BERING'S JOURNEY TO OCHOTSK 131 



Bering's lieutenants were Martin Spangberg and 

 Alexei Tschirikof. With them and the rest of the 

 expedition he left St. Petersburg on the 5th of Feb- 

 ruary, 1725. During that year they got as far as the 

 Him, where they wintered. In the spring of 1726 

 they sailed down the Lena to Yakutsk, where they 

 parted company for a time owing to the difficulties of 

 the route to Ochotsk, the way not being passable in 

 summer with wagons, or in winter with sledges, on 

 account of the marshes and rocky ground. So Spang- 

 berg set out, working along the rivers Aldan, Maia, 

 and Judoma, with part of the provisions and heavy 

 naval stores, while Bering followed overland through 

 uninhabited country with more stores on horses, and 

 Tschirikof remained to collect still more and follow in 

 the track of his commander. 



Bering reached Ochotsk first. Spangberg was frozen 

 up in the Judoma, and thence he walked to Ochotsk 

 with the most necessary materials ; but he suffered so 

 much from hunger on the way that he had to support 

 life by eating leather bags, straps, and shoes, and did 

 not reach Bering till the 1st of January, 1727, nearly 

 two years after leaving St. Petersburg. In the begin- 

 ning of February he returned to the Judoma and 

 brought away about half of his lading, the other half 

 being left for a third journey, which he made from 

 and to Ochotsk on horses. Meanwhile Tschirikof was 

 toiling along from Yakutsk, and did not arrive to 

 complete the party until the 30th of July. 



On arrival Bering had to build a vessel to take his 

 most necessary naval stores and his shipbuilders across 

 the sea of Ochotsk to Bolscheretzkoi, which, in her, he 



