2 OUR AECTIC PROVINCE. 



While groping in fog and tempest on the high seas, Bering 

 drifted one Sunday (July 18th) upon or about the Alaskan mainland 

 coast ; he disembarked at the foot of some low, desolate bluffs that 

 face the sea near the spot now known to us as Kayak Island, and in 

 plain view of those towering peaks of the St. Elias Alps. He passed 

 full six weeks in this neighborhood, while the crew were busy 

 getting fresh food-supplies, water, etc., when, on the 3d of Septem- 

 ber, a storm of unwonted vigor burst ujDon them, lasted seven days, 

 and drove them out to sea and before it, down as far as 48'^ 8' 

 north latitvide, and into the lonely wastes of the vast Pacific. 

 Scurvy began to appear on boaixl. the St. Peter; hardly a day 

 passed without recording the death of some one of the ship's com- 

 pany, and soon men enough in health or strength sufficient to work 

 the vessel could not be mustered. A return to Kamchatka was 

 resolved upon. 



Bering became surly and morose, and seldom appeared on 

 deck, and so the second in command, "Stoorman" Vachtel, directed 

 the dreary cruise. After regaining the land, and burying a sailor 

 named Shoomagin on one of a group of Alaskan islets that bear his 

 name to-day, and making several additional capes and landfalls, 

 they saw two islands which, by a most unfortunate blunder, they 

 took to be of the Kurile chain, and adjacent to Kamchatka. Thus 

 they erred sadly in their reckoning, and sailed out upon a false 

 point of departure. 



In vain they craned their necks for the land, and strained their 

 feeble eyes ; the shore of Kamchatka refused to rise, and it finally 

 dawned upon them that they were lost — that there was no hoj^e of 

 making a port in that goal so late in the year. The wonderful 

 discipline of the Russian sailors was strikingly exhibited at this 

 stage of the luckless voyage : in spite of their debilitated and 

 emaciated condition, they still obeyed orders, though suffering 

 frightfully in the cold and wet ; the ravages of scurvy had made 

 such progress that the steersman was conducted to the helm by 

 two other invalids who happened to have the use of their legs, and 

 who supported him under the arms ! When he could no longer 

 steer from suffering, then he was succeeded by another no better 

 able to execute the labor than himself. Thus did the unhappy 

 crew waste away into death and impotency. They were obliged to 

 carry few sails, for they were helpless to reef or hoist them, and 

 such as they had were nearly worn out ; and even in this case they 



