Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Chapter XVII.
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pour in upon them. They encountered adverse winds
which continued with but few interruptions during the
succeeding months. The St. Peter was tossed about on
the turbulent and unfamiliar waters of the Aleutian
archipelago, where the crew experienced an adventure so
fraught with suffering and dire events that it is quite
beyond compare in the history of discoveries. At the
same time, the scurvy got the upper hand. Bering had
a severe attack which rendered him unfit for service.
With his illness the bonds of discipline were relaxed.
Under these circumstances there was called, on the 10th
of August, an extraordinary council, in which all the
officers participated. At this meeting it was finally
decided to give up the charting of the American coast,
and immediately start out upon the direct route
homeward on parallel 52°, the latitude of Avacha. The
whole crew, from the highest to the lowest, signed this
resolution. The facts taken into consideration were that
September had been fixed as the extreme limit of time
within which to return home, and that they were then
in the middle of August. Avacha was at least 1600
miles distant, autumn was at hand with dark nights
and stormy weather, and sixteen of the crew were
already sick with the scurvy.
With a strong head-wind, in raw and foggy weather,
and now and then overtaken by fierce storms, they
worked their way slowly along until the 27th of August.
The condition of affairs on hoard had grown continually
worse, when it was finally announced that through
carelessness and irregularity the supply of water had been
reduced to twenty-five casks, a quantity that could not
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