WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.800 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we're looking 00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:03.799 at a set of sources you sent over about one of 00:00:03.799 --> 00:00:07.160 the most ambitious and just logistically insane 00:00:07.160 --> 00:00:10.199 sagas in exploration history. We're talking about 00:00:10.199 --> 00:00:13.320 the two massive Russian expeditions led by Vitus 00:00:13.320 --> 00:00:15.740 Jonas and Bering. And our mission really for 00:00:15.740 --> 00:00:18.579 this Deep Dive is to get into the sheer audacity 00:00:18.579 --> 00:00:20.739 of it all. I mean, Bering's name is everywhere, 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:23.859 right? The Bering Sea, the Strait. Bering Island. 00:00:24.039 --> 00:00:26.260 But his fame, it isn't just about the sailing. 00:00:26.359 --> 00:00:28.780 It's about the unbelievable human and financial 00:00:28.780 --> 00:00:30.839 machine he had to build just to get his ships 00:00:30.839 --> 00:00:33.159 into the water in the first place. He's the one 00:00:33.159 --> 00:00:35.439 who basically defined the boundary between Asia 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:37.140 and North America for the rest of the world. 00:00:37.320 --> 00:00:39.960 But here's the real hook, I think. He was a Danish 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:43.219 guy, a naval officer for Russia, chosen by Tsar 00:00:43.219 --> 00:00:46.820 Peter I. And the prep for his journeys, it meant 00:00:46.820 --> 00:00:48.939 moving thousands of men and tons of supplies 00:00:48.939 --> 00:00:51.829 across 6 ,000 miles of... You know, total wilderness. 00:00:52.070 --> 00:00:54.869 The logistics completely dwarfed the actual exploring 00:00:54.869 --> 00:00:58.049 part. Exactly. And that's the thing. To understand 00:00:58.049 --> 00:01:00.950 why such a gargantuan effort was even necessary, 00:01:01.429 --> 00:01:03.649 we have to look at the man himself. You know, 00:01:03.649 --> 00:01:06.049 what kind of person do you even pick to lead 00:01:06.049 --> 00:01:08.370 what was essentially a national obsession that 00:01:08.370 --> 00:01:10.510 went on for more than a decade? OK, so let's 00:01:10.510 --> 00:01:13.659 unpack that. Bering. He's born in Horsens, Denmark 00:01:13.659 --> 00:01:17.540 in 1681. He starts super young, becomes ship's 00:01:17.540 --> 00:01:20.040 boy at just 15, sailing all the way to India 00:01:20.040 --> 00:01:22.280 and the Dutch East Indies. Then he gets his naval 00:01:22.280 --> 00:01:25.319 training in Amsterdam, which positions him perfectly 00:01:25.319 --> 00:01:27.939 for a power like Russia that's, you know, on 00:01:27.939 --> 00:01:30.599 the rise. Right. Peter the Great was modernizing 00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:32.799 his navy at a breakneck pace and he needed skilled 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:35.379 foreigners. Bering was perfect. He joins the 00:01:35.379 --> 00:01:37.920 Russian Navy in 1704 as a sub -lieutenant and 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:40.989 spends years in these... Well, kind of unglamorous 00:01:40.989 --> 00:01:42.969 logistical roles during the Great Northern War. 00:01:43.129 --> 00:01:45.049 But that's probably what shaped his entire command 00:01:45.049 --> 00:01:47.629 style, you know. By 1720, he's a second captain. 00:01:47.790 --> 00:01:50.030 But this next part, this is where you see the 00:01:50.030 --> 00:01:52.750 man, this sort of shrewd operator he was. In 00:01:52.750 --> 00:01:55.629 1724, he gets promoted to first captain. And 00:01:55.629 --> 00:01:57.310 then what does he do? He immediately retires. 00:01:57.469 --> 00:01:59.890 And the reason why? It's not because he was tired 00:01:59.890 --> 00:02:02.319 of the sea. No, not at all. It's this fantastic 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:04.920 bit of social climbing. Bering's wife, Anna, 00:02:05.099 --> 00:02:07.319 she was connected to a powerful naval family, 00:02:07.420 --> 00:02:10.139 and her younger sister marries a rear admiral 00:02:10.139 --> 00:02:12.139 who had less time in service than Bering. That 00:02:12.139 --> 00:02:14.259 was a huge slight back then. So Bering basically 00:02:14.259 --> 00:02:16.680 leverages his own retirement to get the higher 00:02:16.680 --> 00:02:19.259 rank of first captain, save face, and protect 00:02:19.259 --> 00:02:22.099 his wife's social standing. So he quits out of 00:02:22.099 --> 00:02:24.780 social embarrassment. And then just rejoins the 00:02:24.780 --> 