LANDFALLS IN THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS 321 



and took more soundings and got the same depth with sandy bottom. 

 There was no land in sight, probably because it was hidden by the dark- 

 ness and fog; but we took no chances and stood out easterly for two 

 hours and then hove to until three in the morning, when we proceeded 

 on our course. At the end of the ninth hour in the morning, land [Agattu 

 Island] was sighted on the rhumb W by N, but I knew that it was not yet 

 Kamchatka. In the tenth hour we came about in order to clear it in the 

 south, for the wind was favorable and we were keeping parallel with the 

 shore between south and west. At the end of the day we took the bear- 

 ings of the land, which was latitude 52° 35' N, distant from Vaua 956 

 Russian versts,!^ reckoning from the returning point. The shore seemed 

 broken up; here and there were mountains of no great size, but in the 

 distance were high snow-covered mountains; but on the lower mountains 

 and on the level there was no snow. At different times we noticed near 

 the land four otters, the kind that live near Kamchatka, but which we 

 had found nowhere else. We had the land in view until six in the morning 

 of September 22. I am of the opinion that the land which we sighted on 

 September 4, 9, and 21 is one and the same body, and it is probably due 

 to the fog that we did not always see it. We had enough evidence of it 

 in the shape of shore birds, different kinds of animals that keep close to 

 land, and floating grasses. As we sailed south these signs either decreased 

 or disappeared cltogether. On our outward voyage, when we kept much 

 farther south than en the inward, we saw hardly any of the above indica- 

 tions, aside from sea animals and a small amount of fairly broken-up 

 sea grass and that rarely. I am inclined to think that all the land which 

 we saw is one body because from August 6, when it disappeared from 

 view, until September 4, when we caught sight of it once more, there 

 were signs that it was near. Another good bit of evidence to substantiate 

 my theory is this: If the people we met with on September 9 were on 

 an island it goes to show that the mainland is near, for how could they 

 have come here otherwise? If it is not an island then it is the mainland 

 itself. I cannot say for certain which it is. 



By the end of September all members of the crew were down with 

 scurvy; many of them could not stand their watch, and those that came 

 on deck did so because it was necessary and not because they had the 

 strength. Between September 16 and the time when we returned to the 

 harbor six men died. Their names, as well as those who were left on the 

 American coast, are recorded in the register.^^ On the night of October 7, 

 at ten o'clock. Lieutenant Chikhachev died ; on the next day Navigator 

 Vrange and Fleet Master Michael Plautin passed away. Chikhachev 

 could not stand his watch for three weeks before he died, and Plautin 



" Equivalent to 549 knots. This would be the corrected distance. The journal 

 for September 21 (p. 307) gives 127 knots. 

 12 Not published in the present work. 



