332 NOTE TO ACCOMPANY THE CHART 



decided to shape again his course to the southward as far as 

 latitude 46° in order to make another attempt to locate the 

 elusive Gama Land. Noon of the 25th found the ship in latitude 

 45°i6', with clear weather and no land in sight. This finally con- 

 vinced Bering that the map of Delisle de la Croyere was incorrect 

 and that Juan de Gama Land did not exist, and consequently he 

 changed the course to E by N, true. He had fair winds and made 

 good progress, but no land being sighted by July 6 he began to 

 keep more to the northward. On July 14, being fearful of 

 the water supply, a council of the officers was called, and it was 

 decided to steer more towards the north, in the hope of reach- 

 ing some land where the empty water casks might be refilled. 



DISCOVERY OF LAND 



At noon July 16 (the end of the log book day^), the ship was in 

 latitude 58° 17' by observation. Thirty minutes later land was 

 sighted, high mountains covered with snow, and at i p.m., 

 July 17, a particularly high snow-covered mountain bore N by 

 W. This was Mt. St. Elias, Bering's first glimpse of the American 

 continent, at a distance of about 120 nautical miles. The longi- 

 tude according to the reckoning was 151° 26' W, but this was 

 more than 9° in error, the correct approximate longitude of the 

 St. Peter at noon July 16 having been 142° 10' W. These early 

 navigators were sailing unknown seas and had no means of know- 

 ing that during the greater part of their voyage a current set 

 them constantly to the eastward. The errors in reckoning the 

 ship's position were due in small part to crude methods and lack 

 of instruments, and in a larger part to the unknown currents. In 

 plotting the positions of Bering and Chirikov we have endeav- 

 ored to make due allowance for these currents. 



3 While the civil day begins at midnight and ends the following midnight, the 

 astronomical day is reckoned from noon to noon. The log books of the St. Peter 

 and the St. Paul were kept according to the astronomical date, and the log date of 

 July 16 begins at neon July 15 and ends at noon July 16. The civil date coincides 

 with the log date during the hours of the forenoon, but during the hours of the 

 afternoon the log date is one day in advance of the civil date. The St. Peter's log 

 book records that land was sighted July 17 at 12.30 p.m., or 30 minutes after that 

 day began; the civil date was July 16, 12.30 p.m. (Russian calendar). 



