Semyon Dezhnev: Round the Tip of Asia, 1648

On 20 June 1648, old style (30 June new style), a fleet of traditional koch vessels left the Kolyma, most likely from Srednekolymsk. The whole group numbered between 89 and 121 people; Fedot Alekseyev provided five of the vessels and most of the men, and Semyon Dezhnyov sailed with them. Srednekolymsk made sense as a starting point: it stood at the head of navigation for seagoing koches. Even the departure point is hedged in the record, a theme that runs through the whole voyage.

Location precision: Wikipedia says the departure was 'most likely' from Srednekolymsk; the pin marks the town, not a known shipyard or landing.

Some time before 20 September, old style, the boats rounded what the reports call a 'great rocky projection', and here Ankudinov's koch was wrecked. The headland is identified with the cape that forms the easternmost mainland point of Asia. In 1898 it was officially renamed Cape Dezhnev, replacing Captain James Cook's name, the 'East Cape'. A large monument to Dezhnev stands on the seacoast. Some scholars doubt the route, but most seem to agree that the Dezhnyov story as we have it is basically correct.

Location precision: The old reports describe an unnamed 'great rocky projection'; identifying it with this cape is the standard reading, not a certainty.

Passing through the strait, Dezhnyov possibly made landfall on the Diomede Islands, which would make him the first European to reach them, in 1648. Big Diomede lies about 45 kilometres (28 mi) southeast of Cape Dezhnev. Eighty years later, on 16 August 1728, Vitus Bering landed on the Diomede Islands during his own voyage through the strait. Whether Dezhnyov stopped here, and on which island, remains an open question, hence the speculative pin.

Location precision: Sources say Dezhnyov 'possibly' landed on the Diomede Islands; which island, if any, is unknown.

At the beginning of October a storm blew up and Fedot's koch disappeared. Dezhnyov's own koch was driven by the storm and eventually wrecked somewhere south of the Anadyr. With no boat left, the remaining 25 men wandered in unknown country for 10 weeks until they came to the mouth of the Anadyr. It was a grim end to the sea voyage: of the large fleet that had left the Kolyma in June, only this small band of castaways remained together on the river.

Location precision: The wreck site south of the Anadyr is unknown; the pin marks the river mouth they eventually reached.

In 1649 Dezhnyov built a zimovye, a winter quarters, about 300 miles up the Anadyr, 12 miles northeast of present-day Markovo. This became Anadyrsk. From here he ultimately accumulated over 2 tons of walrus ivory. In 1650 Mikhail Stadukhin and Semyon Motora arrived overland from the Kolyma River, and that land link mattered: Dezhnyov's sea route around the tip of Asia was never used again.

Location precision: The exact winter-quarters spot is not known; the pin marks the historic Anadyrsk area near Markovo.