272 REPORT ON VOYAGE OF THE "ST. PETER" 



us the people ran into the woods to hide or that their homes are on the 

 mainland and they visit this island to catch fish and hunt sea animals. In 

 order to show his good will to the native people the Captain Commander 

 sent to the hut a number of presents — 16M arshins of green-colored goods, 

 2 iron knives, 20 Chinese strings of beads, 2 iron [smoking] pipes, all of 

 which were left there. We could not tell whether on the mainland there 

 was any good timber or not, but we did see the huge mountains and 

 volcanoes covered with snow. On the island there is plenty of small 

 timber, namely fir, larch, and other trees, which are not fit for building 

 and not even for repairing a ship, for we looked for material for topyards 

 but did not find it. 



When we had provided ourselves with water from the island of St. 

 Elias, the Captain Commander, mainly because it was dangerous to lie 

 out in the open sea, departed July 21, and we steered between S and W, 

 following the lay of the land, for the purpose of observation. In this 

 way we sailed on various courses and came to latitude 56 54' by July 26. 

 Here we sighted that same coast [Sitkalidak Island] in the direction NE 

 by N from us, about seven miles distant. On taking soundings we had 

 35 to 40 fathoms of water. It was quite unsafe to keep near the land be- 

 cause of the sand banks, continuous heavy fogs, and violent winds; on 

 that account, as well as our ignorance of the nature of the coast, which 

 had dangers for us, we steered different courses in order to draw away 

 from it more and more — all of which is clearly noted down in our log 

 book. This maneuvering we kept up until August 2. During that night 

 as the fog lifted, we saw quite close to us an island [Chirikov Island], 

 the water being 18, 17, and 16 fathoms deep. On that account, as well 

 as the darkness and the fog, we let go the anchor in 18 fathoms. We 

 named this island Tumannoi [foggy]. In the morning we sailed away. 

 The mainland was from us in a NNW direction and not a great distance 

 away. August 4 we sighted five islands [Semidi], and from this time 

 on we kept farther and farther out to sea. For the course we were follow- 

 ing the winds were quite contrary. By August 10 we were in latitude 53 

 18' N and from Vaua a little less than 400 German miles; and taking all 

 this into consideration, also the report submitted by the assistant surgeon, 

 to the effect that 21 of our company were down with scurvy and that, 

 if obliged to remain out at sea during the autumn weather, they would be 

 altogether unfit for service, the Captain Commander with his higher and 

 lower officers decided that if the winds permitted it we should from this 

 day on keep on the 53rd parallel in order to see whether or not American 

 land is to be found on that parallel, although the last we saw of it was 

 on the 55th. We attempted to put our decision into execution but, until 

 August 27, were hindered by the severe headwinds from the west, being 

 then still more than 300 German miles from Vaua and on the 53rd 

 parallel of latitude. It was quite clear to the Captain Commander that 



