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Cold, hunger, thirst, then did the rest. Chirikoff himself
was stricken with scurvy by the middle of September, and one sailor died
of the scourge. From the 26th, one death a day followed in succession.
Though down, Chirikoff was not beaten. Discipline was maintained among
the hungry crew; and each day Chirikoff issued exact orders. Without any
attempt at steering, the ship drifted westward. No more land was seen by
the crew; but on the 2d of October, the weather clearing, an observation
was taken of the sun that showed them they were nearing Kamchatka. On
the 8th, land was sighted; but one man alone, the pilot, Yelagin, had
strength to stay at the helm till Avacha Bay was approached, when
distress signals were fired from the ship's cannon to bring help from
land. Poor Croyere de l'Isle, kinsman to the map makers whose mistakes
had caused disaster, sick unto death of the scurvy, had kept himself
alive with liquor and now insisted on being carried ashore. The first
breath of clear air above decks was enough. The scientist fell dead
within the home harbor.


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