Stadukhin, Mikhail Vasilyevich (?–1665)

Stadukhin, Mikhail Vasilyevich (?–1665) – was a Cossack from Yakutia, polar navigator, and pathfinder. In 1630, to gather tribute paid off in furs, he traveled from the Yenisei to the Lena, in 1642 – from the Lena to the Indigirka (to Oymyakon). In 1643, he sailed off the Indigirka mouth on a koch (a decked sailing ship) to the East Siberian Sea and discovered the Kolyma River mouth. At the confluence of the Kolyma and the Anyuy, S. founded Nizhnekolymsky village. Having gathered the data on hunting lands to the east from the Kolyma in 1645, he returned to the Lena by sea. In 1648 he visited the Kolyma again. In a year S. tried to reach its mouth by sea, sailing on a koch. He apparently reached Shelagskiy Cape, where he obtained lots of walrus tusks, and turned back. In 1650 he went from the Kolyma to the Anadyr by land. Next year he discovered the Penzhina and the Gizhiga rivers. In 1653 he went by sea from Gizhigin Bay along the coast to Taui Bay. In 10 years, Stadukhin’s team...