001      |      Vol_XV-0240                                                                                                                  
E. Olkhine.

SEMEN DEZHNEV .

        Semen Dezhnev (1608?-1673) , the Russian c C ossack who, in 1648, circumnavig–

ated the northeastern tip of Siberia and, sailing from the Arctic

Ocean Sea into the Pacific, was the first to prove the existence of a

strait between Asia and America, i.e. , of the Strait of Anian (qv)

shown on ancient maps.

        Dezhnev's reports on his voyage remained unheeded in the Aarch–

ives of the town of Yakutsk for almost 100 years until the historian

G.F. Müller (qv) , member of the Bering Expedition (qv) , discovered

them in 1736 and gave the first account of them in his work entitled

"Description of sea voyages in the Arctic and Eastern Seas carried

out from the Russian side" (Opisanie morskikh puteshestvii po Ledo–

vitomu i Vostochnomu moriu s rossiiskoi storony uchinennykh), pub–

lished in St. Petersburg in 1759. Nonetheless, some scholars

expressed doubts that such a feat could have been accomplished with

the poor sea craft available in Siberia at that time. But this was

definitely confirmed after the discovery, by the histor ian N.

Ogloblin, of 17th century documents from the Siberian Department

of old Muscovy.

        Semen Ivanov Dezhnev, a native of Ustiug Velikii, a city in

the upper reaches of Severnaia Dvina River (qv) , must have been

born about 160 0 8 , but the exact date of his birth remains unknown.

Driven by his adventurous spirit, he set out eastward early in his

youth, first moving to Tobolsk, then capital of Siberia, thence to

Yeniseisk (qv) , and in 1638 he reached Yakutsk (qv) , founded but

a few years previously. He then enrolled in the newly established

unit of "Yakutsk cossacks," who were entrusted with the arduous but

profitable task of collecting tribute ( iassak qv iassak ) from the

002      |      Vol_XV-0241                                                                                                                  
Siberian natives. Thereafter, biographical data on Dezhnev grows

more complete thanks to his two famours reports to the Voevoda of

Yakutsk and his four petitions to Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich, discov–

ered by Ogloblin and published in 1890.

        In 1639, Dezhnev carried out a successful tribute-collecting

expedition among Yakut tribes. This resulted in delivery to the

Treasury of 140 sable pelts.

        Next, in 1640, Voevoda Poiarkov (qv) despatched Dezhnev together

with Dmitri Zyrian to collect tribute and subjugate natives on the

newly discovered Iana River (qv). The expedition, consisting of 15

men, negotiated the land route between Zhigansk on the Lena (qv) and

Verkhoiansk on the Iana in winter, by sled and ski. On his way back

with two other cossacks and 340 sable pelts, Dezhnev was wounded in

the leg during an encounter with native Tungus (qv), but nonetheless

reached Yakutsk in 1641 with the entire booty.

        In 1642, together with Mikhail Stadukhin (qv) and a company of

15 cossacks, Dezhnev set pout to collect tribute on Oimekon River (qv)

in the upper reaches of Indigirka River (qv). Dezhnev and Stadukhin

then dispatched some of their men with the sable pelts to Yakutsk,

but themselves remained on the Indigirka and, building a "Koch" (qv),

salled down the river, right to its mouth. Here, Dezhnev joined

forces with Dmitri Zyrian and proceeded eastward to collect tribute

along Alazeia River (qv). Still moving eastward, they reached

Kolyma River (qv) mouth, where they found Mikhailo Stadukhin, who

had reached it by sea from Indigirka River mouth, and had founded

Nizhne-Kolymsk (qv) in 1644.

        On Kolyma River, Dezhnev, Stadukhin and Zyrian joined forces

in order to withstand the warlike Iukagir (qv), who besieged their

003      |      Vol_XV-0242                                                                                                                  
stockade, but whom they finally defeated. Until 1648, Dezhnev rem–

ained under the command of Dmitri Zyrian, who had been appointed to

head the Ostrog (qv) . His task was to collect tribute from yet un–

subjugated tribes, many of whom offered stuboorn resistance. Dezhhev

proved a valiant fighter and suffered numerous injuries.

        About that time, the agent of a wealthy merchant from Ustiug

Velikii, one Fedot Alekseev popov, appeared on Kolyma River. A

native of Kholmogory (qv), he was one of those sturdy, fearless

" pomory" (natives of the northern shores) whose adventurous spirit

is responsible for most of the early Russian arctic exploration.

From Isaia Ignatiev (qv) who, sailing from the Kolyma, had reached

Chaun Bay (qv) in 1646, he had heard of the abundance of walrus tusks

to eastward, and had decided to sail to Anadyr River, of which the

rRussians had but a vague idea from what they had heard from natives..

In 1647, Popov equipped 4 "kochi" kochi , and sailed eastward with an exped–

ition in which Dezhnev is said to have taken part. That summer, how–

ever, the sea was so ice-ridden, that the party was induced to return.

