACQUISITION IN ALASKA HAS BROUGHT THEM SO NEAR THE FIELD OF THE LABOR OF BERING, I THINK THERE NEED NOT BE THE SLIGHTEST FEAR. IT IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT LINKS YET WELDED BY THE WISDOM OF MAN WHICH CAN BE MADE INTO A CHAIN OF HISTORY FOR OUR NEW ACQUISITION WHOSE HISTORY IS YET SO IMPERFECT, AND WILL REMAIN SO, UNTIL RUSSIAN ARCHIVES ARE PLACED IN THE hands of those they consider fair-minded judges, as in the present work. ON STILL BROADER GROUNDS, IT IS TO BE HOPED THAT THIS WORK WILL MEET WITH AMERICAN SUCCESS, THAT IT MAY BE AN ENTERING WEDGE TO THAT VALUABLE LITERATURE OF GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH AND EXPLORATION, WHICH FROM INCOMPATIBILITY OF LANGUAGE AND OTHER CAUSES HAS NEVER BEEN FULLY OR EVEN COMPREHENSIVELY OPENED TO ENGLISH SPEAKING PEOPLE. IT HAS BEEN WELL SAID BY ONE WHO HAS OPPORTUNITIES TO FAIRLY JUDGE THAT "IT HAS BEEN KNOWN BY SCIENTISTS FOR SOME TIME THAT MORE VALUABLE INVESTIGATION WAS BURIED FROM SIGHT IN THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE THAN IN ANY OR ALL OTHERS. FEW CAN IMAGINE WHAT ACTIVITY IN GEOGRAPHICAL, STATISTICAL, ASTRONOMICAL, AND OTHER RESEARCH HAS GONE ON IN THE EMPIRE OF THE CZAR. IT IS PREDICTED THAT WITHIN TEN YEARS MORE STUDENTS WILL TAKE UP THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE THAN THOSE OF OTHER NATIONS OF EASTERN EUROPE, SIMPLY AS A NECESSITY. THIS YOUNGEST FAMILY OF THE ARYANS IS MOVING WESTWARD WITH ITS IDEAS AND LITERATURE, AS WELL AS ITS POPULATION AND EMPIRE. THERE ARE NO BETTER EXPLORERS AND NO BETTER RECORDERS OF INVESTIGATIONS." IT IS UNDOUBTEDLY A FIELD IN WHICH AMERICANS CAN REAP A RICH REWARD OF GEOGRAPHICAL INVESTIGATION. THERE IS AN IDEA AMONG SOME, AND EVEN FRIENDS OF RUSSIA, THAT THEIR TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS HAVE NOT DONE THEMSELVES JUSTICE IN RECORDING THEIR DOINGS, BUT THIS IN THE BROAD SENSE IS NOT TRUE. RATHER THEY HAVE BEEN POOR CHRONICLERS FOR THE PUBLIC; BUT THEIR OFFICIAL REPORTS, HIDDEN AWAY IN GOVERNMENT ARCHIVES, ARE RICH IN THEIR THOROUGH INVESTIGATIONS, OFTENTIMES MORE NEARLY PERFECT AND COMPLETE THAN THE EQUIVALENTS IN OUR OWN LANGUAGE, WHERE IT TAKES NO LONG ARGUMENT TO PROVE THAT GREAT ATTENTION GIVEN TO THE PUBLIC AND POPULAR ACCOUNT, HAS BEEN AT THE EXPENSE OF THE SIMILAR QUALITIES IN THE OFFICIAL REPORT; WHILE MANY EXPEDITIONS, AMERICAN AND BRITISH, HAVE NOT BEEN UNDER OFFICIAL PATRONAGE AT ALL, WHICH HAS SELDOM BEEN THE CASE WITH RUSSIAN RESEARCH. AS ALREADY NOTED, THE BULK OF SIMILAR VOLUMES FROM OTHER LANGUAGES AND OTHER ARCHIVES INTO THE ENGLISH HAS COME FROM GREAT BRITAIN; BUT PROBABLY FROM THE UNFORTUNATE BITTER ANTAGONISM BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES WHICH HAS CREATED AN APATHY IN ONE AND A SUSPICION IN THE OTHER THAT THEY WILL NOT BE JUDGED IN AN UNPREJUDICED WAY, RUSSIA HAS NOT GOT A FAIR SHARE OF WHAT SHE HAS REALLY ACCOMPLISHED GEOGRAPHICALLY TRANSLATED INTO OUR TONGUE. IT IS THROUGH AMERICA, AN UNPREJUDICED NATION, THAT THIS COULD BE REMEDIED, IF A PROPER INTEREST IS SHOWN, AND WHICH WILL PROBABLY BE DETERMINED, IN A GREATER OR less degree, by the reception of this book here, although it comes to us in the roundabout way of the Danish language. FREDERICK SCHWATKA. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. IN PLACING BEFORE THE AMERICAN PUBLIC THIS BOOK ON VITUS BERING, I DESIRE TO EXPRESS MY CORDIAL THANKS TO THOSE WHO BY WORD AND DEED HAVE ASSISTED ME. I AM ESPECIALLY GRATEFUL TO LIEUTENANT FREDERICK SCHWATKA, WHO, IN THE MIDST OF PRESSING LITERARY LABORS CONSEQUENT ON HIS RECENT EXPLORATIONS AMONG THE CAVE AND CLIFF DWELLERS OF THE SIERRA MADRE MOUNTAINS, HAS BEEN SO EXCEEDINGLY KIND AS TO WRITE AN INTRODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN EDITION OF THIS WORK. I FEEL CONFIDENT THAT THE INTRODUCTORY WORDS OF THIS DOUGHTY EXPLORER WILL SECURE FOR BERING THAT CONSIDERATION FROM THE American people to which he is fairly entitled. I FIND IT A PLEASANT DAY TO ACKNOWLEDGE MY INDEBTEDNESS TO DR. LEONHARD STEJNEGER OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, WHO HAS SENT ME SOME VALUABLE AND INTERESTING NOTES TO THE CHAPTER ON "THE STAY ON BERING ISLAND" (CHAPTER XIX). DR. STEJNEGER'S NOTES ARE OF ESPECIAL INTEREST, FOR IN THE YEARS 1882-'84 HE SPENT EIGHTEEN MONTHS ON BERING ISLAND IN THE SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, THE OBJECT OF HIS EXPEDITION BEING TO STUDY THE GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY OF THE ISLAND, TO COLLECT SPECIMENS OF ALL KINDS, BUT ESPECIALLY TO SEARCH FOR REMAINS OF THE SEA-COW. HE WISHED ALSO TO IDENTIFY THE PLACES MENTIONED BY STELLER, THE FAMOUS NATURALIST OF THE BERING EXPEDITION, IN ORDER TO COMPARE HIS DESCRIPTION WITH THE LOCALITIES AS THEY PRESENT THEMSELVES TO-DAY, AND TO VISIT THE PLACES WHERE BERING'S VESSEL WAS WRECKED, WHERE THE ILL-FATED EXPEDITION WINTERED, AND WHERE STELLER MADE HIS OBSERVATIONS ON THE SEA-COW. THE RESULTS OF DR. STEJNEGER'S INVESTIGATIONS HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED IN "PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM" AND IN VARIOUS AMERICAN AND European scientific