Bering's great northern expedition. 83 



Arctic coast of Siberia was planned and inaugurated 

 by Bering himself. He could now ajDply all his ener- 

 gies to the Pacific expeditions. He constructed a mul- 

 titude of river-craft, and erected barracks, magazines, 

 winter-huts, and wharves along the river-route to 

 Okhotsk. In the vicinity of Yakutsk he established an 

 iron foundry and furnace, whence the various vessels 

 were supplied with anchors and other articles of iron. 

 In fact, he made this place the emporium for those 

 heavy supplies that in the years 1735-36 were brought 

 from South and West Siberia, and which later were to 

 be sent to Okhotsk. 



At Okhotsk the exiled Major-General Pissarjeif was 

 in command. He had been sent there as a govern- 

 ment official, with authority on the Pacific coast and 

 in Kamchatka, to develop the country and pave the 

 way for the expeditions to follow, by making roads 

 and harbors, erecting buildings in Okhotsk, introduc- 

 ing agriculture, — in fact, make this coast fit for human 

 habitation. The government had given him ample 

 power, but as he accomplished nothing, he was suc- 

 ceeded by Captain Pavlutski as chief in Kamchatka, 

 and Pissarjeff was reduced to a sort of harbor-master 

 in Okhotsk. A command that had been sent to his 

 assistance under first mate Bireif, he nearly starved to 

 death; the men deserted and the town remained the same 

 rookery as ever. 



In this condition Spangberg found affairs in the 

 winter of 1734-35, With his usual energy he had 

 pushed his transports to Yakutsk in the summer preced- 

 ing, and with the same boats he proceeded up the 



