Thames meets the Enisei: Captain Joseph Wiggins’s expedition to the Kara Sea and Enisei, 1876–1877

Abstract

AbstractIn 1876, