Bering: The Russian Discovery of America

By O.W. Frost

Book Overview

A joint biography of three extraordinary sisters and the tumultuous century that they helped to shape

Vitus Jonassen Bering (1681-1741) is a towering figure in the history of exploration. In the course of two expeditions that consumed most of his adult life--and eventually led to his death--he journeyed from St. Petersburg to Siberia and ultimately to the northwest coast of America. Along with the members of his expedition (thousands participated in the second expedition), Bering greatly expanded the Russian empire, pioneered the geography of the North Pacific Ocean, and laid the groundwork for Russian trade and settlement in the American West. In the first biography of Bering written in over a century, Orcutt Frost chronicles the life of this extraordinary explorer. Drawing on a wide range of new evidence--including personal letters and archaeological evidence derived from the recent discovery of Bering's grave site--the author reconstructs Bering's personality, his perilous voyages, and his uneasy relationship with the naturalist Georg Steller, who unobtrusively guided the stranded expedition as Bering lay dying. A riveting narrative of adventure and disaster on the high seas, this biography is also a major contribution to the history of maritime exploration.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300209002
• ISBN13: 9780300209006
• Release Date: March 2014
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Good book.

As opposed to the other book I had previously read on the subject (or on part of it), 'Where the sea breaks its back' by Corey Ford - which I may also reccomend but as 'novelized' narration of Bering's second Kamchatka voyage - Mr. Frost has the edge as an historian, no doubt. The book is well written, has enough detail on the life of Bering as its main subject and also offers reasonable background and historical context (although you need more than Mr. Frost's book to complete the picture). Maybe Mr. Frost fails to intertwine more smoothly in the text the stories of Bering's family and Bering's own as an explorer, but I admit that on account of the circumstances of the characters, it was probably very difficult. What I dislike and find quite offputting is the insistence of many anglosaxon historians and essay writers in using imperial measures instead of the metric system. Mr. Frost does the same: why would measures originally in long gone zsarist units be translated into also archaic imperial units? The scientific world (historians included) has long agreed on using the metric system as a more perfected and universal one. Not to do so makes one look like a dilettante, besides giving a 'localist' stale taste to the whole thing. Mr. Frost sure knows and deserves better. Nevertheless, I do recommend this book: good story, good research, good maps.

To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before, Sort of

This book is really the story of two heros who both served Peter the Great's Russia. In the middle eighteenth century Peter the Great was determined to make Russia a world power. As part of his plan, he built St.Petersberg, his "Window on the West" after defeating the Swedes and annexing the Karelian Isthmus. But he also had designed on opening a 'window on the east', to create a direct land way to the Orient and the American Continent. Vitus Bering was a Dane in the employ of the Russian Navy. He had distinguished himself in the Great Northern War against Sweden. He hoped the Tsar to raise him to the nobility thereby ensuring the future of his family. Peter chose him to lead the "First Kamchatcka Expedition" where he was to establish whether there was a land bridge between Asia and America. Bering did not realize that this would become his life mission and that for the next seventeen years it would all but consume him, and lead to his death on a barren island in the northwest pacific. His two expeditions to Siberia and Alaska, firmly placed these lands in the dominion of the "Tsar of All the Russias,etc", establishing the location of the Arctic Sea outlets for many of Siberia's major rivers (the Ob, Lena and Yenesi). His expedition would map the pacific coast of Asia, the sea of Okhotsk, the Kurile Islands and Hokkaido; the Aleutian Islands, Kodiak Island and the coastal areas around the Alaskan Penninsula. His crew were the first to document a meeting with Americans (Aleut Islanders) in the area, who they realized had many of the characteristics of northern Asians (like the Chukhats). He also established a harbor on Kamchatcka that would become it's major city and port (Petropavlosk-Kamchatcka) for the Russian Navy. The last section of the book deals with his crew (of the St.Peter) and the year they spent shipwrecked on what would become Bering Island. Since Bering died eight days after they landed, the story is really about Georg Wilhelm Steller (Frost's other hero) and how he saved the crew and got them safely back to Petropavlosk. Frost has studied both these men in minutia and sometimes it comes through in the narrative like a kid copying from an encyclopedia to lengthen his term paper. We get provisioning lists down to the poundage and number of days for flour and dried beef. More than once we are even given recipes on how rice cakes were made and with how much of each ingedient. But, you can always skim these parts. His discussion of the courage and stoicism of both Bering and Steller are what make this a worthwhile read and a remarkable book.

A wonderful read, new light shed on Russia in Alaska

In the age of exploration only one man surpassed Captain Cook and that was Bering of Russia. A man whose daring and exploration gave Russia claim to Alaska and gave Russians maps that would send them full throttle into Asia, from Kamchatka to the Sakhalin Islands to Port Arthur. This wonderful new book tells the story of Bering in depth from his first voyage to his tragic death. A necessary piece of history this will be of interest to anyone who enjoys high adventure and exploration as well as Russian History. A singular individual, Bering accomplished so much in his life and opened so many doors to what had been a closed Russian society. Far more then simply the Bering Strait this book sheds light on a whole era, and a whole new episode of history, usually overlooked in our bias for dashing English explorers like Cook and Scott. Seth Frantzman