30 VITUS BEKING. 



him. With untiring industry and almost incredible 

 patience he overcame those difficulties which to anyone 

 else would have seemed insurmountable/^ 



On July 9, the Gabriel started down the river, and on 

 the 13th the sails were hoisted. The crew numbered forty- 

 four men: namely, one captain, two lieutenants, one sec- 

 ond lieutenant, one physician, one quartermaster, eight 

 sailors, one saddler, one rope-maker, five carpenters, one 

 bailiff, two Cossacks, nine soldiers, six servants, one 

 drummer, and two interpreters. Bering's point of 

 departure was the lower Kamchatka fort, situated 160° 

 50' east of Greenwich, the variation of the compass being 

 13° 10' E. The latitude of the cape at the mouth of the 

 Kamchatka River was determined as 56° 3' N., which agrees 

 with the observations made by Cook, who was very near 

 this point on his last voyage. The day was reckoned from 

 12 o'clock at noon, on which account his dating does not 

 correspond with that of civil time ; hence, the 16th of 

 August with him began on the 15th, at noon. The mile 

 of the journal is the Italian mile, which is somewhat 

 longer than the English mile. Bering's course was nearly 

 all the time along the coast, in from nine to twelve 

 fathoms of water, and usually with land in sight to the 

 north and west. On July 27, they passed Cape St. 

 Thaddeus at a distance of three miles, and here the 

 sea seemed fairly alive with spotted whales, seals, sea-lions, 

 and dolphins. After having sailed past the Anadyr 

 Eiver, without quite being able to find their bearings in 

 regions of which they had not a single astronomical 

 determination, and where they were not successful in find- 

 ing any natives, they finally, on July 31, saw land extend- 



