Sonya Percival, Summer 1997

Brief Historical Review of Vitus Bering's Naval Expeditions

Vitus Bering's Expeditions and Their Scientific Consequences

This paper is an attempt to summarize the most important points of two famous naval expeditions undertaken by Danish captain Vitus Bering, and toconcentrate on the points of the scientific consequences of both expeditions, specifically from the point of view of ocean-related sciences such as geography, oceanography and naval science.

I Vitus Bering led two main Russian exploratory naval expeditions of the most impressive scale. The second expedition to Kamchatka, under his guidance, included thorough explorations and scientific investigations of the northern coast of Eurasia, Siberia, Kamchatka, seas and lands of the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, and finally, discovered previously unknown northern-eastern coasts of America. The discoveries and scientific consequences of both of his expeditions justly occupy a very important place in the history of ocean and earth sciences.

Why was Vitus Bering elected to be a captain of this expedition? The contemporary scientific accounts state a number of reasons. Vitus Bering was born on August 12, 1681 in Horensesn, Denmark. It is known that he participated in several naval expeditions to the coasts of Ost-Indies. In 1703, his ship returned to Amsterdam, where young Bering met Russian admiral Kornelius Kreys, who was appointed by Peter the Great to recruit "mariners and naval officers who possessed great experience". This encounter proved to be a significant event in Bering's life. He was hired by Russian navy at the age of 22. Twenty years later, he (in rank of captain) was given command of one of the most important ships in the Baltic. Bering's knowledge and experience were widely known and respected in Admiralty College. His expertise was probably the chief reason for Peter the Great to appoint him a commander of the first, and the most ambitious naval expedition.

The first voyage to Kamchatka was sanctioned by Peter the Great in the course of his ambitious program of the development of science and industry. While some evidence which pointed out the fact of separation of Eurasian and American continents existed some fifty years prior to Bering's voyages (Russian Cossack Semen Dezhnev was the first who reported that "beyond Kolyma and Chukotka there was no land"), however these reports were thought at the time to be highly unreliable, and it's believed that precisely the search of some tangible proof of the separation of two continents was what prompted Peter the Great to sanction and equip the first of the two expeditions.

On August 13, at 65°30' N, the crew discovered the island of St. Laurentius (3)(mentioned by Chukchi), and no evidence of adjoining continent was seen. Captain Bering, quite convinced that the needed evidence was obtained, consulted his officers as to the continuation of the expedition, which he considered to be increasingly dangerous (his reasoning was mainly the worsening weather conditions: it was the end of August, the seas were stormy, and the visibility was often decreased due to fog. Moreover, Bering was afraid that weather conditions will eventually force his crew to spend the winter in "places unknown" [Chukotka], where there were no ports, no material for boat repairs, and whose natives were not under Russian rule. On August 15, at 67°18' N and 193°7' E Bering decided to return to Kamchatka [Nizhnekamchatsk] (4) Later, scientists evaluating the results of the expedition often remarked that Bering made a mistake by going back the same way he came in (which, supposedly could have allowed him to definitely see the coast of America, had he continued further to the east.

The expedition was continued in the summer of 1729. On July 2, the boat doubled the southern-most extremity of Kamchatka ( point Lopatka) (5), and continuing south reached the delta of Okhota river (6) on July 23, 1729. Bering was sufficiently convinced that Asia and America were separated by the strait, which fact he promptly reported to the Russian Admiralty College, upon his return to St. Petersburg in 1730.

It is important to note that captain Bering was acting with utmost accuracy in his attempt to complete the main purpose of the expedition, mandated by Peter the Great. Materials gathered during his expedition, as well as description of the sea currents, winds, atmospheric conditions, coastal lines, the measurement of sea depth and salinity were done in a most pedantic fashion. James Cook noted that "we should justly praise the memory of noble captain Bering, for his observations were so precise, and the geographical coordinates were determined so accurately, that it's truly amazing..." (J. Cook, 1758, v. II, p. 473).

Based on the observations made by the participants of the first expedition, Bering made following conclusions about the existence of the strait and the separation of two continents:

1. "...that going away from these coasts [of Kamchatka] we found only moderate waves and shallow waters, which one could find in the narrow sea passage, as oppose to those great waves and great depths, which one could find at the most open seas..."

2. "...that we found many a fur tree and other [trees], which were brought by East winds, and which don't grow on Kamchatka land..."

3. "...and we learned from the natives that Eastern winds can bring the ice in two to three days, whereas it takes four or five days for the Western winds to drive the ice off the north-eastern coasts of Asia..."

4. "...that some birds, in great numbers will come every year, for the number of months, from the side of East, and upon spending time on the coast of Asia, return to their lands, always at the same time every year..."

In the course of the first expedition, considerable part of the Kamchatka coast (to 67° N) was described in detail by officers Chaplin and Chirikov. Furthermore, Chirikov described the character of the storms, usual for the narrow and shallow strait, and his conclusion about the existence of neighboring lands helped to shape the direction of course of the second expedition to the coasts of America in 1741.

