Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Chapter XIII.
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narrow channels there are heavy breakers and swift
currents.
For nearly a century after Spangberg, these obstacles
defied some of the world’s bravest seamen. Captain
Gore, who was last in command of Cook’s ships, was
obliged to give up the task of charting this region; La
Pérouse succeeded in exploring only the Boussale
channel; the fogs forced Admiral Sarycheff (1792) to give
up his investigations here; Captain Broughton (1796)
was able to circumnavigate only the most southerly
islands, without, however, succeeding in giving a
correct representation of them; and not until the early
part of this century did Golovnin succeed in charting
the group more accurately than Spangberg. All of
these difficulties were experienced in full measure
by Spangberg’s expedition. In constant combat with
fogs, swift currents, and heavy seas along steep and
rocky coasts, he had, by the 3d of August, 1738,
circumnavigated thirty-one islands (our maps have not
nearly so large a number), and at a latitude of 45° 30′
he reached the large island Nadeshda, (the
Kompagniland of the Dutch, Urup), but, as he could nowhere
find a place to anchor, and as the nights were growing
dark and long, the ship’s bread running short, and the
crew for a long time having been on half rations, he
turned back, and reached Bolsheretsk on the 17th of
August. Lieutenant Walton, who had parted company
with his chief and had sailed as far down as 43° 30′
north latitude, thus reaching the parallel of Yezo,
arrived a few days later. As well as the other chiefs of
these expeditions, Spangberg had authority, without a
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