OHAPTEE XIV. 



PREPARATION'S FOR BERIiq"G'S VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 

 TO AMERICA. — FOUNDING OF PETROPAVLOVSK. — 



WE left Bering when, in 1740, he was about to 

 depart from the harbor of Okhotsk with the St. 

 Peter and the St. Paul, two smaller transports, and a 

 vessel to convey the scientists, Steller and La Croyere, to 

 Bolsheretsk. The objective point of the main expedi- 

 tion was Avacha Bay, on the eastern coast of Kamchatka. 

 The excellent harbors here had been discovered by 

 Bering's crew a couple of years previous. He had now 

 sent his mate, Yelagin, to chart the bay, find a sheltered 

 harbor there, and establish a fortified place of abode on 

 this coast. This work Yelagin completed in the summer 

 of 1740, and when in the latter part of September the 

 packet boats entered Avacha Bay, they found, in a 

 smaller bay on the north side, Niakina Cove, some bar- 

 racks and huts. A fort was built in the course of 

 the winter and the pious^ Bering had a church built 

 and consecrated to St. Peter and St. Paul, thus founding 

 the present town of Petropavlovsk. The place rapidly 

 became the most important and pleasant town of the 

 peninsula, although that is not saying much. In 1779, 

 the place was still so insignificant that Cook's oflQcers 



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