Mikhail Stadukhin

Mikhail Vasilyevich Stadukhin (Russian: Михаил Васильевич Стадухин) (died 1666) was a Russian explorer of far northeast Siberia, one of the first to reach the Kolyma, Anadyr, Penzhina and Gizhiga Rivers and the northern Sea of Okhotsk. He was a Pomor, probably born in the village of Pinega, and the nephew of a Moscow merchant. By 1633 he was on the Lena River.

In 1641 he led an overland expedition to a tributary of the Indigirka River. This tributary, the Yemolkon River can no longer be identified, but the name is probably a variant of Oymyakon, "the coldest place on earth". If the connection is correct, he was fairly far upriver and inland. With him was Semyon Dezhnyov. Finding little fur and hostile natives in 1642 or 43 they built a koch and sailed down the Indigirka to the sea. Here he met Yarilo Zyryan, who had had similar bad luck on the Alazeya River. The united group sailed east to the Kolyma River and built winter quarters, probably at Srednekolymsk. The Kolyma soon proved to be one of the richest fur areas in eastern Siberia. In 1645 he returned to Yakutsk with a cargo of sable skins. In 1647 he was ordered to return and conquer the 'Pogycha River' which was thought to lie east of the Kolyma. Because of bad weather he was forced to winter on the Yana River. Next spring he went by sled to the Indigirka, built a koch and sailed to the Kolyma. There he learned that Dezhnev had left for the Pogycha in 1648. In July 1649 he followed Dezhnev with 2 koches and 30 men. One koch was wrecked. He probably reached the east cape of Chaunskaya Bay and some put him as far east as Kolyuchinskaya Bay. He learned from captives that two of Dezhnev's koches had been wrecked and their crews killed by the natives "and the others lived on the sea", which may explain the fate of 2 more of Dezhnev's boats. Faced with short provisions, poor fishing, a rocky coast and ominous reports from the natives, he returned to the Kolyma. Meanwhile, it had been learned that the headwaters of the Anyuy River branch of the Kolyma were close to those of the Anadyr River. Deciding that this was the real Pogycha, he set off and after a seven-week sled journey reached Semyon Dezhnyov's camp on the Anadyr in 1650. The two groups spent the next year quarreling, exploring and collecting tribute from the Anaul natives.

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