mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i3-008

--58--

When it became completely dark, the Captain ordered us to
light the false fire and the lanterns on the bowsprit and
foretop. The vessel immediately responded with the same, and
by this we were convinced of the correctness of our supposi-
tion. But the calms continued until the 11th, and we could
not come nearer to each other. On the night of the 12th, a
light breeze sprang up from the E and toward morning we ap-
proached the sighted vessel, which indeed was the "Discovery."
We did not delay going to it in a tender, and we learned that
they had suffered even more than we from calm and lack of
wind.

Having wasted so much time, we could not hope to arrive
at Kotzebue Sound on time by keeping our former course toward
California. For this reason, Captain Vasilev ordered that
we remain with him for the time being, and afterward to pro-
ceed directly to Unalashka, where, taking on Aleuts with Bai-
dars [umiaks] to hurry to Bering Strait and await his arrival in the Sound.

In compliance with these instructions, we followed the
"Discovery." This ship kept, as far as possible, toward the
north, but frequent calms, interrupted from time to time by
terrible squalls as before, delayed us and slowed our sail-
ing to such an extent that only by the 17th did we reach eight
degrees of south latitude.

On that day, we were ahead of the "Discovery," moving
slowly before a SE wind on the mentioned course, when suddenly