Where is Cape Chelyuskin located? Looking for the northernmost continental point of Eurasia on a geographical map, look at the Taimyr Peninsula, which extends between the protruding inland water spaces of two cold seas: the Kara (Yenisei Gulf) and the Laptev (Khatanga Gulf).
Great North
These were the years of great geographical discoveries. The main participant of the Second Kamchatka expedition, the navigator, Semyon Ivanovich Chelyuskin, was in his prime: he was not even forty. Unfortunately, the exact date of birth of this brave and purposeful person is unknown. After studying biographical information, Nikolai Chernov (a connoisseur of history and a specialist in literary criticism) named the year 1704. There are other opinions. A graduate of the school of mathematical and navigational sciences, who served on the ships of the Baltic Fleet, was full of strength and determination to conquer the spaces covered with snow and ice, to reach the end of Eurasia, in spite of any difficulties.
There were enough problems even when Chelyuskin started as a navigator in the Great Northern Expedition (1733-1743) under the leadership of Vitus Jonassen Bering (Russian navigator of Danish origin). Scientific research began with the approval of the Admiralty College. It was supposed to study Russia from Pechora to Chukotka.
On the threshold of discovery
During the Second Kamchatka expedition, it was necessary to fight not only with natural and climatic cataclysms, but also with official indifference, and sometimes overt sabotage. Researchers were already uneasy: every second there was a delay in movement due to the weather, and after it death in the midst of white silence.
But cases of downtime and human losses were also due to bureaucratic red tape. The schedule of supplying the groups with everything necessary for work and life was violated. However, the difficulties were overcome. It remained to make the last throw and reach the extreme northern point. So today the dream of the conquerors of ice looks like - Cape Chelyuskin (a photo of a modern lighthouse can be seen in the article).
The event was supposed to coincide with the end of 1741. Later it turned out that the dates are shifted due to weather conditions. Nevertheless, over the 12 months of the year, navigator Semyon Chelyuskin and Lieutenant Khariton Laptev did a titanic job. They described the coast, passing the open spaces between the places where the Pyasina River flows into the Kara Sea, and Lower Taimyr into the Taimyr Bay of this marginal space of the Arctic Ocean. Surveyor Chekin compiled a cartography of the east coast. It remained to go and "record" the north.
Shared with servicemen
To implement the final stage, Chelyuskin was allocated about 700 rubles of official money. For those times it was not just a solid, but a colossal amount. Semen Ivanovich knew about the woeful situation of service people from the Yenisei province and county, as well as the Turukhansk Territory. They have been in poverty for years, receiving neither money nor food.
He decided on a risky step: he put most of the funds into their support. The servants of the sovereign did not forget about this and at the right moment also helped. Going on a campaign, the navigator counted on five sledges and forty sled dogs.
The Turukhansk Cossacks Fedor Kopylov and Dementy Sudakov unusual “transport park” was strengthened: several more teams (dog and deer), loaded with food, joined him.
Dog-and horse-drawn carts were also singled out by the local governor. Semyon rushed to implement the following plan: to reach the northeastern tip of Taimyr, turn west and go along the coast, detailing all the details in scientific diaries.
Forty miles a day
The path to the future Cape Chelyuskin was akin to a feat. There were very severe frosts. A little over 42.5 kilometers (40 versts) were overcome on the day. Sometimes it seemed to travelers that the Taimyr Peninsula had no end or edge. When, having passed along the rivers Hete and Khatanga, the Chelyusky people reached the Popigai winter hut, the date on the calendar was February 15, 1742.
At the end of March, they decided to split into groups. The one loaded with food set off toward the sea. Chelyuskin went north. People headed by Nikifor Fomin (a Yakut by nationality) went to the mouth of the river called Lower Taimyr to hurry out to meet the navigator on the western coast of the Taimyr Peninsula.
Having reached the cape of St. Thaddeus, Semyon Ivanovich established a lighthouse, recording information about this in the travel journal. He kept notes carefully: he described in detail the weather and the condition of the dogs (they were very tired). Oddly enough, I did not leave a line about what people are experiencing, as if deliberately ignoring the topic.
Victory is near
On May 6, according to the old style, the navigator recorded that the weather was clear and the sun was shining. Further indicated location: 77 0 27 'north latitude. Today everyone knows: Cape Chelyuskin coordinates have the following: 78 0 north latitude and 104 0 east longitude. That is, the goal was very close!
According to diary information, on this day the Cheluskinites successfully conducted a bear hunt, replenishing food supplies. This allowed them to eat in the last five miles, especially since such a blizzard rose that the researchers stopped for a whole day. On the available meager supplies in the cold, they would not have survived.
Again we set off in the late afternoon, at five in the afternoon, on cloudy weather, in fog, under incessant snow. And here it is, the extreme point. The cape was stone, medium high, on a steep bank.
East North
Around lay ice without fragments and piles, smooth and endless. Chelyuskin called the ledge East North. He built a lighthouse from a log, which he specially brought with him. Many of those who read the diary decades later were surprised by the dry, businesslike presentation. Semen Ivanovich did not emphasize either the magnitude of the discovery, nor the difficulties experienced.
The voices of the brave men were not announced for a long time by the present Cape Chelyuskin. The navigator with two companions, soldiers Anton Fofanov and Andrei Prakhov, stayed here for about an hour. Then they moved back to Lower Taimyr, to the mouth of the river.
Semen, son of Ivan
The northern tip of Eurasia became the cape of Chelyuskin on the 100th anniversary of the momentous opening. It markedly stimulated the development of geographical science.
In 1878, a Swedish Arctic explorer, geographer, geologist and navigator Nils Adolf Eric Nordenscheld visited him on the ship Vega. From a floating forest on a pile of stones, he built a lighthouse. In 1893, the Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen was the first to go around the ledge.
There is Cape Chelyuskin on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. This is a small dot on the map. To achieve it, the participants of the Second Kamchatka expedition had to endure exorbitant hardships. The kingdom of cold and ice, breaking into the ocean by one of the spurs of the Byrranga Mountains, once cast its bright eyes on the simple Russian Semyon, the son of Ivan. His name is left to live for centuries.