As the whole stock of live cattle which the country about the bay could afford, amounted only to two heifers, Captain Clerke found it necessary to send to Bolcheretsk, and Captain Gore and Lieutenant King were fixed on for the excursion. They proceeded by boats up the Awatska river, then across part of the country in sledges, and then down the Bolchoireka in canoes.
Major Behm, the governor of Kamtschatka, received them, not only with the utmost politeness, but with the most engaging cordiality; and all the principal people of the town vied with each other who should shew the most civility to strangers from the other extremity of the globe. A list of the naval stores, the number of cattle, and the quantity of flour wanted by the navigators, was given to Major Behm, who insisted upon supplying all their wants; and when they desired to be made acquainted with the price of the articles, with which they were to be supplied, and proposed, that Captain Clerke should give bills to the amount on the Victualling-office in London, the major positively refused, and whenever it was afterward urged, stopped them short by saying, he was certain he could not oblige his mistress, the empress, more than in giving every assistance in his power to her good friends and allies, the English; and that it would be a particular satisfaction to her, to hear, that, in so remote a part of the world, her dominions had afforded any relief to ships engaged in such services; that he could not therefore act so contrary to the character of his empress, as to accept of any bills; but that, to accommodate the matter, he would take a bare attestatation of the particulars with which we might be furnished, and that this he would transmit to his court, as a certificate of having performed his duty.
The town of Bolcheretsk consists of several rows of low buildings, barracks for the Russian soldiers and Cossacks, a good looking church, and a court-room, with a great number of balagans (summer habitations) belonging to the Kamtschatdales, at the end of the town. The inhabitants amount to between five and six hundred.
It would exceed the bounds to which this sketch must necessarily be confined, to enumerate one half of the instances of civility and attention which Major Behm, his lady, the officers of the garrison, and the inhabitants of the town bestowed upon the English travellers. One generous present cannot, however, be passed over in silence, both because it consisted of the greatest part of their small store of the article, and because it called forth from the British seamen a corresponding generosity. Being informed of the privations the sailors had suffered from the want of tobacco, Major Behm sent four bags of it, weighing upwards of one hundred pounds each, which he begged might be presented, in the name of himself and the garrison under his command, to our sailors. When the seamen were told of it, the crews of both ships desired, entirely of their own accord, that their grog might be stopped, and their allowance of spirits, presented, on their part, to the garrison of Bolcheretsk, as they had reason to conclude, that brandy was scarce in the country and would be very acceptable, since the soldiers on shore had offered four roubles a bottle for it. When it is considered how much the sailors would feel from the stoppage of their allowance of grog, and that this offer would deprive them of it during the inclement season they had to expect on their ensuing expedition to the north, the sacrifice must be looked upon as generous and extraordinary; and, that they might not suffer by it, Captain Clerke substituted, in the room of the very small quantity the major could be prevailed on to accept, the same quantity of rum.
When the party returned to Petropaulowska, Major Behm accompanied them, and visited the ships. He had resigned the command of Kamtschatka, and was in a short time to return to St. Petersburgh; our navigators therefore committed to his care dispatches for England, with the journals and charts of the voyage so far.
They got about twenty head of cattle, about nine thousand weight of rye flour, and a variety of other provisions and refreshments here, especially fish, with which they were absolutely overpowered from every quarter; and, having completed their water, they weighed anchor on the 13th of June, and on the 16th cleared the bay. The volcano, situated to the north of the harbour, was in a state of eruption at the time.
On the 5th of July, our navigators passed through Beering's Straits, having run along the Asiatic coast; they then stretched over to that of America, with a view of exploring it between the latitudes of 68° and 69°. But in this attempt they were disappointed, being stopped, on the 7th, by a large and compact field of ice connected with the land. On the 9th, they had sailed nearly forty leagues to the westward, along the edge of the ice, without seeing any opening, and had therefore no prospect of advancing farther north.—Until the 27th, however, they continued to seek a passage, first on the American, and then on the Asiatic side; but were never able to penetrate farther north than 70° 33', which was five leagues short of the point to which they had advanced the season before.
At one time, in attempting to penetrate to the northwestward, the Discovery was in a very dangerous situation. She became so entangled by several large pieces of ice, that her way was stopped, and immediately dropping bodily to leeward, she fell broadside foremost on the edge of a considerable body of ice, and having at the same time an open sea to windward the surf caused her to strike violently upon it. This mass at length either so far moved or broke, as to set them at liberty to make another trial to escape; but, before the ship gathered way enough to be under command, she again fell to leeward on another fragment; and the swell making it unsafe to lie to windward, and finding no chance of getting clear, they pushed into a small opening, furled their sails, and made fast with ice-hooks. A change of wind, however, taking place in the afternoon, the ice began to separate, and, setting all their sails, they forced a passage through it. The vessel had rubbed off a great deal of the sheathing from her bows, and became very leaky from the strokes she received when she fell on the edge of the ice.
In these high latitudes, our navigators killed several sea-horses, and also two white bears; the flesh of the latter afforded a few excellent meals of fresh meat. It had indeed a strong fishy taste, but was in every respect superior to that of the sea-horse, which nevertheless, the sailors were again persuaded, without much difficulty, to prefer to their salted provisions.
Finding a farther advance to the northward, as well as a nearer approach to either continent, obstructed by a sea blocked up with ice, Captain Clerke at length determined to lose no more time in the pursuit of what seemed utterly unattainable, and to sail for Awatska Bay, to repair their damages, and before the winter should set in, to explore the coast of Japan on their way towards Europe. To the great joy, therefore, of every individual on board both ships, they turned their faces towards home; and the delight and satisfaction they experienced on the occasion, notwithstanding the tedious voyage they had to make, and the immense distance they had to run, were as freely entertained, and perhaps as fully enjoyed, as if they had been already in sight of the land's End.