NORTH-EAST PASSAGE. 15 



on the great promontory : the two remaining vessels 

 were soon afterwards separated, and one of them, 

 commanded by Simon DeshnefF, a chief of the Cos- 

 sacks, after being driven about by tempestuous 

 winds until the month of October, was wrecked 

 near the Olutora, lying on the east side of Kamt- 

 chatka, in the 60th degree of latitude, and the 

 crew consisting of 25 persons, afterwards reached 

 the Anadir * 



This brief account clearly proves, that if a sea 

 communication between the Atlantic and Pacific 

 by the north-east, really exists, it could never be 

 practicable in one year. As, indeed, the Russians 

 were five or six years in perfonning so much of the 

 navigation as has been described, though they em- 

 ployed a number of different vessels in the under- 

 taking, it is probable that the voyage could never 

 be performed in one vessel, unless by mere accident, 

 in less than eight or ten years. It is therefore 

 clear, that the discovery of a " North-East Pas- 

 sage," could never be of any advantage to our com- 

 merce with China or India. 



Though, however, the voyages undertaken in 

 search of a north-east passage by the different na- 

 tions of Europe, have amounted to about twelve, 

 besides numerous partial attempts by the Russians, 

 and though all of them have failed in their princi- 

 pal intention, yet they have not been wholly lost 



* Coxe's Russian Discoveries, p. 313,-320. 



