20 
THE A^OYAGE OF THE A^EGA. 
Olonek. Three weeks had thus been spent in sailing a distance 
which an ordinary steamer ought now to he able to traverse in 
one day. Ice was seen, but not encountered. On the other 
hand, the voyage was delayed by contrary winds, probably blow¬ 
ing on land, whereby Prontschischev’s vessel, if it had in¬ 
cautiously ventured out, would probably have been cast on 
the beach. The late season of the year induced Prontschischev 
to lay up his vessel for the winter here, at some summer yourts 
built by fur-hunters in 72° 54' N. L. The winter passed 
happily, and the following year (1736) Prontschischev again 
broke up, as soon as the state of the ice in Olonek Bay per¬ 
mitted, which, however, was not until the 15th August. The 
course was shaped along the coast toward the north-west. Here 
drift ice was met with, but he nevertheless made rapid pro¬ 
gress, so that on the 1st September he reached 77° 29' N. L., 
as we now know, in the neighbourhood of Cape Chelyuskin. 
Compact masses of ice compelled him to turn here, and the 
Russians sailed back to the mouth of the Olonek, which was 
reached on the 15th September. The distinguished com¬ 
mander of the vessel had died shortly before of scurvy, and, 
some days after, his young wife, who had accompanied him on 
his difficult voyage, also died. As these attacks of scurvy did 
not happen during winter, but immediately after the close of 
summer, they form very remarkable contributions to a judgment 
of the way in which the Arctic expeditions of that period were 
fitted out. 
A new expedition, under Marine-Lieutenant Chariton Laptev, 
sailed along the same coast in 1739. The Lena was left on the 
1st August, and Cape Thaddeus (76° 47' N. L.) reached on the 
2nd September, the navigation having been obstructed by drift 
ice only off Chatanga Bay. Cape Thaddeus is situated only 
fifty or sixty English miles from Cape Chelyuskin. They turned 
here, partly on account of the masses of drift ice which barred 
the way, partly on account of the late season of the year, and 
wintered at the head of Chatanga Bay, which was reached on the 
8th September. Next year Laptev attempted to return along 
the coast to the Lena, but his vessel was nipped by drift ice 
off the mouth of the Olonek. After many difficulties and 
dangers, all the men succeeded in reaching safely the winter 
quarters of the former year. Both from this point and from 
the Yenisej, Laptev himself and his second in command, Chel¬ 
yuskin, and the s-urveyor, Tschekin, the following year made a 
number of sledge journeys, in order to survey the peninsula which 
projects farthest to the north-west from the mainland of Asia. 
