This will be a long, broken up post.
We start, of all places, on the ice-strewn eastern coast of Kamchatka, in the 1730s.
Commander Vitus Bering, a Dane of some note who served competently in the Scandinavian War but did not seem destined for great things, is busily building the boats and assembling the crew and food he needs for his great eastern expedition.
10 years ago, he was commissioned by the Russian Government (Peter and fellows) to build and sail a few ships northward through the strait that now bears his name, and see whether Russia and America were connected by land or not. He made it far northward, and somewhat clearly showed the lack of a land bridge, but was not definite. Now, he was to embark on an even great mission - directly to the east.
So far so good: it takes a bit of searching, but all of these events have happened. In fact, in real-life, they made it to what would become Alaska, did a bit of trading, and washed up on the Aleutians. Bering died of scurvy, as did three-quarters of the crew: the rest build a new boat and sailed back.
What If: During the long winter, Bering was visited by Spandler, the man who would become the ship's doctor/physician. Spandler was in a bit of an upset, because Bering had not prepared any supplies of vegetables or the like. Bering argued that there was no room in the hold for a lot of spoil-able food. Spandler argued that carrying such foods would prevent many diseases. He even argued for bringing pine needles (!!!) aboard. At that, Bering finally relented. So, in spring, when the two big ships departed from the Kamchatkan Peninsula, their holds were filled with a variety of vegetables, and even barrels of pine needles (the crew made some bad jokes about it).
According to Bering's orders from the Russian Government, he was to first sail South-East for several weeks to try to find a supposed continent in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (maybe a badly garbled Australia? This is still real-life). Bering relented to these orders, and his hundred-some-odd men in their two boats sailed for over a week, until Bering was convinced that there was no big continent. Then, Bering ordered the ships to head east. After another week or so, they hit a big storm, and during the night, the two ships became separated (almost happened in real-life). Cherring (?), commander of the second ship, immediately ordered his ship to the north. They hit some of the Aleutians, and after interesting episodes involving gunpowder trading, canoe breaking, and the dumping of several barrels of pine-needles, they sailed back along the Aleutians. His ship arrived back at Kamchatka late in October, before the bitter cold. Cherring had established contact with some of the Natives, created a map of the Berring Sea and area, but had not had a successful mission.
The other half, Berring's half, arguably the better half, sailed on to the east, and even more south. The ship remained out of site of land for months, and there was almost mutiny, until Spandler pointed out that they had enough food (at which the crew eyed the pine-needles with distaste), and that in the absolute worst they would sail around the world and hit Europe, and then they would all be famous.
Anyway, in the middle of August, Berring finally spotted land. On the 17th, his ship dropped anchor and he put ashore a band of 68 men......just north of the Columbia River!!!
--------------------
It turned out that the natives here spoke a language similar to that in Alaska, which a few of Bering's men knew. Bering, with advice from Spandler, quickly established peaceful contact. A lot of trading went on between the Russians and the Natives, who the Russians decided to call the Ornomies (oar-gnome-ease). Even more fortunately for Bering, the crew did not mutiny when the supplies of alcoholic beverages ran out.
The ship was in bad condition, so Berring decided to stay for a few months. Meanwhile, relationships with the Ornomies continued to improve, despite a few nasty incidents with one or two of the crew, who were summarily killed (Bering was not overly-nice). Russian expeditions on the mainland followed the Columbia River (Peter's River) far inland, and a map was created of surrounding territory. Some of the Ornomies admitted to hearing about white men before, except from stories other tribes told them from the east. Bering rightly suspected the French, British, and Spanish. The Russians even got a fair-sized camp going right at the mouth of Peter's River (Spandlingburg). Unfortunately, a hard October storm damaged Bering's ship beyond repair.
Bering put his men to work that winter building two slightly smaller, but more structurally sound, ships. There was plenty of wood to use, and plenty of pine needles to eat (finally someone found a good recipe for them). Relationships with the Ornomies were strained at times, but generally remained good until the end. Bering's second lieutenant even turned their language into writing.
In March, Bering and men finally took off from Spandlingburg, after days of celebration with the Ornomies. They sailed along the coast, stopping occasionally to trade, and making a map the whole time. They finally arrived back in Kamchatka on September 5th. Not a single man had been lost to scurvy.
It took almost a whole year to re-cross all of Siberia to Saint Petersburg to tell Czar Peter all about their expedition, but when they got there, he was most pleased.........
