Simon Deshneff was the most enterprising of the Cossack pioneers. With another Cossack named Ankudinoff, he built two small vessels in the Kolyma and faced the icy Siberian sea. Ankudinoff was wrecked, but Deshneff fought a battle with the Tchuktches, and navigated his little craft through Bering Strait into the Gulf of Anadyr. For six years Deshneff was a prominent figure in establishing Russian ascendancy in those distant regions. He is last heard of in 1653, but his ultimate fate is unknown. It was in 1734 that trained and educated explorers first began to take the place of pioneer Cossacks. Where English and Dutch had failed, Russian officers, after persevering attempts and the loss of more than one vessel, succeeded. They made the voyage from Archangel to the Obi. Then vessels were built at Tobolsk, and after one failure, when his vessel was wrecked, Lieutenant Owzin reached the mouth of the Yenisei in 1737. He was succeeded by Lieutenant Minin, who surveyed the course of the Yenisei from Yeniseisk to the mouth, and sent Sterlegoff on a voyage northward, who reached a latitude of 75° 26′ N. It was the object of the Russian Admiralty to examine the whole of the Siberian coast either in sailing vessels or by the use of sledges, and for this purpose they divided the coast into sections to be undertaken by different expeditions. Vessels called _kotchys_ were built in the Siberian rivers, but the most successful work was done by sledge travelling. The native methods were adopted, and the _narti_ of the Tunguses and Tchuktches became the exploring sledge of Russian officers. The runner of a Siberian _narti_ of the best construction is 5 feet 10 inches long, its width 1 foot 9 inches, height of runner 10¼ inches. The runners are of birch-wood, and the upper surface of the sledge of willow shoots, woven together. All the parts are fastened with hide thongs. Before use the sledges are turned over and water is poured on the runners to produce a thin crust of ice which glides easily over the snow. In summer these ice runners (_wodiat_) cannot be used and whalebone is sometimes substituted. A well-loaded sledge requires a team of 12 dogs, and they will drag 1260 lb. in spring, but 360 lb. is a heavy load in the intense cold of winter. The earliest attempt to round the extreme northern point of Siberia from the east side was made by Lieutenant Prontchishcheff, who sailed down the Lena from Yakutsk in 1735, accompanied by his wife. Hampered by ice, they were obliged to winter at the mouth of the Olenek. In the next season Prontchishcheff forced his way nearly to the extreme point, but he found the ice quite impenetrable. He and his wife died at their winter quarters, leaving the command to the mate Chelyuskin, who returned.