Editing Vitus Bering (section)

===Second Kamchatka expedition and death===
{{Main|Great Northern Expedition}}
====Preparations====
[[File:1966 CPA 3446.jpg|thumb|right | 250px| 1966 Soviet postage stamp depicting Bering's second voyage and the discovery of the Commander Islands]]
Bering soon proposed a second Kamchatka expedition, much more ambitious than the first and with an explicit aim of sailing east in search of North America. The political situation in the Russian Empire was difficult, however, and this meant delays. In the interim, the Berings enjoyed their new-found status and wealth: there was a new house and a new social circle for the newly ennobled Berings. Bering also made a bequest to the poor of Horsens, had two children with Anna and even attempted to establish his familial coat of arms.<ref name="frost63">{{harvnb|Frost|2003|pp=63–73}}</ref> The proposal, when it was accepted, would a significant affair, which involved 600 people from the outset and several hundred added along the way.<ref name="Egerton (2008)">{{harvnb|Egerton|2008}}</ref> Though Bering seems to have been primarily interested in landing in North America, he recognised the importance of secondary objectives: the list of which expanded rapidly under the guidance of planners [[Nikolai Fedorovich Golovin]] (head of the [[Admiralty Board (Russian Empire)|Admiralty]]); [[Ivan Kirilov]], a highly ranked politician with an interest in geography, and [[Andrey Osterman]], a close adviser of the new Empress, [[Anna of Russia|Anna Ivanovna]]. As Bering waited for Anna to solidify her grip on the throne, he and Kirilov worked to find a new, more dependable administrator to run Okhotsk and to begin work on improving the roads between Yakutsk and the coastal settlement. Their choice for the post of administrator, made remotely, was [[Grigory Skornyakov-Pisarev]]; possibly the least bad candidate, he would nevertheless turn out to be a poor choice. In any case, Skornyakov-Pisarev was ordered in 1731 to proceed to Okhotsk, with directions to expand it into a proper port. He did not leave for Okhotsk for another four years, by which time Bering's own expedition (in time for which Okhotsk was supposed to have been prepared) was not far off.<ref name="frost63"/>

In 1732, however, Bering was still at the planning stage in Moscow, having taken a short leave of absence for St. Petersburg. The better positioned Kirilov oversaw developments, eyeing up not only the chance of discovering North America, but of mapping the whole Arctic coast, finding a good route south to Japan, landing on the [[Shantar Islands]] and even making contact with Spanish America. On 12 June the Senate approved resources to fund an academic contingent for the expedition, and three academics&nbsp;– [[Johann Georg Gmelin]] (a natural historian), [[Louis de l'Isle de la Croyère]] (an astronomer), and [[Gerhard Friedrich Müller]] (an anthropologist)&nbsp;– were selected by the [[Academy of Sciences]]. [[Owen Brazil]], a Moscow native but of Irish descent, was selected as the expedition's quartermaster and was placed in charge of packaging and storing supplies, such as fudge, sausages and biscuits. Bering was wary of this expansion in the proposed size of the whole expedition, given the food shortages experienced on the first voyage.<ref name="frost63"/> Proposals were made to transports goods or men to Kamchatka by sea via [[Cape Horn]], but these were not approved.<ref name="frost63"/><ref name="debenham421">{{harvnb|Debenham|1941|p=421}}</ref> Other than a broad oversight role, Bering's personal instructions from the Admiralty were surprisingly simple.<ref name="armstrong161"/><ref name="frost63"/> Given on 16 October 1732, they amounted only to recreating his first expedition, but with the added task of heading east and finding North America (a feat which had in fact just been completed by [[Mikhail Gvozdev]],<ref name="armstrong163">{{harvnb|Armstrong|1982|p=163}}</ref> though this was not known at the time<ref name="frost63"/>). The suggestion was made that Bering share more of his command with the Chirikov, suggesting that the 51-year-old Bering was slowly being edged out. Elsewhere, instructions were sent ahead to Yakutsk, Irkutsk and Okhotsk to aid Bering's second expedition&nbsp;– and thus, the naivety of the first expedition in assuming compliance was repeated. Further follies included plans to send ships north along the rivers [[Ob River|Ob]] and [[Lena River|Lena]] towards the Arctic.<ref name="frost63"/>

