CHAPTER V 



THE LOG BOOK OF BERING'S VESSEL, THE 



"ST. PETER," AND OF HER SUCCESSOR, 



THE HOOKER "ST. PETER" 



The following is a translation, from the hitherto unpublished 

 originals in the Russian archives,^ (i) of the log book of Bering's 

 vessel, the St. Peter, covering the period from April 23, 1741, 

 to August 9, 1742, and describing the preparation of the ship 

 for sailing, the voyage from Kamchatka to the Alaskan coast 

 and return to Bering Island (June 4-November 6, 1741), the 

 wreck of the St. Peter and the death of Bering, the life of the 

 survivors on that island, and the building of a replacing vessel, 

 the hooker St. Peter; and (2) of the log book of the hooker St. 

 Peter from August 10 to September 7, 1742, describing the re- 

 turn voyage to Petropavlovsk, the home port in Kamchatka 

 (August 13 to 27), and the attempted continuation of the voyage 

 to Okhotsk and final return to Petropavlovsk (September i to 6). 



The Log Book of the "St. Peter" 



With the help of God this journal was begun this April 23, 1741, on the 

 ship St. Peter by Fleet Master Safron Khitrov, under the command of 

 Captain Commander Bering, in the Harbor of St. Peter and St. Paul, 

 which is in Avacha Bay, latitude 53° i' N; longitude, reckoned from St, 

 Petersburg, according to the observation of the professor of astronomy, 



1 There are two log books, one kept by the assistant navigator Kharlam Yushin 

 (Archives of the Hydrographic Section of the Ministry of Marine, Petrograd: 1741-42, 

 Nos. 642, 643, 644) and the other by the mate Sofron Khitrov. Of Khitrov's there are 

 two neat copies (Archives of State, Petrograd: 1732-43, XXIV, No. 9, and Archives of 

 the Imperial Academy of Sciences, Petrograd; No. 120, 32.16:19), and it is almost cer- 

 tain that they were worked out from a third copy, whether Yushin's or Khitrov's is 

 not clear. The Khitrov copies differ from one another in places, owing probably to the 

 fault of the copyists; and they are not as reliable as Yushin's, which has all the earmarks 

 of an original. For that reason Yushin's is here used and is supplemented by Khitrov's 

 wherever the latter contains additional material. Differences of more or less importance 

 between the two logs are pointed out in the footnotes. 



From April 23 to June 4, inclusive, Khitrov's journal is used, however. "Journal" 

 is used throughout in this chapter the same sense as "log book." 