        Undaunted by this failure, popov set about preparing a second

expedition, on a large scale, and invited Dezhnev and a number of

cCossacks, whose armed help was needed in the event of native resist–

ance. Moreover, the presence of Dezhnev, a Treasury agent entrusted

with the collection of tribute from newly s i u bjugated tribes, lent an

official character to the expedition. It would seem that Popov and

Dezhnev headed it jointly.

        Dezhnev states that the expedition consisted of 6 kochi (single–

deck boats), carrying 70 crew and cCossacks, and 20 "promyshlenniki"

(qv). Food supplies, weapons and ammunition were taken in large

quantities. Other sources have mentioned 7 kochi kochi , and some have

004      |      Vol_XV-0243                                                                                                                  
mentioned A nk udinov's koch koch and his men separately from the rest,

as having "joined" Popov and Dezhnev. This may explain why Dezhnev,

who was on bad terms with Ankudinov, mentioned only the 6 kochi kochi

under his and Popov's command.

        On June 20, 1648, the expedition left Kolyma River mouth and

sailed eastward along the coast. Weather conditions were favorable

and no ice was encountered. By the second half of s S eptember, three

kochi kochi reached Bering strait, but nothing is known about the other

three three, or four.

        A landing was apparently made in the area where the "Bolshoi

Kamennyi Nos", the great stone cape, "swings round towards Anadyr

river", and a fight with the natives ensued, [ ?] during which

popov was wounded. Then, Ankudinov's vessel suffered shipwreck, but

the crew was rescued and transferred to Dezhnov's and popov's craft.

The two remaining kochi kochi continued the voyage.

        In the Pacific, the two kochi kochi battled against a severe storm,

[ ?] and were separated, never to meet again.

For several years Dezhnev believed that Popov and his party had per–

ished in the storm until, in 1654, during a battle with a Koriak (qv)

tribe,he took a number of prisoners among whom he found a Yakut woman

who had accompanied Popov on the voyage. Her story was that their

boat had been wrecked, that Popov and Ankudinov and most of the others

had died of scurvy, or had been killed, while the remaining few had

set out on a boat, she knew not whereto. It is presumed that this

boat landed on Kamchatka, because when Vladimir Atlasov (qv) first

explored Kamchatka in 1697, he was told by the natives that many

years ago, several r R ussians lived at Nikula river mouth on the

eastern shore. The ruins of a Russian log cabin were still in

005      |      Vol_XV-0244                                                                                                                  
evidence at that spot at the time of Krasheninnikov's (qv) exploration

of Kamchatka. G.F. Muiler, historian of the Bering Expedition, has

stated that Popov's men were the first men to settle in Kamchatka.

        Dezhnev's craft, badly battered, was carried by winds and waves

for a number of days and finally wrecked on the Siberian shore, pres–

umably somewhere in the region of Oliutorski Peninsula (qv). Hungry,

poorly clad and barefoot, the 25 survivors Dezhnev among them, set out northward along

the coast until, 10 weeks later, they reached what turned out to

be Anadyr River mouth (qv). Twelve of the men continued upstream

along the river bank, hoping to come across natives. Twenty days

after their departure, two of them returned, famished and exhausted –

the rest had died.

        Dezhnev and his men, reduced to twelve, survived a hard winter.

In the spring, they built a boat and started up Anadyr river. Sal–

vation came when they ran into natives, from whom they seized not

only food, but also tribute. Although fighting developed, and Dezh–

nev was again wounded, resistance was short. In the middle reaches

of the Anadyr, Dezhnev then built a wintering, (1649) the future Anadyr

Ostrog, [ ?] which remained his headquarters until 1656.

        Meantime, in the spring of 1650, an expedition headed by Mikhailo

Stadukhin and Semen Motora had set out from Kolyma River mouth in–

tending to reach Anadyr River overland. As they proceeded sailed downstream,

they ran into Dezhnov's wintering. Dezhnev and Motora then joined

forces, and in the course of the next two years (1650-51) carried

out a number of short expeditions subjugating the surrounding tribes

and collecting tribute from them, while Stadukhin, who was on bad

terms with Dezhnev, proceeded on his own.

        In the summer of 1652, Dezhnev sailed down Anadyr River and,

006      |      Vol_XV-0245                                                                                                                  
near its estuary, discovered the so-called "Korga" (bank or shoal),

swarming with walrus. From that time on, while still collecting

tribute in pelts from the natives, Dezhnev devote s d much time to

visiting the Korga, which he consider s ed his own preserve. In the

four years which followed, 1652-55, he collected for the government

close to 1,000 lbs of walrus tusk, and it may be presumed that he

put some aside for himself.

        In the summer of 1653, Dezhnev built a number of "kochi" kochi at

Anadyr River mouth with the intention of sending his 5-years ' spoil

by sea to Kolyma and Yakutsk, but he gave up the idea on account of

the stormy sea, the strong currents, and the danger of floating ice.