====St. Petersburg to Kamchatka====
Spanberg left St. Petersburg in February 1733 with the first (small) detachment of the second expedition, bound for Okhotsk. Chirikov followed on 18 April with the main contingent (initially 500 people and eventually swelling to approximately 3000 after labourers were added). Following them, on 29 April Bering followed with Anna and their two youngest children&nbsp;– their two eldest, both sons, were left with friends in [[Reval]]. The academic contingent, including the three professors, left in August. Soon catching the main party, Bering and Chirikov led the group eastwards, descending on Tobolsk for the winter.<ref name="frost74">{{harvnb|Frost|2003|pp=74–81}}</ref> The arrival of such a large party with such great demands&nbsp;– and so soon after Spanberg had made similar demands&nbsp;– put a strain on the town. Bering and a small advance party left Tobolsk in later February, stopping at Irkutsk to pick up gifts for the native tribes they would later encounter; it arrived at Yakutsk in August 1734. The main grouping, now under Chirikov's command left Tobolsk in May 1734, but  had a more difficult trek and one which required harsh discipline be imposed to prevent desertions.<ref name="frost74"/> Nonetheless, it arrived in Yakutsk in June 1735. Whilst Spanberg headed east to Okhotsk, Bering waited in Yakutsk where he partied for a long time, preparing two ships on the Lena (one would be captained by [[Vasili Pronchishchev]] and the other first by [[Peter Lassenius]] and later by [[Dmitry Laptev]]). Both were to sail northwards, and over the coming years to chart the Arctic coastline and to test whether it was navigable. Nevertheless, Bering soon found he was quickly bogged down in Yakutsk; two parties sent east to find a better route to the [[Okhotsk Sea]] were both failures (the second coming far closer than it realised), and yet this was information the expedition desperately needed. Bering decided to prepare a similar land route to the one he had used on the first expedition instead, constructing huts along the route in advance.<ref name="frost74"/> It was work, however, that was still unfinished even by the summer of 1737, such were the delays.<ref name="frost84">{{harvnb|Frost|2003|pp=84–92}}</ref>

At Okhotsk things were little better; it was "ill-suited to be a permanent port", and Skornyakov-Pisarev was slow to construct the buildings needed. Spanberg was, however, able to ready the ships the expedition needed. By the end of 1737 the ''St. Gabriel'' had been refitted; additionally, two new ships{{mdash}}the ''Archangel Michael'' ({{lang|ru|Архангел Михаил}}, ''Arkhangel Mikhail'') and the ''Nadezhda'' ({{lang|ru|Надежда}}){{mdash}}had been constructed and were rapidly readied for a voyage to Japan, a country with which Russia had never had contact. The same year, Bering took up residence in Okhotsk. It was the fifth year of the expedition, and the original costings now looked naive compared to the true costs of the trip. The additional costs (300,000 roubles compared to the 12,000 budgeted) brought poverty to the whole region. On 29 June 1738, Spanberg set off for the [[Kuril Islands]] with the three ships he had prepared. After he had left there were further delays, probably due to a lack of natural resources. Over the next three years, Bering himself was criticised on an increasingly regular basis (his salary had already been halved in 1737 when the originally planned four years ran out); the delays also caused friction between Bering, Chirikov (who felt unduly constrained) and Spanberg (who felt Bering was too weak in his dealings with the local peoples). The two key figures who had been so useful to Bering in St. Petersburg back in the early 1730s (Saunders and Kirilov) were now dead, and there were occasional moves to either terminate the expedition or to replace Bering. Meanwhile, a fourth ship, the ''Bolsheretsk'' ({{lang|ru|Большерецк}}) was constructed and Spanberg (having identified some 30 Kuril Islands on his first trip) led the four ships on a second voyage, which saw the first Russians land in Japan. In August 1740, with the main, America-bound expedition almost ready, Anna Bering returned to St. Petersburg with her and Vitus' younger children. Bering would never see his wife again.<ref name="frost84"/> Those without places on a ship also began the long journey home. As they left, a messenger arrived; the admiralty was demanding a progress update. Bering delayed, promising a partial report from Spanberg and a fuller report later.<ref name="frost112">{{harvnb|Frost|2003|pp=112–120}}</ref>

