Page 196 - 1992 - XVIII Congresso Internazionale di Storia Militare

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wic:h fu.cs and u(ish cooc:hM walrus fang). The decachmenc numbered 90 men who
scarred our on six ships, so called .. coches,., specially consrrucred co s11il chrough
ice. In addicìon. che coches were egg-shaped a od trimmed wich boards along wacer·
li ne which meanc rhar under che pressure of che ice rhey were lified a bo ve sea leve l.
In order co say along che Arcric sea coasc co che Warm Sea (che Pad1ìc) tht'
coches had a high loading capadry (abour 32 cons) and a cre-ws of 15 men each.
Ouring rhe expedicion S.I. Oeznev's demchmem bad co roce co che threac of
ice blocks and unexpected scorms and gaies in che northern part of tbe Bering Sea.
Soon after secting out, because of storms only dlCee coches, led by S. Deznev and
F. Alexecv, forced rheir way Easr. In Augusc 1648 che vcssels cumed South and
acche beginning of Seprember chey emered che stormy srrair (Bering) and veered
easc round rhe Chuckchee Peninsula (1), where another coch was wrecked. The
scorm al.so scllrrered thc rest of che vessels. One of chem wirh S. Dnnev and 24
Cossacks concinued ics way. S. Deznev's coch drifced long rime in stormy sea, unril
it was thrown on co a beach. The vessel was so seriously damagcd, rhac chc:y had
w abandon it. On foot, skies and sleds che Demevs were forced make their way
tO che Anadyr'.
The fa cc of F. Alcxeev's crav~Jjng companions is unknown. According ro some
cheir coch was rhrown up on co Alaska coasr where cheir eirher died or joined rhe
aboriginal populncion.
The winrer ncar che mouth of the Anadyr' became severe. Half of Deznev's
travcling companions di ed of h unger and disease. l n che summer of 1649 S. Dez·
nev and 12 men were stili alive. They builc boats and sailing along the river rhcy
reached the middle currenr of che Anadyr', w bere they stopped to spend the wincer
in the fonress builc on che Anadyr'. De1nev arrived at Yakucsk in 1662 and brought
the maps o( the Anadyr' and che Anui, as well as dcscription an d informacion nbouc
his voyages in the Anadyr' region. In his rcpon co che Yakuc milimry governar,
Deznev spoke about an imponant discovery • he sailed in a • sea·ocean .. , passing
by islands inhabiccd by Eskimos, bur the c:onst of the •O Id La n d» (northeast of Siberia)
was not connccred wirh the «New Lnnd" (America). However, Deznev's reporc con·
caining one of the greacesr discoveries of the 17th cenrucy, rernaincd i.n the Yakuc
Ocder and remained unknown for 100 years. 1t was found by an hiswrian, G.E.
Miller, who wenc chrougb che archives ofSiberia during the lO years, 1733 co 1743,
and in 1758 he published the documents he had discovercd.
In the second half of the 17th cenrury che Russian governmenc was disrurbed
b}• the Russinn-Polisb War ( L654-1667) and thc Russian-Swcdish War ( !656·1661),
co say norbing about rhe social suain that grew up in the srare weakened by rhose
wars. [c rook a1mosc another cencury to repeat che deed of the early Russia n tra il·
blazers and finally pave che way co che coasr of North America.
S. l. Deznev's expedJt!on discovered the shorresr sea and land rouce for Russi·
ans from Kolyrna and Aoadyr' and on m Kamchacka. lr concribw:cd m the develop·
mem o( che Okhorsk fortress which was rcorgaoized in 1731 and ~carne the first