It appears from Bering's own journal, as well as from du Halde's account, that in 1727 Bering ordered one of his officers to endeavor to "deliver to the command at Kamschatka some part of the provisions, iron, and tar." Bering himself said that he was obliged to use tar made from the native spruce, "since the tar which we should have brought with us had not arrived." This is confirmed by the additional note in du Halde, which says that the provisions, iron, pitch, and tar did not arrive till 1728, conveying the inference that it came too late to be of service. Bering appears to have had, on July 3, 1727, 2,300 poods of flour, equal to about 8,300 pounds, which would be less than a year's supply for his entire party. I cannot agree with Dall that Bering had plenty of flour or meal and meat.
I have said "From Bering's own report," because it seems incredible that du Halde did not have a transcript of Bering's report, since his narrative (du Halde's) follows almost word for word Dall's translation. It is not surprising that different transcripts should differ slightly on unimportant matters.
However this may be, it is evident that Brooke's translation of du Halde is careless. For instance, in Brooke's translation (edition London, 1736) of du Halde, on page 430, the number of Bering's party should be 33 instead of 30, and on page 440, where the voyage from Ochotsk to Takutski is given as from July 23 to October 2, the first-named date should be July 29.
Dall doubts that "carrots" were of Bering's provisions. Brooke omits the italicized words of du Halde's narrative (p. 567, la Haye, 1736): "Les provisions consistoient en carottes et en racines." As indicated by context, the roots were radishes and turnips. The word "carottes" is explained by a passage in Grieve's Kamshatka as follows: "The morkovai poushki, or carrot bunches, are so called because they are like carrots in their leaf as well as in taste. They likewise eat this green in the spring, but they oftener sour it like sour crout or make a liquor with it." Doubtless Bering took these "carrot bunches" with him.
Another question which has engaged my attention is that concerning the lunar eclipses which Bering or his party is said to have observed in the winter 1728–'9. Dall says: "In none of the published reports of the expedition is any mention made by Bering or his officers of the occurrence or observation of an eclipse.... However, Middendorf states (Sib. Reise, iv. I, p. 56) that Bering and his lieutenants in the years 1728 and 1729 observed in Kamtschatka two eclipses of the moon, by which they corrected the longitude. He gives," says Dall, "no authority for this statement, and it is probable that an eclipse observed at Ilimsk, in middle Siberia, by Chirikoff is thus erroneously referred to." Mr. Marcus Baker, in a paper appended to Dall's account, makes it evident that such eclipses, if any, were those of February 25 (local calendar), 1728, or February 24, 1729.
My own investigations confirm the statements of Middendorf, and in support of this I refer to de l'Isle and to the author of the "Letter." In this connection, however, we have the clear and definite statements of de l'Isle, both in his essays of 1738 at St. Petersburg and his memoir of 1752 at Paris. These statements are fully confirmed by the evidence of the Russian marine officer, who certainly served with Bering in his later expeditions if not in the first, and whose familiarity with all the records and papers should have enabled him definitely to contradict de l'Isle on the main question instead of correcting him in details. In his St. Petersburg memoirs of 1738 (page 10) de l'Isle writes:
"On verra a cette occasion la situation du Kamtchatka de terminée par deux eclipses de Lune, que M. le Capitaine Bering & ses gens y sont observées dans leur premier voyage [the expedition 1725–'30], & dont j'ai rendu compte a l'Academie aussi-tot que ces observations m'ont ete communiquées."
In the paper of Paris, 1752 ("Nouvelles découvertes au Nord de la Mer du Sud") de l'Isle says on this point:
"Captain Beering and his lieutenant likewise took observations at Kamschatka of two eclipses of the moon in the years 1728 and 1729, which helped me to chart the longitude of that eastern extremity of Asia with all the precision which the nature of these observations, made by seamen and with their own instruments, would admit of; but these first determinations have been since confirmed by observations on Jupiter's satellites, taken in that place with the utmost accuracy by my brother and some Russians conversant in this kind of observations and who were provided with the best of instruments."
It appeared to me possible that the report on the eclipses of the moon made by de l'Isle to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences might be traced up among the archives of that society. In searching for information on this point it was learned from Mr. O. Fassig, librarian of the Signal Office, that among the unpublished manuscripts in the Pulkova library, St. Petersburg, were a number by de l'Isle. A list of the manuscripts of M. de l'Isle was compiled and published in 1844 by the distinguished astronometer O. Struve, and among the number is one entitled: "Observations pour la longitude du Kamchat, d'ou se conclut aussi de Tobolsk. 1729, MSS."