BEHRING' S DISCOVERIES. 159 



this point he gave the name Icy Cape, and it was the furthest east he was able to proceed. 

 While he made every effort to fulfil the object of his mission he was baffled at every point, 

 and on August 30th he turned the vessels' bows southward. After many explorations of both 

 the Asiatic and American coasts, it will be remembered that he lost his life at the Sandwich 

 Islands. He was succeeded by Captain Clerke, who in 1779 again attempted to make the 

 passage, but with even less success than had been attained by Captain Cook. 



In order that the various sections of this subject should not become confused or involved, 

 mention of many Russian voyages, which had for their aim the exploration of the coasts 

 of Northern Asia, and among which were several direct attempts at making the north-east 

 passage, has been purposely omitted till now. As early as 1648 Deshneff undoubtedly made a 

 voyage from the mouth of the Kolyma round the extreme eastern point of Asia, and through 

 Behring Straits to the Anadyr. In very early times the Russians used to creep along the coast 

 at the other end of the continent, from Archangel to the Obi, and in the eighteenth century, 

 in particular, many efforts were made to extend the explorations eastward. In brief, several 

 explorers, Lieutenants Maravief, Malgyn, and Shurakoff, between the years 1734 and 1738, 

 sailed from Archangel to the Obi, doubling the promontory ; Lieutenant Koskelof made a 

 successful voyage from the Obi to the Yenesei in 1738; and in 1735 Lieutenant Pron- 

 chishchef, who was accompanied by his wife, got very close to Cape Chelyuskin (or North- 

 east Cape) on its eastern side, his vessel being frozen in near that point. Both himself 

 and his wife died there. In 1742 Lieutenant Chelyuskin reached the northernmost cape, 

 which bears his name, by a sledge journey. The North East Cape (Cape Chelyuskin) and 

 the neighbouring Cape Taimyr* had never been rounded, till Professor Nordenskjdld only 

 the other day succeeded in passing both, thus making the long-sought north-east passage. 

 From the Lena eastward to the Kolyma voyages have often been made, and, as we have 

 seen, Deshneff had completed the circuit of the coast from the Kolyma eastward at a 

 very early period. The records of this voyage were entirely overlooked for a century, 

 when they were unearthed at Yakutsk, in Siberia, by Miiller, the historian of the voyages 

 about to be narrated. 



Inseparably connected with the history of Arctic voyages are those of Vitus Behring, 

 an explorer who deserves to rank among the greatest of his century, although his several 

 adventurous attempts are comparatively little known. Behring was a Dane who had been 

 attracted into the Russian service by the fame of Peter the Great, and his expeditions 

 had been directly planned by that enterprising and sagacious monarch. The emperor, how- 

 ever, did not live to see them consummated. Their main objects were to determine whether 

 Asia and America did or did not join at some northern point and form one continent; 

 and if detached, how nearly the coasts approached each other. " The Empress Catherine/' 

 says Miiller, the historian of Behring's life, "as she endeavoured in all points to execute 

 most precisely the plans of her deceased husband, in a manner began her reign with an 

 order for the expedition to Kamtschatka." Behring was appointed commander, having 

 associated with him Lieutenants Spanberg and Tschirikoff. They took their final orders on 



* In the summer of 1843 Middendorf explored the coasts and neighbourhood of Cape Taimyr, and looking 

 seawards to the Polar Ocean, saw open water. 



