158 VITUS BERING. 



of water below the keel. There was a heavy fog, no wind, 

 and a swift current, but they succeeded in shifting about 

 and getting out into eighteen fathoms of water, where 

 they anchored to await daybreak. In the morning, at 

 eight o'clock, a small island was seen at a distance of four 

 miles. It was three miles long, with an east to west 

 trend. A long reef extended out into the sea from the 

 eastern point, seen by them in a direction E. S. E. by E. 

 In the evening they weighed anchor, having a heavy fog, 

 and on the next morning, the island was seen at a dis- 

 tance of seven geographical miles toward the south. Its 

 latitude was calculated as 55" 32', but as all of Bering's 

 determinations of latitude on his return voyage from 

 America show an error of from 30' to 45' less than the 

 true latitude, it must be concluded that the island was 

 in latitude 56° and some minutes. He called the island 

 St. Stephen from the calendar day, but his crew or 

 lieutenants must have called it Foggy Island (Tumannoi), 

 as even Krasilnikoff's manuscript map, in the possession 

 of the Admiralty, has this name. Later the cartography 

 of this region became considerably confused. The name 

 St. Stephen disappeared. Cook called another island Fog 

 Island, while it became customary to consider the island 

 discovered by Bering as identical with Ukamok (Chiri- 

 koff Island, Vancouver's Island), where the Russians had 

 a colony, and thus the island itself was finally lost to 

 geography. Notwithstanding the fact that Admiral 

 Krusenstern, in a clever essay, has given an able 

 review of the literature pertaining to this question, 

 and has shown that where Bering saw St. Stephen, 

 Cook, Sarycheff, and Vancouver likewise saw an island. 



