ii8 STELLER'S JOURNAL 



sails set even in this gale, we were running toward the north- 

 east. 



On October 9 the storm became even more violent, conse- 

 quently we scudded northeast the whole day. However, we had 

 sunshine today and a very clear night. During the lOth the 

 storm continued with equal violence. Lieutenant Waxel very 

 eagerly made it his business to persuade the Captain Com- 

 mander, who, because of too much inactivity, was laid up very 

 badly with the scurvy, to agree that we should approach the 

 mainland of America in order to winter there, as the impossi- 

 bility [of reaching Kamchatka] was obvious and as within a few 

 days we should no longer be able to handle the sails and the ship 

 with so many sick persons, when it would seem that one and all, 

 with the whole equipment, must be irretrievably lost. But the 

 Commander, who had been imposed upon so often, placed now 

 as little faith in the one as in the other and encompassed his un- 

 qualified opinion in the command that a vow might be made for 

 the purpose of collecting money, by the Russians for the church 

 of the expedition in Avacha but by the Lutherans for the church 

 at Viborg.266 



On the nth of October we got very beautiful bright weather 

 and sunshine. The wind was WNW, and with it we sailed south- 

 west. Towards night the wind died down completel}', and it 

 became as calm as on September 21. However, about one o'clock 

 after midnight a strong south wind began to blow, with which 

 we scurried westward at such a rate that we made more than 

 one and three-quarter miles an hour. On the 12th we ran with 

 this wind W by N; but towards noon the wind shifted to south- 

 west, and about six o'clock in the evening we again got a fierce 

 storm with snow, rain, and hail. A rainbow was also seen. 



On October 13 the storm moderated. Owing to the contrary 



2« In the MS the last clause reads: "a vow might be made and money 

 collected, one half to be given to the Russians for the church of the expe- 

 dition at Avacha, but the other half to the Lutherans for the church in 

 Viborg." Doubtless Viborg, Finland, not Denmark, is meant, inasmuch 

 as Bering lived at the former place. 



