TheDecree of the Peter the First dated December 23, 1724 lays thefoundation of the expedition to explore Kamchatka. The chief of theexpedition was designated the captain of 1^strank Vitus Bering, Dane on the Russian service.

TheFirst Kamchatka Expedition 1725-1730 was the first one of big navalscientific expedition in the history of Russia, made by the decisionof the government.

Itwas mount to solve the questions of the national importance: explorethe path to America, adjoined to Asia and find out who is the closestneighbor of Russia on this continent.

Peterthe First defined by himself that the vessel type would be a deckboat.

Theboat which was floated off in June 1728 and named “Saint ArchangelGabriel”, was laid under the direction of Bering by the FedorKozlov master in Nizhnekamchatsky Ostrog on April 4, 1728. Bering andhis crew made two navigations on this boat in 1728 -1729. Duringthese navigations the coast of North-East Asia from the body ofKamchatka river to the mull Serdtse-Kamen with length of 1.5 thou.km, West and East coast of Kamchatka and the island was put on themap. The sea path from the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Okhotsk wasfound, the south frontiers of Kamchatka were defined, the absence ofmystic lands to the east and south of Kamchatka was proved.

InAugust 1732 the boat was the first boat that visited the coasts ofAlaska and in June 1739 it was the first vessel that achieved thecoast of Japan. For a long time, the boat made the schedulednavigations to Sea of Okhotsk and only in 1755 the vessel wasrecognized unsuited to the sea navigation.