762 UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY. 



berg, the surgeon, 2 mates, 2 gcodesists, and other members of the party. On the 16th Lieutenant 

 Chirikoff arrived with 7 barges. Six hundred horses loaded with flour were started for Okhotsk, 

 divided into three parties. At the same time Captain Bering obtained from the Voivod the ser- 

 vices of the monk Kozuireffski. 



Brother Kozuireffski had borne an important part in the subjection of the northeastern 

 extreme of Siberia. He was first stationed, in 1712 and 1713, near the Kurile Islands, and 

 obtained information about those and other islands. He served many years in the settlements at 

 Kamchatka, Oliutorsk, and Auadyrsk. He received the tonsure in 1717, and entered the convent 

 at Lower Kamchatka. In 1720 lie came to Yakutsk, where excellent reports of him were received 

 from the local traders of Kamchatka, when the Yakutsk authorities as well as Captain Bering 

 sought him out. 



On the 7th of June Lieutenant Spanberg left Yakutsk with 13 barges and 204 people. While 

 at Yakutsk Bering detached on special service the noble Ivan Shestakoff, who afterward went to 

 make war on the Chukchis with his uncle, Afauasius Shestakoff, Hetman of Cossacks. Chaplin's 

 journal notes that he bought of the noble Ivan 11 oxen, for which he paid 44 rubles, or about $32. 

 All the material and provisions being started for Okhotsk, Bering himself departed for that 

 place on the 16th of August, 1726, with Chaplin and others, leaving Lieutenant Chirikoff behind 

 to follow in the spring. The latter determined the latitude of Yakutsk as 62° 08' and the varia- 

 tion of the compass 1° 57' easterly. 



In the last days of March, 1727, an epidemic of measles developed in Yakutsk, so severe that 

 by the middle of April every one was ill, where none had been ill before. No such pestilence had 

 been known for half a century and none such occurred for 45 years afterward. 



April [Query, August?] 29, 1726, there were forwarded to Okhotsk, 58 oxen, 4 cows, and 2 

 pigs. " Okhotsk settlement," says Chaplin, "stauds on the bank of the river Okkota and contains 

 11 houses built of logs. The inhabitants subsist chiefly on the fishery, as grain is not grown. 

 There are many tributary natives in the vicinity of the place. The Lamuts call the Okhotsk Sea 

 Laruo." 



By the 27th of October 278 horses with 546 sacks of flour had arrived at Okhotsk, less than 

 half of those which had been started from Yakutsk. Lieutenant Spanberg (who had started by 

 water, in the hope to reach a landmark erected by the Siberian pioneers near the Yudoma Eiver, 

 a crucifix known as the Cross of Yudoma) was caught by frost near the mouth of the Gorbeh 

 Biver a long distance from his destination. Artisan Kozloff lost during his journey 24 horses, and 

 left their packs of flour at Yudoma Cross. The surgeon lost 12 horses, and of 11 oxen only 1 

 arrived. Nor did the horses at Okhotsk fare better. Chaplin states that on the 11th of Novem- 

 ber, of the remaining horses 121 were dead. During November the party were all engaged in 

 getting out timber for houses. On the 19th there was an extraordinary high tide which flooded 

 the whole town, the latter being situated on a low gravel spit. During the whole month the wind 

 blew from the north. On the 2d of December Captain Bering occupied a newly erected house. 



The setting in of winter found Spanberg in a barren and uninhabited region where nothing 

 could be procured. His party were obliged to proceed by laud to Yudoma Cross and for food 

 were reduced to the greatest extremity. On the 21st of December a report from him was received 

 to the effect that his party was on the road with 90 sledges, having left a mate and 9 soldiers in 

 charge of the barges ; the next day 10 sledges of provisions, and twenty-four hours later 39 men 

 with 37 sledges, were dispatched to his relief. 



[1727.] Early in January, 1727, Spanberg arrived with 7 sledges at Okhotsk. On the 

 14th of February a party with 76 sledges started to bring in Spanberg's goods, returning two 

 weeks later, and by the 6th of April most of the material had arrived at Okhotsk. 



Towards the end of April the clerk, Turchauinoff, became insane — a. man who until then had 

 been trusted by Bering with serious or dangerous duties with perfect confidence. He was imme- 

 diately put under a strong guard and sent to Yakutsk to be returned to St. Petersburg. 



In the month of June, 1727, everything being made ready for transportation to Kamchatka, 

 the newly built vessel, named the Fortuna, was launched June 8 at Okhotsk. On the 11th 

 Luzhin and the remaining goods arrived from Yudoma Cross. Toward the end of the month the 

 vessel had been rigged and loaded with cargo for Kamchatka. Chaplin determined the latitude 

 of Okhotsk to be 59° 13' N. 



