The Mammoth Book of Travel in Dangerous Places (3 page)

But to Yermak, Cortes, Pizarro or even Champlain geographical discovery was incidental if not irrelevant. The watershed between exploration motivated by greed and exploration motivated by
scientific enquiry falls in the eighteenth century and owes everything to the Enlightenment. Commercial and colonial interests certainly featured in the instructions issued to Vitus Bering by Peter
the Great in 1725; but so did purely geographical questions, like whether the Asian and American landmasses were joined. Furs also figured prominently in the plans for Bering’s second
expedition as, much later, they did in Mackenzie’s travels across Canada. Yet Bering’s inclusion of a naturalist like Steller, and the latter’s remarkable contribution to the
expedition’s findings and its survival, are more significant. Twenty years later, James Cook’s instructions from the Royal Society were wholly scientific. He was to observe a transit of
Venus across the sun from the southern hemisphere and to investigate the continuing rumours of a southern continent. In this context it was his interest in the colonial possibilities of New Zealand
and Australia which was incidental.

With its rejection of dogma and its emphasis on reason and experiment the Enlightenment had given man a new perspective on his world and a new purpose in it. Primitive societies could no longer
be regarded as amongst the raw materials of Christendom. Ignorance of outlandish places represented a slur on civilization. Above all the Enlightenment encouraged the individual to think and act
for himself. Better examples than Steller or Cook might be James Bruce or Mungo Park. Their solitary and often hazardous wanderings in Africa were undertaken out of little more than an
all-consuming curiosity. Although not scientists like the great Alexander von Humboldt, their range of enquiry was as wide and open-minded as the German polymath’s. “Man and Nature
– whatever is performed by the one or produced by the other” was how Sir William Jones, another Enlightenment polymath, put it. No one took this definition of scientific enquiry more to
heart than those who ventured abroad during the great age of exploration.

Georg Wilhelm Steller

(1709–46)

As physician and scientific know-all on Vitus Bering’s 1741 voyage, Steller shared its triumphs, including landing the first Europeans in Alaska. He also shared its
disasters. Returning across the north Pacific to Russian Kamchatka, the crew was stricken with scurvy and the vessel grounded. Bering and half his men would die; the others barely survived nine
months of Arctic exposure. They owed much to the German-born Steller whose response to each crisis was invariably right, although no less irksome for being so.

O
n November 7 we had again a very pleasant day and a northeast wind. I spent the morning in packing so much of my baggage as I could get hold of
near by. Because I could see plainly that our vessel could not hold together longer than till the first violent storm, when it must either be driven out to sea or dashed to pieces against the
beach, I, with Mr. Plenisner, my cossack, and several of the sick men went ashore first.

We had not yet reached the beach when a strange sight greeted us, inasmuch as from the land a number of sea otters came towards us in the sea, which from a distance some of us took for bears,
others for wolverines, but later on we learned to know, unfortunately, only too well. – As soon as we had landed, Mr. Plenisner went to hunt with the gun, while I investigated the natural
conditions of the surroundings. After having made various observations, I returned towards evening to the sick men, and there I also found Lieutenant Waxel, who was very weak and faint. We
refreshed ourselves with tea. Among other things I remarked: “God knows whether this is Kamchatka!” – receiving, however, from him [Waxel] the reply: “What else can it be?
We shall soon send for
podvods
(horses); the ship, however, we shall cause to be taken to the mouth of the Kamchatka River by cossacks, the anchors can be had any time, the most important
thing now is to save the men.” – In the meantime Mr. Plenisner also came back, told what he had seen, and brought half a dozen ptarmigans, which he sent on board to the Captain
Commander with the Lieutenant, in order to revive him by means of the fresh food. I, however, sent him some nasturtium-like herbs for a salad. – Later two cossacks and a cannoneer arrived,
who had killed two sea otters and two seals, news which appeared quite remarkable to us. When we reproached them for not bringing the meat in for our refreshment, they fetched us a seal, which
seemed to them preferable to the sea otter for eating. As evening came I made a soup from a couple of ptarmigans and ate this dish with Mr. Plenisner, young Waxel, and my cossack. In the meanwhile
Mr. Plenisner made a hut out of driftwood and an old sail, and under it we slept that night alongside the sick.

