114 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



a violent storm occurred and lasted seven days, driving them back to 48 18' north latitude, and into the lonely 

 wastes of the vast Pacific. The scurvy began to appear on board ; hardly a day passed without the death of 

 one of the crew, and men enough in health were scarcely left to manage the ship. A return to Kamtchatka was 

 resolved upon. Bering became morose and seldom appeared on deck, and the second in command, Stoormau 

 Vachtel, directed the dreary cruise. After regaining the laud, and burying a sailor named Shumagiu on one of the 

 group of Alaskan islets that bear this title to-day, and discovering and naming several Aleutian capes and islands, 

 they saw two, which by an unfortunate blunder, they took for the Kuriles aad adjacent to Kamtchatka; thus they 

 erred sadly in their reckoning and sailed out on a point of false departure. In vain they craned their necks for the 

 land the shore of Kamtchatka refused to rise, and soon there was no hope of making a port in that' goal so late in the 

 year. The wonderful discipline of the Russian sailors was strikingly exhibited at this stage of the luckless voyage; 

 notwithstanding their fearfully debilitated condition, and suffering from cold and wet, they obeyed orders and 

 attended to their duties. We are told by Steller that the scurvy had already so far advanced that the steersman 

 was conducted to the helm by two other invalids who happened to have the use of their legs, and who supported 

 him under, the arms; 'when he could no longer ste^r from suffering, he was succeeded by another no better able to 

 execute the labor than himself; thus did the unhappy crew waste away into death ; they were obliged to carry few 

 sails, for they had not hands to reef them, and such as they had were nearly worn out, and in this case they could 

 not be replaced from the stores, since there were no seamen strong enough on the ship to bend new ones to the yards 

 and booms. 



Soon rain was followed by snow, the nights grew longer and darker, and now they lived in dreadful anticipation 

 of shipwreck; the fresh water diminished, and the labor of working the vessel became too severe for the few who 

 were able to be about. From the 1st to the 4th November the ship had lain as a log on the ocean, helpless, and 

 drifting at the sport of the wind and the waves. Then, again, they managed to control her, and set her course 

 anew to the westward, without knowing absolutely anything as to where they were. In a few hours after, the joy 

 of the digressed crew can be better imagined than described, for they saw the tops of high hills, still at a great 

 distance ahead, covered with snow. As they drew nearer, night came upon them, and they judged best, therefore, to 

 keep out, "off and on," until daybreak, so as to avoid the risk of wrecking themselves in the dark. In the morning 

 they found that the rigging on the starboard side of the vessel was giving way, and the craft could not be managed 

 much longer; that the water was very low, and the sickness increasing frightfully. The humidity of the climate 

 was now succeeded by intense cold ; life was well-nigh insupportable on ship then, and they determined to make 

 for the land to save their lives, and, if possible, safely beach the u St. Peter". 



The small sails were alone set ; the wind was north ; the depth of water 36 fathoms, sand bottom ; two hours 

 after they decreased it to 12 ; they now contrived to get over an anchor and run it at three-quarters of a cable's 

 length; at 6 p. m. the hawser parted, and tremendous waves bore the helpless boat through the darkness and the 

 storm, in to the coast, where* soon slie struck twice upon a rocky reef. Yet, in a moment afrer, they had 5 fathoms 

 of water ; a second anchor was thrown out and again the tackle parted ; and, while in the energ\ of wild despair, 

 they were preparing a third bower, a huge combing wave lifted that ark of misery, of superlative human suffering, 

 safely and sheer over the reef, where in an instant she lay in calm water; the last anchor was put out, and the 

 voyage of Bering came to an end, in 4 fathoms of water, over a sandy bottom, and only 300 fathoms from the 

 beach. In the morning they found that they had drifted in here at the only spot where they possibly could have 

 been carried over a ridge of rocks that 20 fathoms distance right or left of their course, high basaltic bowlders 

 and jagged pinnacles arose from the sea, against which they must have perished, had they struck during the fury 

 of the gale and the darkness of the night. 



THE EXHAUSTED RUSSIANS LAND. Winter was now at hand ; the crew, worn down with excitement, fatigue, 

 and disease, reposed until midday, then lowered the boat ; on the 6th November, Vachtel landed. They found 

 the country barren and covered with snow. A clear stream of excellent water, not frozen, ran down from the hills 

 to the shore; no trees or even shrubs were visible; firewood was driftwood on the beaches, so it had to be dug 

 from under snow and icy fetters ; shelter there was none, but they found near the open mouth of the little creek 

 some sand walls, and deep wind-scraped hollows therein ; these they cleared out and covered over with the 

 ship's sails, to serve as a temporary shelter until they could build a wooden cabin ; on the 8th November, the 

 sand caves were prepared and the sick taken from the " St. Peter" and placed in them. Steller, the undaunted 

 surgeon and naturalist, tells us that some of them died on being brought up from the ward-room below, others in 

 the boat, and others soon after landing the violent change of air snapped the slender threads remaining that 

 bound them to this life ; the bodies of the dead were instantly attacked by foxes, Vulpcs lagopus, which came down 

 suddenly to their strange prey without fear, apparently never having seen man ; and were so bold that they 

 actually mangled the feet and heads of the dead Russians ere the living could bury them. 



MELANCHOLY INCIDENTS OF BERING'S DEATH. On the 9th November, Bering himself was brought ashore, 

 well shielded from the atmosphere and put into a sand hollow all by himself; of the officers, he, alone, died; 

 his age and temperament inclined him to inactivity ; he became delirious and cunning, taking his friends to be his 

 enemies, some of whom, including Steller, could not come into his presence during his last illness ; he used to 

 amuse himself by detaching the sand from the sides of the place where he lay, so that he soon covered his lower 



