Journey of the sloop Good Intent to explore the Asiatic and American shores of Bering Strait, 1819 to 1822. Part one

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and saw the impossibility of going N because all the visible expanse of sea was covered with closely joined ice floes, forming an endless ice field, on the edge of which were settled hundreds of thousands of walrus. Some swam around the ice and often approached the sloop. We tried to shoot at them from muskets and rifles, but without success; the bullets from the closest distance bounced off their thick skin. Their cry, like the bellow of an enraged bull, is deafening. Some plunged from the ice into the water; others, with the help of their long tusks, again climbed back out onto the ice with difficulty, throwing themselves with rage upon those who lay on the ice and were either thrown back into the water or succeeded in chasing away their enemies.

Bering Strait

Seeing the impossibility of penatrating the Bering Strait from this side of the island, the captain ordered us to turn and go along the southern shore of the island to its western cape. Having a favorable wind, we started to measure the island by means of angles. Continuing this activity toward the southern cape, we were compelled to abandon this work because of descending fog, and continued our trip to the mentioned cape. We rounded it, and turning N, slowly moved ahead. On June 30th at eight in the morning, the fog lifted, and we saw in front of us in Bering Strait itself the Gvozdev Islands. In an hour appeared East Cape and Cape Prince of Wales. At three

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o'clock we went through the Strait, and, entering the Arctic Sea, set our course for Kotzebue Sound. Having a favorable wind, we approached the entrance to this sound at ten o'clock on July 1, but found it blocked with ice. Having no way of entering it, the captain ordered us to turn again to Bering Strait to explore it and to verify the existence of the island seen by Captain Kotzebue and named Ratmanov Island by him.

Approaching the Gvozdev Islands, near which should have been situated Ratmanov Island, we determined, in completely clear weather, that this island did not exist, and Kotzebue was proably deceived by an ordinary phenomenon here, that is, an optical effect of light rays on clouds that are on the horizon. This was thought to be the case by our captain who was with him at that time on the brig "Riurik." Having corrected this error, we, under least sail, tacked to the sound, often encountering large thick blocks of ice, accompanied by almost constant fog. It lifted toward evening of the ninth, and we again saw the entrance to the sound still covered with ice. The wind was very light, and for this reason, in order not to be carried by the current, we dropped anchor at a depth of 12 sazhens. Near midnight, such thick ice started pressing against us that we were forced to cast off and go under sail. The rest of the night we spent in frequent tackings and shifting of our course to avoid being hit by an ice floe. Toward morning of the 10th, the sea cleared and we saw the entrance free. Not wasting time, we entered the harbor, but having a very

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light breeze, could get to the middle where we dropped anchor only toward evening.

Kotzebue Sound

Kotzebue Sound, from Cape Krusenstern to its northeastern end, extends for 75 miles, and its greatest width to 20. Its depth is from five to eight sazhens. The northern shore is hilly and high, and the southern, sloping and low. Fifty-six miles from the entrance to its very middle, at the place where the mouth begins to narrow, is an islet called Chamisso Island by Captain Kotzebue, after the naturalist and astronomer who was with him. From this island the bay widens again and appears to be a round lagoon, the eastern shores of which look blue in the distance.

We scarcely had time to drop anchor when we saw vistors in three large baidars. They stepped fearlessly on deck, and traded marten and otter skins for axes, cast iron pots, knives, and needles, but immediately went back without having traded even one tenth of their cargo. They took almost no tobacco and wanted only big knives, guns, powder, and lead, but as it was forbidden to sell them these articles, they stopped trading and returned to shore. ⁴

On the 11th, a light W wind started blowing. We weighed anchor and went farther into the sound. Passing Chamisso Island. and wishing to take refuge from the outer surf, we went to the other side of its high banks and dropped anchor at a

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distance of a half mile from the island. Its rocky shores rise steeply to a hundred or more feet. The surface is very evenly covered with a layer of black earth on which grows short dry grass, moss, and many cloudberries [salmonberries], the only fruit that we saw in these lands. In its coastal rocks nest an innumerable quantity of murres and puffins. The first bird was already described by me. The body of the second is completley similar to it, but has a flat, long beak, and is yellow and red in color, with a shape resembling the beak of a parrot; therfore, it is also called a sea parrot. Its meat is as tasty as that of the murre and we knocked down a few hundred of both kinds in a day. The Aleuts, brought from Unalashka, who left in the mornings in their three baidars, returned toward evening with a full load. They shot them with five-pointed arrows.

The "Discovery" was still not there. The weather was overcast, so we could not engage in astronomical observations, and were extremely bored from this inactivity. For amusement the captain proposed that we visit the northern part of the bay, namely, the place where he saw whole mountains of ice standing on the shore in 1816. Everyone gratefully accepted this proposal. We immediately began to prepare for a two- or three-day absence. We armed the longboat, placed on it four falconets, took provisions for three days and two Aleuts with one baidar, and started out in the number of 20 persons on the morning of July 14 at seven o'clock. The wind blew rather

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briskly from the W and by noon we saw the mountains. The captain had told us that these shores were completely uninhabited. We were surprised therefore to see a large settlement, consisting of a hundred or more conically shaped skin tents on a long sandspit extending from the high shores for about a mile and a half inside the bay (the only place it was possible to land because of shoal water.). Opposite each [tent] on the beach lay a baidar turned upside down. As soon as the inhabitants noticed us, 150 persons gathered, armed from head to foot with spears, bows, and a few even with long rifles. Seeing that, the captain ordered us to remove the sails and lay to in order to decide whether to go ashore or to return. Seeing that, the savages started to wave various furs and to shout "toki, toki," which meant, as we found out later, to trade.

It was decided to go ashore and to repel any attack by loading the falconets, guns, pistols, and by preparing side arms. Completing all that, we lifted the grapnel, and using oars, approached the very end of the above-mentioned bar, a distance of two or three cables' lengths away from the settlement. The principal reason for this action was the high tide, as we could not hope either to maneuver or to row out against the wind and currents, and therefore, we wanted to wait on shore for the low tide, especially since everyone was very hungry and longed to eat warm sour cabbage soup, for which we had everything necessary along. So we neared the shore, but not so close as to make it possible to get directly off the