[20] The reader need scarcely be reminded, that mention is made in the
    introduction to this voyage, of an honourable testimony of British
    gratitude for the extraordinary services of this generous man.  Of his
    subsequent history, we regret to say, we are entirely ignorant.—­E.

SECTION III.

Continuation of Transactions in the Harbour of St Peter and St Paul.—­Abundance of Fish.—­Death of a Seaman belonging to the Resolution.—­The Russian Hospital put under the Care of the Ship’s Surgeons.—­Supply of Flour and Cattle.—­Celebration of the King’s Birth-day.—­Difficulties in Sailing out of the Bay.—­Eruption of a Volcano.—­Steer to the Northward.—­Cheepoonskoi Noss.—­Errors of the Russian Charts.—­Kamptschatskoi Noss.—­Island of St Laurence.—­View, from the same Point, of the Coasts of Asia and America, and the Islands of St Diomede.—­Various Attempts to get to the North, between the two Continents.—­Obstructed by Impenetrable Ice.—­Sea-horses and White Bears killed.—­Captain Clerke’s Determination and future Designs.

Having concluded the last section with an account of our return from Bolcheretsk, accompanied by Major Behm, the commander of Kamtschatka, and of his departure, I shall proceed to relate the transactions that passed in the harbour of St Peter and St Paul during our absence.  On the 7th of May, soon after we had left the bay, a large piece of ice drove across the cut-water of the Resolution, and brought home the small bower-anchor.  This obliged them to weigh the other anchor, and moor again.  The carpenters who were employed in stopping the leak, were obliged to take off a great part of the sheathing from the bows, and found many of the trunnels so very loose and rotten, as to be easily drawn out with the fingers.

On the 11th, they had heavy gales from the N.E., which obliged both the ships to strike yards and topmasts; but in the afternoon the weather being more moderate, and the ice having drifted away as far as the mouth of the harbour of St Peter and St Paul, they warped close to the shore for the greater convenience, of watering and wooding, and again moored as before; the town bearing N. 1/2 W., half a mile distant, and the mouth of the bay shut in by the southernmost point of Rakowina harbour, S.

The next day a party was sent on shore to cut wood, but made little progress on account of the snow, which still covered the ground.  A convenient spot was cleared away abreast of the ships, where there was a fine run of water; and a tent being erected for the cooper, the empty casks were landed, and the sail-makers sent on shore.