INTRODUCTORY.

It is many years since we commenced the identification and reconciliation of the landfalls of the early Spanish and English navigators on the Northwest Coast of America; especially those of Ulloa, Cabrillo, Ferrelo, Drake, Vizcaino and Aguilar, from 1539 to 1603. Following their heroic achievements was a lull of Spanish exploration on this Coast for one hundred and sixty-six years. Then came the long series of Spanish discoveries and surveys from 1769 to, and overlapping the explorations of Cook, La Pérouse and Vancouver, from 1778 to 1794, which had been prompted by Spanish activity.

In that long interval there were two important and remarkable expeditions made by the ambitious and irrepressible Russians in the North Pacific which led to Bering's discovery of the East Cape of Asia at Bering Strait in 1728; the charting of the Kurils and their relation to Japan by Spanberg in 1738-'39; and the discovery of the southwest coast of Alaska, and part of the great chain of the Aleutian Islands in 1741. Moreover the latter experience of the St. Peter and the St. Paul wiped from the Northwest Pacific, the mythical "Gamaland" of De l' Isle's map; the "Grand Isa. di Jezo e lunga" of Dudley's Arcano del Mare 1647, only three hundred nautical miles from the Coast of Oregon in latitude 46°, and the "I di Jezo," of the earlier München MS. chart, only one hundred and eighty nautical miles from Oregon in the same latitude.

These Russian expeditions demanded far greater labor, time and endurance than those of Spain, England or France.

The literature which we have concerning the achievements of Bering and Chirikof, so far as we can reach it upon this Coast, is very meagre, and not satisfactory: so that it seemed almost impracticable to reconcile all their tracks and landfalls. Their longitudes were worthless, for they differed 13° or 400 nautical miles; the latitudes were not always reliable; the descriptions of the coasts were not consistent and wholly lacked details and elevations; while the dead reckoning was delusive, and the currents were an unknown quantity, and treacherous. We know comparatively little of the currents to this day.

Moreover, among some writers there has been quite an exhibition of feeling or adverse criticism, where in reality the largest praise and consideration was due to each and every of the heroes who had helped to successfully accomplish a great undertaking without regard to personal comfort and continuous danger. Their exploits. recall the bravery, tenacity and devotion of the earlier Spanish discoverers and the supreme daring and self-reliance of those archfreebooters Drake, Cavendish and Dampier.

With admiration for the Russian discoverers, sympathy with their sufferings, and in the hope of reconciling part of the tracks and landfalls of Bering and Chirikof, aided by modern charts of Alaska, and some little knowledge of the currents and climatic conditions of the Northeast Pacific, we have so far succeeded in the investigation that we are impelled to present to the Geographical Society of the Pacific, a chart which exhibits the positions of the St. Peter and St. Paul from the night of their separation in bad weather, June 20-21, 1741, to their return to the same meridian in September and October. This period comprises their different lines of approach to the West Coast of Alaska, their landfalls, and their approach and examination of part of the Aleutian Islands.

We trust this effort may incite others with larger means and facilities to disentangle the whole of their tracks.

THE PROJECTS OF PETER The Great, AND THE EARLIer DisCOVERIES OF BERING.

But before presenting our work in detail, it may be interesting to recall a few of the incidents of this important Russian expedition, in order to gain a fair idea of the almost superhuman labor carried on through eight years of preparation to fruition.

It will be remembered that when the Viceroy Cortés was fitting out his Pacific Coast vessels for the early exploration of the Western Coast of Mexico and California, all the essential materials of the ships, such as anchors, cables, rigging, canvass, iron work, etc., were carried across the continent from the Gulf of Mexico, (where they had been brought from Spain), to the port of Navidad on the Pacific. It was a labor that cost thousands of lives.

And so, when Peter the Great essayed voyages along the Pacific seaboard of Asia, most of the ships' outfits were carried across Siberia two thousand miles and more through the most desolate regions of the earth, and where the cold of winter is intense.

Peter the Great was an extraordinary man from every point of view, but we have to deal with him from one standpoint only. He had learned the craft and art of ship-building in England and Holland, and was therefore able to decide whence he could obtain good shipbuilders, and able seamen for service in Russia. He favored Danes, Norwegians, Dutch and Englishmen.

Vitus Bering was a Dane by birth, and he naturally took to a sea life, in which he made some long voyages as a seaman. Through the influence of one of his countrymen in the naval service of Russia, he was appointed to a place in the Baltic fleet, where he developed into a good fighter, and a bold and able commander. In the Russian service his name was Ivan Ivanovich Bering. In 1724 he was appointed chief of the first Kamchatkan expedition, the object of which was to determine whether Asia and America were connected.

It was on his death-bed in December, 1724, that the Emperor dictated the orders for Bering's undertaking. It included the building of decked boats or small vessels "at Kamchatka, or somewhere else," in which "to sail northward therefrom to the end of the Coast, which is undoubtedly America."

