Vitus Bering: as a navigator discovered Alaska
The Dane Vitus Bering August 20, 1741, discovered and plotted the "continental coast" of North America - Alaska.
In the first Kamchatka expedition he was sent by Peter I. The expedition left Petersburg for the Far East in January 1725. For more than a month he indicated unfamiliar coasts on the map, but still turned back.
December 28, 1732 equipped the second Kamchatka expedition. It lasted almost ten years. Most of this time, Bering was forced to sit on the shore, coordinating the actions of many expeditionary units and fighting with local officials. Only June 4, 1740, he went to sea from Petropavlovsk on the ship "Saint Peter".
It was then that the commander plotted the coasts of Alaska, Aleutian, Kurile, Japanese islands. The expedition fell into a storm. The ships lost their way and lost each other. The ship began scurvy. 12 people from the ship died, 34 - were sick. "St. Peter" was already almost uncontrollable.
Members of the expedition found themselves on an island that was later named the Bering Island, and the entire chain of islands by the Commander Islands.
In the first Kamchatka expedition he was sent by Peter I. The expedition left Petersburg for the Far East in January 1725. For more than a month he indicated unfamiliar coasts on the map, but still turned back.
Photo © gazeta.ua
December 28, 1732 equipped the second Kamchatka expedition. It lasted almost ten years. Most of this time, Bering was forced to sit on the shore, coordinating the actions of many expeditionary units and fighting with local officials. Only June 4, 1740, he went to sea from Petropavlovsk on the ship "Saint Peter".
It was then that the commander plotted the coasts of Alaska, Aleutian, Kurile, Japanese islands. The expedition fell into a storm. The ships lost their way and lost each other. The ship began scurvy. 12 people from the ship died, 34 - were sick. "St. Peter" was already almost uncontrollable.
Members of the expedition found themselves on an island that was later named the Bering Island, and the entire chain of islands by the Commander Islands.
