Claiming Discoveries from St. Petersburg to the Bering Sea

Abstract The Rurik sailed from Europe in 1815 and within a year had crossed through the Bering Strait into the Chukchi Sea. During this time, the naturalists learned to collaborate in shipboard research while the artist developed his craft through visual depictions of landscapes and people. They made discoveries related to species and became increasingly interested in Indigenous communities. Captain Kotzebue counted the number of new island “discoveries” he could claim in the Pacific, and he named the bay of Kotzebue Sound in the summer of 1816. In the -northernmost Pacific, the Rurik personnel maintained guarded relations with the Chukchi and Inupiat people before turning south for the winter.