IV.] 
NUMMELIN’S WINTERING. 
211 
It was at this place that Nummelin passed one of the severest 
winters that Arctic literature has to record.^ 
In 1876 M. Sidoroff, well known for the lively interest which 
he takes in navigation in the Siberian waters, had a ship Severnoe 
Sianie (the Jtirora) built and fitted out at Yeniseisk, in order to 
carry goods from the Yenisej to Europe. The vessel was placed 
under the command of a Russian sea-captain, Schwanenberg. 
Under him NTummelin served as mate, and the vessel had a 
crew of eighteen men, most of whom had been exiled to Siberia for 
crime. In consequence of various mishaps the vessel could not 
get farther the first year than to the neighbourhood of the 
mouth of the Yenisej, where it was left in winter quarters 
at the place which has been named above. NTummelin and 
four exiles remained on board, while Schwanenberg and the 
rest of the crew returned to Yeniseisk on the 28th September. 
Frost had already commenced. During the two following weeks 
the temperature kept in the neighbourhood of the freezing 
point; clear weather alternating with snow and rain. 
On the 5th of October the crew withdrew to their winter 
quarters, having previously collected driftwood and placed it 
in heaps in order that they might easily find it under the snow. 
On the 16th October the thermometer at eight o’clock in the 
morning showed —4'5° and afterwards sank lower every day, until 
after the 21st October the mercury for some days was constantly 
under —10°. On the 26th October the temperature was —18°, 
but in the beginning of November it rose again to — 2°. On the 
6th November it sank, again to — 17°, but rose on the 11th to 
—3‘5.° On the 14th November the thermometer showed—23*5°, 
1 I give the particulars of this wintering partly after communications 
made to me in conversation by Nummelin, partly after Goteborgs Handels- 
och Sjofartstidning for the 20th and 21st November, 1877. This^/??’S^ and, 
as far as I know, only detailed narrative of the voyage in question, was 
dictated to the editor of that journal, reference being made to the log by 
Schwanenberg and Nnmmelin. Schwanenberg had come to Gothenburg 
some days before with his Yeniseisk-built vessel. 
p 2 
