322 REPORT ON VOYAGE OF THE "ST. PAUL" 



for two weeks. I was so ill with scurvy and so weak that I expected death 

 any moment. From September 21 to the time that we reached port I was 

 not able to come on deck. The ship was navigated by Ivan Elagin, 

 who, although very ill, yet would not give in and because of dire necessity 

 remained on deck almost continuously. I gave him such help as I could, 

 for, thanks to God, my mind did not leave me. I worked out the courses 

 from the log book and told him what to do. When, according to our 

 reckoning on the outward voyage, we should have sighted Kamchatka 

 but failed to do so, I ordered him to steer west close to the parallel of this 

 harbor. Elagin has good judgment, and, if it had not been for him and 

 the strength which God gave him, some great misfortune would have 

 happened to the ship. Because of his great merits, good judgment, 

 soberness, as well as for numerous difficult services, I promoted him to the 

 rank of fleet lieutenant, for he not only did the work of that office but ran 

 the whole ship. 



By the will of God we caught sight of Kamchatka at seven in the morn- 

 ing of October 8, and two days later, nine in the evening, we sailed into 

 Avacha Bay and anchored. At the time we had but two barrels of 

 water, which we had boiled out of sea water. At ten o'clock in the morning 

 of October 10 Professor Delisle de la Croyere died. With God's help we 

 entered the Harbor of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul on October 12. 

 At the time of this writing the Captain Commander has not yet arrived, 

 and it is not known whether on account of some misfortune he has been 

 obliged to winter somewhere. We had enough provisions on board both 

 ships to last a half year in case of necessity. 



Enclosed is a list of the crew (with their names) who are with the 

 Captain Commander. 13 I am submitting to the Admiralty College the 

 journal of our voyage and a Mercator chart. According to our reckoning 

 the number of degrees of longitude between Kamchatka and America 

 differs in going and coming, 14 owing to the fact that during all the time 

 that we were at sea we reckoned from only one base, the meridian of 

 Vaua, and had no other base or way to correct by. The outward voyage 

 and the land discovered on it are marked on the chart in black ink; 

 and the return voyage, with the land sighted and its extension, in red 

 ink. During such a long voyage and period of time it is impossible even 

 for the best navigators to escape errors altogether. If a more accurate map 

 is desired, the professors of the Academy can make it from the reckonings 

 going and coming or in some other way from the log, journal, and chart. 

 To what extent the error in longitude is due to the currents I cannot tell. 

 In going we tried twice to determine the current but failed. Along the 

 American coast there was a tidal current running up and down parallel 



13 Not published in the present work. 



14 Going, 6i° 51'; coming, 73 30' (see Chirikov's report, above, p. 313; also 

 Chapter VII, footnote 22, p. 308). 