Upon Bering's return to the Russian capitol, three maps were presented to the Admiralty College, among which the most important one depicted the results of expeditions and presented "with great accuracy the north-eastern extremities and coasts of Asia as well as different points of northern Siberia". This last map immediately attracted the attention of Russian and foreign scientists. In 1737 this map was published in D' Anville's Atlas. One of the central Russian newspapers ("St.Petersburg News"), in its report about the results of Kamchatka expedition, states that " on 67°19' N, he [Bering] discovered then, that there truly was a north-eastern passage, such that from the delta of River Lena, if it wasn't for icy conditions, one could travel by water to Kamchatka, and further to Japan, China and Ost-Indies... " This article was translated and published in the same year by Danish newspaper "Nye Tidende".

The order for the second expedition was given after Peter's death and the expedition itself was designed to "further prove the existence of passage, as well as find a true way for ships to the coasts of America". It is noteworthy that the second expedition was also concerned (much more so than the first one) with the matters of science and recording of various events, which later proved to be invaluable experience for the contemporary, as well as modern science. In the instruction, compiled by the member of St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, for the second expedition, outlining its goals and purposes, it was specifically noted the necessity of climate observations and methods, and "further it is necessary to observe the direction and force of various winds". (This was dutifully done during first Bering's expeditions, and recorded in his navigational journals). It was considered especially important to determine the grade of salinity of the sea ice and waters in different regions of ocean -- one the of important signs of the neighboring lands. The following instruction mandated the participants of the expedition to "note the winds and their actions, and which are warm, and which are cold", using the information gathered from the natives, as well as "note the different colors of sea waters, its salinity at different depths, and using the tools, explore such events as high and low tides." "The flow of waters -- said the instruction -- one should dutifully observe, and further describe whether there is plenty of idle ice close to the shore, and how far from land it measures, and the moving ice to describe as well - how plentiful, and where it's driven by waters, and whether it's possible for the vessels to navigate in such ice..."

The second expedition was not only more thoughtfully planned, but also greatly expanded the scientific purposes and goals, as it follows from the instruction received by V. Bering from Academy of Sciences and Admiralty College. The expedition of 1734-41 was a major contribution to the development of geographical, naval, oceanographic and meteorological sciences. Captain Bering himself died on December 8 of 1741, along with fifteen other members of his crew on the island which now bears his name (7). The remaining participants of the expedition successfully returned to St. Petersburg, and thus were able to report all the findings of the expedition.

Major scientific consequences of the second expedition: first and foremost, the existence of the northern sea passage was established during this expedition. This outstanding scientific discovery was duly noted not only in Russia, but also abroad. Thanks to the efforts of expedition members, most detailed maps of Pechora and point Cheluskin (northernmost point of Asia) were drawn. Large territories, inclusive of most important Siberian rivers, and their deltas at the Arctic Sea were depicted for the first time. The crew gathered ample materials on ethnography and geography, as well as valuable information about ice, depths, currents and weather changes (all this information was duly recorded in naval journals at least six times a day). The latter records played a very important role in meteorological science and the problem of reconstruction of historical climates (of Arctic region). The vessels of the second expedition conducted visual as well as instrumental meteorological observations. Thousands of meteorological records give us today an opportunity to follow the specific features of atmospheric processes in years of extreme ice concentration in the seas of Arctic region. It is possible that the peak of so called Minor Ice Age falls precisely on the years of the second Arctic expedition. The ice conditions in both eastern and western Arctic regions were extremely hard. The record of Bering's naval journals confirm the existence of extremely unfavorable weather conditions during 1738-41 in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean.

Meteorological observations of the second expedition served as an example for institution of weather centers in Russia, and abroad. Two other major contributions to the development of the natural sciences (biology, geography) are "Siberian Flora" (written and compiled by Gmelin); and "The Description of Kamchatka Land" (by Krashennikov).

Overall, the scientific consequence of both expeditions (and second one, in particular) proved to be enormously significant for further development of sciences; it influenced greatly the continuation of the geographical explorations and in some ways served as a model for the creation of plans and programs, employed by scientists in the 2nd half of 18th and in 19th centuries.

Source and Reference Books:

1. Divin, V.A. Russian navigation in the Pacific in XVIII century. Moscow: Mysl' Publishers, 1971.*

2. Pasetskiy, V.M. Vitus Bering. Moscow: Nauka Publishers, 1982.*

3. USSR Academy of Science. Collected documents on Russian Exploratory Expeditions of the northern part of the Pacific Ocean in the first part of XVIII century. Moscow: Nauka Publishers, 1984.*

4. Kushnarev, E.G. In search of the Strait: The first Kamchatka Expedition of 1972-1730. Leningrad: Gidrometeoizdat Publishers, 1976.*

5. Lebedev, D.M; Esakov, V.A. Russian geographical explorations and discoveries. Moscow: Mysl' Publishers, 1971.*

6. Fisher, R.H. Bering's Voyages: Whither and Why. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1977.

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* Materials marked with asterisk are in Russian. Translation by Sonya Percival. (Some of the above materials were previously translated into English: i.e. Bering's Journals; Notes on Original Manuscript Chart of Bering's expedition of 1725-1730, etc., however these materials are kept in Suzallo Special Collections and are available for library use only. For purposes of this paper I found it feasable to translate fragments of original materials that were of interest).