00:02:27.340 Navy a few months later, but keeps that higher 00:02:27.340 --> 00:02:29.840 rank. I mean, that kind of strategic thinking, 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:32.539 that ability to work the system, it suggests 00:02:32.539 --> 00:02:34.460 he was the perfect guy to handle the Washington 00:02:34.460 --> 00:02:36.520 bureaucracy he was about to face. He absolutely 00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:39.120 needed it. And he rejoined just in time. Leet 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:42.780 1724, Tsar Peter I signs the orders for the first 00:02:42.780 --> 00:02:45.319 Conchotka expedition. The mission seems simple 00:02:45.319 --> 00:02:48.060 on paper. Sail north from Conchotka, keep land 00:02:48.060 --> 00:02:49.840 on your left, and see if it eventually turns 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:52.919 west. Prove Asia and America are separate. Right. 00:02:53.289 --> 00:02:54.930 And here's the question I kept asking myself. 00:02:55.150 --> 00:02:57.729 Why start in St. Petersburg? If you're sailing 00:02:57.729 --> 00:03:00.949 from Kamchatka, why this 6 ,000 -mile land journey 00:03:00.949 --> 00:03:03.150 first? Why not just send a ship around the Cape? 00:03:03.389 --> 00:03:05.810 Because they just didn't know. The maps of the 00:03:05.810 --> 00:03:08.270 time were... Well, they were rudimentary at best. 00:03:08.449 --> 00:03:10.629 The Russian government didn't know for sure where 00:03:10.629 --> 00:03:13.050 the Pacific ended or where Kamchatka even was 00:03:13.050 --> 00:03:15.590 on a global map. They had to chart the overland 00:03:15.590 --> 00:03:17.490 route first to make sure they could transport 00:03:17.490 --> 00:03:19.430 all the heavy gear, the naval specialists, the 00:03:19.430 --> 00:03:21.129 iron fittings for the ships they knew they'd 00:03:21.129 --> 00:03:22.969 have to build from scratch when they got there. 00:03:23.150 --> 00:03:27.610 So he leaves in February 1725. The initial party 00:03:27.610 --> 00:03:30.490 is just 34 men, including his two lieutenants, 00:03:30.550 --> 00:03:33.430 Spanberg and Chirikov. But that number seems 00:03:33.430 --> 00:03:35.969 low. It was a fantasy. As soon as they started 00:03:35.969 --> 00:03:38.430 moving east, they had to take on more men, more 00:03:38.430 --> 00:03:41.370 supplies, draft laborers. The party just kept 00:03:41.370 --> 00:03:43.729 swelling. We have records where they request 00:03:43.729 --> 00:03:46.250 60 carpenters just for small repairs along the 00:03:46.250 --> 00:03:48.250 way. This wasn't a hike. It was a small army 00:03:48.250 --> 00:03:51.969 on the move. And the land itself was just monstrous. 00:03:51.969 --> 00:03:54.849 They're crossing rivers using sledges, literally 00:03:54.849 --> 00:03:58.030 building roads across marshland. I mean, the 00:03:58.030 --> 00:03:59.789 pace of the journey alone tells you how hard 00:03:59.789 --> 00:04:02.460 it was. Spanberg's supply boats, which were loaded 00:04:02.460 --> 00:04:04.759 down and going upstream, were moving at about 00:04:04.759 --> 00:04:07.960 one mile a day, sometimes less. You're spending 00:04:07.960 --> 00:04:11.759 years just fighting the terrain, blizzards, waist 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:15.020 -high snow. It's a constant battle. And the trip 00:04:15.020 --> 00:04:17.500 to the port of Okhotsk took years. It led to 00:04:17.500 --> 00:04:20.100 some really desperate, tragic moments. Yes. By 00:04:20.100 --> 00:04:22.889 the time they get to Okhotsk... His men are starving. 00:04:23.009 --> 00:04:25.089 And this is where the mission's logistics just 00:04:25.089 --> 00:04:28.449 brutally collide with reality. To save his men, 00:04:28.589 --> 00:04:31.110 to stop the whole mission from collapsing, Bering 00:04:31.110 --> 00:04:33.889 had to seize flour from the local villagers. 00:04:34.069 --> 00:04:35.910 Which solved his problem in the short term. But 00:04:35.910 --> 00:04:37.810 it caused starvation for the people who actually 00:04:37.810 --> 00:04:40.480 lived there. It's a really stark reminder that 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:43.160 these grand imperial projects were often built 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:45.399 on the suffering of the local people whose lands 00:04:45.399 --> 00:04:48.040 they crossed. Definitely. So by the time Bering 00:04:48.040 --> 00:04:50.879 finally gets to the lower Kamchatka Post, he's 00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:53.240 already spent three years traveling 6 ,000 miles. 