This expedition was unprecedented. The world knew nothing of the country or the waters to be traversed, or of their extent. We now know that the East Cape of Asia lies about 5,500 miles in a straight line from St. Petersburg. The country was inhospitable in every sense; it contained endless steppes, forests, morasses, and fields of trackless snow in winter. It embraced the pole of the lowest temperature on the earth. The inhabitants were sparse, and without resources. Over those unprecedented difficulties Bering was to transport enormous provision trains, and large quantities of material for ship building; but he was worthy the trust reposed in him by his Imperial master.

Emperor and Autocrat, Peter the Great died Jan. 28, 1725. Chirikof, the second in command, had started the day before; Bering brought up the rear Feb. 5th. One year was consumed in reaching Tobolsk on the Irtysch. Next year he built barges and boats on the Lena and made two thousand leathern sacks to carry flour to Okhotsk, nearly seven hundred miles distant. On the route the temperature reached minus 71° Fahr.; and the "pourga" or blizzard of Siberia is speedy death to those exposed to it. On the last of September, 1726, he reached Okhotsk. The mass of the party reached there late in October, to find a settlement of eleven huts

with ten Russian families who lived by fishing. The expedition was housed in December, except that part under Spanberg which was caught in great snow storms with provisions exhausted, so that they ate their "straps, leathern bags and shoes." The rescue of the party demanded heroic qualities, which Bering put forth successfully.

We need not have given even these slender details, except to show the character of Bering and his officers. They were all men of extraordinary endurance and capacity. They were worthy of the Autocrat who had named the expedition, and left them to carry it out. It was successfully accomplished in 1728, by Bering sailing into the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait although he did not see the northwest Cape of America. This was the initiation of Bering, and Chirikof, and Spanberg for any greater undertakings.

SOME PERTINENT FACTS IN RUSSIAN POLITICAL HISTORY, 1730 TO 1741.

In justice to Bering, it seems pertinent to present a few facts of Russian political history during the short period from 1730 to 1741. They do not reveal the motives for the struggles among the nobility for the control of the Government; but suggest the necessary conflict of opinions about the preliminary and continuous labors of Bering and his leading officers, thousands of miles away from headquarters; with no mode of quick communication. The wonder is, that in the fierce domestic and foreign issues of that period of eleven years, all of the expeditions were not incontinently abandoned. There would seem to have been a pervading and governing idea among those in power that discovery and exploration would extend the Empire and its influence. These troubles also point to the reason why so many complaints, threats and indignities were showered upon Bering.

Some years before the death of Peter the Great he had altered the order of succession to the throne in favor of the Empress Catherine. During the two and a half years of her reign and rule she consummated many wise ameliorations and undertakings. She died May 17th, 1727, having settled the crown upon Peter II, the son of the Czarovitch Alexei, who succeeded by the title of Peter II. He was then only twelve years old. For some time he was controlled by Prince Menzikoff who had risen from obscurity. This prince was banished to Siberia by the influence of the Dolgourki

family, who took into their hands the management of Government affairs. In 1730 Peter II died, and was succeeded by Anna, Duchess of Courland, through the influence of the Senate and nobility, who set aside the order of succession established by Peter the Great and the Empress Catherine. Her reign was extremely prosperous, although there was a rupture between Russia and Turkey in 1735. Campaign followed campaign on the borders of Turkey, with the loss of more than one hundred thousand men and vast sums of money, until the treaty of 1739 was concluded. The death of the Empress took place in 1740; then followed the regency of Princess Anna of Mecklenburg, during which a new war commenced between Russia and Sweden. In 1741 the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great by Catherine was proclaimed Empress on the 6th of December, and in the afternoon of that date the troops took the oath.

BERING PROPOSES A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION

TO THE NORTHWEST COAST OF AMERICA.

In 1730 Bering returned to St. Petersburg from his discovery of the East Cape of Asia at Bering Strait. In 1731 his map was made in Moscow, but within two months after his return, when he submitted his report to the Admiralty, he also submitted a project for a still greater scheme of Pacific exploration.

Every effort was made to throw doubt on Bering's work by a body of discontents who built up charges against the truthfulness of his map. The Academy of Sciences would not use it. Intrigues, jealousies and machinations pervaded the atmosphere. Fortunately the Government recognized the map as authentic. Bering was promoted in regular order to the rank of Captain Commander in the Russian fleet, the next below the rank of Rear Admiral.

Peter the Great had been dead five years, but the Duchess of Courland, Anna Ivanova, a daughter of the Emperor's half-brother Ivan, had ascended the throne. She maintained her Court at MosIn April 17th, 1732, the Empress ordered that Bering's proposition for a more extended exploration across the Pacific should be executed; and charged the Senate to take the necessary steps for that purpose.

COW.