Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Chapter XVIII.
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then on about the 51st parallel. They were of the opinion
that they were fourteen degrees from the Shumagins, and
supposed that they were 21° 39′ from Avacha, which of
course was very erroneous, for they were in the vicinity
of the present Atka. As they saw behind the islands a
high, snow-capped mountain, which, from the calendar
day, they called St. Johannes, they supposed the land to
be a continuation of the American continent.
During the next seventeen days, from the 25th of
September until the 11th of October, they carried their
lower sails only, and were driven by a stormy west wind
five degrees toward the southeast to a latitude of 48°.
“The wind,” says Steller, “seemed as if it issued forth
from a flue, with such a whistling, roaring and rumbling,
that we expected every moment to lose mast and rudder,
or to see the ship crushed between the breakers. The
dashing of a heavy sea against the vessel sounded like
the report of a cannon, and even the old, experienced
mate, Andreas Hesselberg, assured us that during a
sailor’s life of fifty years he had not before seen such a
sea.” No one was able to stand at his post. The ship
was at the mercy of the angry elements. Half of the
crew were sick and feeble, the other half well from dire
necessity, but were confused and distracted by the great
danger. For many days no cooking could be done, and
all they had that was fit to eat was some burned
ship-biscuits, and even these were on the point of becoming
exhausted. No one showed any firmness of purpose;
their courage was as “unsteady as their teeth.” The
officers now and then thought of returning to America,
but their plans changed as often as the weather.
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