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4th November, 1741 Saint Peter ship was at the coast of the island where Vitus Bering died

 On the 4th of November, 1741 the wave nailed the ship "Saint Peter" led by Vitus Bering to an unknown island, which was later named in honor of Bering. Exactly here Bering himself and many members of his team were killed. Only 46 out of the 75 sailors survived. They had to endure severe winter and in August 1742 they have built a small vessel on which they were able to get to Petropavlovsk, where they have long believed dead.

Thus was completed the grandiose North Expedition 1733-1743, under which it was proposed to reach the coast of America, and Japan, and make the description and the map of the northern coast of Russia until the Arkhangelsk.

During the second expedition of Bering-Chirikov, explorers studied the coast of Alaska. In June 1741 commanded by Vitus Bering and his deputy Aleksei Chirikov in the sea of Avacha Bay in Kamchatka sailed off two vessels - "Saint Peter" and "St. Paul". Packet boats headed to the south-east in search of land Giovanni da Gama, which on the maps in the XVIII was depicted somewhere between 46° and 50° N. Having seen that there is no piece of land in the Pacific Ocean, the ship set a course to the north-east.

At sea fell thick fog, and courts lost each other of sight. Three more days Bering tried in vain to find the ship "St. Paul" commanded by Chirikov, passing to the south 400 km. Having failed, the crew went to the northeast and crossed the central waters of the Gulf of Alaska alone.

At 58° N sailors found St. Elias Range – America continent. However Bering didn’t fully experience the joy of discovery as he was ill with scurvy. Due to acute shortage of food and fresh water sailors one by one became ill with scurvy. The team was soon forced to turn back. On the way Bering discovered and mapped the Chirikov Island, Evdokeevskie Islands, Aleutian Range, the Alaska Peninsula and Shumagin Islands. And on 4th of November, "Saint Peter" was nailed to the unknown island ...

When the surviving pioneers returned and reported on the results of the expedition, their report was not published. On the contrary, the information was stored, as a great secret. Only some data was plotted on a map, released in 1745. Chirikov and Bering names for a long time remained unknown as well as the achievements of the mission. Only in 1754 the Academy of Sciences published the results of research and published in French the map of Siberia.

In those times, as the Russian government was interested in the results of research and expeditions continued with the support and funding of merchants and industrialists.

This Day in History 04-11-2012