nts of
the old, and on the 27th/16th of August they sailed away from the
island where they had undergone so many sufferings, and came eleven
days after to a haven on Kamchatka.

After parting from Behring, Chirikov on the 26th/15th July sighted
the coast of America in 56 deg. N.L. The mate ABRAHAM DEMENTIEV
was then sent ashore in the longboat, which was armed with a cannon
and manned by ten well-armed men. When he did not return, another
boat was sent after him. But this boat too did not come back.
Probably the boats' crews were taken prisoners and killed by the
Indians. After making another attempt to find his lost men, Chirikov
determined to return to Kamchatka. He first sailed some distance
northwards along the coast of America without being able to land, as
both the vessel's boats were lost. Great scarcity of drinking-water
was thus occasioned, which was felt the more severely as the return
voyage was very protracted on account of head-winds and fog. During
the voyage twenty-one men perished, among them de l'Isle de la
Croyere, who died, as is said often to be the case with scurvy
patients, on board ship, while he was being carried from his bed up
on deck to be put on land.[327]

The voyages of Behring and Chirikov, attended as they were by the
sacrifice of so many human lives, gave us a knowledge of the
position of North-western America in relation to that of
North-eastern Asia, and led to the discovery of the long volcanic
chain of islands between the Alaska peninsula and Kamchatka.

7. _Voyages to Japan_--For these Captain SPANGBERG ordered a
_hucker_, the _Erkeengeln Michael_, and a double sloop, the
_Nadeschda_, to be built at Okotsk, the old vessel _Gabriel_ being
at the same time repaired for the same purpose. Spangberg himself
took command of the _Michael_, that of the double sloop was given to
Lieutenant WALTON, and of the _Gabriel_ to Midshipman CHELTINGA.
Drift-ice prevented a start until midsummer, and on that account
nothing more could be done the first year (1738) than to examine the
Kurile Islands to the 46th degree of latitude. From this point the
vessels returned to Kamchatka, where they wintered at Bolschaja
Reka. On the 2nd June/22nd May, 1739, Spangberg with his little
fleet again left this haven. All the vessels kept together at first,
until in a violent storm attended with fog Spangberg and Cheltinga
were parted from Walton. Both made a successful voyage to Japan and
landed at several pla