whose vague locations Spanberg and Walton's tracks had three times passed over in 1738 and 1739. Furthermore, the provisions of the vessel were nearly half consumed; the general movement of the wind was from the westward; and Bering himself and nearly one-third of the crew were on the sick list with scurvy. Dense clouds obscured the sky as the St. Peter commenced her return voyage, and rain fell incessantly. Bancroft well says that "dismal forces were closing in round the Dane." Even Steller admits that "the good Commander was far superior "to all the other officers in divining the future." We believe that Bering exercised the judgment of a capable, selfreliant, far-seeing and clear-headed commander, placed in a position surrounded by adverse and conflicting conditions. Bering, as well as every other explorer and commander, has the right to be judged from the standpoint of his orders, the character of the Government, the work which he has already accomplished and what he hopes to surpass, the means and methods at his disposition, his distance from support, the character of his officers and men, his source of supplies, and especially the depressing effects of disease. He rose equal to the emergencies of the occasion, and set aside the instructions which required him to act in accordance with the Council of officers; and assumed all the responsibilities. The Council made no protest to his plans. To judge clearly and coldly of his decision we must try to put ourselves in his place, and remember the character of the vessel, of his instruments, of his outfit, of his resources, of the weather, of the direction of the winds, of the trackless ocean, and of the terrible and inevitable consequences of shipwreck in that region. There was no soul to assist them in the hour of danger. He can not be criticized by the geographical and climatic knowledge available to us to-day. Müller in referring to all the discouraging conditions that beset the officers and men of the St. Peter, recalls the expression of one of the former as follows: "I do not know whether there can be a "more discontented and worse manner of living in the world, than "to navigate an undescribed sea. I speak from experience, and can say with truth, that during the five months I was in this voy'age, without seeing any land known before, I did not sleep "quietly many hours; because I was in continual danger and un"certainty." THE ST. PETER Pursues HER VOYAGE TOWARD THE SOUTHWEST. On the 21st of July the St. Peter had made but twenty-five miles to the westnorthwest from her anchorage, and must have been within ten or fifteen miles of the low shore of the delta of the Atna or Copper River, in moderately shoal water, with high broken land ahead and to the westward, if the weather permitted him to get glimpses of it. The proposed route of the expedition had been to follow the American coast, when discovered, to the latitude of 65° or 66°, (his latitude of the western cape of Bering strait,) but the great barrier mountains of this Alaska region precluded farther progress northward. Consequently the vessel pointed to the south of west. At noon of the 21st he steered to the westsouthwestward, and on the 22d the St. Peter was perhaps ten or fifteen miles south of Cape Cleare, the southern point of Montague Island which is in latitude 59° 46'. The island is traversed by lofty mountains. In his position, and probably from the time he left the Copper River delta astern, the soundings would range from 40 to 50 or 60 fathoms. Fortunately he was to the northward of the Sea Otter and two other dangerous reefs. During the 22nd and 23rd, the course was to the S. SW. and the chart indicates that he was in sight of land; but Müller says the weather was thick and the coast invisible. At noon on the 23rd in latitude 58° 40' by our adjustment, the St. Peter was in the position crossed by the St. Paul seven days later. He continued his course to the S. SW. and on the 24th the vessel was in latitude 57° 45′ and longitude 149° 30'. Here he would be in 150 fathoms of water, and off soundings. The course was then changed to the westsouthwestward, and it passed over the northern part of the Albatross bank with soundings from 60 to 40 fathoms. On the 25th it was decided in Council that the St. Peter should run under easy sail for Petropavlovsk (Lat. 52° 53'); and whenever wind and weather permitted to head for the north and west, in order to explore the coast they had left. Their general course would have been to the westsouthwest, had no land intervened. They were then on soundings but the wind was easterly, and thick fogs prevailed and dangers lay close under their lee. At noon on the 25th our adjustment places the brig in latitude 57° 30', about fifteen miles off the high, rocky, broken shore of Kadiak Island at Cape Greville of Cook. The St. Peter had 40 fathoms of water or less, and her course was changed to southwest, which is nearly parallel with the general trend of the shore. According to Waxell's chart the soundings ranged from 35 to 60 fathoms, and Müller says the vessel found herself frequently close under the shore. The current was perhaps carrying the vessel on her course, and with an inset effect in part due to the easterly swell. CAPE HERMOGENES, KADIAK ISLAND. At noon on the 26th Bering estimated the vessel to be in latitude 56° 30', when he saw a high, projecting point of land to the northward, distant about sixteen miles. The chart places the noon position in 56° 55', in the midst of a space indicative of soundings; and land far distant. This cape Bering named St. Hermogenes in honor of the patron saint of that day; but we have appealed to Greek Church authority in San Francisco, and learn that the 26th of July, old style, is dedicated to St. Ermolái (Hermolaus) six days after St. Elias day. The day of St. Ermogéne is August 13th, on which date Bering was off Unalaska and out of sight of land. This landfall is the south or southeast shore of the large island of Sakhlidak,* closely set into a deep recession of the high, broken, southeastern coast of Kadiak Island, which they were skirting. Tebénkof says the former island is mountainous and barren. Its southern head