CRUISE OF STEAMER COR WIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 131 



Ocean. This voyage was said to be unsuccessful on account of the sea being tilled with heavy ice. 

 A year later (1648) the experiment was repeated, and with success. A part of the expedition, 

 under command of Dashuoff, actually passed through what is now known as Bering Strait and 

 reached their destination, where they established a trading post. No mention is made of any ob- 

 struction by ice. In 1650 a party of hunters and traders sailed from the Indigirka and cruised to 

 the eastward as far as the Kroma, but were there beset by ice and drifted out to sea, where their 

 vessel was crushed, and the crew escaped over the ice to the land. The early history of that 

 country shows that a regular and quite extensive communication by water was carried on between 

 the Lena and Kolyma through open channels near the land, and always with the pack in the offing. 

 Many attempts were made to reach the New Siberian Islands by water, but failed; although we are 

 informed that in 1667 a party of explorers were driven on these islands by wind and their boats 

 destroyed.* 



In 1740 an expedition from the Yenisei, after being prevented by ice for two years from 

 leaving that river, succeeded in reaching a place on the west coast of the Taimyr Peninsula, in 

 latitude 75° 15', through comparatively open water ; but at that point met with impenetrable ice, 

 and turned back. Five years before (1735) two expeditions sailed from the Lena to explore the 

 coast in each direction. The expedition bound to the westward did not get out of the mouth of 

 the Lena until August, and even then did not succeed in making but a short distance on account 

 of ice. After wintering in the Aleusk River it was again liberated in August, and proceeded 

 along the coast to the northward with the pack in sight to seaward. On the 31st of August, 

 in latitude 77° 29', it was stopped by impenetrable ice, and, after much difficulty and many 

 narrow escapes, turned back. The expedition to the eastward, after proceeding along the coast 

 about 80 miles, was stopped by ice, and during the winter nearly the whole party died of scurvy. 

 The following year this expedition, newly manned, penetrated as far as Cape Great Baranoff, 

 where it was again stopped by ice, and returned to the Kolyma. 



In August, 1739, Cheluyskin found the sea at Cape Thaddeus, on the Taimyr Peninsula, 

 latitude 76° 47', entirely covered with unbroken ice, and the following year Lapter lost his vessel 

 in the ice on the east coast of the Taimyr. 



In August, 1778, Cook encountered the pack in the vicinity of Icy Cape, latitude 70° 41' 

 north, and only succeeded in getting 3 miles farther north that season. To the westward he 

 found the pack near Cape North. In the following year Captain Clerke, who succeeded to the 

 command after the death of Captain Cook, found the pack-ice in latitude 69° 30' in July, and later 

 in the season as far north as 70° 30'. April 26, 1794, Vancouver found drift ice in latitude 59° 

 30', Cook's Inlet being blocked with it. In 1817 Kotzebue found drift ice in 65° north latitude. 

 Saint Lawrence Island was surrounded by ice at that time. 



In 1820 the pack was encouutered north of Bering Strait, in latitude 69° 30'. Kotzebue 

 Sound opened that year on the 27th of July. The following year the pack was found a degree 

 farther north. The same year Wrangel and Anjou found leads of open water about 100 miles off 

 the coast of Asia; the former between the Kolyma and Indigirka, and the latter off the Koteinos 

 Islands. During the two years following they were frequently interrupted in their travels over 

 the ice by leads of open water. 



In August, 1826, Beechy found the pack in latitude 71° 30', near Point Barrow, with heavy 

 drift ice farther south. In 1787 Mackenzie found the sea at the mouth of the Mackenzie River 

 blocked in the month of July. In 1848 Richardson found navigable water along the coast between 

 Cape Bathurst and the Mackenzie, and a party of Innuits informed him that for two months each 

 summer the ice in that vicinity left the coast. In 1849 Kellett reached latitude 72° 51', in longi- 

 tude 164° 45' west. 



In 1850 McClure and Colliuson passed Point Barrow, and the former found drift and pack ice, 

 with a narrow channel of navigable water, along the north shore of the American continent to 

 Prince of Wales Strait, where he wintered in latitude 72° 50', longitude 117° 30'. Collinson 

 reached Point Barrow too late to venture round, but steaming to the northward a few degrees 

 farther west, he reached latitude 73° 23', where he was stopped by the pack. This was in Septem- 



* In August, 1728, Vitus Bering passed through the straits now bearing his name, and as far north as 67° 18', 

 withont seeing ice. 



