Cities and Places. Latitude N. Long. E. of
Tobolsk.
° ' ° '
Tobolsk 58 05 00 00
Samarofska Yama 60 17 00 30
Town of Surgut 60 51 5 18
Town of Narim 58 48 14 35
Ketskoi post 58 19 9
Losinoborski convent 58 17 9
Makoffska post 58 03 23 13
Yeniseisk 58 20 25 12
Kashim convent 58 37 32 00
House of Simakhina, Ilima river mouth 57 25 35 16
Ilimsk 56 40 36 44
Ust Kutskoi post 56 40 38 26
Kirinski post 57 50 41 01
Yakutsk 62 08 57 53
Okhotsk post 59 13 76 07
Mouth of Bolshoia river, Kamchatka 52 42 89 51
Upper Kamchatka post 54 48 9
Lower Kamchatka post 56 11 9
Mouth of Kamchatka river 56 03 96 10
Cape St. Thaddeus 62 20 111 32
West cape, Holy Cross bay 65 35 115 15
East cape, Holy Cross bay 65 28 115 37
Preobrazhenia bay 65 01 120 30
Chukotski cape, east end 64 25 122 55
St. Lawrence island 64 00 122 55
St. Diomede island 66 00 125 42
Place from which we turned back 67 18 126 07
South cape of Kamchatka 51 10 89 51

9 These longitudes absent from Bering's own report are supplied by Campbell in his list, probably from the chart.

In the Table of positions the addition of 67° will reduce the longitudes to E. of Greenwich. It is probably from this table that Dr. Campbell derived his list, in Harris, which is, barring some additions, errors, and mistranslations, much the same. As Bering does not give any longitude for Lower Kamchatka post it is highly improbable that he observed it at that place, by means of a lunar eclipse or otherwise.

Chirikoff's observation of a lunar eclipse at Ilimsk made that point 30° 13' east longitude from Tobolsk or, approximately, 97° 13' east from Greenwich. His pedometric observations placed Ilimsk in 103° 44' E. Gr. On recent charts Ilimsk is in about 104° E. Gr., so that the eclipse observation was in error about 6½ degrees. The meridian used on the voyage of 1728 was that of Lower Kamchatka, based on pedometric observations from Ilimsk computed by means of a traverse table. These, according to Chirikoff's journal, gave for the Lower Kamchatka post a meridian of 126° 01' 49" east from St. Petersburg or about 156° 02' east from Greenwich, which is in error about six and a quarter degrees. Discarding the eclipse observation and using only the pedometric observations from Tobolsk to Lower Kamchatka the result for that place is 162° 33' E. Gr., which is very near the truth. I have no doubt that this result is what was finally used in the chart (though not in the original report) and, therefore, that all the observations of Lauridsen and others in regard to the alleged eclipse in Kamchatka are based on a misunderstanding and without value.

ITINERARY FOR BERING'S FIRST EXPEDITION.
Dates corrected to ordinary calendar, beginning at midnight.

Authorities. Date.
Old Style. 		Date.
New Style.
1725.
Advance party under Chirikoff left St. Petersburg H. L. Jan. 24. Feb. 4.
Bering followed B. L. M. Feb. 5. Feb. 16.
Bering arrived at Tobolsk B. H. L. M. March 16. March 27.
Bering left Tobolsk Bering. May 15. May 27.
Bering arrived at Ilimsk, where they spent the winter of 1725-6 L. Sept. 29. Oct. 10.
Lunar eclipse obs. at Ilimsk Chirikoff. Oct. 10.
1726.
Bering arrived at Yakutsk L. Mid. June. End June.
Bering left Yakutsk L. Aug. 16. Aug. 27.
Bering reached Okhotsk L. Sept. 30. Oct. 11.
Bering's provision train arrived at Okhotsk L. End Oct. Mid. Nov.
1727.
Spanberg reached Okhotsk (Jan. 6, L) M. H. Jan. 1. Jan. 12.
Vessel Fortuna launched at Okhotsk L. June 8. June 19.
Spanberg sailed for Bolshoia river M. H. L. June 30. July 11.
Chirikoff arrived at Okhotsk B. M. L. July 3. July 14.
Spanberg returned with Fortuna L. Aug. 11. Aug. 22.
Bering and party sailed for Bolshoia river (Lauridsen says August 19) B. M. H. Aug. 21. Sept. 1.
Bering arrived at Bolshoia river M. Sept. 2. Sept. 13.
Bering arrived at Bolsheretsk L. Sept. 4. Sept. 15.
1728.
Partial eclipse of moon, visible in Kamchatka, last contact 7h 41m P.M. Oppolzer. Feb. 14. Feb. 25.
Bering arrived at Lower Kamchatka L. March 11. March 22.
Vessel Gabriel put on the stocks B. H. M. April 4. April 15.
The Gabriel launched (Lauridsen says she sailed to the mouth of the river July 9) B. H. M. June 10. June 21.
The expedition left the river to commence explorations B. H. L. July 13. July 24.
The expedition sailed northward M. July 14. July 25.
Bering reached his northernmost point and started on his return M. H. B. L. Aug. 15. Aug. 26.
They reached the Kamchatka river on their return H. L. Sept. 2. Sept. 13.
1729.
Total eclipse of the moon, visible in this region, beginning at 6h 06m A.M. Oppolzer. Feb. 2. Feb. 13.
Bering sailed E. from Kamchatka river (Lauridsen says July, which is erroneous) M. H. June 5. June 16.
Bering steered to the southwest L. June 8. June 19.
The party arrived at Bolsheretsk July 2. July 13.
Bering sailed for Okhotsk L. July 14. July 25.
Bering arrived at Okhotsk M. Ber. July 23. Aug. 3.
Bering left Okhotsk H. July 29. Aug. 9.
Total eclipse of the moon same day, but not visible in this part of Asia Oppolzer. July 29. Aug. 9.
1730.
Bering arrived at St. Petersburg H. M. B. L. March 1. March 12.

SYNOPSIS OF THE VOYAGE.

The dates are reduced to the Julian calendar from the nautical account. The longitude is stated in degrees east from Greenwich.

June 10/21, 1728. The vessel, which was named the Gabriel, was launched at the Lower Kamchatka fort and loaded with a year's supply of provisions for forty men (B. C. H. M.). She resembled the packet boats used in the Baltic.

Notes.—This vessel was constructed of the Kamchatkan spruce, a species according to Kittlitz closely resembling Abies canadensis of America. There is also a smaller species, A. mertensiana, and by distillation of these two trees the deficiency in their supply of tar or pitch was made up. The rigging, sail-cloth, oakum and anchors had been transferred with great labor from Tobolsk. The planking and timbers were doubtless fastened with trenails and not with spikes, so the amount of iron used was much smaller than it would be in most modern vessels. The provisioning of the expedition is the subject of a fanciful paragraph garbled from Bering's original report, which has been quoted by every one of the historians of the voyage from D'Anville to Lauridsen. I transcribe it from Brooke's translation of 1736, pp. 437-8.