journals. I AM ALSO UNDER OBLIGATION TO PROF. RASMUS B. ANDERSON, EX-UNITED STATES MINISTER TO DENMARK, THROUGH WHOM I HAVE BEEN ENABLED TO MAKE THIS AN AUTHORIZED EDITION, AND TO REUBEN G. THWAITES, SECRETARY OF THE WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND FREDERICK J. TURNER, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, FOR valuable criticism and suggestions. IN REGARD TO THE ORTHOGRAPHY OF RUSSIAN AND SIBERIAN NAMES, I WISH TO SAY THAT I HAVE ENDEAVORED TO FOLLOW AMERICAN WRITERS THAT ADVOCATE A RATIONAL SIMPLIFICATION. W. H. DALL, AUTHOR OF "ALASKA AND ITS RESOURCES," SAYS ON THIS POINT: "FROM IGNORANCE OF THE TRUE PHONETIC VALUE OF THE RUSSIAN COMPOUND CONSONANTS, AND FROM LITERAL TRANSCRIPTION, INSTEAD OF PHONETIC TRANSLATION, OF THE GERMAN RENDERING OF RUSSIAN AND NATIVE NAMES, MUCH CONFUSION HAS ARISEN. MANY WRITERS PERSISTENTLY REPRESENT THE THIRD LETTER OF THE RUSSIAN ALPHABET BY w, WRITING ROMANOW INSTEAD OF ROMANOFF, ETC. THE twenty-fifth letter is also frequently rendered tsch instead of ch soft, as in church, which fully represents it in English. It is AS GROSS AN ERROR TO SPELL Kamchatka FOR INSTANCE, Kamtschatka, AS IT WOULD BE FOR A FOREIGNER TO REPRESENT THE English word church by tschurtsch, AND SO ON." FROM THIS IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE GERMANIZED FORMS OF THESE NAMES ARE INCORRECT, AS WELL AS NEEDLESSLY FORBIDDING IN APPEARANCE. IT IS, MOREOVER, DUE TO GERMAN WRITERS THAT BERING'S NAME HAS BEEN BURDENED WITH A SUPERFLUOUS LETTER. FACSIMILES OF HIS AUTOGRAPH, ONE OF WHICH MAY BE SEEN BY REFERRING TO MAP I. in the Appendix, prove incontestably that he spelled his name without an h. ALTHOUGH MR. LAURIDSEN'S BOOK IS ESSENTIALLY A DEFENSE OF VITUS BERING, WRITTEN ESPECIALLY FOR THE STUDENT OF HISTORY AND HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY, IT NEVERTHELESS CONTAINS SEVERAL CHAPTERS OF THRILLING INTEREST TO THE GENERAL READER. THE CLOSING CHAPTERS, FOR INSTANCE, GIVE, NOT ONLY A RELIABLE ACCOUNT OF THE RESULTS OF BERING'S VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTH PACIFIC, AND VALUABLE SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION CONCERNING THE REMARKABLE ANIMAL LIFE ON BERING ISLAND, WHERE, BEFORE BERING'S FRAIL SHIP WAS DASHED UPON ITS SHORES, NO HUMAN FOOT HAD TROD, BUT THEY ALSO PORTRAY IN VIVID COLORS THE TRAGIC events that brought this greatest of geographical enterprises to a close. THE REGIONS TO WHICH BERING'S LAST LABORS GAVE RUSSIA THE FIRST TITLE ARE AT THE PRESENT TIME THE OBJECT OF MUCH NEWSPAPER COMMENT. HIS LAST EXPEDITION, THE FEW SURVIVORS OF WHICH BROUGHT HOME COSTLY SKINS THAT EVINCED THE GREAT WEALTH OF THE NEWLY DISCOVERED LANDS, OPENED UP TO THE RUSSIAN FUR-HUNTER AN EL DORADO THAT STILL CONTINUES TO BE A MOST PROFITABLE field of pursuit, now vigilantly watched by the jealous eyes of rival nations. JULIUS E. OLSON. MADISON, WIS. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. THROUGH THE PATRONAGE OF THE HIELMSTIERNE-ROSENCRONE INSTITUTION, OBTAINED IN THE SUMMER OF 1883, I WAS ENABLED TO SPEND SOME TIME AMONG THE ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES IN ST. PETERSBURG, TO PREPARE MYSELF FOR UNDERTAKING THIS WORK ON VITUS BERING. I VERY SOON, HOWEVER, ENCOUNTERED OBSTACLES WHICH UNASSISTED I SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SURMOUNT; for, contrary to my expectations, all the original manuscripts and archives pertaining to the history of Bering were written in Russian, and the latter in such difficult language that none but native palæographers could read them. I SHOULD FOR THIS REASON HAVE BEEN COMPELLED TO RETURN WITHOUT HAVING ACCOMPLISHED ANYTHING, HAD I NOT IN TWO GENTLEMEN, ADMIRAL TH. WESSALGO AND MR. AUGUST THORNAM OF THE TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT, FOUND ALL THE ASSISTANCE THAT I NEEDED. THE ADMIRAL IS DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HYDROGRAPHY, AND HAS CHARGE OF THE MAGNIFICENT ARCHIVES OF THE ADMIRALTY. HE IS VERY FAMILIAR WITH THE HISTORY OF THE RUSSIAN FLEET, AND HE GAVE ME, NOT ONLY EXCELLENT AND EXHAUSTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION, BESIDES PUTTING AT MY DISPOSAL THE LIBRARY OF THE DEPARTMENT, BUT ALSO HAD MADE FOR ME COPIES OF VARIOUS THINGS THAT WERE NOT EASILY ACCESSIBLE. HE HAS, MOREOVER, SINCE MY RETURN BEEN UNWEARIED IN FURNISHING ME SUCH INFORMATION FROM THE RUSSIAN ARCHIVES AS I HAVE DESIRED. FOR ALL OF THIS KINDNESS, ENHANCED BY THE ADMIRAL'S FLATTERING REMARKS ABOUT DENMARK AND THE DANES, I FIND IT A PLEASANT DUTY TO EXPRESS MY WARMEST THANKS. TO MR. THORNAM I AM NO LESS INDEBTED. NOTWITHSTANDING HIS LABORIOUS DUTIES IN THE CENTRAL TELEGRAPH OFFICE OF ST. PETERSBURG, HE FOUND IT POSSIBLE WEEK AFTER WEEK, OFTEN EIGHT OR TEN HOURS OUT OF THE TWENTY-FOUR, TO ASSIST ME IN TRANSLATING THE VAST materials. BESIDES THIS, I DERIVED MUCH BENEFIT FROM HIS COMPREHENSIVE KNOWLEDGE OF SIBERIA, OBTAINED ON TRAVELS IN THE SAME REGIONS WHERE BERING HAD BEEN. HE HAS HAD THE KINDNESS TO EXAMINE THE COLLECTION OF CHARTS AND MAPS IN BOTH THE Admiralty and Imperial libraries, and secure for me some valuable copies. He has also, at