CHAPTER V.

The first project for making discoveries in the ocean east of Kamchatka was formed by Peter the Great.  Danish, German, and English navigators and savans were sent to the eastern coast of Asia to conduct explorations in the desired quarter, but very little was accomplished in the lifetime of the great czar.  His successors carried out his plans.

In June, 1741, Vitus Bering, the first navigator of the straits which bear his name, sailed from Avatcha Bay.  Passing south of the islands of the Aleutian chain, Bering steered to the eastward, and at length discovered the American continent.  “On the 16th of July,” says Steller, the naturalist and historian of the expedition, “we saw a mountain whose height was so great as to be visible at the distance of sixteen Dutch miles.  The coast of the continent was much broken and indented with bays and harbors.”

The nearest point of land was named Cape St. Elias, as it was discovered on St. Ellas’ day.  The high mountain received the name of the saint, and has clung to it ever since.

When Bering discovered Russian America he had no thought it would one day be sold to the United States, and there is nothing to show that he ever corresponded with Mr. Seward about it.  He sailed a short distance along its coast, visited various islands, and then steered for Kamchatka.

The commander was confined to his cabin by illness, and the crew suffered severely from scurvy.  “At one period,” says Steller, “only ten persons were capable of duty, and they were too weak to furl the sails, so that the ship was left to the mercy of the elements.  Not only the sick died, but those who pretended to be healthy fainted and fell down dead when relieved from their posts.”

In this condition the navigators were drifted upon a rocky island, where their ship went to pieces, but not until all had landed.  Many of the crew died soon after going on shore, but the transfer from the ship appeared to diminish the ravages of the scurvy.  Commander Bering died on the 8th of December, and was buried in the trench where he lay.  The island where he perished bears his name, but his grave is unmarked.  An iron monument to his memory was recently erected at Petropavlovsk.

No human dwellers were found on the island.  Foxes were numerous and had no fear of the shipwrecked mariners.  “We killed many of them,” Steller adds, “with our hatchets and knives.  They annoyed us greatly, and we were unable to keep them from entering our shelters and stealing our clothing and food.”  The survivors built a small vessel from the wreck, and succeeded in reaching Avatcha in the following summer.  “We were given up for dead,” says the historian, “and the property we left in Kamchatka had been appropriated by strangers.”

The reports concerning the abundance of fur-bearing animals on Bering’s Island and elsewhere, induced private parties to go in search of profit.  Various expeditions were fitted out in ships of clumsy construction and bad sailing qualities.  The timbers were fastened with wooden pins and leathern thongs, and the crevices were caulked with moss.  Occasionally the cordage was made from reindeer skins, and the sails from the same material.  Many ships were wrecked, but this did not frighten adventurous merchants.