Pronchishchev Vasily Vasilyevich 
(1702-29.08 (09.09).1736)

Lieutenant, member of the Great Northern Expedition. 
For a long time, information about the life of Pronchishchev before the Great Northern Expedition was unknown to the general public. A prominent role in the publication of biographical data. Pronchishcheva was played by a school teacher of geography from Tula, a local historian and enthusiast, Dorian Mikhailovich Romanov, who devoted a lot of time and effort to working in various historical archives. 
Pronchishchevy had Polish roots and moved to Moscow during the time of Ivan III. At the end of the 17th century, Pronchishchev's father, a participant in the Crimean campaigns of 1687–1689. He was "written by the steward" and lived in his patrimony in the Kaluga province near Alexin, where Vasily, the youngest of five sons, was born. 
In 1715  Pronchishchev entered the Moscow Navigation School, and in the autumn of 1717 he was transferred to the Petersburg Maritime Academy, from which he graduated in 1721 with the rank of midshipman. From 1718 to 1724, he spent thirty-four months practicing on the ships of the Baltic Fleet. In 1726 he received the title of midshipman and served on the ships of the Baltic Fleet, and from 1730 he commanded the ships assigned to the St. Petersburg Admiralty. 
In January 1733  Pronchishchev was one of the first to be included in the lists of participants of the All-Russian Central Economic Association and was appointed head of its Lena-Khatanga detachment, which was ordered to list the coast of Siberia from the Yenisei to Lena. The inclusion in the expedition testified to the high appreciation of his professional and human qualities. In connection with the appointment in the Great North Expedition Pronchishcheva was made a lieutenant. 
The detachment consisted of fifty people: in addition to the sailors, it included a sub-navigator S.I. Chelyuskin, surveyor N. Chekin, podlekar and hieromonk. In the summer of 1735 the detachment descended on the "Yakutsk" dubel-boat from Yakutsk down the Lena, through the Bykovskaya channel went into the Laptev Sea, rounded the Lena delta and embarked for wintering at the mouth of the Olenek river near the small village of Ust-Olenek. The winter passed safely, but in the spring several people, including Pronchishchev himself, became sick with scurvy. Only on August 3, managed to go to sea and on the same day to reach the mouth of the river Anabar. Here Pronchishchev sent Chekina to the bank to survey the river and search for ore, which was told by local residents. After Chekin’s return, they moved further and on August 13 reached the mouth of Khatanga, and then went north, reaching 77° 29'N (77° 55' as it turned out later). 
The ice situation began to deteriorate sharply, and Pronchishchev, already seriously ill, gathered a council, at which it was decided to turn back. According to the existing instructions, such decisions could be made only on the advice of all officers. This decision was approved by a separate report. Overcoming heavy ice, we reached the western shore of the Khatanga Bay, where, by decision of the council, they were going to winterize. However, they did not find suitable housing and a fin for its construction and were forced to go to their old winter quarters at the mouth of the Olenek river. Leaving on clear water, we got into a severe storm that nearly destroyed the ship. “The whole crew was in great exhaustion from the cold and toil and could barely turn the sails, which froze free from phlegm and cold”. It was possible to enter the mouth only on September 2, but this was done under the leadership of Chelyuskin. “At eight o'clock in the afternoon, our former commander of the "Yakutsk" boat-boat of this number would die of God’s will, and Lieutenant Pronchishchev did not entrust the team to anyone according to the regulations and, according to seniority, the team navigator Semen Chelyuskin”. Such a record appeared in the logbook on August 30, 1730. Pronchishchev was buried in the mouth of the Olenek River. After 145 years in 1875, the geologist A.L. Chekanovsky found the grave: “... Two miserable, blackened, depriving of overgrown tombs rise here above us at the coastal basin. The half-rotten boards of the tombs are scattered with winter blizzards in disarray around the failed, settled graves.Small nondescript, weathered, but not rotten cross without a crossbar stands alone, like a pillar on a suicide's grave. Traces of the inscription on it are still noticeable, and the legend is still on the lips of the residents. This is the grave of the ill-fated Pronchishchev and his fearless wife".  In 1893 E.V. Toll put the fallen cross in place, nailed a board on it with the inscription: “To the hero and heroine Pronchishchev”. In 1921  the grave was restored by the expedition N.I. Yevgenov. In 1999  the expedition of D. Shparo revealed the Pronchishchevs grave. We managed to take measurements and make molds of the bones, which were well preserved in the permafrost. Based on their professor V.P. Zvyagin performed by the method of Gerasimov sculptural busts Pronchishchev, and the artist E. Kallistova - their portraits. 
The detachment headed by Pronchishchev mapped the coast of Taimyr from the Khatanga Bay to the islands discovered by Samuil, which in 1935 were renamed the islands of Komsomolskaya Pravda. Only one hundred and forty-two years later, the next ship, N.A. - E. Nordenskiöld "Vega". 
The east coast of Taimyr from Cape Sibirskiy in the south to the Thaddeus bay in the north. Named in 1913 by the expedition B.A. Vilkitsky. 
Cape east of Maude Bay on the east bank of Taimyr. Named in 1919 by R. Amundsen. 
Ridge between the rivers Olenyok and Anabar. He named in the years 1892-1893. by E. V. Toll. 
The river and lake on the Taimyr Peninsula northeast of Cape Tsvetkova. Named by Soviet researchers.