my request, examined a series of articles in periodicals containing notices of Bering's geographical enterprise. IT IS ONLY BY MEANS OF THIS VALUABLE ASSISTANCE THAT I HAVE SUCCEEDED IN BASING THIS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ON RUSSIAN literature, and putting it, as I hope, on a par with what has been written on this subject by Russian authors. OF THE MANY OTHERS THAT IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER HAVE SECONDED MY EFFORTS IN GIVING AS VALUABLE A BIOGRAPHY OF MY RENOWNED FELLOW-COUNTRYMAN AS POSSIBLE, I OWE SPECIAL THANKS—NOT TO MENTION THE HIELMSTIERNE-ROSENCRONE INSTITUTION—TO MR. HEGEL, THE VETERAN PUBLISHER, COL. HOSKIER, DR. KARL VERNER, INSTRUCTOR IN SCLAVONIC LANGUAGES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN, WHO HAS EXAMINED SOME VERY DIFFICULT ARCHIVAL MATTER FOR ME, PROFESSOR ALEXANDER Vasilievich Grigorieff, Secretary of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, and to Mr. E. W. Dahlgren, Secretary of the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography. P. L. PART I. BERING'S FIRST EXPEDITION. CHAPTER I. RUSSIA AND ENGLAND IN THE WORK OF ARCTIC EXPLORATION.—VITUS BERING'S RANK AS AN EXPLORER. IN THE GREAT WORK OF ARCTIC EXPLORATION DONE DURING THE LAST TWO CENTURIES, IT WAS FIRST RUSSIA AND LATER ENGLAND THAT TOOK THE LEAD, AND TO THESE TWO NATIONS WE ARE PRINCIPALLY INDEBTED FOR OUR KNOWLEDGE OF ARCTIC CONTINENTAL COAST-LINES. THE ENGLISH EXPEDITIONS WERE UNDERTAKEN WITH BETTER SUPPORT, AND UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES BETTER DESIGNED TO ATTRACT PUBLIC ATTENTION. THEY HAVE, MOREOVER, BEEN EXCELLENTLY DESCRIBED, AND ARE CONSEQUENTLY WELL KNOWN. BUT IN THE GREATNESS OF THE TASKS UNDERTAKEN, IN THE PERSEVERANCE OF THEIR LEADERS, IN DIFFICULTIES, DANGERS, AND TRAGIC FATES, RUSSIAN EXPLORATIONS STAND WORTHILY AT THEIR SIDE. THE GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF THE RUSSIANS, THEIR DISPERSION THROUGHOUT THE COLDEST REGIONS OF THE EARTH, THEIR FRUGAL HABITS, REMARKABLE POWER OF FORESIGHT, AND THEIR ADVENTUROUS SPIRIT, MAKE THEM ESPECIALLY FITTED FOR ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS. HENCE, AS EARLY AS THE FIRST HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, THEY ACCOMPLISHED FOR ASIA WHAT THE ENGLISH NOT UNTIL A HUNDRED YEARS LATER SUCCEEDED IN DOING FOR THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EARTH,—NAMELY, THE CHARTING OF THE polar coasts. IN THIS WORK THE RUSSIANS INTRODUCED THE SYSTEM OF COASTING AND SLEDGING INTO THE SERVICE OF ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS, AND IT IS ONLY THROUGH A SYSTEMATIC DEVELOPMENT OF THESE MEANS THAT WESTERN EUROPE HAS BEEN ENABLED TO CELEBRATE ITS MOST BRILLIANT TRIUMPHS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS, AND TO SUCCEED IN GETTING FARTHER THAN DID THE NAVIGATORS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. THE HISTORY OF RUSSIAN POLAR EXPLORATIONS HAS A SERIES OF PROUD NAMES, WHICH LACK ONLY THE PEN OF A SHERARD OSBORN TO SHINE BY THE SIDE OF FRANKLIN AND MCCLURE, AND IT REDOUNDS TO THE HONOR OF DENMARK THAT ONE OF THE FIRST AND GREATEST OF THESE MEN WAS A DANE,—THAT THE MOST BRILLIANT CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF RUSSIAN EXPLORATIONS IS DUE TO THE INITIATIVE AND INDEFATIGABLE ENERGY OF VITUS BERING. IN THE SERVICE OF PETER THE GREAT HE SUCCESSFULLY DOUBLED THE NORTHEASTERN PENINSULA OF ASIA, AND AFTER HIS RETURN HE MADE A PLAN FOR THE EXPLORATION OF THE WHOLE NORTHEAST PASSAGE FROM THE WHITE SEA TO JAPAN. ALTHOUGH HE SUCCUMBED IN THIS UNDERTAKING, HE LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO SEE HIS GIGANTIC PLANS approach realization. BERING WAS BURIED ON AN ISLAND IN THE PACIFIC, AMID THE SCENES OF HIS LABORS, UNDER THAT SAND-BARROW WHICH HAD BEEN HIS DEATH-BED. FOR MANY GENERATIONS ONLY A PLAIN WOODEN CROSS MARKED HIS RESTING-PLACE, AND AS FOR HIS FAME, IT HAS BEEN AS HUMBLE AND MODEST AS HIS HEAD-BOARD. HIS LABORS BELONGED TO A STRANGE PEOPLE WHO HAD BUT LITTLE SYMPATHY FOR THE MAN. HIS OWN COUNTRYMEN, AMONG WHOM HE MIGHT HAVE FOUND THIS SYMPATHETIC INTEREST, KNEW HIS WORK BUT VERY IMPERFECTLY. NOT UNTIL AFTER THE LAPSE OF A CENTURY DID HE FIND A CAREFUL BIOGRAPHER, AND EVEN WITHIN COMPARATIVELY RECENT years the great scientist Von Baer has found it necessary to defend him against misunderstandings and petty attacks. DANISH LITERATURE CONTAINS NOTHING OF MOMENT CONCERNING HIM, FOR THE TWO TREATISES WHICH SEVERAL GENERATIONS AGO WERE PUBLISHED BY M. HALLAGER AND ODIN WOLFF, ARE MERELY SCANTY EXTRACTS FROM G. F. MÜLLER'S HISTORICAL WORKS. IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES, THEREFORE, RELYING NOT ONLY UPON RUSSIAN, BUT ALSO UPON WEST EUROPEAN LITERATURE FOR INFORMATION, WE DESIRE TO ERECT TO HIM A MONUMENT BY GIVING A SHORT ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE AND WORK, SKETCHING AT THE SAME TIME A CHAPTER OF geographical history which is lacking neither in importance nor in interest. CHAPTER II. BERING'S NATIVITY.—NORWEGIANS AND DANES IN THE SERVICE OF PETER THE GREAT.