00:04:53.959 --> 00:04:56.300 Just to get to the starting line. The logistics 00:04:56.300 --> 00:04:58.560 were the main event. Okay, so after all that, 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:00.980 they build the ship, the St. Gabriel, and they 00:05:00.980 --> 00:05:05.660 finally set sail in July 1728. They go northeasterly, 00:05:05.660 --> 00:05:07.920 enter the strait we now call the Bering Strait. 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:11.079 And they see the land turn west. So, mission 00:05:11.079 --> 00:05:14.000 accomplished, right? Almost, but not quite. On 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:16.939 August 13th, the ice is moving in fast, and Bering 00:05:16.939 --> 00:05:19.519 makes this critical decision to turn back. He 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:22.259 correctly figured that there was open sea between 00:05:22.259 --> 00:05:24.620 the continents, which fulfilled Peter's literal 00:05:24.620 --> 00:05:26.839 instructions. But we never actually saw America. 00:05:26.920 --> 00:05:29.980 Exactly. He didn't deliver that visual, undeniable 00:05:29.980 --> 00:05:32.899 proof. So he gets back in 1730. He's awarded 00:05:32.899 --> 00:05:35.959 1 ,000 rubles, promoted to Captain Commodore. 00:05:36.329 --> 00:05:38.949 which is a big deal. But that lack of definitive 00:05:38.949 --> 00:05:41.769 proof just sets the stage for something much, 00:05:41.850 --> 00:05:43.930 much bigger. And that something much bigger is 00:05:43.930 --> 00:05:46.350 the Great Northern Expedition. It basically turns 00:05:46.350 --> 00:05:49.129 the first mission into a practice run. Bering 00:05:49.129 --> 00:05:51.529 immediately proposes a second voyage. This time, 00:05:51.550 --> 00:05:54.110 the goal is explicit. Find North America, map 00:05:54.110 --> 00:05:56.110 the Arctic coast. And this is where the scale 00:05:56.110 --> 00:05:59.350 goes from staggering to just insane. It really 00:05:59.350 --> 00:06:01.389 does. The initial core staff was supposed to 00:06:01.389 --> 00:06:03.870 be around 600 people. But once you add in all 00:06:03.870 --> 00:06:06.980 the support staff... The laborers, carpenters, 00:06:06.980 --> 00:06:09.839 blacksmiths, soldiers, the number balloons to 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:12.899 nearly 3 ,000 people. This wasn't an expedition 00:06:12.899 --> 00:06:15.899 anymore. It was a mobile town crossing Siberia. 00:06:15.980 --> 00:06:18.519 And with that size comes a massive scope creep. 00:06:18.779 --> 00:06:21.019 Suddenly the goals are, you know, map the whole 00:06:21.019 --> 00:06:23.899 Arctic coast, find a route to Japan, explore 00:06:23.899 --> 00:06:26.319 trade with Spanish America. The cost must have 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:28.220 been astronomical. If you look at the numbers, 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:30.439 the difference is just stunning. The initial 00:06:30.439 --> 00:06:32.800 budget for the second expedition was set at 12 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:37.000 ,000 rubles. The final true cost, 300 ,000 rubles. 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:39.480 300 ,000. To put that in context, that single 00:06:39.480 --> 00:06:41.920 expense was probably equal to the entire annual 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:44.319 cost of several major naval ships combined. I 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:46.160 mean, it was a financial black hole. Yeah. The 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:48.300 sources say it caused widespread poverty in the 00:06:48.300 --> 00:06:50.120 whole region they were moving through. It did. 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:53.079 And the logistics became political. The delays 00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:55.600 just kept mounting because the scale was overwhelming. 00:06:56.139 --> 00:06:58.759 Bering himself gets bogged down in a place called 00:06:58.759 --> 00:07:02.259 Yakutsk until 1737, just dealing with supplies 00:07:02.259 --> 00:07:04.519 and the political fallout from the cause. It 00:07:04.519 --> 00:07:06.959 even hit him personally. His own salary was cut 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:08.920 in half because the timeline had just completely 00:07:08.920 --> 00:07:10.939 gone out the window. But because of that scale, 00:07:11.019 --> 00:07:13.500 they also attracted some of the best minds. Yeah. 