stefansson-wrangel-09-26-001-018

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of the Bear Islands near enough to be seen from them. After extensive travels in
the same region nearly forty years later still, Wrangell gave it as his opinion
that Andreyev had probably been looking southeast rather than east and that what
he saw was a part of the mainland of Asia.

When he came to the conclusion that Andreyev had seen no land
other than Asia, Lieutenant Ferdinand Wrangell was on a journey to test the theory
and [the] reports of a northern continent which were still believed by his employers,
the Russian Government at Petrograd. He had traveled overland to the mouth of the
Kolyma with orders to make a journey out upon the sea ice from the mouth of that
river and to plant the Russian flag upon the supposed corner of the supposed
continent.

Wrangell arrived at the mouth of the Kolyma in 1820. Luring the
three years following he made journeys northwest, north and northeast over the
winter sea ice searching for land. His route map shows that one of his parties
once came within forty or fifty miles of where we now have Wrangell Island on the
chart, but they saw no land. They picked up again, however, the native story that
land had been seen; and they made, in April, 1824, a very creditable effort to reach by
sled the place where the land was said to be. On being compelled to turn his
sledges back towards asia Wrangell wrote: "With a painful feeling of the impossibility of
overcoming the obstacles which nature opposed to us, our last hope vanished of
discovering the land which we yet believed to exist ..... We had done what
duty and honour demanded; further attempts would have been absolutely hopeless,
and I decided to return." (P. 348 of the 1840 edition of the work described below.)
Wrangell laid down upon his chart "from native report" "the land which we yet
believe to exist" in a position some forty or fifty miles west of an the island
now named after him was later discovered.

On turning back from his third and last sledge exploratory journey,
Wrangell said: "Our return to Nijnei Kolymsk closed the series of attempts made

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of the Bear Islands near enough to be seen from them. After extensive travels in
the same region nearly forty years later still, Wrangell gave it as his opinion
that Andreyev had probably been looking southeast rather than east and that what
he saw was a part of the mainland of Asia.

When he came to the conclusion that Andreyev had seen no land
other than Asia, Lieutenant Ferdinand Wrangell was on a journey to test the theory
and [the] reports of a northern continent which were still believed by his employers,
the Russian Government at Petrograd. He had traveled overland to the mouth of the
Kolyma with orders to make a journey out upon the sea ice from the mouth of that
river and to plant the Russian flag upon the supposed corner of the supposed
continent.

Wrangell arrived at the mouth of the Kolyma in 1820. Luring the
three years following he made journeys northwest, north and northeast over the
winter sea ice searching for land. His route map shows that one of his parties
once came within forty or fifty miles of where we now have Wrangell Island on the
chart, but they saw no land. They picked up again, however, the native story that
land had been seen; and they made, in April, 1824, a very creditable effort to reach by
sled the place where the land was said to be. On being compelled to turn his
sledges back towards asia Wrangell wrote: "With a painful feeling of the impossibility of
overcoming the obstacles which nature opposed to us, our last hope vanished of
discovering the land which we yet believed to exist ..... We had done what
duty and honour demanded; further attempts would have been absolutely hopeless,
and I decided to return." (P. 348 of the 1840 edition of the work described below.)
Wrangell laid down upon his chart "from native report" "the land which we yet
believe to exist" in a position some forty or fifty miles west of an the island
now named after him was later discovered.

On turning back from his third and last sledge exploratory journey,
Wrangell said: "Our return to Nijnei Kolymsk closed the series of attempts made