DISCOVERY OF LAND: KAYAK ISLAND 271 



ber to the Harbor of St. Peter and St. Paul, where we would pass the win- 

 ter. All having agreed to this plan, Captain Commander Bering on the 

 St. Peter, accompanied by Captain Chirikov on the St. Paul, sailed out 

 of Avacha Bay on June 4, 1741, and on getting out to sea kept the course 

 agreed upon, that is SE by E, and a little closer at times. 



The wind was fair, and we kept together with Captain Chirikov until 

 June 19, when there was a strong easterly wind which compelled us and 

 him to take in sail and heave to. The St. Paul was seen to the northwest 

 of us until about eleven o'clock at night, being then in latitude 49° 52' 

 N and from Vaua 17° 49', but after that time we lost sight of her. 

 With the coming of day we set out to find her on the course on 

 which we saw her during the night, and in this neighborhood so far 

 as the weather allowed we spent 43 hours but without success. Then Cap- 

 tain Commander Bering, his officers agreeing, decided to pursue the course 

 originally agreed upon between S and E, and we kept within that quarter 

 of the compass on various rhumbs, according to the wind, to 45° 13' 

 and to the east of Vaua 16° 23', and about 200 German miles without 

 finding any land. The Captain Commander then changed the course 

 to E by N, the same which had been agreed upon in council, and we 

 sailed on it to latitude 48° 38' and longitude from Vaua 36°, but even at 

 this distance no land was seen. The Captain Commander, his officers 

 agreeing, decided to keep a little more to the north in the hope of soon 

 discovering some land. Between N and E we sailed until July 16, on 

 which day we saw land [Mt. St. Elias] in the northwest. We steered 

 for it and on July 20 anchored alongside one of the islands, which we 

 named St. Elias [Kayak]. 



This island is situated in latitude 59° 40' N;^ longitude from Vaua 

 48° 50', and on the course E by N from Vaua 417^ German miles. That 

 same day the Captain Commander sent Fleet Master Khitrov in the 

 longboat to look about among the other islands in sight for a good anchor- 

 ing place where we might run for shelter in case of need. Khitrov re- 

 turned during the day and made a verbal report to the Captain to the 

 effect that he found anchorage between the mainland and the island 

 in the roadstead, where he got 3 to 3% fathoms of water. He also reported 

 that on that island he came across a hut built of hewn boards and that 

 there were indications that people occupied the hut shortly before our 

 coming. He brought to show us a wooden basket, a shovel, also a stone 

 which had on it many marks of copper. The Adjunct Steller, who went 

 in the small boat to the island of St. Elias, found there an earthen hut 

 in which were dried fish, cured that very summer; we saw also human 

 footprints on the sand and a fireplace. It was evident that on seeing 



2 Yushin gives 59° 49', Khitrov 59° 39'. The correct latitude of the southern 

 point (Cape St. Elias) is 59° 48', of the northern point 60° o', and of the St. Peter's 

 anchorage 59° 56'. 



