mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i3-050

– 100 –

to believe it, but finally the breakers were also heard on the
quarterdeck. Through the darkness of the night came to sight
a dark high mass with luminous stripes, that is, snow lying
in the ravines. We immediately came about on the opposite
tack, and thereby escaped this danger. While tacking, we cast
the lead almost at shore, but did not reach bottom at 200
sazhens [1400 feet].¹² From this, it is obvious how great
was the danger to which we were exposed, because if the sloop
under such shortened sail had not tacked, it would have been
impossible to rely on the anchor, and we would not have avoided
crashing on the rocks. One may ask why we were so close to
the island? Our calculation was correct, but we were carried
by the current flowing from Bering Strait. I have already mentioned
about the current that exists in the Arctic Ocean itself,
constantly flowing from the NE. From where came this
mass of water constantly flowing from one direction? We could
only certainly think that the shore of America does not extend
farther than the pole, and has a broad passage through which
the waters of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans flow into the
Pacific. Thus, one had only to find this passage. That it
exists, we did not doubt. But it was not fated to us to achieve
this feat as we met an insurmountable obstacle in the stationary
ice as will be seen from the continuing description of this
voyage.

The next day, with a favorable wind from the NNW, we
began to survey the northern shore of the island from its