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:16.120 Right. There was a whole academic wing to this 00:07:16.120 --> 00:07:25.509 expedition. They had a natural historian. And 00:07:25.509 --> 00:07:28.029 they weren't just along for the ride. Their job 00:07:28.029 --> 00:07:30.410 was to systematically map everything, record 00:07:30.410 --> 00:07:33.189 the climate, catalog plants and animals, document 00:07:33.189 --> 00:07:35.490 the local peoples. They were basically running 00:07:35.490 --> 00:07:38.269 a mobile university in the middle of a war -level 00:07:38.269 --> 00:07:40.810 logistical effort. It was an incredible scientific 00:07:40.810 --> 00:07:43.170 undertaking. And while Bering is stuck in that 00:07:43.170 --> 00:07:46.170 bureaucratic mud in Yakutsk, his subordinates 00:07:46.170 --> 00:07:48.310 are still out there making history. That's where 00:07:48.310 --> 00:07:51.189 Spanberg comes back in. He leads this key detachment 00:07:51.189 --> 00:07:53.889 that sails south, builds three ships, and makes 00:07:53.889 --> 00:07:56.149 two voyages that result in the first Russian 00:07:56.149 --> 00:07:59.069 landing in Japan. So the Great Northern Expedition 00:07:59.069 --> 00:08:01.069 wasn't just one thing. It was this coordinated 00:08:01.069 --> 00:08:03.870 imperial push happening on multiple fronts at 00:08:03.870 --> 00:08:06.410 once. Incredible. So finally, the main event, 00:08:06.529 --> 00:08:10.230 the mission to America, is ready. Spring of 1741, 00:08:10.569 --> 00:08:13.889 Bering leaves from Avaca Bay in Kamchatka. He's 00:08:13.889 --> 00:08:16.689 on the St. Peter, his second -in -command. Jerikov 00:08:16.689 --> 00:08:19.230 is on the St. Paul, and they even named the new 00:08:19.230 --> 00:08:22.089 settlement they founded there Petropavlovsk -Kamchatsky. 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:24.399 after their two ships. And the breakthrough comes 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:26.660 pretty fast. They achieve their main goal on 00:08:26.660 --> 00:08:30.360 July 16, 1741. Bering cites the huge volcano 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:33.179 Mount St. Elias and makes a landing on what was 00:08:33.179 --> 00:08:36.000 probably Kayak Island, America. They found it. 00:08:36.100 --> 00:08:38.200 But then, almost immediately, it all goes wrong. 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:40.480 A storm separates the two ships, and now you 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:42.460 have two different tragic stories unfolding. 00:08:42.919 --> 00:08:45.220 Cherkov, on the St. Paul, discovers the coast 00:08:45.220 --> 00:08:47.580 of Northwest America near the Alexander Archipelago. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:49.820 But Bering's return journey is just a complete 00:08:49.820 --> 00:08:52.360 nightmare. It is. But before the disaster, we 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:55.059 have to mention the science. On that landing, 00:08:55.240 --> 00:08:58.240 the naturalist Georg Steller was. Well, he was 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:00.860 a force of nature. He was documenting everything 00:09:00.860 --> 00:09:04.120 like a madman, identifying species no European 00:09:04.120 --> 00:09:07.529 had ever seen. The Stellar Sea Cow, the Stellar's 00:09:07.529 --> 00:09:10.149 Jay. They're named after him for a reason. But 00:09:10.149 --> 00:09:12.509 Stellar's journals also show us the darker side 00:09:12.509 --> 00:09:14.309 of this, right? They give us these really difficult 00:09:14.309 --> 00:09:16.970 insights into the human cost. Yeah, Stellar was 00:09:16.970 --> 00:09:19.409 a very ethical scientist for his time. And his 00:09:19.409 --> 00:09:21.389 writings record the horrifying treatment of the 00:09:21.389 --> 00:09:23.809 native people they encountered. He specifically 00:09:23.809 --> 00:09:26.809 documents his own detachment, torturing captured 00:09:26.809 --> 00:09:29.629 Koriak people. He even lodged formal complaints 00:09:29.629 --> 00:09:32.360 about it. And those complaints, just like earlier 00:09:32.360 --> 00:09:34.440 complaints about the expedition's delays, were 00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:37.220 just suppressed by the command. It really shows 00:09:37.220 --> 00:09:39.299 the tension, doesn't it? It's officially a mission 00:09:39.299 --> 00:09:41.779 of science and discovery, but underneath it's 00:09:41.779 --> 00:09:44.519 often just brutal imperial expansion. And the 00:09:44.519 --> 00:09:46.940 return voyage is where the tragedy is really 00:09:46.940 --> 00:09:49.779 sealed. Baring himself gets incredibly sick. 00:09:49.940 --> 00:09:52.539 The thinking at the time was