Second Kamchatka expedition

The Second Kamchatka expedition (Russian: Вторая Камчатская экспедиция) was led by Dane Vitus Bering after being chosen by Peter I to lead the first Kamchatka expedition. The second expedition lasted roughly from 1733-1743. The goal of the expedition was to find and map the eastern reaches of Siberia, and to hopefully continue onto the western shores of North America to map them, as well.

The important achievements of the expedition included the discovery of Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, the Commander Islands, Bering Island, as well as a detailed cartographic assessment od the northern and north-eastern coast of Russia and the Kuril Islands. The expedition also definitively refuted the legend of a land mass in the north Pacific. It also included ethnographic, historic, and scientific research into Siberia and Kamchatka. When the expedition failed to round the north-east tip of Asia, the dream of finding an economically viable Northeast passage, alive since the sixteenth century, was definitively at an end.

With over 3,000 people directly and indirectly involved, the Second Kamchatka expedition was one the largest expedition projects in history. The total cost of the undertaking, completely financed by the Russian state, reach the estimated sum of 1.5 million rubles, an enormous amount for the period. This corresponded to one sixth of the income of the Russian state for year 1724. [Hintzsche / Nickol, "Die Große Nordische Expedition", p. 200.] Because of its complexity and scale, the expedition became known as the "Great Northern Expedition".

Bering commanded one of the ships, the "St. Peter", while another ship, the "St. Paul" (built in Okhotsk for this expedition) was commanded by his deputy Aleksey Chirikov.

In 1740, Vitus Bering reached Avacha Bay and laid the foundation stone for the Kamchatkan port of Petropavlovsk, which is named after his two ships, the "St. Peter" and the "St. Paul".

Background: first scientific investigation of Siberia and Bering's first expedition

The start of the systematic exploration and scientific discovery in the eastern part of Asia in the 18th century was due to the initiative of Tsar Peter the Great (1672–1725). In 1697 and 1698, he made an exploratory trip through a number of European nations, and became enthused with the idea of founding a scientific academy in Russia. This plan came to fruition in 1723/24 when he decided to draw foreign scholars to Russia and create a scientific academy in St. Petersburg. HE hoped to create an extension of the scientific culture of Europe in his own land, and eventually to educate native scholars.

(1685–1735) made a journey from 1720 to 1727 to western and central Siberia. This marked the beginning of investigations in the areas of geography, mineralogy, botany, zoology, ethnography, and philology, in this zone, as well as opening up the region to trade and economic development. Messerschmidt's Expedition was the first in a what proved to be series scientific explorations of Siberia.

Shortly before his death in February 1725, the Tsar signed an order authorizing a second great expedition to the east. Over the course of his life, Peter had met many time with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716). At their final meeting at Bad Pyrmont in 1716, Leibniz posed the question as to whether a land bridge existed between northeastern Asia and the North America, a point of great relevance in the contemporary discussion about the origins of humanity, among other matters. It was generally desired that the belief in the common origin of humans not be abandoned, which posed the problem of the origins of human settlements in the New World. In order to resolve the question about the existence of a land bridge between the two continents, Peter the Great sent in 1719 the geodesists Iwan Jewreinow (1694–1724) und Fjodor Luschin (died 1727) to the easternmost reaches of his empire. The expedition was unsuccessful, as least in regard to the land bridge question, and in 1724, Peter gave the same aim to another expedition, the First Kamchatka expedition. [The traditional presentation of the motivations behind the First Kamchatka expedition was the search for a land bridge. See, among others, Raymond H. Fisher in his 1977 book "Bering's voyages: whither and why". In contrast to this view, Carol Urness claims that the mapping of the eastern parts of Russia was the main goal. See Carol Urness: "The First Kamchatka Expedition in Focus", in: Møller / Lind, Under Vitus Bering's Command, Århus 2003, p. 17–31 (Summary of the thesis presented in the 1987 book "Bering's First Expedition: A re-examination based on eighteenth-century books, maps, and manuscripts").]

This undertaking, lasting from 1728 to 1730, was led by the Danish captain Vitus Jonassen Bering (1681–1741). Bering had been an officer in the Russian imperial navy since 1704. Using the ship "St. Gabriel", which had been built at the outlet of the Kamchatka River, Bering made two voyages north east in successive years (1728 and 1729), and at one point reached 67 degrees north, from which point the coast no longer extended towards the north. In both cases, he failed to reach the North American coastline due to adverse weather. Despite the newly acquired knowledge about the geography of the north east coast of Siberia, Bering's report on the expedition prepared after his return led to divisive debate because the question about the connection with North America remained unanswered, and this prompted Bering to propose a second Kamtschatka expedition.

