Cape Sterligov (Russian: Мыс Стерлигова) is a headland in the

Kara Sea The Kara Sea (russian: Ка́рское мо́ре, ''Karskoye more'') is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. ...

Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai ( rus, Красноя́рский край, r=Krasnoyarskiy kray, p=krəsnɐˈjarskʲɪj ˈkraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), with its administrative center in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the third-largest city in Siber ...

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Geography

Cape Sterligov is located on the western shore of the

Taymyr Peninsula The Taymyr Peninsula (russian: Таймырский полуостров, Taymyrsky poluostrov) is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of the mainland of Eurasia. Administrati ...

, at the northern end of Toll Bay. Lishny Island () lies to the west-northwest of Cape Sterligov, about 16 km from its shores. The cape is in an area of

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless moun ...

and the weather is extremely cold, with prolonged icy winters. The sea off the cape is covered in ice most of the year.

Etymology

The cape is named after Dmitry Vasilevich Sterligov, a member of the

Great Northern Expedition The Great Northern Expedition (russian: Великая Северная экспедиция) or Second Kamchatka Expedition (russian: Вторая Камчатская экспедиция) was one of the largest exploration enterprises in hi ...

History

Sterligov was podshturman under Fyodor Minin, leader of the detachment charged with documenting the coast between the

Yenisey The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук ...

and

Taymyra The Taymyra (russian: Таймыра) is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is located in the middle of the Taymyr Peninsula. It is about long and has a drainage basin of .Turukhansk Turukhansk (russian: Туруха́нск) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') and the administrative center of Turukhansky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located north of Krasnoyarsk, at the confluence of the Yenisey and Nizhnyaya Tu ...

in January 1740, arriving at the cape which was to bear his name on 14 April 1740. There he built a beacon and left a note to record his journey. In 1921

Nikifor Begichev Nikifor Alekseevich Begichev (Bigichev) (russian: Никифор Алексеевич Бегичев (Бигичев); February 7 (Old Style and New Style dates, N.S. February 19), 1874 – May 18, 1927) was a Soviet people, Soviet seaman and po ...

led a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

expedition in search for

Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Amundsen bega ...

's 1919 Arctic expedition's crew members

Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen were two young men from Norway who went with fellow Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen on his 1918 Arctic expedition aboard ship Maud (ship), ''Maud''. Peter Tessem was a carpenter and Paul Knutsen was an able-bodied s ...

on request of the government of Norway. Checking the remains of campfires, Begichev was able to establish that Amundsen's men had passed

Cape Vilda Cape Vilda (Russian: Мыс Вильда) is a headland in the Kara Sea, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Federation. This cape is located on the western shore of the Taymyr Peninsula, at the western end of Middendorff Bay. The Myachina Islands, a grou ...

, more than halfway down their journey, and that at that point all was well. On August 2, 1919, 90 km west of Cape Vilda, the abandoned Norwegian sledge was found by Captain Jakobsen, a Norwegian who went with Begichev, indicating that something had gone wrong with his two ill-fated compatriots. Later during the search other materials were found near Cape Sterligov. In 1934 a meteorological station was put in operation at the cape within a network of 20 wireless stations in the Russian Arctic. On 24 or 25 September 1944 the station was attacked by an amphibious assault force from German submarine U-711 and occupied for a short while. On 24 September 1995 a Norilsk Air Enterprise

Mil Mi-2 The Mil Mi-2 (NATO reporting name Hoplite) is a small, three rotor blade Soviet-designed multi-purpose helicopter developed by the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant designed in the early 1960s, and produced exclusively by WSK "PZL-Świdnik" in Poland ...

helicopter crashed and sank through the ice while attempting to land at Cape Sterligov.

Climate

References

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External links

A Tsarist Attempt at Opening the Northern Sea Route

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in insular and coastal soils of the Russian ArcticAndrey Samokhin – Arctic – Russia’s perspective
Sterligov Sterligov