First Kamchatka Expedition

The First Kamchatka expedition was commissioned in December 1724 by Peter I of Russia to explore the northern part of the Pacific Ocean and confirm the presence of the strait between Asia and America. It was the first Russian naval scientific expedition, and was followed in 1732 by the Second Kamchatka Expedition.

The expedition spent first two years, from January 1725 to January 1727, on traveling from Saint Petersburg to Okhotsk, using horses, dog sleds and river boats. After wintering in Okhotsk it moved to the mouth of the Kamchatka River on the east coast of the peninsula. In July–August 1728 it sailed north and then north-east along the shore, exploring Karaginsky Gulf, Kresta Bay, Providence Bay, Gulf of Anadyr, Cape Chukotsky and St. Lawrence Island.

The expedition, as it turned out, went through the Bering Strait to the Chukchi Sea, and returned believing that it has completed its tasks. While it had not reached the North American coast, it provided evidence that Asia and North America are not connected. During 1729, it explored the southern shores of Kamchatka, mapping the Gulf of Kamchatka and Avacha Bay, and by 28 February 1730 returned via Okhotsk to St. Petersburg. The expedition was highly praised, with its leader Vitus Bering being promoted to captain-commander, his first noble rank, whereas his assistants Martin Spangberg and Aleksei Chirikov were made captains. It had been a long and expensive expedition, costing 15 men and souring relations between Russia and her native peoples, but it had provided useful insights into the geography of Eastern Siberia: in total the expedition surveyed more than 3500 km of the western coast of the sea, which was later named after Bering. Its maps of the area were later used by all Western European cartographers.

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