The Expedition

Planning and Preparation

Bering's Expedition Plan and the two Fleets

The central goals in Bering's vision for the new expedition was the survey of the northern coast of the Russian Emprie; the expansion of the port of Okhotsk as the gateway to the Pacific Ocean; the search for a sea route to North America and Japan; the opening of the Siberian natural resources; and finally, the securing of Russian sovereignty in the eastern parts of Asia. The conditions for this gigantic project proved to very favourable. Empress Anna (1693–1740), reigning from 1730, wanted to continue the Peter the Great's territorial and economic expansion of the empire. The empress issued an Ukase issued on April 17, 1732, ordering a new expedition. This was followed on May 2 and 15, 1732 by two further Ukases from the Russian Senate to the Admiralty ordering the preparation of the undertaking, and the commissioning of Vitus Bering as its commander. Another Ukase on June 2, 1732 obligated the Russian Academy of Sciences to prepare instructions for the scientific component of the journey. A further Ukase on December 27, 1732 concerned the organization and the formal commissioning of the expedition.

The expedition was separated into three groups, each with further subdivisions. The mission of the northern group was to measure and chart the northern coast of Russia between the Archangelsk on the White Sea and the Anadyr River in eastern Siberia. The completion of this mission set the foundations for determining the status of the North east passage as a possible connection between Europe and the Pacific Ocean. It was seen as a possible alternate for the land transport used in Russia's trade with China, as well as a north east route to India. The Pacific group of the expedition consisted of two divisions. The first, led by Bering himself, was to proceed from Okhotsk on Kamchatka and reconnoiter from there for the legendary "Joao-da-Gama-Land". This was named after the Protugese explorer Joao da Gama, who had claimed in 1589 to have discovered a land mass north of Japan. From "Joao-da-Gama-Land", Bering's group was to set out farther east to the coast of North America. The second Pacific division was under the command of the Danish captain Martin Spangberg (born 1759 or 1761), who had accompanied Bering on the First Kamchatka Expedition, and had been charged with exploring the sea route from Okhotsk to Japan and China.

The Academic Component

The academic portion of the expedition was led by three professors from the Russian Academy of Sciences. Johann Georg Gmelin (1709–1755) was responsible for research into the plant and animal world as well as the mineral characteristics of the regions to be explored. Gmelin was a natural philosopher and botanist from Württemberg, who had studied in Tübingen and had research the chemical composition of curative waters. At the urging of his former teacher Georg Bernhard Bilfinger (1693–1750), Gmelin had moved to Russia with him in 1727. There he received a teaching post in chemistry and natural history in 1731.

European discovery of Alaska

In June 1741, the "St. Peter" and the "St.Paul" set sail from Petropavlovsk. Six days later they lost sight of each other in a thick fog, but both vessels continued to sail east.

On July 15, Chirikov sighted land, probably the west side of

On roughly July 16, 1741, Bering and the crew of "St. Peter" sighted a towering peak on the Alaska mainland, Mount Saint Elias. Bering was anxious to return to Russia and turned westward. He later anchored his vessel off Kayak Island while crew members went ashore to explore and find water. Georg Wilhelm Steller, the ship's naturalist, hiked along the island and took notes on the plants and wildlife. He also first recorded the Steller's Jay that bears his name.

Chirikov and the "St. Paul" headed back to Russia in October with news of the land they had found.

Bering's ship was battered by storms, and in November his ship was wrecked on the shore of Bering Island, which many of the crew thought to be the coast of Kamchatka. Bering fell ill with scurvy and died on December 8, 1741; soon after, the "St. Peter" was dashed to pieces by high winds. The stranded crew wintered on the island, and 28 crew members died. When weather improved, the 46 survivors built a 40 foot (12 m) boat from the wreckage and set sail for Petropavlovsk in August 1742. Bering's crew reached the shore of Kamchatka in 1742, carrying word of the expedition. The sea otter pelts they brought, soon judged to be the finest fur in the world, would spark Russian settlement in Alaska.

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