On November 8 we again enjoyed pleasant weather. This morning Mr. Plenisner made the agreement with me that he should shoot birds, while I should look for other kinds of food, and that we should
meet again towards noon in this place. With my cossack I went at first along the beach to the eastward, gathered various natural curiosities, and also chased a sea otter; my cossack, however, shot
eight blue foxes, the number and fatness of which as well as the fact that they were not shy astonished me exceedingly. Moreover, since I saw the many manati near shore in the water, which I had
never before seen and even now could not well make out as they lay all the time half in the water, but concerning which my cossack asserted that they were known nowhere in Kamchatka, and likewise
since nowhere any tree or shrubbery was to be seen, I began to doubt that this was Kamchatka, especially as the sea sky over in the south indicated sufficiently that we were on an island surrounded
by the sea.

Toward noon I returned to the hut and after dinner decided to go with Mr. Plenisner and our cossack westward along the beach in order to search for forests or small timber; we found nothing
whatever, but saw a few sea otters and killed various blue foxes and ptarmigans. On the way back we sat down at a small stream, regaled ourselves with tea, and thanked God heartily that once more
we had good water and under us solid ground, at the same time recalling how wonderfully we had fared and remembering the unjust conduct of various people.

During the day an effort was made by the disposition of the anchors, large and small, as many as we had, to make the ship secure to the land in the best possible manner, and for that reason the
boat did not come ashore. In the evening, as we were sitting around the camp fire after having eaten our meal, a blue fox came up and took away two ptarmigans right before our eyes. This was the
first sample of the many tricks and thefts which those animals practiced on us later. – I had to encourage my sick and feeble cossack, who regarded me as the cause of his misfortune and
reproached me for my curiosity which had led me into this misery, [thus] making the first step to our future companionship. “Be of good cheer,” I said, “God will help. Even if
this is not our country, we have still hope of getting there; you will not starve; if you cannot work and wait on me, I will do it for you; I know your upright nature and what you have done for me;
all that I have belongs to you also; only ask and I will divide with you equally until God helps.” – But he said: “Good enough; I will gladly serve Your Majesty, but you have
brought me into this misery. Who compelled you to go with these people? Could you not have enjoyed the good times on the Bolshaya River?” – I laughed heartily at his frankness and said:
“God be praised, we are both alive! If I have dragged you into this misery, you have in me, with God’s help, a lifelong friend and benefactor. My intentions were good, Thoma, so let
yours be good also; moreover, you do not know what might have happened to you at home.”

In the meantime I took this as a cue to consider how we could protect ourselves against the winter by building a hut, in case it turned out that we were not in Kamchatka but on an island. That
evening, therefore, I started to confer with Mr. Plenisner about building a hut for all eventualities and assisting each other with word and deed as good friends, no matter how the circumstances
might shape themselves. Although for appearance’s sake, in order not to discourage me, he did not assent to my opinion that this was an island, nevertheless he accepted my plan in regard to
the hut.

On November 9 the wind was from the east and the weather rather bearable. In the morning we went out to look for a site and to collect wood and selected during the day the spot where we built
later on and where the whole command also set up their huts and wintered. – However, we were far too busy killing blue foxes, of which I and Mr. Plenisner in one day got sixty, partly
knocking them down with the axe and partly stabbing them with a Yakut
palma.
– Towards evening we returned to our old hut, where again some of the sick had been brought ashore.

