160 VITUS BERING. 



pour in upon them. They encountered adverse winds 

 which continued with but few interruptions during the 

 succeeding months. The St. Peter was tossed about on 

 the turbulent and unfamiliar waters of the Aleutian archi- 

 pelago, where the crew experienced an adventure so 

 fraught with suffering and dire events that it is quite 

 beyond compare in the history of discoveries. At the 

 same time, the scurvy got the upper hand. Bering had 

 a severe attack which rendered him unfit for service. 

 With his illness the bonds of discipline were relaxed. 

 Under these circumstances there was called, on the 10th 

 of August, an extraordinary council, in which all the 

 officers participated. At this meeting it was finally 

 decided to give up the charting of the American coast, 

 and immediately start out upon the direct route home- 

 ward on parallel 52°, the latitude of Avacha. The 

 whole crew, from the highest to the lowest, signed this 

 resolution. The facts taken into consideration were that 

 September had been fixed as the extreme limit of time 

 within which to return home, and that they were then 

 in the middle of August. Avacha was at least 1600 

 miles distant, autumn was at hand with dark nights 

 and stormy weather, and sixteen of the crew were 

 already sick with the scurvy. 



With a strong head-wind, in raw and foggy weather, 

 and now and then overtaken by fierce storms, they 

 worked their way slowly along until the 27th of August. 

 The condition of affairs on board had grown continually 

 worse, when it was finally announced that through care- 

 lessness and irregularity the supply of water had been 

 reduced to twenty-five casks, a quantity that could not 