It should be added that the craft built at Anadyr River mouth were

most primitive, lacking either good sails or anchors, or [ ?] sailing

gearg [ ?] such as he had when leaving the Kolyma in 1848. On the other

hand it was dangerous to dispatch all the wealth accumulated in pelts

and walrus tusk overland across the territory of still unsubjugated

and warlike tribes.

        Dezhnev experienced difficulty in fighting off a Koriak tribe,

which had appeared in the vicinity of his Korga, and had started kill–

ing off the walrus. Finally, in a pitched battle, he and his men

virtually exterminated the entire tribe and seized all women and

children.

        In the spring of 1654 a new party of c C ossacks, headed by one Iuri

Selivestrov, arrived by land from the Kolyma. Although Dozhnev states

that he never interfered with Selivestrov's hunting and collecting of

walrus tusk on the now famous Korga, Selivestrov sent reports to

Yakutsk, complaining that Dezhnev and his men would not let him

[ ?] "collect walrus tusk for the Treasury on the Korga."

007      |      Vol_XV-0246                                                                                                                  

        In 1656, an envoy from Yakutsk arrived with the order to Dezh–

nev and his assistant Semenov, and also to Selivestrov, to proceed

to Yakutsk to deliver the Treasury's share of pelts and walrus tusk.

The spoil was apparently dispatched, and Semenov and Selivestrov left,

but Dezhnev remained in his Anadyr stockade.

        He mentions drawing up a map of Anadyr river, "up to its source,

with indication of all its tributaries, and reaching down to the

Korga, where the walrus congregate." Unfortunately, this has not

come down to us. In his 1655 report he also describes the vegetation

of the river area, animal life, and gives numerous details about the

fishes. This is the first accurate description of the Anadyr, and

shows how keen an observer Dezhnev was.

        Little is known about the last years Dezhnev spent on the Anadyr.

He remained at the head of the garrison until 1659, when he handed

his official duties over to Kurbat Ivanov. However, he remained in

his "ostrog" another two years, hunting and collecting walrus tusk

f i o r himself, and thereafter turning up in Yakutsk in 1662. It was

from there that he sent his first petition to the Tsar, reporting on

his 20-years' work, and asking for back-pay for all the years he had

been collecting tribute for the Treasury and bringing new territories

and tribes into the Tsar's realm.

        Apparently warmly welcomed in Yakutsk, he was entrusted with

what was considered the high responsibility and honor of bringing

to Moscow the Treasury's share of walrus tusk, then held in high

esteem. He left Yakutsk in the early winter of 1662, and arrived

in Moscow in 1664.

        Upon reaching the capital, Dezhnev se [ ?] n t his second petition to

the Tsar, again applying for back-pay and stating that he had great

008      |      Vol_XV-0247                                                                                                                  
debts, still unpaid. He also asked to be granted the rank of

" sotnik sotnik " ( c C ossack rank equivalent to captain).

        According to the figuring of the time, for 19 years' service,

Dezhnev was entitled to 126 rubles 20 1/2 kopeks: The authorities

issued the order to pay him one third in money, and two thirds in

cloth. Thus, he received 38 rubles 67 1/2 kopeks in cash, and 97

"arshin" (about 100 y e ards) of cloth. He sold to the Treasury his

own wairus tusk for 500 rubles. Considering that the walrus tusk

which he had collected for the Treasury was valued at 17,340 rubles

- nd there is no mention of the sable pelts he had collected as

tribute - his pay seems disproportionately small. The only compens–

ation was that, instead of being given the rank of " sotnik sotnik " he had

asked for, he was elevated to the rank of " ataman ataman " (commander), with

a yearly salary of 9 rubles, 7 quarters" of rye, 4 "quarters" of

oats, and 90 lbs of salt.

        Dezhnev left Moscow in march 1665, entrusted with carrying gov–

ernment funds to Yakutsk, which meant that he enjoyed the full con–

fidence of [th ?] e authorities. On his way east, he stopped in his native

city of Ustiug Velikii to pick up his nephew and the latter's wife,

whom he took along with him to Yakutsk.

        Nothing is known of the years 1666 to 1670 which [ ?] ezhnev spent

in Yakutsk, occupying the post of "ataman" ataman . In the summer of 1670

he was again dispatched to Moscow with the "tribute in sables", and

various documents. He was accompanied by aides and a convoy. He

reached Moscow on d D ecember 25, 1671, where he remained until his

death in 1673, presumably at the age of 65. This we know from the

only mention thereof, found in a Yakutsk account book: "Semen

Dezhnev died in Moscow in 1673, his salary appropriation is being

cancelled."

009      |      Vol_XV-0248                                                                                                                  

        Despite the scant biographical material available on Dezhnev,

it seems clear that he possessed all the qualities of an explorer.

