CHAPTER VIII 



CHIRIKOVS REPORT ON THE VOYAGE 

 OF THE "ST. PAUL" 



Captain Chirikov's report on the voyage of the St. Paul, 

 together with a supplementary report in which he expresses his 

 readiness to continue the explorations, with their respective 

 enclosures, translated from the originals 1 in the Russian archives, 

 reads as follows. 



To the Imperial Admiralty College, A Report 

 On May 4, 1741, Captain Commander Bering, I, Captain Chirikov, 

 Lieutenant Chikhachev, Navigator Vrange, Fleet Lieutenants Sven 

 Waxel and Plautin, Professor of Astronomy Louis Delisle de la Croyere, 

 Fleet Master Sofron Khitrov, Acting Fleet Master Avraam Dementiev, 

 and Navigators Andreyan Eselberg and Ivan Elagin met to hear the 

 written instructions given to Captain Commander Bering by the Im- 

 perial Admiralty College, especially Articles 9, 10, and 17, and Article 6 

 of the general order of the ruling Senate, 2 which was with the said in- 

 structions. After reading them we all agreed that, according to the in- 

 structions, to find the American coast we should sail at first, after 

 leaving this harbor, SE by E by true compass and keep on this 

 rhumb to the 46th parallel of north latitude unless we sooner found 

 land, for, on the map of Professor Delisle de la Croyere, Juan de Gama 

 Land was located on the 47th parallel of latitude and right on our course. 

 We believed that it was a part of America because, on the general charts, 

 land is indicated all the way from California to Juan de Gama Land, 

 and this indication is also on the map of Professor Delisle de la Croyere. 



Although Juan de Gama Land is represented as anisland, consequently 

 not a part of the American continent, yet we decided on the course we 

 did because our instructions called for an examination of the islands 

 lying on the way to America. It was agreed that in case land was not 

 found in the latitude just mentioned we should sail steadily E by N 



1 Archives of the Ministry of Marine, Petrograd: Papers of Captain Commander 

 Bering, No. 44. 



2 The instructions of the Admiralty College to Bering are not given in the 

 present work, but the orders of the Senate are. Article 6 will be found in Chapter 

 IV. p. 30. 



