mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i2-005
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New obstacles did not permit Cap. Vas. to carry out this
intention either, and therefore, he cruised southward on
July 31. "Toward 8 o'clock in the morning," he continued,
"we saw Cape Lisburne, and against it, ice toward the shore
from the ENE to the NNE. The thermometer rose 2 1/2° [Réa-
umur]. I cannot say whether the ice, seen by us from Lis-
burne toward the north at the shore, was stationary." This
observation of Cap. Vas. is very correct; the great [James]
Cook said, says [Sir John] Barrow: "But C. cook observes,
he dit not any part of this ice to be fixd; on the
contrary, he considered the whole as a movable mas,"4 that
is, Captain Cook noted, that in his opinion, all of the ice
sighted by him was not stationary, but on the contrary, he
considered all of it to be shifting.
All of the above-mentioned circumstances probably prompted
Cap. Vasilev to leave the arctic regions. On this day, he
said, "August 9 came out of the Arctic Ocean, was therein for
26 days. The shore was rather well explored from Cape Lis-
burne to Cape Krusenstern, except that we could not see Cape
Mulgrave because of the haze. The American shore has no bays
whatsoever. We did not see any rivers flowing into the sea.
In some places water was seen beyond low-lying banks." This
remark leads to the conclusion that the whole coast of America
from Icy Cape to Cape Newenham consists of islands. The
Honorable Davis concluded back in the year 1587 that the
northern shores of America were formed of islands."5
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