Vasili Pronchishchev

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Vasili Vasilyevich Pronchishchev (Russian: Василий Васильевич Прончищев) (1702 - August 29 (N.S. September 9), 1736) was a Russian explorer.

In 1718, Vasili Pronchishchev graduated from Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation and was promoted to naval cadet. In 1733, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and appointed head of one of the units of the Second Kamchatka Expedition, the purpose of which was to map the shores of the Arctic Ocean from the mouth of the Lena to the mouth of the Yenisey. In 1735, Vasili Pronchishchev went down the Lena River (from Yakutsk) on his sloop Yakutsk, doubled its delta, and stopped for wintering at the mouth of the Olenek River. In 1736, he reached the eastern shore of the Taymyr Peninsula and went north along its coastline. Pronchishchev died of scurvy on his way back.

During his journey, Vasili Pronchishchev discovered a number of islands off the northeastern coast of the Taymyr Peninsula. His expedition was the first to map the Lena River from Yakutsk to its estuary and seacoast from the Lena's mouth to the Gulf of Faddey. Pronchishchev's wife Maria took part in his expedition and was the first female polar explorer (died September 12(23), 1736). Both of them were interred at the mouth of the Olenek River.

A part of the eastern coastline of the Taymyr Peninsula and a ridge between the mouths of the Olenek and Anabar Rivers bear Vasili Pronchishchev's name. A bay in the Laptev Sea is named after his wife Maria.