Adventurous and bold, he was of the " c C ossack" species, incessantly

driven towards lands unknown, and yearning for a free life unhamper–

ed by the shackles of authority. From his own, simple, unadorned

accounts, and also from the results he achieved, we can assess his

tenacity and fearlessness in the face of constant danger and untold

hardships. Apparently, nothing could deter him from the pursuance of

his goal. In kindliness and generosity he seems to have favorably

differed from his contemporaries and fellow-explorers, for he did not

share their ruthlessness and unbridled greed. This is apparent from

his differences with other c C ossack leaders, such as Stadukhin or Seli–

vestrov, whom, for example, he begged "not to kill natives indiscrim–

inately, for that is not good."

        The American historian F.A. Golder, in his book "Russian Ex–

pansion in the Pacific 1641-1850", published in 1914, contends that

Dezhnev never circumnavigated Chukotsk Peninsula (qv), and that he

made up the entire sat story of his sailing from the Kolyma to the

Anadyr. But it should be remembered that Dezhnev was not aware of

the great geographical significance of his voyage, and neither were

his immediate superiors, and he therefore had no reason to write a

false report. Indeed, so little did he think of his feat, that he

delayed reporting on it until 1655, when other reasons prompted him

to send a message to the Voevoda of Yakutsk. He invariably stresses

his activities on land, and not his voyage, the description of which

takes up much less space than the enumeration of battles with the

natives, of his subjugating them and collecting tribute for the

Treasury. Most of all was he interested in the "Korga", where he

010      |      Vol_XV-0249                                                                                                                  
had discivered the walrus rookery, and that was the one and only

thing he laid claim to. This being his prime concern, he was int–

erested in the shortest route to the Anadyr, regardless of whether

it was by land or sea. Had he abandoned his "kochi" kochi already at

Chaun Bay, as Golder asserts, he would doubtless have told the story

of the overlan d trek, and the route followed would have been ident–

ified, as have been all his other routes.

        In his first report Dezhnev writes: "..... the Bolshoi

Kamennyi Nos (Great Stone Cape). This NOS extends far seaward, and

on it live many Chukchi, and opposite the NOS, on the islands, live

people called 'zubati' (an adjective meaning 'having big teeth'),

because they thrust through their lips two pieces of tusk, and this

o i s not the first"Sviatoi"Nos from the Kolyma, and this Great NOS, we

Semen and comrades we know it well, for there it was that Ankudinov's

koch was wrecked, and we took the men on our kochi, and we saw the

big-toothed men on the island, and c f rom this NOS Anadyr River and the

Korga are very far .... "

        And in his second report: "When sailing by sea from the Kolyma

to the Anadyr, there is a NOS extending far out to sea ..... and

opposite this NOS are two islands, and on these islands live Chukchi,

and their lips are split, and pieces of walrus tusk thrust through

them, and this NOS lies between north and northeast, and a river

flows out on the Russian side of the NOS, and here is a Chukchi

settlement, towers made of whalebone, and the NOS swings round

towards Anadyr River ....... "

        Contrary to Golder's assertion that Dezhnev never rea ched

farther than Shelagski, he clearly states that "this is not the first

NOS" from the Kolyma, but the next one. There are no outstanding

011      |      Vol_XV-0250                                                                                                                  
capes except Shelagski and Dezhnev. F ru ur thermore, "the NOS swings

round to Anadyr river." This clearly corresponds to the fact that

after sailing along the northern coast in a southeasterly direction,

doubling the cape constitutes a turn at a right angle, i.e. , swing–

ing to a southwesterly direction.

        The location of the river on the side of the Cape is also accur–

ate, and Dezhnev's description of tower-like Chukchi dwellings made

of whale jaws and ribs is similar to the descriptions and drawings

by Luka Voronin of the Sarychev Expedition, 1785-92 (qv). Nowhere

but on Chukotka have such towers been seen.

        The islands lying opposite the NOS are obviously the Diomedes

(qv), for upon nearing the extremity of the cape, a ship has the two

islands before her. This would not be true of any islands near Cape

Shelagski, for, upon nearing the latter, no islands are to be seen,

the only islands, Aion and Rautan, having been passed on the right.

        The "tooth Chukchi" are clearly the American e E skimos wearing

labrets, and can be none other, for nowehere else could Dezhnev have

seen them.

        Contrary to Golder's assertion, Dezhnev never stated that he

was wrecked October 1st. What he says is that he was hit by a storm

after October 1-st ("Pokrov") and was tossed about by wind and waves

for many days, and finally wrecked. From all evidence he was wrecked

south of Anadyr Bay and thereafter proceeded north. But Colder arbit–

rarily decides that after shipwreck he must have gone south. This,

because he allegedly was wrecked on the northern shore, and hence had

to go south in order to reach the Anadyr, and also, because, "it i [ ?]

fair to assume that he would go in a s outherly direction so as to

have the cold north and northwest winds at his back."

