Bering first saw the continent of North America on July 18, 1741, in latitude 58º 28'. Looking at it from a distance "the country had terrible high mountains that were covered with snow." Two days later he anchored in a sheltered bay near a point which he called, for the saint day on which he saw it, Cape St. Elias. He was in the shadow of Mount St. Elias. On landing he found deserted huts, fireplaces, hewn wood, household furniture, an arrow, edge-tools of copper, with "store of red salmon." Here also several birds unknown in Siberia were noticed by the faithful Steller. Steering northward, Bering found himself constrained by the elbow in the coast to turn westward, and then in a southerly direction. Hugging the shore, his voyage was arrested by islands without number, among which he zigzagged to find his way. Several times he landed, and on one of these occasions he saw natives, who wore upper garments of whales' guts, breeches of sealskins, caps of the skins of sea-lions, adorned with various feathers, especially those of hawks." These "Americans," as they are called, were fishermen, without bows and arrows. This was on one of the Shumagin Islands, near the southern coast of the Peninsula of Alaska.
Meanwhile, the other solitary ship, proceeding on its way, had sighted the same coast, July 15, 1741, in latitude 56º. Anchoring at some distance from the steep and rocky cliffs before him, Tschirikoff sent his mate with the long-boat and ten of his best men, provided with small arms and a brass cannon, to inquire into the nature of the country and to obtain fresh water. The long-boat disappeared in a small wooded bay, and was never seen again. The captain sent his boatswain, with the small boat and carpenters, well armed, to furnish assistance. But the small boat disappeared also, and was never seen again. At the same time a great smoke was observed continually ascending from the shore. Shortly afterward two boats filled with natives sallied forth and lay at some distance from the vessel, when, crying "Agai! Agai!" they put back to the shore. Sorrowfully the Russian navigator turned away, not knowing the fate of his comrades and unable to help them. This was not far from Sitka.
Such was the first discovery of these northwestern coasts, and such are the first recorded glimpses of the aboriginal inhabitants. Tschirikoff, deprived of his boats, and therefore unable to land, hurried home.
During this time, Bering was driven, like Ulysses, on the uncertain waves. A single tempest raged for seventeen days. Scurvy came with its disheartening horrors, and the Commodore himself was a sufferer. Rigging broke, cables snapped. Anchors were lost. At last the tempest- tossed vessel was cast upon a desert island, where the Commodore, sheltered in a ditch and half covered with sand as a protection against cold, died, December 8, 1741. His body after his decease was "scraped out of the ground" and buried on this island, which is called by his name, and constitutes an outpost of the Asiatic continent.
For some time after these expeditions, by which Russia achieved the palm of discovery, imperial enterprise slumbered in those seas. The knowledge already acquired was continued and confirmed only by private individuals, who were led there in quest of furs. In 1745 the Aleutian Islands were discovered by an adventurer in search of sea otter. In successive voyages all these islands were visited for similar purposes. Among them was Oonalaska, the principal of the group of Fox Islands, which constitute a continuation of the Aleutian Islands, whose inhabitants and productions were minutely described. In 1768 private enterprise was superseded by an expedition ordered by the Empress Catharine, which, leaving Kamchatka, explored this whole archipelago and the Peninsula of Alaska, which to the islanders stood for the whole continent. Shortly afterward all these discoveries, beginning with those of Bering and Tschirikoff, were verified by the great English navigator Captain James Cook. In 1778 he sailed along the northwestern coast, and his report shed a flood of light upon the geography of that region.
“God prevents our being proud of ourselves by the experience of our weakness and corruption, which is manifest by our numberless relapses.”
–Fenelon