38 LOG BOOK OF THE "ST. PETER" 



May i, 1741 

 Put casks of water in the hold, broke the ice around the small bower 

 anchor, and let go into the water. Took on wood. 



May 2, 1741 

 Eleven men worked today. In the hold wood was stowed between the 

 casks. To the mainsail and fore-topsail yards were secured ties and 

 blocks. We hoisted on board the spritsail yards from the ice, put the 

 jib boom in the hoop, hauled aboard the small anchor from the ice, 

 secured the hawser on the port side, did carpenter work in the cabin. 

 Four inches of water in the hold. 



May 3, 1741 

 Sunday and no work. 



May 4, 1741 



A light wind from SW. In the morning there was frost and snow. Six- 

 teen men were at work in the boatswain's storeroom, on the port side of 

 the caboose; doors were made; and on the starboard side beds for the 

 lower officers were furnished. Other work was done also. 



This day Captain Commander Bering with Captain Chirikov and all 

 the higher officers and navigators held a council, to which was invited the 

 astronomer, Professor de la Croyere, to decide what course to sail first 

 after leaving Avacha Bay in order to locate the Terra de Gama, which 

 is indicated on the chart of the above-named professor and which extends 

 northward to latitude 47 . [The following decision was made.] 



Decision on First Course to Sail 



On May 4, 1741, there was a council made up of Captain Commander Bering, 

 officers, the professor of astronomy, and navigators. After listening to the instruc- 

 tions given to Captain Commander Bering by the Imperial Admiralty College, 

 especially the nineth and seventeenth articles and the sixth article of the general 

 instructions of the Senate, it was determined in order to carry out the instructions 

 to find the American coast, to sail first after leaving Avacha SE by E, true, and to 

 continue on that rhumb. If no land is found by the time latitude 46 is reached to 

 change the course to E by N steadily until land is discovered. If land is found 

 either on the SE by E course or on the E by N course to coast alongside of it, 

 depending on its extension from east to north or from north to west; if it should 

 stretch between south and east, to leave the land and go east until we discovered 

 more land and likewise to follow that land in a northerly direction, to lati- 

 tude 65 , or as far as, with God's help, time may permit. If we should reach 

 latitude 6s° in good time, then we should go west to the Chukchi Cape so that the 

 distance between the American and Chukchi shores may be known, and from there 

 we should return to this harbor. If on the above-mentioned rhumb the winds should 

 be contrary we should keep as close to it as may be possible, and if with God's 