—FOUNDING OF THE RUSSIAN NAVY. VITUS BERING WAS A SON OF JONAS SVENDSEN AND HIS SECOND WIFE, ANNA BERING OF HORSENS, AT WHICH PLACE HE WAS BORN IN THE SUMMER OF 1681. ON THE MATERNAL SIDE HE DESCENDED FROM THE DISTINGUISHED BERING FAMILY, WHICH DURING THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES FLOURISHED IN VARIOUS PARTS OF DENMARK, AND INCLUDED A VERY RESPECTABLE NUMBER OF ministers and judicial officers.[1] OUR HERO PASSED HIS CHILDHOOD IN A CHRISTIAN FAMILY OF CULTURE IN THE JUTLAND SEAPORT TOWN OF HIS BIRTH. HERE FOR A SERIES OF YEARS HIS FATHER FILLED SEVERAL POSITIONS OF TRUST, AND WAS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE LEADING MEN OF THE PLACE, AS HIS WIFE'S SISTER, MARGARET BERING, HAD MARRIED TWO CONSECUTIVE MAYORS. HE WAS, HOWEVER, FAR FROM BEING CONSIDERED WELL- TO-DO. HE HAD MANY CHILDREN. ONE OF HIS SONS HAD CAUSED HIM MUCH TROUBLE AND EXPENSE, AND WAS FINALLY SENT TO THE EAST INDIES. IN THE PROBATE RECORD OF HIS ESTATE, MADE IN 1719, THERE IS A DEED OF CONVEYANCE FROM HIMSELF AND WIFE IN WHICH THE FOLLOWING APPEARS: "WE ARE OLD, MISERABLE, AND DECREPIT PEOPLE, IN NO WAY ABLE TO HELP OURSELVES. OUR PROPERTY CONSISTS OF THE OLD DILAPIDATED HOME AND THE FURNITURE THERETO BELONGING, WHICH IS OF BUT LITTLE VALUE." IT WAS HIS SHARE OF THIS INHERITANCE, WITH ACCRUED INTEREST, ALL AMOUNTING TO 140 rigsdaler, THAT VITUS BERING LATER PRESENTED TO HIS native town to be used for the benefit of the poor. FROM INCLINATION, AND FORCED BY THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS HUMBLE HOME, BERING WENT TO SEA, AND ON THE LONG EXPEDITIONS THAT HE MADE, HE DEVELOPED INTO AN ABLE SEAMAN. FROM AN EAST INDIA EXPEDITION IN 1703 HE CAME TO AMSTERDAM, WHERE HE MADE THE ACQUAINTANCE OF ADMIRAL CRUYS, A NATIVE OF NORWAY. SOON AFTERWARDS, AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-TWO, HE JOINED A RUSSIAN FLEET AS A SUB-LIEUTENANT. WHAT NORWEGIAN AND DANISH SEAMEN ACCOMPLISHED AT THIS PERIOD IN THE SERVICE OF RUSSIA, HAS BEEN ALMOST ENTIRELY FORGOTTEN. IN THE COMPANY OF INTELLIGENT FOREIGNERS THAT CZAR PETER EMPLOYED FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF HIS KINGDOM, THE DANISH-NORSE CONTINGENT OCCUPIES A PROMINENT PLACE. THIS IS DUE PRINCIPALLY TO PETER HIMSELF, AND WAS A RESULT OF HIS EXPERIENCES IN HOLLAND. AFTER HAVING, ON HIS FIRST EXTENSIVE FOREIGN TRIP, LEARNED THE ART OF SHIP-BUILDING,—NOT IN ZAANDAM, AS IT IS USUALLY STATED, BUT AT THE DOCKS OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY IN AMSTERDAM,—HE WAS MUCH DISSATISFIED WITH THE EMPIRICAL METHOD WHICH THE HOLLANDERS USED, AND HE WROTE TO VORONETZ, HIS OWN SHIP- YARD, THAT THE DUTCH SHIP-BUILDERS THERE SHOULD NO LONGER BE PERMITTED TO WORK INDEPENDENTLY, BUT BE PLACED UNDER THE supervision of Danes or Englishmen. Peter retained his high regard for Danish-Norse ship-building during his whole life, and it was on this account that Danes AND NORWEGIANS WERE ENABLED TO EXERT SO GREAT AN INFLUENCE IN ST. PETERSBURG. THIS IS THE REASON, TOO, THAT DANISH- Norse[2] seamen were received so kindly in Russia even long after the death of the great Czar. NEXT TO PETER, NORWEGIANS AND DANES HAD THE GREATEST SHARE IN THE FOUNDING OF THE RUSSIAN FLEET, AND AMONG THEM THE PLACE OF HONOR BELONGS TO THE NORSEMAN CORNELIUS CRUYS, WHO IN 1697 WAS ASSISTANT MASTER OF ORDNANCE IN THE DUTCH NAVY, WHERE HE WAS HELD IN HIGH REGARD AS A SHIP-BUILDER, A CARTOGRAPHER, AND AS A MAN WELL VERSED IN EVERYTHING PERTAINING TO THE EQUIPMENT OF A FLEET. PETER MADE HIM HIS VICE-ADMIRAL, AND ASSIGNED TO HIM THE TECHNICAL CONTROL OF THE FLEET, THE BUILDING OF NEW VESSELS, THEIR EQUIPMENT, AND, ABOVE ALL, THE TASK OF SUPPLYING THEM WITH WEST EUROPEAN officers. WEBER ASSIGNS CRUYS A PLACE IN THE FIRST RANK AMONG THOSE FOREIGNERS TO WHOM RUSSIA OWES MUCH OF HER DEVELOPMENT, AND REMARKS THAT IT WAS HE, "THE INCOMPARABLE MASTER OF ORDNANCE, WHO PUT THE RUSSIAN FLEET UPON ITS KEEL AND UPON THE SEA." HE BELONGED TO THE FASHIONABLE CIRCLES OF ST. PETERSBURG, OWNED A LARGE AND BEAUTIFUL PALACE ON THE NEVA, WHERE NOW TOWER THE WINTER PALACE AND THE HERMITAGE, AND WAS ONE OF THE FEW AMONG THE WEALTHY THAT ENJOYED THE PRIVILEGE OF ENTERTAINING THE CZAR ON FESTIVE OCCASIONS. HE BECAME VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE ADMIRALTY, WAS PROMOTED, AFTER THE PEACE OF NYSTAD, TO THE POSITION OF ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE FLAG, AND MADE A KNIGHT OF THE ORDER OF ALEXANDER Nevsky. IN PETER THE GREAT'S REMARKABLE HOUSE IN ST. PETERSBURG THERE IS PRESERVED, AMONG MANY OTHER RELICS, A YAWL WHICH IS CALLED THE GRANDFATHER OF THE FLEET. WITH THIS, PETER HAD BEGUN HIS NAUTICAL EXPERIMENTS, AND IN 1723, WHEN HE CELEBRATED THE FOUNDING OF HIS FLEET, HE ROWED DOWN THE NEVA IN IT. PETER HIMSELF WAS AT THE RUDDER, APRAXIN WAS COCKSWAIN, AND ADMIRAL CRUYS, VICE-ADMIRAL GORDON, SIEVERS AND MENSHIKOFF WERE AT THE OARS. ON THIS OCCASION THE CZAR EMBRACED Cruys and called him his father. DURING HIS WHOLE LIFE CRUYS PRESERVED A WARM AFFECTION FOR HIS NATIVE LAND; HENCE IT WAS NATURAL THAT THE SCANDINAVIAN COLONY IN ST. PETERSBURG GATHERED ABOUT HIM. HIS SUCCESSOR AS VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE ADMIRALTY, AND AS MASTER OF