248 HISTOBY OF KAMSCHATKA. [chap. 



not long before they realised the complete uncertainty of their 

 position. The scurvy had terribly increased. Scarce a day passed 

 without claiming its victim, and the hope of reaching a port with 

 the season already so far advanced seemed faint indeed. The 

 sufferings of these unhappy people are best realised in Miiller's 

 words :^ "The wretched crew, emaciated and diseased, worked 

 almost without remission in the cold and wet. To such straits were 

 they come, that the steersman had to be supported to the helm 

 in the arms of two of his comrades who were still strong enough 

 to be able to stand, and when he was neither able to sit nor steer 

 any longer, he was replaced by another who was but httle more 

 able to perform the duty than liimself. They dared not put the 

 vessel under any press of sail, as in case of need they had not 

 sufficient hands to reduce it. The sails were so worn out that 

 the first strong wind would have blown them to rags, yet they 

 had not strength enough to replace them by the spare ones they 

 had in reserve. To the continual rain that they had hitherto 

 experienced, succeeded hail and snow. The nights became longer 

 and darker, and their danger correspondingly increased, for there 

 was hardly an hour when shipwreck was not to be feared. At the 

 same time the water began to fail them. The excessive labour 

 became insupportable to the few who were still able to stand. 

 Death, wliich they felt to be inevitable, seemed to them as though 

 it would never come to deliver them from their misery." 



Such was the state of affairs when, on November 4th, land 

 was sighted ahead. It was the last discovery that Bering ever 

 made, — the island which has since, most fittingly, been named 

 in his honour. The course of the St. Peter was immediately 

 directed towards it, and in spite of the barrenness and desolation 

 of its shores, they resolved to quit the ship and pass the winter 

 as best they might upon the land. After a most narrow escape 

 from shipwreck, which, had it occurred, would have resulted in the 

 loss of every soul on board, they succeeded at last in bringing the 

 ^ "Samlung Russisclier Geschichte," trad, par C. G. F. Dumas. 



