NOTE TO ACCOMPANY THE CHART OF THE VOYAGE 



OF BERING AND CHIRIKOV FROM KAMCHATKA 



TO THE ALASKAN COAST AND RETURN, 1741 1 



By the late 



Ellsworth P. Bertholf 



Captain-Commandant U. S. Coast Guard (retired) 



The tracks of both vessels, as laid down on the accompanying 

 chart (PI. I), show the approximate noon positions throughout 

 the voyage and indicate the several portions of the coast and 

 the islands sighted or examined by the navigators. 2 



The Joint Voyage of the "St. Peter" and the "St. Paul" 



The brigs St. Peter and St. Paul, commanded respectively by 

 Captain Commander Bering and Captain Chirikov, sailed out of 

 Avacha Bay, Kamchatka, on June 4, 1741, and entered on their 

 eventful voyage of discovery. Bering's instructions from the 

 Admiralty College required that he should steer SE by E, true, 

 until he reached latitude 46 in order to locateJuandeGama Land, 

 which, according to the map of the astronomer Louis Delisle 

 de la Croyere, extended to the 47th parallel of north latitude. If 

 no land was sighted on that course he was to steer E by N, true, 

 until he came to the American continent. The wind being fair, 

 the ships were able to make good the true course, SE by E, and 

 found themselves on June 12 in latitude 46 . No land being 



1 The following material (translated by Professor F. A. Golder) was made use 

 of in constructing the chart. In connection with the St. Peter: (a) Yushin's log book; 

 (b) Khitrov's log book; (c) the report of Lieutenant Waxel, who succeeded to the 

 command after Bering's death; and (d) the journal of the naturalist Steller (pub- 

 lished in Vol. II of the present work). In connection with the 5/. Paul: (a) the log 

 book, (b) the daily journal, and (c) the report of Captain Chirikov. [Captain Bert- 

 holf, shortly before his sudden death in November, 1921, was able to revise a 

 proof of the chart. As it now stands it represents his final judgment. — Edit. Note. ] 



2 In the course of several tours of duty in Alaskan waters, as executive and com- 

 manding officer in the U. S. Revenue Cutter Service and the U. S. Coast Guard, 

 the writer became familiar with the coast and islands of that territory, and this 

 knowledge has been of great help to him in identifying the land sighted by Bering 

 and Chirikov. 



