344 NOTE TO ACCOMPANY THE CHART 



company watched and waited that night and the following day, 

 for their last boat had gone and this left them no means of reach- 

 ing the shore; but at one o'clock in the afternoon (July 25) two 

 boats were seen coming out of the bay which the St. PauVs boats 

 had entered. One of the boats was larger than the other, and at 

 first it was thought the ship's boats were returning; but they soon 

 saw their error, for the small boat approached rapidly and the 

 four men in it used paddles instead of oars. This boat stopped at 

 some distance from the ship; the four occupants stood up and 

 shouted twice "Agai, Agai," waved their hands, and turned back 

 to the larger boat, which had stopped at a still further distance 

 from the St. Paul. White kerchiefs were waved, and every effort 

 was made to induce the boats to come closer, but to no avail; 

 and the two boats rapidly returned to the bay from which they 

 had come. The actions of the natives and their fear to come close 

 to the ship convinced Chirikov that his men had either been killed 

 or held captive, and the ship's company began to realize the full 

 extent of the disaster that had overtaken them. They had lost 15 

 of their shipmates and their only two boats; they could not follow 

 the native boats in the St. Paul and were helpless to avenge or 

 release their comrades, since they had no means of reaching the 

 shore. The remainder of the afternoon the St. Paul kept close 

 to the mouth of the bay but at sundown headed offshore for the 

 night and in the morning coasted along the shore to the north- 

 ward. At noon of the 26th, being in latitude 58° 21', Chirikov 

 called a council of the officers, and it was decided that as the 

 remaining water supply was barely sufficient for the return voy- 

 age and they had no boats with which to obtain a. fresh supply or 

 even to examine the shore, it was the part of wisdom to sail at 

 once for Kamchatka. 



IDENTIFICATION OF PLACE WHERE CHIRIKOV S MEN WERE LOST 



At this point it is of interest to discuss the location of the bay 

 where the St. Paul lost her two boats and 1 5 of her crew, as there 

 appears to have been some doubt on this point. The position of 



