It is no way necessary to be equally particular in the description of the bay itself, as of its approaches and environs; since no words can give the mariner a perfect idea of it.  The entrance is at first near three miles wide, and in the narrowest part one mile and a half, and four miles long, in a N.N.W. direction.  Within the mouth is a noble bason of twenty-five miles circuit, with the capacious harbours of Tareinska to the W., of Rakoweena to the E., and the small one of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, where we lay, to the N.

Tareinska harbour is about three miles in breadth, and twelve in length; it stretches to the E.S.E., and is separated from the sea, at the bottom, by a narrow neck of land.  The road into this harbour is perfectly free from rocks or shoals.  We had never less than seven fathoms water, as far as our survey extended; for we were not able to get to the bottom of the harbour on account of the ice.

The harbour of Rakoweena would deserve the preference over the other two, if its entrance were not impeded by a shoal lying in the middle of the channel; which, in general, will make it necessary to warp in, unless there be a leading wind.  It is from one mile to half a mile in width, and three miles long, running at first in a S.E., and afterward in an easterly direction.  Its depth is from thirteen to three fathoms.

Saint Peter and Saint Paul’s is one of the most convenient little harbours I ever saw.  It will hold conveniently half a dozen ships, moored head and stern; and is fit for giving them any kind of repairs.  The south side is formed by a low sandy neck, exceedingly narrow, on which the ostrog is built; and whose point may almost be touched by ships going in, having three fathoms water close in with it.  In the mid channel, which is no more than two hundred and seventy-eight feet across, there are six fathoms and a half; the deepest water within is seven fathoms; and in every part over a muddy bottom.  We found some inconvenience from the toughness of the ground, which constantly broke the messenger, and gave us a great deal of trouble in getting up the anchors.  There is a watering-place at the head of the harbour.

The plan we drew points out the shoal to be avoided, lying off the eastern harbour, as well as the spit within the entrance, stretching from the S.W. shore, and over which there are only three fathoms water.  In order to steer clear of the latter, a small island, or perhaps it may rather be called a large detached rock, lying on the west shore of the entrance, is to be shut in with the land to the south of it; and to steer clear of the former, the Three Needle Rocks, which lie on the east shore of the entrance near the light-house head, are to be kept open with the head-lands (or bluff-heads) that rise to the northward of the first small bay, or bending, observable on the east side of the entrance.  When arrived to the north of the north head-land of the eastern harbour, the shoal is past.