Closer to 02.00 at night the wind subsides to 9 m / s. We decide to turn off the tent and move at night. At 08.00 we stop for breakfast on the shore of Laptev. The coast is named after its discoverer, Russian polar explorer, leader of the Great Northern Expedition of 1739-1743. Khariton Prokofievich Laptev. Before the Laptev expedition, no one in Russia knew about the existence of Taimyr Peninsula. Khariton Prokofievich began to serve in the navy as a midshipman and after a short time he was given the task of passing the sea from Lena to Yenisei and describing unknown shores. The Maritime Board appointed him commander of the ship “Yakutsk”. Before Lena, travelers traveled by horse, then by sleigh and only then they were transferred to the ship.
During five years of hard work, Khariton Prokofievich did not receive any money or promotion in rank. Yes, and the very name of it became known only a hundred years after describing the coast of the Taimyr Peninsula – from his well-known “Notes”. Already today, on the high bank of the Siberian river Khatanga, in the place where the team “Yakutsk” spent the winter, an obelisk was opened in memory of the expedition members.
All the ships, passing by the monument, give a long whistle. And the old sailors tell newcomers about the brave traveler and his associates, about what they did for Russia. In honor of the Laptevs – Khariton Prokofievich and Dmitry Yakovlevich (his cousin, also a self-sacrificing pioneer) – one of the seas of the Arctic Ocean
Administratively obeys the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Due to the extremely severe climate and poor tundra flora, the coast is practically uninhabited. In its central part is the polar station Sterligova – where we plan to arrive at lunch today (before it is 100 km and our old comrades are waiting for us). There are no other year-round settlements.