UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY. 763 



July 1, 1727, Spanberg sailed for the Bolshoia River, Kamchatka, in the Fortuna. Two days 

 after Lieutenant Chirikoff arrived from. Yakutsk with the goods which had been left there, 110 

 horses aud 200 sacks of flour in charge of Quartermaster Borisoff. 



On the 10th a boat arrived from Bolsheretsk belonging to the Treasury Department, and 

 bringing two commissioners who had been sent out in 1725 to collect the Kamchatkan tribute. 

 This was the same vessel which made the first voyage from Okhotsk to Kamchatka in 1710. 

 Parties with additional supplies of flour, to the amount of about 600 sacks, arrived during this 

 month and 50 oxen to supply salt beef for the expedition. On the 20th a sergeant with reports 

 for the Admiralty College was sent off.* 



August 4 the old vessel, having been repaired, was launched. On the 7th a high wind from 

 the sea drove in a multitude of ducks which the whole expedition set out to capture, bringing in 

 3,000, while as many more escaped or were allowed to get away. On the 11th of the month Lieu- 

 tenant Spanberg, with the Fortuna, returned from Bolsheretsk. August 19, 1727, the command 

 went on board the vessels, Bering and Spauberg on the Fortuna, Chirikoff and Chaplin on the old 

 vessel, whose name is not mentioned. On the 22d they set sail. The vessels kept company, and 

 the notes which follow were taken by Chaplin on his own vessel. 



On the 29th they saw the coast of Kamchatka in latitude 55° 15'; came to anchor and sent a 

 boat for water to a river which was called Kratogoroff by those acquainted with the coast. 



On the 1st of September, in the afternoon, they weighed anchor aud stood to the southward. 

 At 3 o'clock on the 2d they arrived at the mouth of the Bolshoia River, and at 6 p. m. they 

 were joined by the Fortuna. It was highwater at 7:30, four hours aud fifty-four minutes before 

 the moon's transit over the meridian. The latitude was 52° 42' N. The difference of longitude 

 between Okhotsk and Bolsheretsk was computed to be 13° 43'. The place was observed to be in 

 latitude 52° 45', aud the variation was 10° 28' easterly. At noon on the Gth of September, Bering, 

 Spanberg, and the surgeon went ashore and were followed by most of the party in small boats. On 

 the 9th Lieutenant Chirikoff also left his vessel for the shore. Most of the month was employed 

 in taking cargo in small boats up the river Bolshoia as far as possible to save labor later on. 

 About the middle of the month Spanberg left Bolsheretsk on his way to Lower Kamchatka settle- 

 ment. 



There were 17 houses at Bolsheretsk, according to Chirikoff 's journal. 



On the Gth of October' the above-mentioned boats arrived at Lower [1 Upper] Kamchatka, 

 the only losses being 2 anchors and 8 sacks of flour. 



[1728.] January 4, 1728, 78 sledges of different goods and the commander's baggage set out 

 for Upper Kamchatka settlement. January 14, Bering himself, and his whole party followed. 

 January 25 all arrived safely at Upper Kamchatka, a distance of 486 versts from Bolsheretsk. 

 This settlement of 17 houses was situated on the left bank of the Kamchatka River, and prin- 

 cipally occupied by the officers who collected the tribute and their employes. 



The settlement of Upper Kamchatka, according to Chirikoff 's journal, contained 40 Russians. 

 It is situated in latitude 54° 28', aud the variation of the compass is 11° 34' easterly. [Krashi- 

 ninikoff wintered here in 1738, when there were 22 houses and 56 Russian residents.] Here Bering 

 remained 7 weeks supervising the dispatch of goods on sledges to Lower Kamchatka, for which 

 place he and the rest of his party started on the 2d of March, arriving there safely on the 11th. 



The settlement was on the right bank of the Kamchatka River, and consisted of about 40 

 houses, scattered along the bank for the distance of a verst. Seven versts to the SE. by E. are the 

 hot springs, where there was a church and 15 houses. Here Spanberg was recruiting, his health be- 

 ing impaired. From Upper Kamchatka to Lower Kamchatka the distance was regarded as 397 

 versts, so that all the goods and material had been transported 883 versts. 



*These dispatches took nearly a year to reach their destination. 

 A note and abstract in the archives of the University of Upsala, filed with Waxel's chart of the expedition of 1741, 

 states that on the 28th of August, 1728, the Admiralty College ordered that from the journals and charts sent by 

 Captain Bering a chart should be prepared showing his complete route, of which an abstract follows, which states 

 that for that part of the journey beyond Okhotsk no report had at the time of writing been received. This note is 

 neither dated or signed, but appears to be a news-brief of the time to which it refers. The journals, etc., are un- 

 doubtedly those above referred to. 



