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Piqued by the real, or supposed neglect of government, Captain Ross, in the spring of 1829, undertook an expedition on his own resources, with the view of effecting a passage into the Polar Sea, and to reach Behring's Straits along the northern coast of the American continent.
The Vega continued her eastward course, meeting with little incident, but continually adding to the information already acquired. So on till the 27th of September, when, in the strait that separates Asia from America near the entrance of Behring's Strait, the vessel got imprisoned in the early forming ice.
She was repaired as far as possible, some time being spent in these necessary operations, as also in exchanging civilities between the officers of the Russian garrison and the English. The ships sailed on the 9th of October, and steered a course for Macao. While in Behring's Straits sea-otter and other skins had been obtained; these realised altogether upwards of two thousand pounds.
Captain McClure had discovered it in 1853, and his lieutenant, Creswell, was the first who had the honour of rounding the American continent from Behring's Straits to Davis's Straits. Still it was certain to competent judges that the Forward was prepared to face the ice regions. Was it going to the South Pole, farther than the whaler Weddell or Captain James Ross? But, if so, what for?
It is admitted that the Tchuktchi, on the eastern side of Behring's Straits, are, in all essential respects, Esquimaux; and I do not know that there is any satisfactory evidence to show that the Tunguses and Samoiedes do not essentially share the physical characters of the same people.
There had been deaths from scurvy; one of the largest ships belonging to the Company had been wrecked and the entire cargo lost; of a hunting party of three hundred Aleuts in one hundred and forty bidarkas, which had gone from Sitka to Kadiak in November of the preceding year, not one had arrived at its destination, and there was reason to believe that all had been drowned or massacred; and the Russians and Aleuts at Behring's Bay settlement had been exterminated by one of the native tribes.
A ship was accordingly built and equipped, and the command given to Lieutenant Kotzebue. He sailed from Russia in the autumn of 1815, and on the 19th of June in the following year he reached Kamschatka. This he left on the 15th of July and on the 20th of that month, Behring's Islands were seen to the northward of Cape Prince of Wales.
Observations have long been made, that the current in Baffin's Bay runs to the south; and thus no doubt can remain that the mass of water which flows into Behring's Straits takes its course round America, and returns through Baffin's Bay into the Ocean." In 1819 the Russian government sent out another expedition, whose object was to trace the continent of America to the northward and eastward.
It is a great commercial center: from the Anubra to Behring's Straits, from the banks of the Frozen Sea to Mount Aldana, from Okhotsk and even Kamschatka, goods are brought hither, consisting chiefly of furs, seals' teeth and mammoths' tusks, which afford excellent ivory, all of which are sold in the summer to itinerant traders, who give in return powerfully-flavored tobacco, corn and flour, tea, sugar, strong drinks, Chinese silks and cottons, cloth, iron and copper utensils, and glass.
Two other islands of the group, Woakoo and Atooi, were visited, when the natives behaved in the same friendly way as elsewhere. After this, on the 12th of March, the ships sailed for Behring's Straits, in search of a passage into the Atlantic. Captain Clerke, who had been suffering for some time from consumption, was evidently fast sinking, but he still persevered in his undertaking.
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