We start, of all places, on the ice-strewn eastern coast of Kamchatka, in the 1730s.
Commander Vitus Bering, a Dane of some note who served competently in the Scandinavian War but did not seem destined for great things, is busily building the boats and assembling the crew and food he needs for his great eastern expedition.
10 years ago, he was commissioned by the Russian Government (Peter and fellows) to build and sail a few ships northward through the strait that now bears his name, and see whether Russia and America were connected by land or not. He made it far northward, and somewhat clearly showed the lack of a land bridge, but was not definite. Now, he was to embark on an even great mission - directly to the east.
So far so good: it takes a bit of searching, but all of these events have happened. In fact, in real-life, they made it to what would become Alaska, did a bit of trading, and washed up on the Aleutians. Bering died of scurvy, as did three-quarters of the crew: the rest build a new boat and sailed back.
What If: During the long winter, Bering was visited by Spandler, the man who would become the ship's doctor/physician. Spandler was in a bit of an upset, because Bering had not prepared any supplies of vegetables or the like. Bering argued that there was no room in the hold for a lot of spoil-able food. Spandler argued that carrying such foods would prevent many diseases. He even argued for bringing pine needles (!!!) aboard. At that, Bering finally relented. So, in spring, when the two big ships departed from the Kamchatkan Peninsula, their holds were filled with a variety of vegetables, and even barrels of pine needles (the crew made some bad jokes about it).
According to Bering's orders from the Russian Government, he was to first sail South-East for several weeks to try to find a supposed continent in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (maybe a badly garbled Australia? This is still real-life). Bering relented to these orders, and his hundred-some-odd men in their two boats sailed for over a week, until Bering was convinced that there was no big continent. Then, Bering ordered the ships to head east. After another week or so, they hit a big storm, and during the night, the two ships became separated (almost happened in real-life). Cherring (?), commander of the second ship, immediately ordered his ship to the north. They hit some of the Aleutians, and after interesting episodes involving gunpowder trading, canoe breaking, and the dumping of several barrels of pine-needles, they sailed back along the Aleutians. His ship arrived back at Kamchatka late in October, before the bitter cold. Cherring had established contact with some of the Natives, created a map of the Berring Sea and area, but had not had a successful mission.
The other half, Berring's half, arguably the better half, sailed on to the east, and even more south. The ship remained out of site of land for months, and there was almost mutiny, until Spandler pointed out that they had enough food (at which the crew eyed the pine-needles with distaste), and that in the absolute worst they would sail around the world and hit Europe, and then they would all be famous.
Anyway, in the middle of August, Berring finally spotted land. On the 17th, his ship dropped anchor and he put ashore a band of 68 men......just north of the Columbia River!!!
--------------------
It turned out that the natives here spoke a language similar to that in Alaska, which a few of Bering's men knew. Bering, with advice from Spandler, quickly established peaceful contact. A lot of trading went on between the Russians and the Natives, who the Russians decided to call the Ornomies (oar-gnome-ease). Even more fortunately for Bering, the crew did not mutiny when the supplies of alcoholic beverages ran out.
The ship was in bad condition, so Berring decided to stay for a few months. Meanwhile, relationships with the Ornomies continued to improve, despite a few nasty incidents with one or two of the crew, who were summarily killed (Bering was not overly-nice). Russian expeditions on the mainland followed the Columbia River (Peter's River) far inland, and a map was created of surrounding territory. Some of the Ornomies admitted to hearing about white men before, except from stories other tribes told them from the east. Bering rightly suspected the French, British, and Spanish. The Russians even got a fair-sized camp going right at the mouth of Peter's River (Spandlingburg). Unfortunately, a hard October storm damaged Bering's ship beyond repair.
Bering put his men to work that winter building two slightly smaller, but more structurally sound, ships. There was plenty of wood to use, and plenty of pine needles to eat (finally someone found a good recipe for them). Relationships with the Ornomies were strained at times, but generally remained good until the end. Bering's second lieutenant even turned their language into writing.
In March, Bering and men finally took off from Spandlingburg, after days of celebration with the Ornomies. They sailed along the coast, stopping occasionally to trade, and making a map the whole time. They finally arrived back in Kamchatka on September 5th. Not a single man had been lost to scurvy.
It took almost a whole year to re-cross all of Siberia to Saint Petersburg to tell Czar Peter all about their expedition, but when they got there, he was most pleased.........
