BERING VITUS - navigator, explorer

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Anatol
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Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

BERING VITUS - navigator, explorer

Post by Anatol » Mon May 09, 2022 3:28 pm

Vitus Jonassen Bering, also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering, was a Danish cartographer and explorer in Russian service, and an officer in the Russian Navy. He is known as a leader of two Russian expeditions, namely the First Kamchatka Expedition and the Great Northern Expedition, exploring the north-eastern coast of the Asian continent and from there the western coast on the North American continent.
Vitus Bering was born in the port town of Horsens, Denmark, and was baptized on August 5, 1681. He was the son of Anne Pedersdatter Bering and her husband Jonas Svendsen Halmstad, a customs officer and churchwarden.
The family enjoyed reasonable financial security, with two of Vitus' elder half-brothers both attending the University of Copenhagen. Vitus, however, did not and instead signed on at age 15 as a ship's boy.
Vitus Bering became a lieutenant in the Russian navy in 1704, and during the Great Northern War, he served in both the Black and Baltic seas.

In January 1725 Peter I asked Bering to command the first Kamchatkan expedition, the aim of which was to determine the extent of the Siberian mainland and its relationship to North America.

Bering led the expedition over 6,000 miles of wilderness and reached Okhotsk on the Pacific coast on September 30, 1726, nineteen months after leaving Saint Petersburg. The group built ships and sailed to the Kamchatka Peninsula. The ship Gabriel was built there, and on July 14, 1728, Bering began his first exploration. The Gabriel sailed northward, rounding East Cape on August 14. Since the Asiatic coast trended westward and no land appeared to the north, Bering decided that he had fulfilled his mission; he turned back at latitude 67° 18' to avoid wintering on a desolate and unknown shore. The expedition spent the winter at Kamchatka, where Bering saw numerous signs indicating land to the east. But bad weather during the following summer frustrated his attempts to locate this land, and the expedition returned to St. Petersburg in March 1730.

Since Bering had not explored the coast of Siberia beyond East Cape, critics claimed that he lacked courage and initiative and pointed out that the relationship between Asia and America remained a mystery. In defense Bering proposed another exploratory mission, and in 1732 he was given command of the Great Northern Expedition. But what began as a fairly modest proposal was unrealistically inflated by the government. Bering was to locate and map the American coast as far as the first European settlement; other groups, coordinated by him, were to chart the Siberian coast and determine once and for all whether Asia and America were connected. Not only was Bering encumbered by a sizable scientific party, but he was also ordered to initiate economic development in eastern Siberia. Hopelessly overburdened, he was given full responsibility but was denied complete authority over his subordinates.

The first detachments left Saint Petersburg in February 1733. Crossing Siberia with the throng of jealous officers, balky workers, and insubordinate scientists became a 3-year nightmare. By 1740 preparations at Okhotsk were completed, and the expedition sailed for Kamchatka, where it spent the winter. Bering set out in June 1741 with two ships, but the ships were soon separated and Bering continued alone on the Saint Peter. He changed his course to the north and sighted land on July 16. A few days later he landed on what is now Kayak Island; but physically and morally exhausted and fearful of being trapped by contrary winds, Bering turned back toward Kamchatka.

The party sailed erratically southwestward, charting landfalls on the way. By the end of August, Bering was too ill to leave his cabin, and the first of many deaths among the crew occurred. On November 4 the coast of one of what are now called the Komandorskie Islands was sighted. With a battered ship and many sick men, Bering decided to winter on the island. Though he grew weaker each day, he continued to guide his men until his death on December 8, 1741. He was buried on the island which now bears his name.

After his death there, forty-five of the 77 officers were able to reach Siberia and brought news of excellent fur-trading possibilities in the Aleutians and Alaska.
Vitus Jonassen Bering is remembered as a navigator, whose exploration of the Bering Strait and Alaska prepared the way for a Russian foothold on the North American continent.
The Bering Strait, the Bering Sea, Bering Island, the Bering Glacier and the Bering Land Bridge were all named in his honor.

Russia 1965;4к.Postal envelope.
PMR 2019; [P]. 2014; [T].
Маlаwi 2008; К200.
Sierra Leone 2016;10 000Le;(4300x6) Le, sheetlet.

Source: https://prabook.com/web/vitus.bering/3753423.
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