scurvy, but later 00:09:52.539 --> 00:09:54.820 analysis suggests it was probably heart failure 00:09:54.820 --> 00:09:57.809 from all the stress and malnutrition. He eventually 00:09:57.809 --> 00:10:00.809 has to pass command to Sven Waxel. He's still 00:10:00.809 --> 00:10:02.970 technically in command, though, when he names 00:10:02.970 --> 00:10:05.009 the Schumann Islands after a sailor who died 00:10:05.009 --> 00:10:07.490 and was buried there. A grim way to make the 00:10:07.490 --> 00:10:10.889 map. Very. In November 1741, the St. Peter is 00:10:10.889 --> 00:10:13.529 wrecked on an uninhabited island in the Commander 00:10:13.529 --> 00:10:16.850 Islands. Bering dies there on December 19th at 00:10:16.850 --> 00:10:20.659 60 years old, along with 28 of his men. The island 00:10:20.659 --> 00:10:23.799 is now, rightly, called Bering Island. But the 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:25.460 story doesn't end there, which might be the most 00:10:25.460 --> 00:10:27.639 incredible part. Of the 77 men on that ship, 00:10:27.820 --> 00:10:30.539 46 survived the wreck. And what they did next 00:10:30.539 --> 00:10:33.139 is just a testament to their skill. They spent 00:10:33.139 --> 00:10:35.220 months on this desolate island, and they built 00:10:35.220 --> 00:10:37.080 a new, smaller boat from the wreckage of the 00:10:37.080 --> 00:10:39.379 St. Peter, and they dailed it home in August 00:10:39.379 --> 00:10:43.100 1742. Only to find out the most agonizing truth. 00:10:43.620 --> 00:10:45.220 Chirgov had actually mounted a rescue mission 00:10:45.220 --> 00:10:47.440 for them, but had missed them by just a few miles. 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:51.419 A profound sacrifice after all that effort. So 00:10:51.419 --> 00:10:53.779 we come back to the legacy. Bering's name is 00:10:53.779 --> 00:10:56.440 famous, but he wasn't the first to do these things. 00:10:56.799 --> 00:10:59.139 Semyon Dezhnev went through the strait 80 years 00:10:59.139 --> 00:11:01.620 earlier. Another explorer sighted North America 00:11:01.620 --> 00:11:04.460 in the 1730s. So what makes Bering different? 00:11:04.919 --> 00:11:06.840 It's the scale, like we've been saying. It's 00:11:06.840 --> 00:11:10.019 the system. Those earlier voyages were individuals 00:11:10.019 --> 00:11:13.220 or small groups. Bering's expeditions were systematic, 00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:16.600 government -funded, massive undertakings that 00:11:16.600 --> 00:11:19.200 confirmed the geography for the world. Exactly. 00:11:19.259 --> 00:11:22.279 His work gave us comprehensive, systematic mapping 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:25.299 of eastern Siberia, the North Pacific, and that 00:11:25.299 --> 00:11:27.600 final confirmation of the separation of the continents. 00:11:27.879 --> 00:11:30.840 That enormous organizational effort and the huge 00:11:30.840 --> 00:11:33.399 body of knowledge it produced. That's why his 00:11:33.399 --> 00:11:36.159 name is on the map. It's a story of just incredible 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:39.039 human effort, massive ambition, and astronomical 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:42.240 cost that redrew the map of the world. The cost 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:44.620 was devastating, but the geographical truth was 00:11:44.620 --> 00:11:46.899 delivered. And here's a final thought for you 00:11:46.899 --> 00:11:50.000 to take away. Despite all this incredible scientific 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:53.679 work, the charts, the catalogs, Steller's detailed 00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:56.320 records bearings reports were initially classified. 00:11:56.500 --> 00:11:58.759 They were jealously guarded by the Russian government. 00:11:58.940 --> 00:12:01.059 They locked the knowledge away. For over a century. 00:12:01.139 --> 00:12:04.000 The full story of the Great Northern Expedition 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:06.919 wasn't shared with the world. So imagine how 00:12:06.919 --> 00:12:09.379 different the history of Arctic exploration would 00:12:09.379 --> 00:12:12.100 be if all that critical knowledge had been available 00:12:12.100 --> 00:12:17.590 immediately. So their fundamental knowledge, 00:12:17.850 --> 00:12:20.169 gathered at such immense cost, might still be 00:12:20.169 --> 00:12:22.590 locked away by nations today, preventing all 00:12:22.590 --> 00:12:24.409 of us from getting a more complete picture of 00:12:24.409 --> 00:12:24.990 our own world.