DEATH OF BERING 155 



mate Khotyaintsov, died, and on January 8 the ensign Lagunov, 

 the thirtieth in the sequence and the last one of our number [to 

 die]. 362 



Inasmuch as the tragic end of the late Captain Commander 

 has made different impressions on different people, I cannot but 

 pause here awhile to make a few remarks regarding his past. 



Vitus Bering was by birth a Dane, a righteous and devout 

 Christian, whose conduct was that of a man of good manners, 

 kind, quiet, and universally liked by the whole command, both 

 high and low. After two voyages to the Indies he entered the 

 service of the Russian navy in 1704 as a lieutenant and served in 

 it with the utmost fidelity until his end in 1741, having worked 

 his way up to the rank of Captain Commander. He was em- 

 ployed in the execution of various undertakings, of which the 

 two Kamchatka expeditions are the most noteworthy. Fair- 

 minded persons cannot but admit^^^ that to the best of his 



one-third his skill, who had also learned lately from him part of what 

 they knew, and to see himself scorned to such an extent that one had to 

 wonder at his fate with particular pity that so miserable and ignominious 

 an end could follow such long and honorable service and good behavior. 

 This came to pass solely and alone because the Captain Commander, as 

 well as the others, in their foolish conceit and pride took no more notice 

 of his remonstrances than of the opinion of anybody else who did not 

 agree with them and as a consequence did everything alone that they 

 wanted to, with the result of what afterwards happened." 



362 Compare this enumeration of those who died after Hesselberg with 

 the corresponding portion of the list appended to Waxel's report (Vol. i, 

 p. 282). The "marine grenadier" and "marine soldier" there named may 

 be the same as Steller's "two grenadiers." Steller's "master's servant" 

 may be included in the "Personal servants of the officers, two men" of 

 that list, his "sailor" may be the "admiralty calker." According to the 

 log book {ibid., p. 230) and that list Khotyaintsov died the day after 

 Bering died, and the wording in the MS is to that effect. As to the total 

 number of members of the expedition to die, it seems to have been 32 

 (see Vol. I, p. 282, and footnote 6 on that page). 



863 In the MS this sentence is preceded by the clause "Although there 

 are various sources from which to arrive at a judgment as to his conduct 

 on this second, important, and, on account of our many sufferings, trying 

 expedition." 