012      |      Vol_XV-0251                                                                                                                  

        Although Golder declares that"the statements of Dezhnev have

to be examined", which leads one to think he himself does so with

the greatest care, we find that, quoting a statement he finds sus–

picious, he misquotes his own translation. On p.78 we read: "The

Anaduir falls into the sea," whereas in the appendix (p.287) where

the entire document is given, the text runs: "the Anaduir falls

into a bay" ('guba' is more exactly estuary). Incidentally, this

makes a great difference in the context.

        Golder often bases himself on erroneous interpretations of

Dezhnev's archaic and illiterate language, and also on the rather

loose paraphrasing of it by Muller. When it suits his theory,

Golder denounces some of Muller's paraphrasing, but fails to do so

when it denies him an extra argument. Thus he overlooks a document

discovered by Muller in 1736, and which bears evidence that rumors

of Dezhnev's voyage were widespread in Siberia around 1700. It is the

report of one Pe ë tr Popov who, in 1711, went on an expedition to the

Chukchi on the "Nos", where he was told that " r R ussians had already

visited them before, arriving by sea on kochi." Furthermore, a

colleague of Muller's, Lindenau (qv) of the Second Bering Exped–

ition, when visiting the Berin g Strait coast in 1741-43, reported

hearing from the Chukchi that "som e 70 or more years ago, 12 kochi

carying Russian merchants were scattered by a storm off the north–

eastern shores of Asia.... "

        All experts who have thoroughly studied the Dezhnev question

concur in the opinion that Dezhnev actually circumnavigated the

northeast tip of Asia and sailed from the Arctic into the Pacific.

In addition to Muller, these are: the explorer F. Wrangel, the

historians N. N. Ogloblin and S.V. Bakhrushin, and,in our days,

013      |      Vol_XV-0252                                                                                                                  
the oceanographer I.M. Shokalsky, the historians A.I.Andreev,

L.S.Berg, A.V.Efimov, and the expert on arctic matters V.I.Vize

(qq...v).

        In his work, "The Discovery of Kamchatka and the Bering Exped " –

ition" (Otkrytie Kamchatki i Ekspeditsia Beringa), which appeared

in 1935, and in a new edition in 1946, L.S.Berg has made an extens–

ive and thorough analysis of the Dezhnev problem and has definite–

ly established that the "Great Stone Nos" or"Chukotski Nos" is with " –

out doubt Cape Dezhnev (previously East Cape), that the two islands

opposite the Nos are the Diomedes, that the "big tooth Chukchi" are

the Ameican e E skimos.

        The only Russian student of the question who concurs with Golder

in denying Dezhnev's discovery of Bering Strait, is the scientist

and historian P.A. Slovtsov. Or it should rather be said that Golder

borrowed the arg y u ments advanced by Slovtsov in his "Historical

Review of Siberia" (Istoricheskoe Obozrenie Sibiri) published in

1838, at a time when the numerous documents and old maps subsequent–

ly discovered, were not yet available.

        In support of his point of view that Dezhnev neither accomplish–

ed nor claimed "the feat credited to him", Golder considers as a

strong argument the fact that "Dezhnev is totally ignored by his

contemporaries." This "stron g argument has now been fully refuted,

for, in addition to the evidence already existing in Golder's,time

(and mentioned above), numerous documents and maps of the second

half of the 17th century and of the 18th century, confirm that

Dezhnev's voyage did affect his contemporaries and the geographical

concepts of his time.

        For although Golder fully endorsed and circulated the opinion

that Dezhnev's discovery of the strait separating Asia from America

014      |      Vol_XV-0253                                                                                                                  
remained unknown to e E uropeans until Muller discovered his reports,

there is ample evidence - both published and in manuscript - that

the momentous voyage of the Russian c C ossacks was known, although

Dezhnev's name remained unmentioned. Thus, in his "Noord en Oost

Tartarye", Amsterdam [ ?] 1705 , Nicholas Witsen writes:

        "This is the copy of a letter I received from Arkhangelsk in

1698: ..... a r R ussian here informed me that, visiting Moscow last

winter, he met cossacks who had been hunting sables in the farther–

most parts of Siberia. On a small vessel they circumnavigated

Ledianoi Mys (Ice Cape) that is the easternmost projection as shown

on your map, and it took them three days to get to the end of the

cape. There, the current was very swift, and they had to keep close

to shore; but they saw no ice for it was in midsummer. Thus they

sailed round the cape ....."

        This tallies with Dezhnev's report, which mentions swift

currents, but no ice.

        The Witsen map mentioned in this letter is his "Nieuwe Lant–

kaarte van het Noorder en Ooster deel van Asia en Europa," published

in Amsterdam in 1687.

