tageoufly employed, and that the furvey would be a very irkfome and
tedious talk, in confequence of the immenfe numbers of large pieees of
ice that were floating in the found in every direttion. T o guard as much
as poffible again!! accidents, I direfted that inftead of two boats as heretofore,
three Ihould be equipped for this fervice, with a fortnight’s fup-
ply of provifions, under the direflions of Mr. Whidbey, who had my
orders to go back to cape Spencer, as we had to that place now traced
the continental boundary eaftward from Cook’s inlet; and there to commence
and profecute its examination, fo long as their provifions would
Thurfdayto. hold out. On this fervice he accordingly departed early on thurfday
morning, accompanied by Mr. Menzies in the purfuit of botanical re-
fearches. Thofe on board were now fully employed in the various fer-
vices the veffels required: thefe principally confifted in caulking the
decks and top fides of the Difeovery, brewing fpruce beer, which here
proved to be extremely good, and in repairing our fails and rigging;
this latter had now become an object of our molt ferious attention, and
called forth all our management and ingenuity, as we had little rope left
to replace thofe that were by this time worn down to the very lalt flags
of being ferviceable.
The plan of our operations thus arranged; and having received from
Mr. Puget, his journal and chart o f the coaft-, eaftward from Prince William’s
found ; I lhall proceed in the following chapter to ftate fuch information,
as was procured during the reparation of the veffels,- in which
it will appear, that I have adopted the name of Beering!'s bay, inftead of
that of Admiralty bay, fo named by Mr. Dixon; this I have done from
a conviftion-of its being the place that Beeririg had vifited, and in conformity
with Captain Cook’s intentions; that the bay in which Beering
had anchored Ihould bear his name; and for the following reafons alfo.
On reference to the chart of Mr. Dixon, who firft named that place Admiralty
bay, another fpacious bay is therein defcribed to the eaftward of it,
having anifland lying off its fouth-eaft point, and called Beering’s bay;
this has-evidently been done in-conformity to Captain Cook’s chart, for
the diftance at which MeffrsV Portlock and Dixon pafled the coaft, gave
them-the fame fort o f . view o f it,- and precluded their detefting the-error
into
>79*.
July.
into which Captain Cook had fallen from fimilar circumftances. Captain
Cook alfo reprefents an extenfive bay to the weftward of Beering’s bay,
and hence the two charts exaftly correfpond. I had confidered Mr.
Dixon’s to have been the firft European velfel that had ever entered that
bay; but our late minute '.examination has {hewn, that between cape
Suckling, and cape Fairweather, only one fuch bay exifts; and confe-
quently it mult be that in which Beering had anchored, and from whence
at that time he feat Chitrow the matter of the fleet to reconnoitre the
bay. “ Chitrow found between fome iflands a convenient anchoring
“ place fecure from all winds, but there was no occafion to make ufe of
“ it.”* Now fince port Mulgrave is formed by iflands, and Since it is the
only place on the coaft between cape Hinchinbrook, and cape Fairweather,
that affords “ a convenient anchoring place fecure from all winds” ; and
fince that fituation will be found to correfpond with the latitude afligned
to Beering’s anchorage, as ftated by Mr. Smyloff to Captain Cook at
Gonalafhka in ofliober 17.88.; it is hardly probable that Beering could
have anchored any where elfe, or that Controllers bay, and Kaye’s ifland,
could have been the places alluded to in Muller’s account o f Beering’s
voyage, becaufe that bay is rendered inacceflible by fhoals, and is incapable
of affording any fhelter to {hipping. This bay then, fince no
other exifts within the limits in queftion, muft be the fame which Captain
Cook meant to diftinguifh by the name o f Beering’s bay, in honor
of its firft difcoverer; although it is not found to be fituated in the identical
fpot on the coaft that Captain Cook at that time did fuppofe, but
further to the north and weft. Had circumftances permitted Captain
Cook to have approached nearer to thefe Ihores on palling by them, there
cannot remain a doubt but that this miftake would not have taken place;
and in all probability he would not have been fo much at a lofs to have
reconciled the accounts of the Ruffian difcoveries on this part of America.
For thefe reafons the bay in our chart bears Beering’s name, but
port Mulgrave, and other places in the bay noticed by Mr. Dixon, remain
unaltered.
* Vide Mul-
ler’s account
of Beering’s
voyage.
CHAPTER