driven from the other fide o f the bay. On fee ing them entangled,
the Difcovery’s launch had been fent to their af-
fiftance, but foon fhared the fame fa t e ; and, in a ihort time,
the ice had furrounded them near a quarter o f a mile deep.
T h is obliged us to ftay on fhore till evening, when finding
no profpetft o f ge ttin g the boats off, fome o f us went in
fledges to the edge o f the ice, and were taken o ff by boats
fent from the Ihip, and the reft ftaid on fhore all night.
It continued to freeze hard during the n ig h t ; but, before
morning, on the 4th, a change o f wind drifted awa y the
floating ice, and fet the boats at liberty, without their havin
g fuftained the fmalleft damage.
About ten o’clock in the forenoon, w e faw feveral fledges
drivin g down the edge o f the ice, and fent a boat to conduct
the perfons who were in them on board. One o f thefe
was a Ruffian merchant from Bolcheretik, named Fedo-
fitfch, and the other a German, called Port, who had brought
a letter from Major Behm, the Commander o f Kamtfchatka,
to Captain Clerke. When th e y got to the edge o f the ice, and
faw diftinftly the fize o f the ihips, w hich la y within about two
hundred yards from them, they appeared to be exceedingly
alarmed; and, before they would venture to embark, defired
two o f our boat’s crew might be le ft on fhore as hoftages
fo r their fafety. We afterward found, that Ifmyloff, in his
letter to the commander, had mifreprefented us, fo r what
reafons we could not conceive, as two fmall trading boats,
and that the ferjeant, who had only feen the Ihips “at a
diftance, had not, in his difpatches, rectified the miftake.
When they arrived on board, we ftill found, from their
cautious and timorous behaviour, that they were under
fome unaccountable apprehenfions; and an uncommon degree
gree o f fatisfadtion was vifible in their countenances,*> . on the *M57a9y-.
German’ s finding a perfon amongftus, with whom he could <-
converfe. T h is was Mr. Webber, who fpoke that languag e
perfectly w e ll; and at Iaft, though with fome difficulty, convinced
them, that we were Englifhmen, and friends. Mr.
Port be in g introduced to Captain Clerke, delivered to him
the Commander’s letter, w hich was written in German, and
was merely complimental, in viting him and his officers sty
Bolcheretik, to w hich place the people, who brought it,
were to conduit us. Mr. Port, at the fame time, acquainted
him, that the Major had conceived a ve ry wron g idea o f the
fize o f the ihips, and o f the fervice w e were engaged in r
Ifmyloff, in his letter, ha vin g reprefented us as two fmall
En glifh pacquet boats, and cautioned him to be on his
guard ; infinuating, that he fufpefted us to be net better
than pirates. In confequence o f this letter, he faid, there-
had been various conjectures formed about us at Bolchere
tik : that the Major thought it moft probable we were on a
trading fcheme, and fo r that reafon had fent down a me rchant
to U s ; but that the officer, w ho was fecond in command,
was o f opinion we were French, and come with fome
hoftile intention, and were for tak in g meafures accordingly.
It had required, he added, all the Major’s authority to keep-
the inhabitants from lea vin g the town, and retiring up in to
the country; to fo extraordinary a pitch had their fears rifen
from their perfuafion that w e were French.
T h e ir extreme apprehenfions o f that nation were principally
occafioned, by fome circumftances attending an infur-
reCtion that had happened a t Bolcheretik, a few years before,
in which the Commander had loft his life. We were-
informed, that an exiled Polifh officer, named Benjowfki,
tak in g advantage o f the confufion into which the town was.
Y o u . III. C c. throw«;,