        And elsewhere in Witsen:

        " I learned from a prominent Moscow merchant that some cossacks

told him it had taken them three days to reach the end of Ledianoi

Mys, or Ice Cape (later East Cape, then Cape Dezhnev). In some

places the strait is so narrow that one may see both shores. Those

cossacks or Moscow soldiers had been dispatched from Yakutsk to

collect tribute, and as is the custom, they proceeded in groups of

10 or 20 men... They also said they had eight small vessels, of

which four succeeded in sailing round Ice Cape. But finally they

015      |      Vol_XV-0254                                                                                                                  
cam e across such cross-currents, where the northern current meets

the southern, that those four vessels were smashed to pieces and

all the men perished."

        This again is very similar to Dezhnev's account of cross–

currents, and also of the wreck of Ankudinov's "koch" koch .

        There does not seem to be any doubt that these were echoes of

De zh nev's voyage. It may be that Witsen's statements were still un ' –

known to Leibnitz in 1697 when he raised the question of whether

Asia and America were separated by a strait, although Witsen's first

edition had appeared in 1692, and his map in 1687. However, when

Leibnitz again raised this question in 1712, in his letter to Peter

the Great's adviser Bruce, he no dou n b t had read Witsen, and so had

Tsar Peter, who was personally acquainted with the Amsterdam burgo–

master. Both might have discounted Witsen's statements, knowing

they were but hearsay. They knew not then that this hearsay would

prove surprisingly similar to the reports of Dezhnev, which had not

yet been discovered.

        Another instance of such hearsay is to be found in the "Historia

de Sibiria", written around 1680 by the Croatian Catholic priest Iurii Krizhanich,

who spent a number of years in exile in Tobolsk. Although his book,

written in Latin, w as not published at the time, Witsen seems to have

seen one of his manuscripts. On the question of whether the Arctic

Sea is connected with the "Eastern", i.e. , the Pacific, Krizhanich

writes that, "this has no t w been solved by Lena and Nerchinsk cossacks

who covered the entire country right to the ocean, and assert that

there is no land to eastward, and that the two seas are not separ–

ated by anything."

        In addition to writings, old maps also show that the impact

016      |      Vol_XV-0255                                                                                                                  
of Dezhnev's voyage was considerable even on European geographical

thought and that, particularly in Siberia, the strait between Asia

and America was taken for granted long before Bering.

        Several versions of in the series of maps by Remezov and Peter

Godunov (qqv), drawn up at the end of the 17th century and around

1700, show Northeastern Siberia surrounded by the sea, and the

Arctic and Pacific connected by a strait. So does Witsen's map

mentioned above.

        The hand-made sketch by the so-called "Yakut nobleman Ivan

Lvov", dated 1710, and handed over to Muller in Yakutsk in 1736

shows Chukotsk Peninsula surrounded by the sea and, opposite the

"Nos", two islands, and beyond them to eastward, part of a cont–

i nent. The Anadyr, its tributaries, and the surrounding mountain

ridges, are all shown in detail, and Anadyr Ostrog occupies an

important place. This sketch, or rather copies of it, must have

reached Europe, for the map of the Nurnberg geographer Johann

Baptist Homan, first published in 1725, follows Lvov's map very

closely in regard to Northeastern Siberia, the Bering Strait and

Anadyr areas. It clearly implies a free seaway from the Kolyma

to Kamchatka. This map was again published in the Homan atlas of

1759, although by then geography had undergone great changes, and

the Russian Academy of Science map giving the results of the Bering

Expedition, had already appeared in 1754.

        Another map, the anonymous Leyden map dated 1726, ten years

prior to Muller's discovery of Dezhnev's reports, shows the north–

eastern tip of Siberia surrounded by the sea, islands off the

coast, and the inscription: "Les russes venants de la Lena et des

autres rivières à l'est de la Lena passent par ici avec leurs

017      |      Vol_XV-0256                                                                                                                  
bâtiments pour aller négocier avec les Kamtschadahles," (The

r R ussians coming from the Lena and from the other rivers east of

the Lena, pass here with their vessels to go and trade with the

Kamchadals.)

        Of interest are Vitus Bering's words in a letter dated 1725

from Yeniseisk, while on his way east: ".... it is possible to

sail from Kolyma River mouth to the Anadyr, as testified by the

new asiatic maps, and as communicated by the inhabitants, that

this route has been used before."

        Strahlenberg's (qv) map, also drawn up prior to the Bering

Expedition, bears this inscription at the mouth of the Indigirka

River: "From here the russians, crossing the ice-ridden sea - the

north wind drives it toward the shore and the south wind drives it

back - have, with great difficulty and danger for their lives,

reached Kamchatka."

        As stated by the historian A.I. Andreev, the Russian sketch–

maps of the time testify that in Siberia, knowledge of the discovery

of the seaway through the strait was widespread. This could be

nought else but a consequence of the fact that the Dezhnev 's voyage

was known, and that the geographical data he had supplied - not

alone in his reports but also by word of mouth - was being taken

into consideration by seamen and mapmakers.

