Vitus Bering (1681-1741)
The navigator andexplorer Captain Commander Vitus promotion to captain (first class) but was refused, and he
Jonassen (in Russian, Ivan Ivanovich) Bering was oneof resigned to live on an estate atVyborg.
many foreign specialists brought to Russia by Tsar Peter Meanwhile, the thoroughgoing and draconian transfor-
the Great in order to help modernize the growing but mation of Muscovy byPeter the Great along Western lines
lagging empire. He is known principallyfor his two voy- included not only the creation of a respectable navy but
ages of exploration anddiscovery in the second quarter of the extension of Russian geographical knowledge and politi-
the eighteenth century, the first to Bering Strait - which cal dominion. The lands and waters of the far North Pacific
he did not personally discover -and the other to the Gulf - still unexplored andunsettled by European powers -
of Alaska. had long interested the inquisitive and versatiletsar, who
Bering wasa native of Denmark, where he was born onnow decidedto satisfy his scientific curiosity and imperial
12 August 1681 in the Jutland seaport of Horsens. Very appetite with a secret expedition. Bering’s lengthy naval
little is known of his upbringing or personality. He was experience was brought to Peter’s attention by Admiral
fairly welleducated, and well mannered anddevout. As a Apraksin, whopersuaded the retired veteran to re-enlist in
commander he wascautious and unhurried, and he seems 1724 at the rank of captain (first class) and take charge of
to have been likedfor his gentleness and humility. the 100-man First Kamchatka Expedition, 1725-1729.
By the time Bering was invited by Admiral Cruys in The tsar’s personal instructions, penned only twodays
1703to join the fledgling Russian Navy as a sublieutenant, before hisdeath, were not handedto Bering untilthe very
he had already voyagedto the East Indies. Apparently he day of his departure from St. Petersburg. This was done
acquitted himself quite satisfactorily in Russia’s naval deliberately in order to minimize publicity,for xenophobic
campaigns inthe Baltic, Black,and White seas, as he was Russia withits national inferiority complexfeared that its
promoted to lieutenant in 1707,captain lieutenant in 1710, Western European imperial rivals might beattoitthe r e m
and captain (second class) in 1720. In 1723 he requested incognita of northwestern America. Bering was directed
439
to build one or two ships in Kamchatka, sail northwards by a storm, but bothcontinued eastwards and made land-
through the Otter (Bering) Sea, determine whether Asia falls on the Gulf of Alaska coast in July (15 well-armed
and America wereseparated, go ashore and make a first- men from the St. Paul under Captain Aleksey Chirikov
hand report and.a map, and contact any European settle- went ashore and never returned). On the return passage
ment or ship to learn the name of the locale. The third some of the Aleutian and other islands were discovered.
point was a ruse to mask the expedition’s real purpose, The rickety St. Peterwith its scorbutic crew was wrecked
namely, to probe the American coast; Peter the Great had on Avacha (Bering) Island in the Commander group.There
known sincethe end of the previous century that Semyon the survivors wintered, but several, including the elderly
Dezhnev had sailed between the two continents in 1648. Bering on 6 December, died of scurvy and hypothermia.
But Bering followed hisinstructions and navigated Anian The following summer the stragglers fashioned a vessel
(Bering) Strait as far north as 67’18’ in 1728, discovering from the remains of the St. Peterand made Petropavlovsk
St. Lawrence Island andthe two Diomedes.The next year to rejoin Chirikov, who had returned safely the previous
he sailed eastwards from Kamchatka for three days but fall.
found no land. Upon his return to the imperial capital he At last, Bering had accomplished his mission, albeit at
was promoted to captain commander and awarded lo00 the cost of his own life.He had sighted andreconnoitered
silver rubles. the “big land”, and thereby laid the basis for a Russian
Neither Bering nor the government was satisified with claim and paved the way for further Russian exploration
the results of the expedition, the latter because it had not and settlement. He also introduced a source for future
reached Americaand the former because he wasaware of profits in the 2000 sea otter pelts brought back byhis
how much exploration remained undone. So at Bering’s expedition. They triggered a fur rush downthe Kuriles and
suggestion the Second KamchatkaExpedition, 1733-1742, across the Aleutians to Alaska and the Northwest Coast,
was mounted, again under his command. It was one of eventually culminating in the establishment of Russian
three components of the grandiose Great Northern Expe- Americaand the Russian-American Company in1799.
dition, one of the most ambitious and expensive undertak- Thus was realizedPeter the Great’s original planof extend-
ings in the history of exploration and discovery. Charged ing hiscountry’s eastward drive for new fur sources as the
with surveyingthe northern and eastern coasts of Siberia sables andfoxes of Siberia were depleted. The treasury’s
from the Northern Dvina to the Amur and probingJapan share of income fromthis lucrative industry was essential
and America, it comprised 13 ships and some 3000 men, to help finance the tsar’s costly foreign compaigns and
including many savants from the infant Academy of Sci- domestic reforms.
ences (notably Germans like Gerhard Muller, Steller, Georg
and Johann Gmelin). This second expedition was even FURTHER READINGS
more onerous and protracted than the first, of course.
FISHER, RAYMOND H. 1977. Bering’s Voyages: Whither and Why.
Bering leftSt. Petersburg at the beginning of 1733but did Seattle: University of Washington Press.
not embark from Okhotsk, Siberia’s chief Pacific port, GOLDER, FRANK A. 1922-25. Bering’s Voyages. 2 vols. New York:
until September of 1740, because of the enormous dis- American Geographical Society.
tance and staggering difficultiesof transport, the obstacles LAURIDSEN, PETER. 1889. Vitus Bering: The Discoverer of Bering
Strait. Trans. by JuliusE. Olson. Chicago: S.C. Griggs &Company.
to shipbuilding at Okhotsk, bureaucratic delays, personal- POLEVOY, B.P. 1982. (In press). The Three Hundredth Anniversary of
ity clashes, andjurisdictional disputes. Finally, the spring- the Birth of Vitus Bering. Trans. by James R. Gibson. Polar Geogra-
board of Kamchatka was reached anda new base, Petro- phy and Geology 6.
pavlovsk, named after the expedition’s two packetboats, WAXELL, SVEN. 1%2. The RussianExpedition to America. Trans.by
M.A. Michael. New York: Collier Books.
the St. Peter and St. Paul,was founded onsuperb Avacha
Bay. James R. Gibson
The twovessels sailed in June 1741, headingsoutheast- Department of Geography
wards at first in order to locate the imaginary De Gama York University
Land. After two weeks they were permanently separated Downsview, Ontario, Canada
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