250 VOYAGE TO THE 



to make several unsuccessful attempts to get out, and 

 did not accomplish our object until the 20th, when we 

 shapi?d our course towards Chepoonski Noss. A long 

 swell rolled in upon the shore as we crossed this spa- 

 cious bay, in the depth of which the port of Awatska 

 is situated, and convinced us of the difficulty that 

 would be experienced in getting clear of the land with 

 a strong wind upon the coast, and of the danger a ship 

 would incur were she, in addition to this, to be caught 

 in a fog, which would prevent her finding the port. 

 Our winds were light from seaward, and we made slow 

 progress, striking soundings occasionally from sixty to 

 seventy fathoms, until the following morning, when 

 we took our departure from the Noss, and entered a 

 thick fog, which enveloped us until we made Beering's 

 Island on the 22d ; when it cleared away for the mo- 

 ment, and we distinguished Seal Rock. We had no 

 observation at noon, but by comparing the reckoning 

 with the observations of the preceding and following 

 days, it gave the position of the island the same as 

 before. 



We quitted the island with the prospect of a quick 

 passage to the Straits, and, attended by a thick fog, 

 advanced to the northward until the 26th, at which 

 time contrary winds brought us in with the Asiatic 

 coast in the parallel of 61 ^ 58' N. When we were 

 within a few leagues of the coast the fog cleared away, 

 as it generally does near the land, and discovered to 

 us a hilly country, and a coast apparently broken into 

 deep bays and inlets ; but as we did not approach very 

 closely, these might have been only valleys. In this 

 parallel the nearest point of land bearing N. 74^ W. 

 true, thirteen miles, the depth of water was 26 fathoms; 

 and it increased gradually as we receded from the 



