CHAPTER III 



GVOZDEV'S VOYAGE TO AMERICA IN 1732 

 Shestakov's Earlier Expedition 



After the Russians had conquered Kamchatka they pushed 

 northward and established trading relations with the natives of 

 East Cape. While they were in that neighborhood the traders 

 heard that across from the cape there was a large country (bol- 

 shaya zemlya), and occasionally they saw the inhabitants of 

 that country who were held captive by the Chukchi. The 

 adventurous Cossacks decided to subdue these people, as well 

 as the Chukchi, and force them to pay tribute. One of their 

 leaders, Afanasi Shestakov,went to St. Petersburg to persuade the 

 government to let him undertake this task. On March 23, 1727, 

 the Senate gave him the necessary authority 1 and force for the 

 work in hand. It was Shestakov's plan to attack by land and sea 

 the Chukchi and other hostile natives on the mainland and when 

 they were conquered to send a force to the land beyond EastCape. 

 With that in view the Cossack leader took possession in 1729 of 

 all the seagoing vessels Bering had left behind him at Okhotsk. 



The campaign of 1730 ended disastrously for the Russians. 

 Some of the boats were wrecked, the land forces were either way- 

 laid or defeated in open fight, and in one of these Shestakov lost his 

 life. Out of all this great undertaking only one important thing 

 was accomplished — the sighting of new land opposite East Cape. 



Gvozdev's Expedition 



Shestakov was succeeded in command by Dmitri Pavlutski, 

 captain of dragoons and a well-known Chukchi fighter. In 

 addition to the other information about the "large country," 

 Pavlutski had received in 1730 the report of one Melnikov on 



1 Polnoe Sobranie Zakonov Rossiiskoi Imperii, Vol. 7. Doc. 5049. 