        That this news had spread westward is further evidenced by

the fact that, as early as 1652, rumors were current among foreign

diplomats in Moscow, that the r R ussians had discovered America from

the W w est, and were preparing to dispatch an important force to the

American coast. These rumors were reported to q Q ueen Christina of

Sweden by her envoy in Russia , Johan de Rodes, who resided in Moscow

018      |      Vol_XV-0257                                                                                                                  
from 1650 to 1655. His reports, preserved in the Stockholm State

Archives, were published in part in Russia in 1915 by B.G. Kurts

in a book entitled "The Condition of Russia in 1650-1655 from the

reports of Rodes."

        Rodes was apparently greatly interested in developments in

Siberia, in the discovery of gold and silver, and in Russian rel–

ations with China. On April 28, 1652, he reported that 2,000

"strels i y " (fusiliers) had been dispatched do w n the Volga to

Kazan, whence they would proceed to Siberia to reinforce the

Voevoda of Yakutsk , Dmitri Fratsbekov, and added: "It is rumored

that they will be used for dispatching to America...." It would

appear that these rumors created great excitement in the foreign

colony in Moscow.

        Frantsbekov had been appointed Voevoda of Yakutsk in 1648,

the very year Dezhnev set out on his expedition, and it may be

p resumed that by 1652 the Voevoda had been informed of Dezhnev's

settling on the Anadyr. We know that Dezhnev never reached Amer–

ica, but the rumor long persisted in Siberia that the three "kochi" kochi

which had first been separated from the Dezhnev-Popov party –

presumably upon entering the strait - had reached the American

coast, and that it was precisely then, that the first Russian

settlement was founded in the Western h H emisphere. The protagonists

of this version, however, have no factual evidence to support them,

except, perhaps, the presence of white-skinned and blond a A leuts

first encountered by Shelekhov (qv) in Yakutat Bay in 1788, and

the 1937 find on Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, of the remains of an

ancient settlement, which could have been only r R ussian (judging by

the method of building and the objects found), and which American

019      |      Vol_XV-0258                                                                                                                  
experts estimated at being around 300 years old. It should be

added, however, that both the blond a A leuts and the builders of

the settlement, might rather have been the descendants of pilot

Dementiev and his 12 seamen who had been sent ashore by Chirikov

(qv) in 1741, and had never returned.

        The conviction that Russian settlements existed in America

was current long before Shelekhov started colonizing Russian Amer–

ica in the 1780-ies. Thus the plenisner map ( c C olonel Plenisner, a

former member of the Second Bering Expedition, was head of the

Ostrog of Anadyrsk), drawn up on the basis of information supplied

by c C ossack Nikolai Daurkin (a chukcha by origin) in 1763, shows

Chukotsk Peninsula, the strait with its two islands, and the oppos–

ite shore named "Kygmyn" (the Ch u kchi name for America is Kyymyn).

At about where Cape Prince of Wales is, this map shows a river

flowing into the sea named "Khevuvren" and, slightly upstream, a

drawing shows a stockade, several men and a boat, and the inscript–

ion "fortress". This map is a hand-made colored sketch, and it

should be noted that all the men are dark-skinned except one, whose

skin is light pink with the apparent implication that he is a

r R ussian.

        Information on r R ussians on the American coast is also to be

found in a document discovered not so long ago in the Central State

Archives in Moscow. It is a report by c C ossack Kobelev, who in 1779

visited Chukotsk Peninsula and the islands Imagli and Igellin

(Ratmanov and Krusenstern), where he heard that a year before two

vessels had visited the islands (apparently Cook), but that many

years ago, two other large vessels had been there (Bering's ships).

While on Igellin, Kobelev heard that, on the eastern shore, on

020      |      Vol_XV-0259                                                                                                                  
"Khevuvren" river , is an "ostrog" (stockade), "where live Russian

people; who speak r R uss i an, read books, write and worship ikons,"

and that, contrary to the a A mericans who have scarce beards and

pluck them, "the r R ussians have large, bushy beards."

        Kobelev begged the islander to take him to the other shore,

but the islander refused to do so lest harm come to him, but he

promised to send over a letter from Kobelev. Kobelev states that

in his message he called the American russians "blood-brothers",

and asked them whether they were the descendants of the "men of

the 4 kochi, which, in old days, had got separated from the 7 kochi,

sailing round Chukotski Nos."

        Later, Kobelev reported that an American e E skimo had brought

to Imagli a "letter" from the bearded r R ussians on the other shore,

who had asked that it be sent to the r R ussians in Anadyrsk. The

"letter" was a board, with Russian script in red paint on one side,

and letters carved out and painted p b lack on the other side. The

writer said they had all they needed except iron, and begged that

some be sent to them. The e E skimo showed how those people cross

themselves, and said that they congregate in one large house for

prayer, and that, in a field, they set up poles with small boards

across them.

        I.I.Lindenau, interpreter to the Second Bering Expedition,

who visited the Chukchi on the Strait in 1741-43, reported hearing

from them that, "some 70 or more years ago, 12 kochi carrying

Russian merchants were scattered by a storm off the northeastern

shores of Asia ..... some of them reached Kamchatka, and some land–

ed on the opposite shore called "Great Land".

