eat Northern Expedition was
divided into the following divisions:--
1. _An expedition to start from Archangel for the Ob_[318]--For this
expedition two _kotsches_ were employed, the _Ob_ and the
_Expedition_ 52-1/2 feet long, 14 feet broad, and 8 feet deep, each
manned with 20 men. The vessels, which were under the command of
Lieutenants PAULOV and MURAVJEV, left Archangel on the 15th/4th
July, 1734. The first summer they only reached Mutnoi Saliv in the
Kara Sea, whence they returned to the Petchora and wintered at
Pustosersk. The following year they broke up in June, but did not
penetrate farther than in 1734. The unfavourable issue was ascribed
to the vessels' unserviceableness for voyages in the Polar Sea, in
consequence of which the Board of Admiralty ordered two other boats,
50 to 60 feet long, to be built for the expedition, which were
placed under the command of SKURATOV and SUCHOTIN, Muravjev being
besides replaced by MALYGIN who sailed with the old vessels on the
7th June/27th May 1736, down the Petchora river, at whose mouth the
_Expedition_ was wrecked. Without permitting himself to be
frightened by this, Malygin ordered his men to go on board the other
vessel, in which with great dangers and difficulties they penetrated
through the drift-ice to Dolgoi Island. Here on the 18th/7th August
they fell in with the new vessels sent from Archangel. Suchotin was
now sent back to Archangel on board the _Ob_; Malygin and Skuratov
sailed in the new vessels to the Kara river and wintered there.
During the winter 1736-1737 the men suffered only slightly from
scurvy, which was cured by anti-scorbutic plants growing in the
region. The ice in the Kara river did not break up until the
12th/1st June, but so much ice still drifted about in the sea that a
start could not be made until the 14th/3rd July. On the 4th Aug/24th
July the vessels anchored in the sound which I have named Malygin
Sound. Here they were detained by head winds 25 days. Then they
sailed on round a cape, which the Samoyeds call Yalmal, up the Gulf
of Ob to the mouth of the river, which was reached on the 22nd/11th
September, 1737, and then up the river to Soswa, where the vessels
were laid up in winter quarters. The crews were taken to Beresov.
Malygin returned to Petersburg, after having given Lieut. Skuratov
and the second mate Golovin a commission to carry the vessels back
to the Dwina the following year. They did not get back until August
1739. The re
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