is in 57° 00'. The main island Kadiak rises to nearly 3,000 feet elevation at 20 miles from the coast. The identification of this cape has not hitherto been established. The skeleton chart drawn up from sketches and descriptions of Bering, Chirikof and Chitrof (Lauridsen's Vitus Bering, Chicago, 1889,) does not record the name St. Hermogenes, but has a projecting point in latitude 57° 36′ dated 25th when the vessel was on soundings there indicated. Waxell's chart does not give the name, nor does Steller refer to it. In latitude 57° 25′ Waxell has a projecting head without name; but the soundings lead southward therefrom. On Jefferys' republication of the chart of Russian Discoveries published by the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, St. Hermogenes is placed in latitude 58° 48′, with the adjacent coast undefined. In June 1778, Captain James Cook named Marmot *NOTE-This name has been spelled differently by different authorities: Lisiansky 1805. Saltkhidak; Russ. Hydr. chart No. 9, 1847, Sakhlidok; Archimandritoff 1848, Sakhlidak; Russ. Amer. Co. 1849, Sakhlidak (Tchalitak.) Archimandritoff made the survey of the Island in a bidarka with two natives, and his spelling is to be preferred. It is the Isla de Soto of the Spanish explorers. Island St. Hermogenes Island, and placed it in latitude 58° 18′ on his chart. On the 2nd of August 1779, the Spanish fragata Princesa, Lieut. Don Ygnacio Arteaga, and the fragata Favorita Lieut. Don Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, anchored off the entrance to Chatham Bay behind the island Regla; and state that "this point and Point Regla is the same which was called San "Ermogen by Captain Bering, and which they found to be in "latitude 59° 08′, and longitude 43° 46' " west from San Blas. This Pt. Regla is the Cape Elizabeth of Cook. In the chart of the Spanish explorations of the Sutil y Mexicana in 1792, Marmot island is named Isla San Hermogenes. In April 1794, Vancouver passed fifteen miles to the eastward of Marmot island which he called I. St. Hermogenes, and placed it in 58° 14' by dead reckoning, or on the authority of Cook. The name is not on Lisiansky's chart of 1805; nor on any of the Russian charts, including Tebénkof's about 1848-'52; but it is found on the British chart No. 2173, 1853, applied to Marmot Island. This location. was provisionally adopted by the United States Coast Survey in 1867, but applying the name to the south point in latitude 58° 10′. On the 24th of July, when the St. Peter was in latitude 58° 14' she was between eighty and ninety miles east of Marmot Island, which was the nearest land. On the 25th at noon she had made seventy miles toward the westsouthwest, and possibly got a glimpse of the land, or was warned by soundings of less than forty fathoms to haul out sharply to the southwest by south. Lauridsen says (p. 156, Olsen's translation,) that when "in lati"tude 56° 30', and about sixteen miles toward the north, they saw a high and projecting point which Bering called St. Hermogenes, "in honor of the patron saint of the day." Bering had not seen the entrance of the Gulf of Kenai (Cook's Inlet,) nor the thirty miles wide northern entrance of the Shelikof Strait between Kadiak Island and the main land on account of fogs; nor had he seen the eastern coast of Kadiak Island although he was on soundings; and therefore he thought this headland of St. Hermogenes was a continuation of the continental shore of which he had glimpses. "It is "represented as such on Müller's and Krasilnikoff's manuscript maps "in the Archives of the Admiralty." From this examination of authorities we believe that the south point of Sakhlidak Island in latitude 57° 00′ is the Cape St. Hermogenes of Bering; and that the name was erroneously applied for that of St. Ermolái. THE ST. PETER PASSES THROUGH DOUGLAS CHANNEL INTO SHELIKOF STRAIT. From the 26th of July to the 4th of August, the positions of the St. Peter in this examination are controlled (1) by her relation to Cape Hermogenes, (2) the observed latitude of July 31st, (3) the anchorage off the northwest end of Tomano island, (Ukamok,) (4) the position near the Simidi group, (5) the soundings on Waxell's chart, (6) the courses on the Bering, Chirikof, Chitrof chart in Lauridsen, (7) and some slight personal knowledge of the currents and the depths of water. The latitude of the 21st is reported 54° 49'; on the chart it is placed in 55° 02′. The drawbacks to navigation in this immediate locality were very great from natural causes. The southern extremity of Kadiak Island was only thirty miles distant from their position at noon on the 26th, the low-lying Trinity Islands off the southern point are separated from the smaller islands immediately under the point, by a comparatively shallow channel three miles wide and three miles long, lying roughly east and west. The tidal currents entering and leaving the southern part of the Shelikof strait abreast these islands, are strong and conflicting; and beyond all these unknown dangers, was the dense fog hiding everything. The navigators could trust only to their soundings. Both the charts referred to have no indication of the two relatively large Trinity Islands, and therefore they were not seen. The tidal currents through the Douglas channel were reported to us in 1867 by the Russian navigators as running five knots. At night the vessel found herself in shoal water, tossed by heavy current rips, with rain and strong winds and a dense fog or mist so that she dared not anchor. Waxell's chart gives soundings so small as ten fathoms sixty miles northeastward of Tomano Island, and therefore on the north side of the Trinity Islands. Taking all the above conditions into consideration, we are constrained to believe that the St. Peter passed through the Douglas channel between the north side of the Trinity Islands and the south of Kadiak Island and the small islands immediately adjacent thereto; and on the 27th at noon found herself about fifteen miles westward of Tugidak Island in about twenty to thirty fathoms of water. From this position she changed her course sharply to the westsouthwestward until she got into at least one hundred fathoms. |