Rare pin badge Boat St. Peter

Product Description

The pin is made of aluminum alloy with the safety pin fastening. The method of painting is cold enamel.

The pin represents a stylized image of a goldish roll of a sea chart with the contours of two hemispheres of vinous color and a boat riding the waves from right to left.

In November, 1737 in the village Okhotsk the legendary boats “St. Peter” and “St. Paul” were built. Both vessels took part in the Great Northern Expedition under Vitus Bering’s command.

The area of the expedition consisted of the whole northern coast of Russia from the White Sea to Chukotka, the investigation of the inner regions of Siberia, the navigation to the coasts of North-Western America, the investigation of the Kuril Islands and the searches for sea routes to Japan.

By Bering’s order the Kamchatka coasts were described, and a fortress was built in honor of St. Peter and St. Paul. The fortress laid the foundation of the city Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski.

The expedition started on June 4th, 1741. After severest storms on June 15th both ships approached the coasts of North-Western America. The miracle happened! Both Russian ships discovered the coasts of North America. The first contours of North-Western America were put on Russian maps. On the way back some more Aleutian islands were discovered and contoured on the map. “St. Paul” returned to Peter and Paul’s Harbor on October 10th. The situation on Bering’s ship took a more tragic turn. Scurvy broke out. Even the commander took to his bed. The sailors died one by one. “St. Peter” was hardly sailing to the west. Finally, on November 4th they saw the land hoping that salvation was close. Having reconnoitered the area it turned out that they landed not on the Kamchatka coast but on a desert island without wood. In addition to all the troubles, boat “St.Peter” was crashed by a storm. On December 8th, 1741 the captain Vitus Bering passed away. Next summer the survived 31 members of the crew built a small vessel, on which they reached Petropavlovsk. The Northern Expedition was an exceptional and outstanding undertaking. Neither before nor after it the history has known anything of that kind. Bering died on the farthest edge of cold and boundless Russia, on the wild shore of the discovered island fulfilling his obligation till the very end. The strait, the existence of which he proved, the sea where he put the first Russian ship under St. Andrew’s flag, the Komandorskiye Islands, and particularly the one where the captain passed away, were named after Vitus Bering.

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