VAIN ATTEMPTS TO SAVE THE SHIP 277 



the sick ashore and to put up for them tents made out of sails. When 

 these were up we took the sick Captain Commander ashore on Novem- 

 ber 8; Fleet Master Khitrov, who was also ill, on the 15th; and many of 

 the crew, not a few of whom died as they were being transported. On 

 the 2 1st I, too, was so ill that I had to be taken off the ship because I was 

 almost helpless, and there was no one to bring water on board, and no 

 one to look after the ship. 



At this time the Captain Commander sent Constable Roselius with 

 two other men with instructions to follow the shore in a northerly direc- 

 tion to determine whether the land on which we were was part of Kam- 

 chatka or some island; and, if Kamchatka, Roselius was to continue 

 on his way until he came to an inhabited place and there carry out such 

 orders as the Captain Commander gave him. Roselius was so weak 

 that he did not go farther than 30 miles from our camp and returned 

 without news. On November 21, the Captain Commander ordered me, 

 with the higher and lower officers and members of the crew, to submit 

 a report on the best way to save the ship. This was done, and the report 

 was submitted on the 23rd, in which we recommended that the ship 

 should be hauled up on the sandy beach near our camp and that the cargo 

 should not be unloaded so that in case of a strong offshore wind and the 

 breaking of the cables the ship would not be carried out to sea. The Cap- 

 tain Commander accepted the report and that same day, the 23rd, ordered 

 Master Khitrov to put it into execution at the very first opportunity. 

 On the 25th Khitrov started to go on board and, when he came to where 

 the longboat was hauled up, was told by the boatswain, Alexei Ivanov, 

 who was on watch, that there were only five able-bodied men. In drag- 

 ging the longboat into the water one of the men got drenched to the skin 

 and had to give up, which left four men who were completely exhausted. 

 When Master Khitrov realized that with this handful of men he could 

 not weigh the best bower anchor, that the wind at the time was blowing 

 NNW straight on the rocky reef, which was about 150 fathoms in SSE 

 direction from where the ship was at that time, and that the topmasts 

 and yards were down, and even if there had been enough men it would 

 be dangerous to move the ship in such weather, owing to the above-men- 

 tioned reef, he became convinced that he could not carry out the task 

 assigned to him. He then came to me and explained the situation, and 

 I advised him to make his report to the Captain Commander, which he 

 did. From the 25th to the 28th it blew hard so that it was not possible 

 to go on board to carry out the above-mentioned order. In addition to 

 the other troubles Fleet Master Khitrov was quite ill with scurvy and 

 unable to be about and was put in the same tent with the rest of us. 

 On the night of November 28 a violent storm from NE broke the cable 

 and drove the ship on the sandy beach on which we had planned to 

 lay her up. On December 1 the Captain Commander sent the sailor 