ORDNANCE, WAS THE FORMER DANISH NAVAL LIEUTENANT PETER SIEVERS, WHO LIKEWISE ELEVATED HIMSELF TO MOST IMPORTANT POSITIONS, AND EXERTED A HIGHLY BENEFICIAL INFLUENCE UPON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FLEET. AT THE SIDE OF THESE TWO HEROES, MOREOVER, THERE WERE OTHERS, AS ADMIRALS DANIEL WILSTER AND PETER BREDAL, COMMANDER THURE Trane, and also Skeving, Herzenberg, Peder Grib, "Tordenskjold's[3] brave comrade in arms," and many others. FOR A LONG TIME VITUS BERING WAS ONE OF CRUYS'S MOST INTIMATE ASSOCIATES, AND THESE TWO, WITH ADMIRAL SIEVERS, FORM AN HONORABLE TRIO IN THAT FOREIGN NAVY. BERING WAS SOON APPOINTED TO A POSITION IN THE BALTIC FLEET, AND DURING RUSSIA'S PROTRACTED STRUGGLES, HIS ENERGY FOUND THAT SCOPE WHICH HE BEFORE HAD SOUGHT ON THE OCEAN, AND AT THE SAME TIME HE HAD THE SATISFACTION OF FIGHTING THE FOES OF HIS NATIVE LAND. HE WAS A BOLD AND ABLE COMMANDER. DURING THE WHOLE WAR HE CRUISED ABOUT IN THE SEA OF AZOV AND THE BLACK SEA, AND IN THE BALTIC AND OTHER NORTHERN WATERS. SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TRANSPORT EXPEDITIONS WERE ENTRUSTED TO HIM. THE CZAR PRIZED HIS SERVICES VERY HIGHLY, AND WHEN, AFTER THE MISFORTUNE AT PRUTH IN 1711, HE LAID A PLAN TO RESCUE THREE OF THE BEST SHIPS OF HIS BLACK SEA FLEET BY A BOLD RUN THROUGH THE BOSPORUS, VITUS BERING, PEDER BREDAL, AND SIMON SKOP WERE CHOSEN FOR THE TASK. WHETHER THE PLAN WAS CARRIED OUT, IT IS DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE. BERCH SAYS THAT IT WAS NOT, AND ADDS, "I CITE THE INCIDENT SIMPLY TO SHOW THAT EVEN AT THAT TIME BERING WAS LOOKED UPON AS AN EXCELLENT COMMANDER." IN VARIOUS WEST EUROPEAN AUTHORITIES, HOWEVER, IT IS DISTINCTLY STATED THAT SIEVERS CONDUCTED THE SHIPS TO ENGLAND, AND IN A REVIEW OF BERING'S LIFE PUBLISHED BY THE ADMIRALTY IN 1882, IT IS STATED THAT BERING WAS IN 1711 APPOINTED TO CONDUCT THE SHIP MUNKER FROM THE SEA OF AZOV TO THE BALTIC, AND AS THE ADMIRALTY WOULD HARDLY IN A CONDENSED REPORT HAVE TAKEN NOTICE OF PLANS WHICH HAD NEVER BEEN CARRIED OUT, it seems most probable that Berch has been incorrectly informed. IN 1707 BERING WAS PROMOTED TO THE POSITION OF LIEUTENANT, IN 1710 TO THAT OF LIEUTENANT-CAPTAIN, AND IN 1715 TO THAT OF CAPTAIN OF THE FOURTH RANK, WHEN HE ASSUMED COMMAND OF THE NEW SHIP SELAFAIL IN ARCHANGEL TO SAIL IT TO COPENHAGEN and Kronstadt. In 1716 he participated IN AN EXPEDITION OF THE UNITED FLEETS TO BORNHOLM UNDER THE COMMAND OF SIEVERS. IN 1717 HE WAS MADE CAPTAIN OF THE THIRD, AND IN 1720 OF THE SECOND RANK, AND TOOK PART, UNTIL PEACE WAS CONCLUDED, IN the various manœuvers in the Baltic under the command of Gordon and Apraxin.[4] AFTER THE PEACE OF NYSTAD IN 1721, HOWEVER, HIS POSITION BECAME SOMEWHAT UNPLEASANT. ALTHOUGH HE WAS A BROTHER-IN- LAW OF VICE-ADMIRAL SAUNDERS, HE HAD, ACCORDING TO BERCH, POWERFUL ENEMIES IN THE ADMIRALTY. THE NUMEROUS PROMOTIONS MADE AFTER THE CONCLUSION OF PEACE, IN NO WAY APPLIED TO HIM. IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR YOUNGER COMRADES WERE ADVANCED BEYOND HIM, AND HENCE IN 1724 HE DEMANDED PROMOTION TO A CAPTAINCY OF THE FIRST RANK, OR HIS DISCHARGE. AFTER PROTRACTED NEGOTIATIONS, AND IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT APRAXIN REPEATEDLY REFUSED TO SIGN HIS DISCHARGE, HE FINALLY OBTAINED IT, AND THEN WITHDREW TO HIS HOME IN VIBORG, FINLAND, WHERE HE OWNED AN ESTATE, AND WHERE, NO DOUBT ON ACCOUNT OF THE SCANDINAVIAN CHARACTER OF THE CITY, HE PREFERRED TO STAY. DURING THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR HIS DISCHARGE, THE CZAR WAS IN OLONETZ, BUT SOME TIME AFTERWARDS HE INFORMED APRAXIN THAT BERING WAS AGAIN TO ENTER THE NAVY, AND WITH THE DESIRED PROMOTION. THIS OCCURRED IN AUGUST, 1724, AND A FEW MONTHS LATER BERING WAS APPOINTED CHIEF OF THE First Kamchatkan Expedition, the object of which was to determine whether Asia and America were connected by land. FOOTNOTES: Some details of Bering's genealogy, which can be of no interest to the American reader, the translator has taken the liberty to omit. Norway and Denmark were at this time united.—Tr. Peter Tordenskjold (1691-1720), a Norwegian in the Danish Norse service,—the greatest naval hero Scandinavia has ever produced.—Tr. See Appendix, Note 1. CHAPTER III. PLANS FOR BERING'S FIRST EXPEDITION.—PETER THE GREAT'S DESIRE TO KNOW THE EXTENT OF HIS EMPIRE.—THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE. THE EQUIPMENT OF BERING'S FIRST EXPEDITION WAS ONE OF PETER THE GREAT'S LAST ADMINISTRATIVE ACTS. FROM HIS DEATH-BED HIS ENERGY SET IN MOTION THOSE FORCES WHICH IN THE GENERATION SUCCEEDING HIM WERE TO CONQUER A NEW WORLD FOR HUMAN KNOWLEDGE. IT WAS NOT UNTIL HIS MIGHTY SPIRIT WAS ABOUT TO DEPART THIS WORLD THAT THE WORK WAS BEGUN, BUT THE IMPETUS given by him was destined to be effective for half a century; and the results achieved still excite our admiration. PETER WAS INCITED TO UNDERTAKE THIS WORK BY A DESIRE FOR BOOTY, BY A KEEN, SOMEWHAT BARBARIC CURIOSITY, AND BY A JUST DESIRE TO KNOW THE NATURAL BOUNDARIES OF HIS DOMINION. HE WAS NO DOUBT LESS INFLUENCED BY THE FLATTERY OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS THAN IS