_Tobol_ during the dangerous
voyage, and confer upon it greater safety. This was approved by the
Board of Admiralty, but the vessel could not be got ready till the
summer of 1736, on which account that year's voyage was undertaken
in the same way as that of the preceding year, and with the same
success. The new vessel was not ready until 1737. It came with the
shipbuilder KOSCHELEV and the mate MININ on the 16th/5th June to
Obdorsk, where Owzyn took command of it, handing over the old one to
Koschelev, and beginning his fourth voyage down the Gulf of Ob. This
time he had better success. After sailing past Gyda Bay, he came,
without meeting with any serious obstacles from ice, on the
27th/16th August to Cape Mattesol, and on the 12th/1st September to
a storehouse erected for the expedition by the care of the
authorities on the bank of the Yenisej in 71 deg. 33' N.L. The
Yenisej froze over on the 21st/10th October.

Four years had thus gone to the accomplishment of Owzyn's purpose,
but it can scarcely be doubted that if he had not turned so early in
the season, and if he had had steam, or a sailing vessel of the
present day at his disposal he would have been able to sail from the
Ob to the Yenisej in a few weeks. It is at all events Owzyn's
perseverance to which we are in great measure indebted for the
mapping of the Gulf of Ob, and the Bays of Tas and Gyda[320].

3. _Voyages from the Yenisej towards Cape Taimur._--In the winter of
1738 Owzyn and Koschelev were called to St. Petersburg to answer for
themselves with reference to a complaint lodged against them by the
men under their command[321]. In their room Minin got the command of
the expedition which was to endeavour to penetrate farther eastwards
along the coast of the Polar Sea. The two first summers, 1738 and
1739, Minin could not get further than to the northernmost
_sumovies_ on the Yenisej. But in 1740 he succeeded, as it appears
in pretty open water, in reaching on the west coast of the Taimur
Peninsula the latitude of 75 deg. 15'. Here he turned on the 1st
Sept./21st Aug. on account of "impenetrable" ice, but mainly in
consequence of the late season of the year. The preceding winter
Minin had sent his mate STERLEGOV in sledges to examine the coast.
On the 25th/14th April he reached 75 deg. 26' N.L., and there
erected a stone cairn on a rock jutting out into the sea. Many open
places appear to have been seen in the offing. Minin and his party
returned on ac