        The presence of r R ussians on the American mainland before

021      |      Vol_XV-0260                                                                                                                  
colonizing by Shelekhov had begun, and particularly so far north –

it should be kept in mind that pilot Dementiev's party had landed

much farther south - poses the question as to who those settlers

were, and whence they had come, and this brings up the plausibil–

ity of the hypothesis that Dezhnev's missing kochi kochi had landed on

the American continent.

        In support of his assertion that Dezhnev never passed Bering

Strait, and never could have done so in a primitive "koch" koch , Golder

states that, "A kotsh was a flat-bottomed decked vessel .... it

had a wooden mast and sails of deer skin, which are of little use

in damp weather. The chief motive power, therefore, was the

paddle. Anchors were made of wood and stone, and cables of leather."

        This opinion on the unseaworthiness of Dezhnev's vessels indeed

prevailed until quite lately. The kochi kochi were believed to be most

primitive, flat-bottomed boats, using deer-skins for sails, and

lacking in western navigational gear.

        The study of 17th century documents has now fully refuted this

viewpoint. The "koch" koch must have been a large seaworthy craft, with

deck and keel, with deck-canoes and iron anchors, of sturdy build,

and additionally reinforced to withstand the pressure of high seas

and ice. Judging by old shipbuilders' orders and specifications,

these vessels were about 60 ft long by some 15 ft wide, drawing,

however, no more than 5 - or 6 ft. Their capacity was 30 to 35 tons.

The size seems to have differed little from that of the English or

Dutch vessels plying the northern seas between London and Arkhang–

elsk, or Amsterdam and Arkhangelsk. The main difference was the

small draught, necessary for navigating along shore leads in arctic

waters. This difference was responsible for the failure of western

022      |      Vol_XV-0261                                                                                                                  
seamen to negotiate the passage to the Ob and Yenis s ei despite

their eagerness to do so and trade direct with Siberian natives,

as evidenced by the accounts of English merchants who, in those

days, visited Arkhangelsk and Pustozersk - but never got farther

east.

        Equipped with a regular set of sails - a total surface of

some 1,000 sq ft - and given favorable winds, the koch koch could cover

from 120 to 150 miles a day at a speed of 5 to 6 knots.

        It has now been ascertained that Dezhnev's expedition took

along no less than "13 compasses in bone frames." It may therefore

be presumed that Dezhnev and his seamen navigated with the help of

instruments and gear available at the time. This is confirmed by

Witsen's statement that, "when sailing to the Kolyma, the Lena

cossacks used compasses and deep-sounding logs." The elaborate

compass, sun-dial and navigational gear found on Taimyr Peninsula

(see Taimyr Pena., History), at the camp of the 17th century (ca.

1620) navigators, fully supports this opinion, and it may be presum ' -

ed that, taking place [ ?] an odd 30 years later, Dezhnev's exped–

ition must have been still better equipped.

        Nevertheless, Golder states: "Indeed, it is extremely doubt–

ful whether they had a compass or knew its use... Among the num–

erous 17th centur y documents examined, the author did not come

across the wo r d compass... the word appears in the early 18th cent–

ury." Had he only glanced at Witsen's book, he would have found the

statement quoted above. O[?] f course, he may not have seen the docum " -

ent of the Yakutsk Archives, which is a receipt for "13 compasses

in bone frames", taken on the trip by just one of the parties of

"promyshlenniki" promyshlenniki who accompanied Dezhnev. [ ?] It is true that

023      |      Vol_XV-0262                                                                                                                  
what is used on the receipt is not the foreign word compass, but

the term used at the time by northern seafarers. In the days of

Peter the Great foreign words flocked into the Russian language,

particularly in regard to seafaring and military matters, so no

wonder Golder found the word "compass" in [ ?] 18th century docum–

ents.

        Following the suggestion of the Imperial Russian Geographic–

al Society and of the prominent oceanographer I.M.Shokalsky, East

Cape was officially named Cape Dezhnev in 1898.

        The 300-th Anniversary of Semen Dezhnev's epoch-making voyage

through Bering Strait was celebrated in the USSR on October 26,

1948, in a special joint c s ession of the All-Union Geographical

Society and the Arctic Research Institute.

        In connection with the Tricentenary, the Council of Ministers

of the USSR decreed the foundation of a 15,000 rubles Prize in

Memory of Semen Dezhnev, to be awarded by the Scientific Council

of the Geographical Society, once every three years, beg n inning in

1948, for the best work and research on the geography of North–

eastern Asia.

        (attach copy of map opposite p. 580 in: Izvestia Vsesoiuznogo

Geograficheskogo Obshchestva, vol. 80, N°6, Nov.-Dec. 1948.)

024      |      Vol_XV-0263                                                                                                                  

---

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025      |      Vol_XV-0264                                                                                                                  

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