128 STELLER'S JOURNAL 



to this hour, will neither admit nor believe it. Besides, to the 

 question, why they went as far north as 56°, consequently devi- 

 ating from their own decision not to go beyond 52°, thereby caus- 

 ing our non-arrival and the final ruin of the ship, they will not 

 in all eternity be able to return an answer. 



Accordingly, against all reason we sailed northward because, 

 as Master Khitrov told Lieutenant Waxel, otherwise our dead 

 reckoning would not come out even,292 since it indicated still over 

 sixty miles from Avacha. They would rather jeopardize the 

 welfare of us all than appear to have made a mistake , whereby, 

 in addition, the whole chart, as well as the reckoning, would be 

 incorrect and uncertain, if the error were only covered up and not 

 pointed out, especially since, in view of the long voyage, the 

 many storms gone through, the unknown currents,^^^ the beating 

 to windward, etc., and also in view of the fact that the method 

 used in determining the longitude (though the best, in default of 

 a better one) is nevertheless subject to very many inaccuracies, 

 an error of thirty to forty miles would not be considered bad, 

 while on the contrary a too precise exactness must to intelligent 

 people appear either a miracle or humbug. 



Apart from this baseless excuse, there seems, judging from 

 many circumstances, to have been hidden behind it quite a secret 

 motive which had egotistical designs for its object. Namely, 

 they preferred to go north in order to be able to use the dire 

 necessity as a pretext why they would have to enter the mouth 

 of the Kamchatka River and not Avacha [Bay]. This we under- 



trends northeast-southwest. The only basis for his deduction is thereby 

 removed, and it remains unclear how he arrived at it. 



In this connection it should be remarked that Bering Island is not due 

 east of the mouth of the Kamchatka River, that point being in latitude 

 about 56}i°, while Bering Island is bisected by the 55th parallel, (J) 



292 On the error in longitude in the ship's reckoning see Vol. i, p. 210, 

 footnote 124, and pp. 276 and 332. 



293 The printed text has "bei . . , nicht bemerkten Stromungen," 

 strictly "in view of currents that were not noticed"; the MS has "bey so 

 vielen . . . observirten Strohmen," "in view of the many currents 

 whose presence was observed." 