GENERALLY SUPPOSED. HIS GREAT ENTERPRISE SUDDENLY BROUGHT RUSSIA INTO THE FRONT RANK OF THOSE NATIONS WHICH AT THAT TIME WERE DOING GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATION. JUST BEFORE HIS DEATH THREE GREAT ENTERPRISES WERE PLANNED: THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A MART AT THE MOUTH OF THE RIVER KUR FOR THE ORIENTAL TRADE, THE BUILDING UP OF A MARITIME TRADE WITH INDIA, AND AN EXPEDITION TO SEARCH FOR THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN ASIA AND AMERICA. THE FIRST TWO projects did not survive the Czar, but Bering clung to the plan proposed for him, and accomplished his task. PETER THE GREAT GAVE NO HEED TO OBSTACLES, AND NEVER WEIGHED THE POSSIBILITIES FOR THE SUCCESS OF AN ENTERPRISE. CONSEQUENTLY HIS PLANS WERE ON A GRAND SCALE, BUT THE MEANS SET ASIDE FOR CARRYING THEM OUT WERE OFTEN ENTIRELY INADEQUATE, AND SOMETIMES EVEN WHOLLY INAPPLICABLE. HIS INSTRUCTIONS WERE USUALLY IMPERIOUS AND LACONIC. TO HIS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF IN ASTRAKHAN HE ONCE WROTE: "WHEN FIFTEEN BOATS ARRIVE FROM KAZAN, YOU WILL SAIL THEM TO BAKU AND SACK THE TOWN." HIS INSTRUCTIONS TO BERING ARE CHARACTERISTIC OF HIS CONDENSED AND IRREGULAR STYLE. THEY WERE WRITTEN BY HIMSELF, IN DECEMBER, 1724, FIVE WEEKS BEFORE HIS DEATH, AND ARE SUBSTANTIALLY AS FOLLOWS: "I. AT KAMCHATKA OR SOMEWHERE ELSE TWO DECKED BOATS ARE TO BE BUILT. II. WITH THESE YOU ARE TO SAIL NORTHWARD ALONG THE COAST, AND AS THE END OF THE COAST IS NOT KNOWN THIS LAND IS UNDOUBTEDLY AMERICA. III. FOR THIS REASON YOU ARE TO INQUIRE WHERE THE AMERICAN COAST BEGINS, AND GO TO SOME EUROPEAN COLONY; AND WHEN EUROPEAN SHIPS ARE SEEN YOU ARE TO ASK WHAT THE COAST IS CALLED, NOTE IT DOWN, MAKE A LANDING, OBTAIN RELIABLE INFORMATION, AND THEN, AFTER HAVING CHARTED THE COAST, return." AFTER WEST EUROPE FOR TWO CENTURIES HAD WEARIED ITSELF WITH THE QUESTION OF A NORTHEAST PASSAGE AND MADE STRENUOUS EFFORTS TO NAVIGATE THE FAMED STRAIT OF ANIAN, RUSSIA UNDERTOOK THE TASK IN A PRACTICAL MANNER AND WENT IN SEARCH OF THE strait, before it started out on a voyage around the northern part of the old world. WERE ASIA AND AMERICA CONNECTED, OR WAS THERE A STRAIT BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES? WAS THERE A NORTHWEST AND A NORTHEAST PASSAGE? IT WAS THESE GREAT AND INTERESTING QUESTIONS THAT WERE TO BE SETTLED BY BERING'S FIRST EXPEDITION. PETER HIMSELF HAD NO FAITH IN A STRAIT. HE HAD, HOWEVER, NO MEANS OF KNOWING ANYTHING ABOUT IT, FOR AT HIS DEATH THE EAST COAST OF ASIA WAS KNOWN ONLY AS FAR AS THE ISLAND OF YEZO. THE PACIFIC COAST OF AMERICA HAD BEEN EXPLORED AND CHARTED NO FARTHER THAN CAPE BLANCO, 43° NORTH LATITUDE, WHILE ALL OF THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE PACIFIC, ITS EASTERN AND western coast-lines, its northern termination, and its relation to the polar sea, still awaited its discoverer. THE ABOVE-MENTIONED UKASE SHOWS THAT THE CZAR'S INQUISITIVE MIND WAS DWELLING ON THE POSSIBILITY OF BEING ABLE, THROUGH NORTHEASTERN ASIA, TO OPEN A WAY TO THE RICH EUROPEAN COLONIES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. HE KNEW NEITHER THE ENORMOUS EXTENT OF THE FAR EAST NOR THE VASTNESS OF THE OCEAN THAT SEPARATED IT FROM THE SPANISH COLONIES. YET EVEN AT THAT TIME, VARIOUS REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GREAT EMPIRE LIVING IN NORTHEASTERN SIBERIA HAD SOME KNOWLEDGE OF THE RELATIVE SITUATION OF the two continents and could have given Bering's expedition valuable directions. RUMORS OF THE PROXIMITY OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT TO THE NORTHEASTERN CORNER OF ASIA MUST VERY EARLY HAVE BEEN TRANSMITTED THROUGH SIBERIA, FOR THE GEOGRAPHERS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY HAVE THE RELATIVE POSITION OF THE TWO CONTINENTS APPROXIMATELY CORRECT. THUS ON THE BARENTS MAP OF 1598, REPUBLISHED BY J. J. PONTANUS IN 1611, A LARGE CONTINENT towers above northeastern Asia with the superscription, "America Pars," the two countries BEING SEPARATED BY THE STRAIT [1] [2] [3] [4] of Anian[5] (FRETUM ANIAN). ON A MAP BY JODUCUS HONDIUS, WHO DIED IN 1611, EAST SIBERIA IS DRAWN AS A PARALLELOGRAM PROJECTING TOWARD THE NORTHEAST, AND DIRECTLY OPPOSITE AND QUITE NEAR THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THIS FIGURE A COUNTRY IS REPRESENTED WITH THE SAME SUPERSCRIPTION. THIS IS FOUND AGAIN IN THE MAP BY GERHARD MERCATOR WHICH ACCOMPANIES Nicolai Witsen's "Noord en Ost Tartarye," 1705, AND IN SEVERAL OTHER SIXTEENTH CENTURY ATLASES. IT IS QUITE IMPOSSIBLE TO DETERMINE HOW MUCH OF THIS APPARENT KNOWLEDGE IS DUE TO VAGUE REPORTS COMBINED WITH HAPPY GUESSING, AND HOW MUCH TO A PRACTICAL DESIRE FOR SUCH A PASSAGE ON THE PART OF EUROPEAN NAVIGATORS, WHOSE EXPENSIVE POLAR EXPEDITIONS OTHERWISE WOULD BE FOLLY. THIS MUCH IS CERTAIN, HOWEVER: WITSEN AND OTHER LEADING GEOGRAPHERS BASED THEIR VIEWS ON information received from Siberia and Russia.