ALASKA Yesterday

Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, was puzzled. He must

find the answer. Tired and ill, he wrote down these words,

"... with these (boats) you are to sail northward along the

coast, and as the end of the coast is not known this land is

undoubtedly America. . . . make a landing . . . and, then,

after having charted the coast, return."

Four days later the czar was dead. However, the man

who had been commanded to lead the expedition went on.

He would solve the puzzle.

The Czar's words echoed in the ears of Vitus Bering

(bēr'ing) as he sailed northward into foggy waters now known

as Bering Sea and Bering Strait. During the month of July,

1728, Bering reached islands which he named St. Lawrence,

Big Diomede (di'o mēd), and Little Diomede. The natives

told him that there was land to the east, but he did not

believe them. There was fog everywhere. If there had been

sunshine, Alaska would have been discovered then! Discour-

aged by days of endless fog, the explorer returned to Siberia.

Bering set out again in 1741 with two ships, the St. Peter

and the St. Paul. The vessels sailed south around the Aleutiar

Islands (à lu'shăn) without even sighting land, then headed

eastward. During a storm the boats became separated. At las

Bering saw land to the east.

Aboard the St. Peter with Bering was a well-trained scien

tist, George Steller. This was one of the first exploring parties