334 NOTE TO ACCOMPANY THE CHART 



distance of some 32 miles, and then hauled more to the westward 

 until noon of the 27th. Frequent soundings were taken and the 

 water shoaled to 35 fathoms. The weather being thick, no land 

 was seen after leaving Black Point, but at noon of the 27th Bering 

 decided that they were getting too near the land and hauled to 

 the southward and eastward to work offshore until the weather 

 cleared. 5 



From noon of the 27th until noon of the 31st the St. Peter stood 

 off shore in a general southeasterly direction. On the 31st the 

 weather cleared, and shortly before noon the course was changed 

 to the northward and westward in order to get in touch with the 

 land. Towards evening of August 2, a heavy fog set in, and the 

 vessel was again headed offshore as the water had shoaled to 30 

 fathoms. At 1 a.m. the fog temporarily cleared and disclosed land 

 close aboard bearing SE by S. The log records that a sounding 

 shoaled 20 fathoms, whereupon the ship was put about and 

 anchored in 18 fathoms to await daylight. Steller records this 

 incident in his diary as follows: "About one o'clock in the night 

 it was discovered on heaving the lead that the boat was in 4 



6 Mr. George Davidson in his "The Tracks and Landfalls of Bering and Chirikof , 

 on the Northwest Coast of America," San Francisco, iooi, concluded that the 

 St. Peter, after leaving Black Point, passed through Douglas Channel between the 

 Trinity Islands and the southern end of Kodiak Island. There is nothing in the 

 original records to support that conclusion, while there is much evidence to the 

 contrary. After sighting Black Point at 4 a.m., July 26, the St. Peter made 32 miles 

 due south up to noon and was then some 25 miles to the eastward of Douglas 

 Channel. From this point the vessel turned to the westward, and if she did indeed 

 pass through this channel she must have done so between noon and 9 p.m. be- 

 cause at that hour the course was changed to WSW, true. From noon to 1 P.M. the 

 St. Peter made SW by S, true; from 1 to 2 p.m., SW^W, true; from 2 to 3 p.m., 

 W by S, true; and from 3 to oep.m., WHS, true, covering from noon until 9 p.m. a 

 distance of 29 miles according to the log. All this time soundings were taken fre- 

 quently, but no depth less than 35 fathoms is recorded. As the water in Douglas 

 Channel shoals to 7 fathoms, it is clear the ship could not have reached the nar- 

 rowest part of the channel by 9 p.m. From 9 p.m. to i i p.m. the course was WSW, 

 true; from 11 p.m. until daylight the course was generally SW, true; and at mid- 

 night they sounded in 40 fathoms. If the exact position of the St. Peter at noon on 

 the 26th was such that the courses steered between noon and 9 p.m. carried her in 

 the direction of Douglas Channel, then at 9 p.m. she must have been in the immedi- 

 ate vicinity of the eastern entrance to the channel, because the soundings show she 

 had not passed through the channel up to 9 P.M. Being in that position at 9 p.m., 

 the course steered after that hour would have put the ship ashore on the Trinity 

 Islands. 



By plotting on the modern chart the hourly runs of the St. Peter from 4 a.m., 

 July 26, until noon of July 27, making due allowance for the tides and currents and 



