546 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 



Among other things he observed that the sea here was very 

 shallow near the shore, and that driftwood was wanting at the 

 mouth of the Indigirka, but was found in large masses in the 

 interior, 30 versts from the coast. 



The following year, 1740, Laptev repaired as well as he could 

 his vessel, which had been injured during the voyage of the 

 preceding year, and then went again to sea on the "j^^-j'^'J^- On 

 the '^ August he passed one of the Bear Islands, fixing its 

 latitude at 71° 0'. On the yfth August, when Great Cape 

 Baranov was reached, the progress of the vessel was arrested by 

 masses of ice that extended as far as the eye could reach. 

 Laptev now turned and sought for winter quarters on the 

 Kolyma. On the yth July, 1741, this river became open, and 

 Laptev went to sea to continue his voyage eastwards, but did 

 not now succeed in rounding Great Cape Baranov. He was now 

 fully convinced of the impossibility of reaching the Anadyr by 

 sea, on which account he determined to penetrate to that river 

 by land in order to survey it. This he did in the years 1741 

 and 1742. Thus ended the voyages of Dmitri Laptev, giving evi- 

 dence if not of distinguished seamanship, of great perseverance, 

 undaunted resolution, and fidelity to the trust committed to 

 him.^ 



6. Voyage for the purpose of exploring and surveying the coast 

 of America. — For this purpose Behring fitted out at Okotsk two 

 vessels, of which he himself took the command of one, St. Paul, 

 while the other, St. Peter, was placed under Chirikov. They 

 left Okotsk in 1740, and being prevented by shoal water from 

 entering Bolschaja Keka, they both wintered in Avatscha Bay, 

 whose excellent haven was called, from the names of the ships. 

 Port Peter-Paul. On the ^th June they left this haven, the 

 naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller having first gone on board 

 Behring's and the astronomer Louis de L'Isle de la Croyere 

 Chirikov's vessel. The course was shaped at first for the S.S.E., 

 but afterwards, when no land could be discovered in this 

 direction, for the N.E. and E. During a storm on the -'„fc^ the 



' *--' i;Otn June 



vessels were separated. On the f |th July Behring reached the 

 coast of America in 58° to 59° N.L. A short distance from the 

 shore Steller discovered here a splendid volcano, which was 

 named St. Elias. The coast was inhabited, but the inhabitants 



1 Wrang-el, i. p. 62. I have sketched the voyages between the White Sea 

 and the Kolyma, princiiially after Engelhardt's German translation of Wran- 

 gel's Travels. It is, unfortunately, in many respects defective and coaf used, 

 especially with respect to the sketch of Chariton Laptev and his foliowers, 

 sledge journeys, undertaken in order to survey the coast between the 

 Cha-^anga and the Pja-sina. Miiller mentions these journeys only in passing. 

 Wrangel gives as sources for his sketch (i. note at p. 38) Memohs of the 

 Russian Admiraltij, also the original journals of the journeys. Chelyuskin 

 he cailrf Chemokbsin. 



