VOYAGE OF THE "ST. PETER" 335 



fathoms of water, but it was otherwise reported to the captain. 

 Gradually the ship worked out of this into 18 and 20 fathoms, 

 where anchor was dropped to wait for daylight." 



This was Chirikov Island, and at daylight the bearings showed 

 the ship was anchored about lyi miles off the northern end. They 

 named this island Tumannoi (foggy) . Towards evening of the 3rd 

 the anchor was raised, and the St. Peter stood to the northward 

 and westward. At 3 p.m. of August 4 Mt. Chiginigak was sighted, 

 and at 8 p.m. the officers made out the mainland from Cape Provi- 

 dence to Chignik Bay, with Sutwik Island in plain view. The 

 vessel was now working to the southward; but the wind had 

 fallen to light variable airs, and she made little progress during 

 the night. In the morning the wind freshened from the east- 

 ward; and at noon August 4, according to the bearings, the St. 

 Peter was 5 miles to the eastward of Anowik Island of the Semidi 

 group. The largest and most northerly island of the group must 

 have been hidden by the fog, as both the log and Waxel's report 

 state that only five islands were seen. Owing to the fog, un- 

 steady winds, and numerous islands, Bering decided to w^ork off- 

 noting at the proper intervals the soundings recorded in the log, it at once be- 

 comes apparent that the vessel passed to the southward of the Trinity Islands and 

 at noon of the 27th was about 15 miles south of Tugidak Island. Mr. Davidson 

 states that at night the vessel found herself in shoal water, tossed by heavy cur- 

 rent rips. This would indeed have been the case had she passed through Douglas 

 Channel with the SE storm prevailing, but there is no entry in the log indicating 

 any unusual conditions. At 7 and 8 p.m. the log records depths of 35 and 40 fathoms, 

 and at 9 p.m. is the following entry: "Sounded, but no bottom. We are in danger 

 of running on sand banks and therefore cannot keep close to land, hence have kept 

 off a few points." At that hour the course was changed to WSW, true; and at mid- 

 night, having found bottom at 40 fathoms, the vessel was hauled off to SW, true. 

 Waxel makes no mention of unusually shoal water at this time, and Steller, who was 

 an exceptionally keen observer and painstaking recorder of events, makes only the 

 following comment in his diary covering the 26th and 27th: "These gentlemen 

 (the navigators) thought it necessary always to hug the coast, instead of which it 

 might have been better after sailing a hundred versts to try and go north one or 

 two degrees. Their navigation and a small storm drove us during the night of July 

 27 on a bank 50 fathoms under water, that stretched out from the shore into the 

 sea, but the land itself, to our great fortune, was so distant as not to be seen." 

 Steller apparently seized every opportunity to criticize Bering and the navigators. 

 On more than one occasion he recites that shoal water and other unusual events were 

 kept from the knowledge of the Captain and suppressed from the log, and it is 

 fair to assume that if the St. Peter had passed through Douglas Channel on the 

 stormy night of the 27th, Steller would not have failed to note the unusual condi- 

 tions and record them in his diary. 