====Sea voyage, death and achievements====
[[File:Berings ships wrecked.jpg|thumb|right | 250px|Vitus Bering's expedition being wrecked on the Aleutian Islands in 1741.]]
[[File:The grave of Vitus Bering.jpg|thumb|right | 250px|The grave of Vitus Bering on Bering Island]]
With time now of the essence, the ''Okhotsk'' ({{lang|ru|Охотск}}) left for Bolsheretsk, arriving there in mid-September. Another new ship, the ''St. Peter'' ({{lang|ru|Святой Пётр}}, ''Sviatoi Piotr'', ''Pyotr'', or ''Pëtr''), captained by Bering, also left. It was accompanied by its sister creation the ''St. Paul'' ({{lang|ru|Святой Павел}}, ''Sviatoi Pavel'') and the ''Nadezhda''. Delayed by the ''Nadezhda''{{'}}s hitting a sand bank and then being beaten by a storm, such that it was forced to stay at Bolsheretsk, the two other ships arrived in their destination of [[Avacha Bay]] in south-eastern Kamchatka on 6 October. The foundation of [[Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky]], including warehouses, living quarters and a beacon had been built there on Bering's orders few months before, and now the explorer named the settlement after his vessels. Over the winter, Bering recruited for the trip ahead naturalist [[Georg Steller]] and completed the report he had promised to send. At the same time, however, the murder of several Russians under Bering's command by native tribesmen prompted him to send armed men to the north, with orders not to use force if it could be avoided. Apparently it could not, because the detachment killed several native Koryaks in the settlement of [[Utkolotsk]] and enslaved the remainder, bringing them back south. Steller was horrified to see the Koryaks tortured in search of the murderers. His ethical complaints, like Chirikov's more practical ones before him, were suppressed.<ref name="frost112"/> From Petropavlovsk, Bering led his expedition towards North America.

The expedition spotted the volcano [[Mount Saint Elias]] on 16 July 1741, where it briefly landed. His objective complete, ill and exhausted, Bering turned ship and headed back towards port.<ref name="armstrong161"/> The return journey then included the discovery of [[Kodiak Island]]. A storm separated the ships, but Bering sighted the southern coast of [[Alaska]], and a landing was made at [[Kayak Island]] or in the vicinity. Under the command of [[Aleksei Chirikov]], the second ship discovered the shores of northwest America ([[Aleksander Archipelago]] of present-day Alaska). Steller ensured the voyage recorded the wildlife it encountered, discovering and describing several species of plant and animal native to the North Pacific and North America during the expedition (including the [[Steller sea cow]] and [[Steller's jay]]). Bering himself was forced by adverse conditions to return, and he discovered some of the [[Aleutian Islands]] on his way back. One of the sailors died and was buried on one of these islands, and the group was named after him (as the [[Shumagin Islands]]). Suffering from [[scurvy]] like many of his crew, Bering steadily became too ill to command the ship, passing control to [[Sven Waxell]].<ref>{{harvnb|Frost|2003|pp=237–245}}</ref> Storms, however, meant that the crew of the ''St. Peter'' was soon driven to refuge on an uninhabited island in the [[Commander Islands]] group (''Komandorskiye Ostrova'') in the south-west [[Bering Sea]]. On 19 December 1741 Vitus Bering died on the uninhabited island near the [[Kamchatka Peninsula]], which was later given the name [[Bering Island]] in his honour.<ref name="armstrong161"/> Like 28 men of his company, Bering's death was commonly assumed to have been the result of [[scurvy]] (although this has since been contested<ref group="nb" name="1991-expedition not scurvy"/>); certainly, it had afflicted him in the final months.<ref>{{harvnb|Frost|2003|p=7}}</ref> The situation was still dire for Bering's expedition (now headed by Waxell), many of them, including Waxell, were still ill and the ''St. Peter'' was in poor condition. By April 1742 the party had ascertained that they were on an island. They decided to construct a new vessel from the remnants of the ship in order to return home. By August it was ready, successfully reaching Avacha Bay later in the month. There, the party discovered that Chirikov had led a rescue mission during 1741 that came within miles of the stranded group.<ref>{{harvnb|Frost|2003|pp=246–269}}</ref> Out of 77 men aboard the ''St. Peter'', only 46 survived the hardships of the expedition, which claimed its last victim just one day before coming into home port. Its builder, Starodubtsev, returned home with government awards and later built several other seaworthy ships.

Assessing the scale of Bering's achievements is difficult, given that he was neither the first Russian to sight North America (that having been achieved by [[Mikhail Gvozdev]] during the 1730s), nor the first Russian to pass through the strait which now bears his name (an honour which goes to the relatively unknown 17th-century expedition of [[Semyon Dezhnev]]). Reports from his second voyage were jealously guarded by the Russian administration, preventing Bering's story from being retold in full for at least a century after his death. Nonetheless, Bering's achievements, both as an individual explorer and as a leader of the second expedition, are regarded as substantial. Consequently, Bering's name has since been used for the [[Bering Strait]] (named by Captain [[James Cook]] despite knowledge of Dezhnev's earlier expedition), the [[Bering Sea]], [[Bering Island]], [[Bering Glacier]] and the [[Bering Land Bridge]].<ref name="armstrong162">{{harvnb|Armstrong|1982|pp=162–163}}</ref>