[6] IN THE HISTORY OF DISCOVERIES THE SPIRIT OF HUMAN ENTERPRISE HAS FOUGHT ITS WAY THROUGH AN INCALCULABLE NUMBER OF MIRAGES. THESE HAVE AROUSED THE IMAGINATION, CAUSED AGITATIONS, DEBATES, AND DISCUSSIONS, BUT HAVE USUALLY VEILED AN EARLIER PERIOD'S KNOWLEDGE OF THE QUESTION. THERE ARE MANY RE-DISCOVERED COUNTRIES ON OUR GLOBE. SO IN THIS CASE. THE NORTHWESTERN PART OF AMERICA WHOLLY DISAPPEARED FROM THE CARTOGRAPHY OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, AND THROUGH THE INFLUENCE OF WITSEN'S AND HOMANN'S LATER MAPS IT BECAME CUSTOMARY TO REPRESENT THE EASTERN COAST OF ASIA BY A meridian passing a little east of Yakutsk, without any suggestions whatever in regard to its strongly marked peninsulas or TO AN ADJACENT WESTERN CONTINENT. BUT EVEN THESE REPRESENTATIONS WERE ORIGINALLY RUSSIAN, AND ARE UNDOUBTEDLY DUE TO THE FIRST ORIGINAL RUSSIAN ATLAS, PUBLISHED BY REMESOFF. THEY FINALLY GAVE WAY TO THE GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, WHICH BEGAN SHORTLY AFTER THE ACCESSION OF PETER THE GREAT, HAVING BEEN PROVOKED BY POLITICAL EVENTS and conditions. BY THE TREATY OF NERTCHINSK IN 1689 THE YABLONOI MOUNTAINS WERE ESTABLISHED AS THE BOUNDARY LINE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA. BY THIS MEANS THE WAY TO THE FERTILE LANDS OF AMOOR WAS BARRED TO THAT INDURATE CASTE OF RUSSIAN HUSSARS AND COSSACKS WHO HAD CONQUERED FOR THE WHITE CZAR THE VAST TRACTS OF SIBERIA. A SECOND TIME THEY FELL UPON NORTHEASTERN SIBERIA, PRESSING THEIR WAY, AS BEFORE, ACROSS UNINHABITED TUNDRAS ALONG THE NORTHERN OCEAN, AND THENCE CONQUERED THE INHABITED DISTRICTS TOWARD THE SOUTH. THEY DISCOVERED THE ISLAND OF LIAKHOV, PENETRATED THE COUNTRY OF THE CHUKCHEES, KORIAKS, AND KAMSHADALES, AND AT THE ANADYR RIVER, IN DESHNEFF'S OLD PALISADED FORT, THEY FOUND THAT POINT OF SUPPORT FROM WHICH THEY MAINTAINED RUSSIA'S POWER IN THE EXTREME NORTHEAST. IN THIS WAY THE RUSSIANS LEARNED THE ENORMOUS EXTENT OF THE COUNTRY; BUT AS THEY HAD NO EXACT LOCATIONS, THEY FORMED A VERY INCORRECT OPINION OF ITS OUTLINES, AND estimated its length from west to east too small by forty degrees. FROM THE FORT ON THE ANADYR, KAMCHATKA WAS CONQUERED IN THE FIRST YEARS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, AND FROM HERE CAME THE FIRST INFORMATION CONCERNING AMERICA. IN 1711 THE COSSACK POPOFF VISITED THE CHUKCHEE PENINSULA, AND HERE he heard that from either side of the peninsula, both from the "Kolymaic" Sea and the Gulf of Anadyr, an island could be SEEN IN THE DISTANCE, WHICH THE CHUKCHEES CALLED "THE GREAT LAND." THIS LAND THEY SAID THEY COULD REACH IN baidars (BOATS ROWED BY WOMEN) IN ONE DAY. HERE WERE FOUND LARGE FORESTS OF PINE, CEDAR, AND OTHER TREES, AND ALSO MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF ANIMALS NOT FOUND IN THEIR COUNTRY. THIS RELIABLE INFORMATION CONCERNING AMERICA SEEMS AT THE TIME TO HAVE BEEN KNOWN IN OTHER PARTS OF SIBERIA ONLY IN THE WAY OF VAGUE REPORTS, AND WAS SOON CONFUSED WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF ISLANDS IN the Arctic. CZAR PETER, HOWEVER, SOON LAID HIS ADJUSTING HAND UPON THESE GROPING EFFORTS. BY THE AID OF SWEDISH PRISONERS OF WAR, HE OPENED THE NAVIGATION FROM OKHOTSK TO KAMCHATKA, AND THUS AVOIDED THE CIRCUITOUS ROUTE BY WAY OF THE ANADYR. A COSSACK BY THE NAME OF IVAN KOSYREFSKI (THE SON OF A POLISH OFFICER IN RUSSIAN CAPTIVITY) WAS ORDERED TO EXPLORE THE PENINSULA TO ITS SOUTHERN EXTREMITY, AND ALSO SOME OF THE KURILE ISLANDS. IN 1719 HE OFFICIALLY DESPATCHED THE SURVEYORS YEVRINOFF AND LUSHIN TO ASCERTAIN WHETHER ASIA AND AMERICA WERE CONNECTED, BUT SECRETLY HE INSTRUCTED THEM TO GO TO THE KURILE ISLANDS TO SEARCH FOR PRECIOUS METALS, ESPECIALLY A WHITE MINERAL WHICH THE JAPANESE WERE SAID TO OBTAIN IN LARGE QUANTITIES FROM THE FIFTH OR SIXTH ISLAND. THROUGH THESE VARIOUS EXPEDITIONS THERE WAS COLLECTED VAST, ALTHOUGH UNSCIENTIFIC, MATERIALS FOR THE MORE CORRECT UNDERSTANDING OF THE GEOGRAPHY OF EASTERN ASIA, THE SEA OF OKHOTSK, KAMCHATKA, THE KURILES, AND YEZO. EVEN CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF NIPON (HONDO), SHIPWRECKED JAPANESE HAD GIVEN VALUABLE INFORMATION. SIMULTANEOUSLY, THE NORTHERN COAST ABOUT THE MOUTH OF THE KOLYMA, HAD BEEN EXPLORED BY THE COSSACKS VILIGIN AND AMOSSOFF. THROUGH THEM THE FIRST INFORMATION CONCERNING THE BEAR ISLANDS AND WRANGELL ISLAND FOUND ITS WAY TO YAKUTSK. THE COSSACK CHIEF SHESTAKOFF, WHO HAD TRAVELED INTO THE NORTHEASTERN REGIONS TOWARD THE LAND OF THE CHUKCHEES, ACCEPTED THE ACCOUNTS OF THE FORMER FOR HIS MAP, BUT AS HE COULD NEITHER READ NOR WRITE, MATTERS WERE MOST BEWILDERINGLY CONFUSED. YET HIS REPRESENTATIONS WERE LATER ACCEPTED BY STRAHLENBERG AND JOSEPH DE L'ISLE IN their maps. FOOTNOTES: In Baron A. E. Nordenskjöld's review of the Danish edition of this work on Bering in the Journal of the American Geographical Society, Vol. XVII., p. 290, he says: "In Barents' map of 1598 there is not, as Mr. Lauridsen seems to suppose, anything original as to the delineation of the northern coast of Asia and the relative situation of Asia and America. In this respect Barents' map is only a reproduction of older maps, which, with regard to the delineation of the northern coast of Asia, are based upon pre-Columbian suppositions; and these again rest upon the story told by Pliny the Elder in the 'Historia Naturalis,' L. VII., 13, 17, about the northern limit of the world known to him," etc. The judicious reader can not fail to see that the renowned author here shoots far beyond the mark, for Pliny the Elder can hardly be supposed to have had any knowledge of "America Pars."