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Vitus Bering
Just before his death in early 1725, Peter ordered an expedition to explore the unknown waters and lands of the North Pacific. He selected Vitus Bering, a captain-lieutenant in the Russian navy, to lead this exploration. Bering was a Dane who had enlisted in the Russian Navy in 1703 when he was about 22 years old. Peter ordered Bering to go to Russia's Pacific coast, build ships, and sail north along the coast to discover if Asia and North America were separate continents or joined together.
Bering received these orders at St. Petersburg, the Russian capital on the Baltic Sea, in 1725. To carry them out, he and his men first had to travel by river, horse, and foot over 5,000 miles to Russia's Pacific coast. There were few roads, and the journey was difficult. With no shipbuilding facilities on the Siberian coast, Bering had to bring the skilled workers, supplies, and equipment needed to build his ship on the Pacific.Â
It took over three years to move the entire expedition across Russia to the Pacific coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. After arriving there in the spring of 1728, the explorers built a new ship called the St. Gabriel, which was 60 feet long and 20 feet wide. In July, the St. Gabriel went to sea.
1728 Drawing of St. Gabriel
Bering's 5,000 mile route from St. Petersburg to Kamchatka
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