On the 10th of November the wind was from the east; in the forenoon it was clear, in the afternoon cloudy, and during the night the wind whirled much snow about. We carried all our baggage a
verst away to the place which we had selected the day before for the building of a dwelling. In the meantime more sick were brought ashore, among them also the Captain Commander, who spent the
evening and night in a tent. I, with others, was with him and wondered at his composure and singular contentment. He asked what my idea was about this land. – I answered that it did not look
to me like Kamchatka; the great number and tame assurance of the animals of itself clearly indicated that it must be sparsely inhabited or not at all; but nevertheless it could not be far from
Kamchatka, as the land plants observed here occur in the same number, proportion, and size as in Kamchatka, while on the other hand the peculiar plants discovered in America are not found in the
corresponding localities. Besides, I had found on the beach a poplar-wood window shutter, with cross moldings, that some years ago the high water had washed ashore and covered with sand near the
place where we later built our huts; I showed it and pointed out that it was unquestionably of Russian workmanship and probably from the
ambars
which stood at the mouth of the Kamchatka
River. The most likely place for which this land might be taken would be Cape Kronotski. Nevertheless, I did not fail to make known my doubts as to this, based on the following experience: I
showed, namely, a piece of a fox trap that I had found on the beach during the first day; on this the teeth, instead of being of iron, consisted of so-called Entale (tooth-shell), of the occurrence
of which in Kamchatka I have no information and regarding which it consequently is to be supposed that the sea must have washed this token over from America, where, in default of iron, this
invention may well have been made use of, while in Kamchatka, where iron already is plentiful through trade, it would be superfluous. I mentioned at the same time the unknown sea animal, manati,
which I had seen, and the character of the water sky opposite in the south. – To all this I got the reply: “The vessel can probably not be saved, may God at least spare our
longboat.”

In the evening after having eaten in company with the Commander the ptarmigans which Mr. Plenisner shot during the day, I told Betge, the assistant surgeon, that he might live with us if he
liked, for which he gave thanks; and thus our company now consisted of four. We therefore walked over to the place of our new quarters, sat by the camp fire, and discussed, over a cup of tea, how
we would put our plan into execution. I built near by a small hut which I covered with my two overcoats and an old blanket; the openings on the sides were stopped up with dead foxes which we had
killed during the day and were lying about in heaps, and then we retired to rest, but Mr. Betge returned to the Commander.

Towards midnight a strong wind arose, which was accompanied by much snow, tore off our roof, and drove the three of us from our quarters. We ran up and down the beach in the dark gathering
driftwood, carried it to a pit dug like a grave for two persons, and decided to pass the night there. We laid the wood crosswise over it and covered the top with our clothes, overcoats, and
blankets, made a fire to warm ourselves, went to sleep again, and thus, God be thanked, passed a very good night.

On the following day (November 11) I went down to the sea and fetched a seal, the fat of which I cooked with peas and ate in company with my three comrades, who in the meantime had made two
shovels and begun to enlarge our pit. – In the afternoon the Captain Commander was brought to us on a stretcher and had a tent, made of a sail, put upon the spot that we had originally chosen
for our dwelling place. We entertained him, as well as the other officers who had come to our pit, with tea. – Towards evening both officers returned to the ship. Master Khitrov even proposed
to Lieutenant Waxel that they should winter on board the vessel in the open sea, because, according to his idea, more warmth and comfort could be had there than on land, where, for lack of wood,
one would have to endure the winter in a tent. This proposition was now approved as very sensible, yet three days later the Master, on his own accord, came ashore and could not be brought back on
board the vessel by any orders when later he was to haul it up on the beach. – However, we continued to enlarge our underground home by digging and collected everywhere on the beach wood for
a roof and inside coating. – This evening we fixed up a light roof and in the person of assistant constable Roselius obtained the fifth member of our party. In the same manner a few others,
who still had strength left, began also to dig a four-cornered pit in the frozen sand and covered it over the next day with double sails in order to shelter the sick.

On November 12 we worked with the greatest industry on our habitation, observed also that others, following our example, dug for themselves in the same manner a third habitation which received
its name from its founder, the boatswain Alexei Ivanov. – During the day many of the sick were brought from the vessel, some of whom expired as soon as they came into the air, as was the case
with the cannoneer; others in the boat on the way over, as the soldier Savin Stepanov; some right on the beach, as the sailor Sylvester. – Everywhere on the shore there was nothing but
pitiful and terrifying sights. The dead, before they could be interred, were mutilated by the foxes, who even dared to attack the living and helpless sick, who lay about on the beach without cover,
and sniffed at them like dogs. Some of the sick cried because they were cold, others because hungry and thirsty, since the mouths of many were so miserably affected by the scurvy that they could
not eat anything because of the great pain, as the gums were swollen like a sponge, brown black, grown over the teeth and covering them.