The White Strait

The Strait of Beirut is located between the Rhine Corner, the easternmost point of the Asian continent, and the Prince of Wales, the westernmost point of the American continent, at 169°40¡ä north latitude, 65°35¡ä north latitude, approximately 85km width, and the narrowest at about 37km, depth between 30-50m. The Strait connects the Churchi Sea and the White Sea. The name comes from the Danish explorer Vitas Beirut, who crossed the Strait of Beirut in 1728 while serving in the Russian army, the first person to cross the Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle.

The Discoverers

Vitus Jonathan Bering (born August 1681 in Holtsons, Denmark, and died on 19 December 1741 in Beirut) was an explorer in the Russian Navy. Beirut was invited by Peter I to join the then newly established Russian Navy as one of the captains of which he achieved excellent achievements in the war against Sweden, and subsequently joined the war against Turkey. He married a Russian, and in 1715 he returned to Denmark for the last time.

In 1725, on Peter's orders, he began exploring the northern shore of Siberia. In 1728 he reached the easternmost end of Asia. In 1730 he returned to St. Petersburg, when he was severely ill, and during this period of his expedition his five children died. In 1735 he was again ordered to visit the Ohridsk Sea, in 1740 he established Petropavlovsk, and in 1741 he moved from here to the Americas. A storm separated the two ships he commanded, and he himself saw the southern shore of Alaska. On the way back to Petropavlovsk, he also found some islands belonging to the Archeological Islands, but at this time he was sick and could not command his ship. They floated to a small uninhabited island of the Commandor Islands, where

The Strait of Bayonne, the Sea of Bayonne, the Island of Bayonne and the Strait of Bayonne are all named after him.

In August 1991, a Russian-Danish team of archaeologists discovered the tombs of Bejing and five other sailors. Their bodies were transported back to Moscow. The original statues of Bejing could be reproduced by archaeological methods. Bejing's teeth were intact, indicating that he did not die from severe bleeding.