A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History; of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and; Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the; Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History; of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and; Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the; Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
On the 20th, at three in the morning, the weather having cleared up, we
stood in toward the land; and in an hour's time saw it ahead, extending
from N.W. to N.N.E., distant about five leagues. The north part we took to
be Kronotskoi Noss; its position in the Russian charts agreeing nearly with
our reckoning as to its latitude, which was 54 deg. 42'; but in longitude we
differed from them considerably, they placing it 1 deg. 48' E. of Awatska;
whereas our reckoning, corrected by the time-keepers and lunar
observations, makes it 3 deg. 34' eastward of that place, or 162 deg. 17' E. from
Greenwich. The land about this cape is very high, and the inland mountains
were still covered with snow. The shore breaks off in steep cliffs, and the
coast is without appearance of inlets or bays. We had not been long
gratified with this sight of the land, when the Wind freshened from the
S.W., and brought on a thick fog, which obliged us to stand off to the
N.E.by E. The weather clearing up again at noon, we steered toward the
land, expecting to fall in with Kamtschatskoi Noss, and had sight of it at
day-break of the 21st.
The southerly wind was soon after succeeded by a light breeze blowing off
the land, which prevented our approaching the coast sufficiently near to
describe its aspect, or ascertain with accuracy its direction. At noon our
latitude, by observation, was 55 deg. 52', and longitude (deduced from a
comparison of many lunar observations, taken near this time, with the time-
keepers), 163 deg. 50'; the extremities of the land bearing N.W. by W. 3/4 W.,
and N. by W. 3/4 W., the nearest part about eight leagues distant. At nine
o'clock in the evening, having approached about two leagues nearer the
coast, we found it formed a projecting peninsula, extending about twelve
leagues in a direction nearly north and south. It is level, and of a
moderate height, the southern extremity terminating in a low sloping point;
that to the north forming a steep bluff head; and between them, about four
leagues to the southward of the northern cape, there is a considerable
break in the land. On each side of this break the land is quite low; beyond
the opening rises a remarkable saddle-like hill; and a chain of high
mountains, covered with snow, ranges along the back of the whole peninsula.
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