236 



LOG BOOK OF THE "ST. PETER" 



August I, 1742 



Decision on Disposition of Supplies 



Lieutenant Waxel, Fleet Master Khitrov, all lower officers and members of the 



crew of the St. Peter met. Our ship with God's help will soon be finished. The 



question came up what to do with all the supplies and materials on hand which we 



cannot take along for the following reasons. 



1. To take all that material along would oblige us to leave behind half or more 

 of the crew, and to leave these men on an unknown and uninhabited island is dan- 

 gerous. There is little food to be had here aside from what may be obtained by 

 hunting sea animals, and even this source cannot be depended upon. Since our 

 coming the game has been frightened away and driven off, and one may not in the 

 future rely on hunting. 



2. Of the materials and other supplies on hand only a small part could be taken 

 along, but owing to the autumn storms of this region it would not be safe to over- 

 load our vessel. A large part of the supplies and materials is worthless and rotten, 

 as may be seen from the inventory 12 ' made out by Fleet Master Khitrov. 



3. Although a small part of the above-mentioned material is good, yet it is not 

 worth while to leave some one to watch it, because the island is uninhabited. 



4. If we should leave a guard, we should have to come after him next year. 

 There is no harbor here, nothing but rocks and reefs and the open sea, and there 

 is great danger of wrecking the vessel. 



5. Taking all these arguments into consideration, the undersigned have unani- 

 mously agreed to leave no one behind. Of the materials we should take iron enough 

 to serve as ballast; of supplies, water, several casks of sea cow meat, and such 

 other things as we need for the voyage. 



All else should be left in the warehouses to be constructed. 



Lieutenant Sven Waxel, Fleet Master Sofron Khitrov, 

 all the lower officers and crew 



Description of Bering Island 13 ° 



(A Description of the Island On Which We Lived From November, 1741, To 

 August 13, 1742, [to which are added] Certain Observations Which I Made.) 



By agreement with Lieutenant Waxel I called the island "Bering Island" after 

 the late Captain Commander Vitus Bering, who died and was buried there. 



This island extended from latitude 54° to 56° N, that is from the southern cape, 

 which we called Manati, that is to say Sea Cow. The island lies between NNW 

 [and SSE?] and is about 130 versts long and from 7 to 10 versts wide. There are 



129 The inventory exists but has not been included in the present work, 

 iso Yushin's journal: 



Various Happenings in 1742 



On different days and months we secured information which led us to believe that we 

 were on an island. This island is about eighteen German miles long and its axis lies 

 NW and SE. It is wider in the north than in the south, averaging, from N to S, 15, 

 10, 8, and 6 versts. It is impossible to go around some parts of the island on account 

 of the cliffs and rocky beaches, which I myself saw in many places. There are some bays 

 around the island. It is not safe to approach the island nearer than about 5 versts. 

 Across from our camp, or on the south side, there is a lake about 1 verst in circumference, 

 and out of the lake a river flows into the sea. This river is about 100 fathoms in length 

 and is in width. I think that a small vessel, drawing not more than 5 feet of water, 

 could enter this stream at high tide during the months of May and June. In the autumn 



