First Sea Voyages of the Russians undertaken for the settlement of this geographical problem—Are Asia and America united?—and performed in 1727, 28 and 29, under the command of fleet captain of the first rank, Vitus Bering. To which is added a short biographical account of Captain Bering and some of his officers. St. Petersburg, Academical printing office, 1823. 8°. 3 pr. l. iv, 126 pp. 1 map. Russian text.
This book was printed, as many private books are, at the printing office of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, but was not published or printed by the Academy. The only copies I know of are those in the library of the Academy and one in the British Museum library, neither of which I have been able personally to consult. But through the kind offices of Dr. S. Hertzenstein, of the Zoological Museum of the Academy, I learn that Bergh found in the Archives of the State Admiralty Department the logbook of midshipman Peter Chaplin entitled, "Midshipman Peter Chaplin's journal of the Kamchatka expedition of 1725-1731." From this MSS and from the notes of G. F. Müller and Admiral Nagaieff, Bergh compiled his work. Chaplin's journal is not reprinted verbatim but only paraphrased by Bergh who adds his own commentary on the subject matter, and occasionally gives extracts from Chaplin whose logbook seems to have been kept in a model way.
An effort will be made to obtain a copy of the original logbook,7 but for the present we are obliged to be content with what of authenticity remains to the data which have been translated or paraphrased by Bergh, Lauridsen and Olson, necessarily submitting to more or less modification in the process.
[7 Simultaneously with the proofs of this paper the work of Bergh has been communicated to me through the liberality of the University of Upsala, Sweden. The results of a critical examination of it will form the subject of a later paper as the present publication cannot be delayed.]
The most authentic and important document for the history of this voyage is naturally the official report handed in by Bering himself and printed in the Journal of the Military Topographical Depot of the Russian Army, volume x, pp. 67-79, St. Petersburg, 1847.
This journal is a quarto and the report is printed verbatim et literatim if one may judge by the archaic and mispelled words with which it is adorned. It comprises Bering's report including his instructions, a table of geographical positions, and a painfully detailed table of routes and distances by which his position in Kamchatka was computed. This report has never been translated in full and unmodified, the original is thought to have been lost. The present publication is not referred to by Lauridsen and was apparently unknown to him. I have therefore thought it worth while to prepare an English version of the report and geographical table which are incorporated in this paper.
The result shows that the previous versions of the report which have appeared were more or less mutilated or colored by the editors printing them, probably with the view of making the report of more popular interest to their readers but with injurious results to its historic value for reference.
We now come to the latest contributions to the subject. If it were not for the deficiencies in them, which seem to me serious, this paper would not have been prepared, but it seemed to be a pity that the sources of information in regard to Bering, accessible to those who do not read Russian should not be both more impartial and more accurate.
Vitus J. Bering og de Russiske opdagelsesrejser fra 1725-43. Af P. Lauridsen. Udgivet med understöttelse af den Hielmstierne-Rosencroneske stiftelse. Kjöbenhavn. Gyldendalske Boghandels forlag (F. Hegel & Sön). Fr. Bagges bogtrykkeri, 1885. Small 4°, six prel. l. 211 pp., 4 sheets of charts, one plate, one wood-cut.
This work is an attempt at a life of Bering which should combine an account of his career with a reversal of the generally received opinion in regard to his indecision of character. It embodies a general polemic against those who at different times have criticised the explorer. It contains a paraphrase of some portions of Bergh's work which had not previously been accessible in any language except the Russian, yet which would have been much more valuable in the shape of exact translation and quotation. The author labored under the disadvantages of not understanding the language in which all the original records both printed and in manuscript are written; of having little or no familiarity with nautical surveying or cartography; and of being apparently unacquainted with the best modern charts of the region. His criticisms of others are couched in very heated and not altogether parliamentary language, and he is the victim of a narrow spirit of nationalism which is sometimes mistaken for patriotism. Nevertheless he has brought together a great deal of information; it is evident, in spite of his violent criticisms, that he has not intended to be unfair, since he puts on record in several instances evidence damaging to his own views which would not otherwise have come to light; and he has certainly exhibited Bering's valuable qualities in a manner which will do much towards rehabilitating his reputation.8