xiii.J VOYAGES FROM BEHRIXG'S STRAITS WESTWARD. 559 



any of his predecessors ; Dall, who, at the same time that we 

 are indebted to him for many important contributions to the 

 knowledge of the natural conditions of the Behring Sea, also 

 anew examined the ice-strata at -Eschscholz Bay, and many 

 others — but as the historical part of the sketch of the voyage of 

 the Vega has already occupied more sjxice than was calculated 

 upon, I consider myself compelled with respect to the voyages 

 of these explorers to refer to the numerous and for the most 

 part accessible writings which have already been published 

 regarding them.^ 



Was the Vef/a actually the first, and is she at the moment 

 Avhen this is being written, the only vessel that has sailed from 

 the Atlantic by the north to the Pacific ? As follows from the 

 above narrative, this question may perha23s be answered with 

 considerable certainty in the affirmative, as it may also with 

 truth be maintained that no vessel has gone the opposite way 

 from the Pacific to the Atlantic,^ But the fictitious literature 

 of geography at all events comprehends accounts of various 

 voyages between those seas by the north passage, and I consider 

 myself obliged briefly to enumerate them. 



The first is said to have been made as early as 1555 by a 

 Portuguese, Martin Chacke, who affirmed that he had been 

 parted from his companions by a west wind, and had been driven 



^ Otto von Kotzebiie, Entdeclmngs-Re'tse in die Siid-See und nach der 

 Behrings Strasse, Weimar, 1821 (Part III., Contributions in Natural 

 Histor}', by Adelbert von Chamisso). — Louis Clioris, Voyage inttoresque 

 autour du monde, Paris, 1822. 



Frederik Liitke, Voyage autour du monde, Paris, 1835-3fi. — F. H. yon 

 Kittlitz, Denktmrdifjketten einei' Reise nach dem russischen Amerika, nach 

 Mih'ones'ien und durch Kamtschatlca, Gotha, 1858. 



Kellet, Voyage of H.M.S. "Herald," 1845-51, London, 1853 (Discovery 

 of Herald Island and the east coast of Wrangel Land). 



W. H. Hooper, Tea Months among the Tents of the Tush', London, 1853 

 (Moore's wintering at Chukotskoj-nos). 



John Rodgers, Bebring's Sea and Arctic Ocean, from Surveys of tbe 

 North Piicific Surveying Expedition, 1855 (only cbarts). — W. Heine, Die 

 Expedition in die Seen von China, Japan und Ochofsk, iinter Commando von 

 Commodore Colin Ringgold und Commodore John Rodgers, Leipzig, 1858 

 (the expedition arrived at the result that Wrangel Land did not exist). 



(Lindemann) Wrangels Land im Jahre 181)6, durch Kapiten Dallmann 

 hesucJit {Deutsche Geogra ph. Blatter, B. iv. p. 54, 1881). 



Peterniann, Entdecl:ung eines neuen Polar-Landes durch den amerilcan, 

 Capt. Long, 1867 (Mittheil. 1868, p. 1). — Das neu-entdeckte Polar-Land, 

 &c. (Mittheil. 1869, p. 26). 



2 It ought to be remembered that the voyage of the distinguished Arctic 

 explorer, McClure, carried out with so much gallantry and admirable per- 

 severance, from the Pacjlic to the Atlantic along the north coast of 

 America, took place to no inconsiderable extent hy sledge journeys over the 

 ice, and that no Englisli vessel has ever sailed by tliis ro;ite from the one 

 sea to the other. The North-west Passage has thus never been accomplished 

 by a vessel. 



