20 ACCOUNT OFTHE 



Commence- fhc firft projcft * for making; difcoveries in that tem- 



ment i«t tSie x -» u 



Kew Difco- pefliyous fea, which lies between Kamtchatka and Ame- 



vcrieb 



rica, was conceived and planned by Peter I. the greateft 

 fovereign who ever fat upon the Ruffian throne, until 

 it was adorned by the prefent emprefs. The nature and 

 completion of this projcft under his immediate fuccef-' 

 fors are well known to the public from the relation of 

 the celebrated Muller. No fooner had t Beering and 



* There feems a want of connection in this place, which will be cleared 

 up by confidering, that, b}' the conqueft ot Siberia, the Ruffians advanced 

 to tTie Jfhores of the Eaftern Ocean, the fcene of the difcoveries here al- 

 luded to. 



-j~ Beering had already made feveral expeditions in the fea of Kamt- 

 chatka, by orders of the crown, before he undertook the voyage men- 

 tioned in the text. 



In 1728, he departed from the mouth of the Kamtchatka river, in 

 company with Tfchlrikoff. The purport of this voyage was to afcer- 

 tain, whether the two Continents of Afia and America were feparated ; 

 and Peter I. a fhort time before his death, had drawn up inftrudions 

 tvith his own hand for that purpofe. Beering coafted the Eaftern Ihore 

 of Siberia as high as latitude 67° 18'; but made no difcovery of the 

 oppofite Continent. ^ 



In 1729, he fet fail again for the profecution of the fame defign ; but 

 this fecond attempt equally failed of fuccefs. 



In 1 74 1, Beering and Tfchirikoffwent out upon the celebrated expe- 

 dition (alluded to in the text, and which is fo often mentioned in the 

 courfe of this work) towards the coafts of America. This expedition led 

 the way to all the important difcoveries fince made by the Ruffians. 



Beering's veflel was wrecked in December of the fame year ; and 

 Tfchlrikoff landed at Kamtchatka on the 9th of Odober, 1742. 



S. R. G. III. Nachrichtcn von See Reifen, &c. and Robertlbn's Hif- 

 tory of America, Vol. I. p. 273, 8c feq. 



I Tfchirikoff, 



