xm.] OWZYN'S VOYAGES ON THE OB. 539 



suffer so severely from scurv}'', that of 53 only 17 were iu good 

 health ; Owzyn therefore turned, that he might bring his sick 

 men to Tobolsk, He reached this town on the yth October, and 

 the river froze over soon after. Owzyn now travelled to St. 

 Petersburg in order to give in, in person, reports of his unsuc- 

 cessful voyages and to make suggestions as to the measures 

 that ought to be taken to ensure better success to next year's 

 luidertaking. His proposals on this point were mainly in the 

 direction of building at Tobolsk a new vessel, which should 

 accompany the Tohol during the dangerous voyage, and confer 

 upon it greater safety. This was aj)proved by the Board of 

 Admiralty, but the vessel could not be got ready till the summer 

 of 1736, on which account that year's voyage was undertaken in 

 the same way as that of the preceding year, and with the same 

 success. The new vessel was not ready until 1737. It came 

 with the shipbuilder Koschelev and the mate MiNiN on the 

 V'th June to Obdorsk, where Owzyn took command of it, handing- 

 over the old one to Koschelev, and beginning his fourth voyage 

 down the Gulf of Ob. This time he had better success. After 

 sailing past Gyda Bay, he came, without meeting with any 

 serious obstacles from ice, on the f ^tli August to Cape Mattesol, 

 and on the '^ September to a storehouse erected for the expe- 

 dition by the care of the authorities on the bank of the Yenisei 

 in 71° 33' N.L. The Yenisej froze over on the -^ October. 



Four years had thus gone to the accomplishment of Owzyn's 

 purpose, but it can scarcely be doubted that if he had not turned 

 S(j early in the season, and if he had had steam, or a sailing 

 vessel of the present day at his disposal he would have been able 

 to sail from the Ob to the Yenisej in a few weeks. It is at all 

 events Owzyn's perseverance to which we are in great measure 

 indebted for the mapping of the Gulf of Ob, and the Bays of Tas 

 and Gyda.^ 



3. Voyages from the Yenisej towards Cape Taimur. — In the 

 winter of 1738 Owzyn and Koschelev were called to St. Peters- 

 burg to answer for themselves with reference to a complaint 

 lodged against them by the men under their command.^ In 



^ VVrangel, i. p. 38. 



"•^ According to P. von Haven {Nye nrj forhedrede Efterretningar om, det 

 Russiske Rir/e, Kjubenhavn, 1747, ii. p. 20), "it was the custom in Peters- 

 burg to send away those whose presence Avas inconvenient to help Behring 

 to make new discoveries." It also went very ill with many of the gallant 

 Russian Polar travellers, and many of them were repaid with ingratitude. 

 Behring was received on his return from his tirst voyage, so rich in results, 

 with unjustified mistrust. Steller was exposed to continual trouble, was 

 long prevented from returning from Siberia, and finally perished during 

 his journey home, broken down in body and soul. Prontscliischev and 

 Lassinius succumbed to hardships and sufferings during their voyages in 

 the Polar Sea. Owzyn was degraded, among other things, because he used 



