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

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Typescript of Chapter Five for a book Dorothy Jean Ray planned to write about the Vasilev-Shishmarev Expedition of 1819-1822. Contains the translation from the Russian by Rhea Josephson of part three of Karl K. Hillsen's journal, Journey of the sloop "Good Intent" to explore the Asiatic and American shores of Bering Strait, 1819 to 1822 (Puteshestvie na shliup︠i︡e Blagonam︠i︡erennyĭ dl︠i︡a issl︠i︡edovani︠i︡a beregov Azii i Ameriki za Beringovym prolivom s 1819 po 1822 goda).

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the American shore in the hope of getting a supply of driftwood there. At a distance of one and 3/4 miles from the shore, at a depth of seven and a half sazhens the captain ordered us to clew up the sails and to drop anchor. Immediately, we lowered tenders into the water - the sixth and the fourth - and the captain, accompanied by all the officers except me, being at that time on watch, went ashore taking along axes and saws. I watched them with the telescope and saw that, nearing the shore, they stopped, and were seemingly discussing with each other how to get ashore because the rather strong surf was hitting the low beach along which our vessels were rowing, looking for a suitable place where it was possible to land without danger. But the entire shore for a long distance consisted of a sandy lowland. There being nothing else to do, they decided to land going through the surf. As soon as they reached it, I saw all three vessels cast up on shore. On their return to the sloop, they told the following. When they noted the strong surf on the entire shore not having the slightest inlet where it would not hit that strongly, they wanted to anchor the vessels and go ashore in a three-hatched baidar also sent there. But wanting to have the shortest possible distance for transporting the sawed wood from shore to the vessels, they approached too closely and got into the current of the waves, which inudated the rowboats and cast them on shore. Seeing the impossibility of launching them into the water, they made a fire to dry their clothes. Fortunately, this day was rather warm (that is, we had 12˚ Réaumur) [59˚

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Fahrenheit] and that is why it was not so uncomfortable, upon undressing, to sit near the fire until their clothes dried. In the meantime, the sailors started sawing the drier logs. Here was mostly pine wood [read spruce]; ------------------------- rarely larch or aspen. The officers, donning their kamleikas (as is called the shirts of sea lions' guts sewn with a hood, used by all inhabitants of these regions for protection of the fur underclothing from dampness), got very little wet. While the sailors were preparing the wood, they went beyond the sandy hillocks bordering the shore to examine the kind of soil behind them. Beyond these knolls, they saw a wide swampy plain, on which (right near the knolls) were located, lengthwise in their direction, three lakes of fresh water joined by narrow cannals. The lakes ectended from NE 67[degree symbol] to SE 24[degree symbol] and were about 30 sazhens wide. The plain extending to the mountains in the interior of this land rises more toward the north and ends there with a high summit near Cape Mulgrave [west end of Mulgrave Hills]. Grown over with moss, the mountains seemed, from a distance, as if consisting of bare rock covered with snow in the hollows and at the summit. The latitude of the summit from bearings was determined to be 67[degree symbol] 39' 24" and the longitude 195[degree symbol] 58'.

In the meantime, the wind shifted and started to blow rather briskly from the NE. Having a direction away from the shore, it soon turned back the sea waves, and the surf subsided. Then our men hurried to load the vessels with wood,

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having first pulled it into the water. At five o'clock everybody returned safely and brought along a few wild geese killed on the lakes.

During the absence of the captain, we noticed a rather strong current from the NNE. To determine its speed, we dropped the log and found 2 1/4 knots.

After the arrival of the rowboats the wind that blue from the NE gradually Started to shift through the N to the NW. We hastened to weigh anchor and, taking a course to the SW, approached the Asiatic shore.

Lying close hauled on a starboard tack, we saw East Cape on the 23rd to the SW at a discance of 80 miles. Then, a changing wind let us go north again. Then, a changing wind let us go north again. Taking a NNW course we went along the ice, remaining as heretofore in a mass near the shore, and at dawn of the 24th, sighted Caoe Serdtse Kamen on a traverse* at a distance of 37 miles. From it, the ice continued to the NE as before. We approached to a distance of 1 1/2 miles, and then sighted a rather large expanse of clear water toward the NW. The captain immediately ordered us to enter it. This clearing started to narrow gradually, and when we went into it about 15 miles, on the horizon was disclosed massive ice in enourmous blocks, behind which rose high terraces like mountains of quartz rocks, filling everythin in our sight in the expanse of the sea toward the north and

------------------------------------------------- * traverse means a perpendicular to the course.

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the northeast. With such ice conditions, there remained little hpe of penetrating far north, but in order to execute the given commission, we continued to move forward until absolute impossibility. The clearing started to have a direction more to the north, and after a few hours we entered into a wide unfrozen patch about three miles in diameter, the northern edge of which was limited by high stationary ice floed. At that time we were latitude 69[degree symbol] 51' 46" and longitude 182[degree symbol] 33' 22" E. The depth was 25 sazhens, the bottom, silt. The declination of the compass, 28[degree symbol] 1'15" E. In this patch floated a great number of detached ice pieces, some of which were 20 or more feet hich above the surface.

The floating ice was covered with walrus, the roaring of which was like the thunder of ocean waves breaking against rocks. As usual, the guard had his gun on deck. I was standing near the side on a cannon, and sighted a young walrus swimming out from under the sloop. I aimed, fired, and got it right in the neck. It dropped its head and remained motionless on the surface. We immediately lowered the skiff, put a cable sling under this flippers, and lifted it on deck. This was a female, judging by the tusks, which were not more than a quarter of a foot long, and not more than two ofr three years old. It was 6 1/4 feet long from the head to the end of the back flippers, and weighed 18 poods [740 pounds]. The fat under the skin was a half foot thick. The meat, which we tried to cook, was black, watery, and of such a repulsive

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appearance, that even the crew, which longed for fresh food, refused to eat it. Extracting as a souvenir the bullet that had penetrated the brain, and cutting away all the fat, which was rendered for use in night lamps instead of oil, we threw the rest overboard.

The wind blew lightly from the N and the NE. The ice remained in the same position until August 3rd, when we also remained in the same position in the hope that it, through some way or other, would clear for us our further way. The current, according to the sounding lead, was 2 3/4 knots from the NE, the depth near the ice was 23 sazhens, the bottom, silt. On that day, the wind started to increase from the NNE. We then had 1 1/2 degrees according to the thermometer. Toward midday, the wind increased, shifted to the NNW, and started to break the edges of the ice. Toward evening it increased. The noise of the breaking ice was deafening. Tremendous blocks pressing on the firm ice rose out of the water and fell with a crash. We immediately hastened to get out into the open sea followed by enormous masses of ice. Another clearing was formed directly to the SE. We entered it, and raising all possible sail, hurried forward while the ice, breaking up, pressed on us, and finally squeezed so that there was no place for us to go. Our situation was getting critical. After midnight, the wind started to abate, and finally calmed down completely. The ice carried by the current from the NNE pressed us more and more so that it neared our side from which we lowered, as a precaution against rubbing the sheathing,

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