—Author's Note to American Edition. Note 2. [5] [6] CHAPTER IV. BERING'S KNOWLEDGE OF SIBERIAN GEOGRAPHY.—TERRORS OF TRAVELING IN SIBERIA.—THE EXPEDITION STARTS OUT.—THE JOURNEY FROM ST. PETERSBURG TO THE PACIFIC. AND NOW THE QUESTION IS, WHAT DID BERING KNOW OF THESE EFFORTS WHICH HAD BEEN MADE DURING THE DECADES PRECEDING HIS EXPEDITION, AND WHICH IN SPITE OF THEIR UNSCIENTIFIC CHARACTER, WERE NEVERTHELESS OF SUCH GREAT IMPORTANCE IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO INITIATE ONE'S SELF IN THE GEOGRAPHY OF EASTERN ASIA? IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE SURVEYOR LUSHIN, WAS A MEMBER OF THE BERING EXPEDITION, AND WHEN BERING, IN THE SUMMER OF 1726, WAS SOJOURNING IN YAKUTSK, SHESTAKOFF'S NEPHEW, WHO HAD ACCOMPANIED HIS UNCLE ON HIS EXPEDITION AGAINST THE CHUKCHEES, BECAME AN ATTACHÉ OF BERING'S EXPEDITION, WHILE THE ELDER SHESTAKOFF HAD GONE TO RUSSIA TO COLLECT MEANS FOR THE CONTEMPLATED MILITARY EXPEDITION. FURTHERMORE, IVAN KOSYREFSKI, WHO IN THE MEANTIME HAD BECOME A MONK, WAS ALSO STAYING IN YAKUTSK, AND HIS VALUABLE REPORT PRESERVED IN THE VOIVODE'S (GOVERNOR'S) OFFICE WAS NOW SURRENDERED TO BERING. THUS WE SEE THAT BERING WAS IN PERSONAL CONTACT WITH THE MEN, WHO, IN THE DECADE PRECEDING, WERE THE CHIEF POSSESSORS OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE CONCERNING THOSE northeastern regions. IN THE SECOND PLACE, HE RECEIVED IN YAKUTSK INFORMATION CONCERNING DESHNEFF'S JOURNEY IN 1648 FROM THE KOLYMA TO THE ANADYR RIVER. ALTHOUGH THIS JOURNEY WAS FIRST CRITICALLY DISCUSSED BY G. F. MÜLLER, [7] ITS MAIN FEATURES WERE NEVERTHELESS WELL KNOWN IN SIBERIA, AND ARE REFERRED TO, AMONG OTHER PLACES, IN STRAHLENBERG'S BOOK, WHENCE THE RESULTS APPEAR IN BELLINI'S MAP IN PETER CHARLESVOIX'S " Histoire du Japan," PUBLISHED IN 1735. UNFORTUNATELY, HOWEVER, BERING SEEMS TO HAVE HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF POPOFF'S EXPEDITION TO THE CHUKCHEES PENINSULA AND HIS INFORMATION CONCERNING THE ADJACENT AMERICAN CONTINENT, OR OF STRAHLENBERG'S OUTLINE MAPS, WHICH WERE NOT PUBLISHED UNTIL AFTER HIS DEPARTURE FROM ST. Petersburg. BERING'S TWO EXPEDITIONS ARE UNIQUE IN THE HISTORY OF ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS. HIS REAL STARTING POINT WAS ON THE EXTREMEST OUTSKIRTS OF THE EARTH, WHERE ONLY THE HUNTER AND YASSAK-COLLECTOR HAD PRECEDED HIM. KAMCHATKA WAS AT THAT TIME JUST AS WILD A REGION AS BOOTHIA OR THE COASTS OF SMITH'S SOUND ARE IN OUR DAY, AND, PRACTICALLY VIEWED, IT WAS FAR MORE DISTANT FROM ST. PETERSBURG THAN ANY KNOWN POINT NOW IS FROM US. ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY DEGREES—SEVERAL THOUSAND MILES—THE EARTH'S MOST INHOSPITABLE TRACTS, THE COLDEST REGIONS ON THE GLOBE, MOUNTAINS, ENDLESS STEPPES, IMPENETRABLE FORESTS, MORASSES, AND FIELDS OF TRACKLESS SNOW WERE STILL BETWEEN HIM AND THE MOUTH OF THE KAMCHATKA RIVER, AND THITHER HE WAS TO LEAD, NOT A SMALL EXPEDITION, BUT AN ENORMOUS PROVISION TRAIN AND LARGE QUANTITIES OF MATERIAL FOR SHIP- BUILDING. ON THE JOURNEY, RIVER-BOATS HAD TO BE BUILT BY THE SCORE, AND ALSO TWO SHIPS. NOW HIS COURSE WAS UP THE SWIFT STREAMS OF SIBERIA, AND NOW ON HORSEBACK OR IN SLEDGES DRAWN BY DOGS THROUGH THE DREARY AND DESOLATE FORESTS OF THE YAKUTS AND TUNGUSES. HE EMPLOYED SEVERAL HUNDRED LABORERS AND TWICE AS MANY HORSES TO DO WORK WHICH MODERN SHIPS CAN ACCOMPLISH IN A FEW WEEKS. FRANKLIN, MACKENZIE, SCHWATKA, AND MANY OTHERS HAVE TRAVERSED VAST TRACTS OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS, BUT THEIR EXPEDITIONS IN LIGHT SLEDGES CAN NOT BE COMPARED WITH THOSE BURDENSOME TRANSPORTS WHICH Bering and his men dragged from the Gulf of Finland to the shores of the Pacific. IN THE EARLY PART OF THE YEAR 1725 THE EXPEDITION WAS READY TO START OUT FROM ST. PETERSBURG. THE OFFICERS WERE THE TWO DANES, VITUS BERING, CAPTAIN AND CHIEF, AND MARTIN SPANGBERG, LIEUTENANT AND SECOND IN COMMAND, AND ALSO THE FOLLOWING: LIEUT. ALEXEI CHIRIKOFF, SECOND LIEUT. PETER CHAPLIN, THE CARTOGRAPHERS LUSKIN AND PATILOFF, THE MATES, RICHARD ENGEL AND GEORGE MORISON, DR. NIEMANN, AND REV. ILARION. [8] THE SUBORDINATES WERE PRINCIPALLY SAILORS, carpenters, sailmakers, blacksmiths, and other mechanics. PETER THE GREAT DIED JAN. 28, 1725; [9] BUT A PART OF THE EXPEDITION UNDER THE COMMAND OF LIEUT. CHIRIKOFF HAD ALREADY STARTED ON THE 24TH; BERING FOLLOWED FEB. 5. THEY PASSED THE WHOLE OF THE FIRST SUMMER IN TOILSOME EXPEDITIONS OVERLAND AND ON RIVERS IN WESTERN SIBERIA. MARCH 16, THEY ARRIVED AT TOBOLSK, WHENCE, IN MAY, THE JOURNEY WAS CONTINUED WITH FOUR RAFTS AND SEVEN BOATS BY WAY OF THE RIVERS IRTISH, OBI, KET, YENISEI, TUNGUSKA, AND ILIM, THROUGH REGIONS WHERE there was scarcely a Russian isba, ON RIVERS WHICH WERE DANGEROUS ON ACCOUNT OF HIDDEN ROCKS AND SKERRIES, AND WHERE PROGRESS WAS CONSTANTLY INTERRUPTED BY THE TRANSPORTING THAT HAD TO BE DONE BETWEEN THE STREAMS. SEPTEMBER 29, THE EXPEDITION ARRIVED AT THE TOWN OF ILIMS...