280, 281.] On the 24th, the vessels anchored in the harbour of St Peter, and St.
Paul, where the gentlemen on board were received by their Russian friends, with the same cordiality as before.

Captain Gore, upon whom the command of the expedition now devolved, removed himself to the Resolution, and appointed Mr.King to the command of the Discovery.

He sent off an express to the commander at Bolcheretsk, in which he requested to have sixteen head of black cattle.

The eruption of the volcano, which had taken place at the time of the late departure of the vessels from Awatska, had done no damage, notwithstanding stones had fallen at the ostrog of the size of a goose's egg.
Attempts were now made to repair, as far as was practicable, the damage the Discovery had sustained in the ice, and in removing the sheathing, eight feet of a plank in the wale were found to be so very rotten as to make it necessary to shift it.

The carpenters were sent on shore in search of a tree large enough for the purpose: luckily they found a birch, which was the only one of sufficient size in the whole neighbourhood of the bay.