Bering's great northern expedition. 81 



Arctic coast, the necessary supplies, which were to be 

 stored north of Obdorsk, were loaded on four rafts, 

 which, with a force of 30 men, accompanied Ofzyn. 

 On May 14, he received his Admiralty instructions from 

 Bering, and, saluted by cannon, the First Arctic Expe- 

 dition stood up the Irtish for the Polar seas. 



Five days later, Bering, with the main command 

 and the Academists, left Tobolsk and took different 

 routes for Yakutsk, which had been selected as the 

 central point for the future enterprises of the expedi- 

 tion. In October, 1734, he arrived at this place, bring- 

 ing with him a quantity of materials. The next spring, 

 Chirikoif came with the greater part of the supplies, 

 and during the year following, this dull Siberian city 

 was the scene of no little activity. On his arrival, 

 however, Bering found that no preparations whatever 

 had been made for him. In spite of instructions and 

 orders from the government, nothing had been done 

 toward charting the Arctic coast or for the expedit- 

 ing of the heavily loaded transports on the way to 

 Okhotsk. Nor did Bering find that the authorities 

 were even kindly disposed toward him. Yet, in the 

 course of the next six months, he had two large ships 

 built for the Arctic expedition, and when his own sup- 

 plies arrived by way of the central Siberian river- 

 route, described in the first part of this work, these 

 vessels, together with four barges, were equipped and 

 furnished with provisions, and in June, 1735, were 

 ready for a start. These two ships — the sloop Yakutsk, 

 Lieut. Pronchisheff, first mate Chelyuskin, surveyor Che- 

 kin, and about fifty men, and the decked boat Irkutsk, 



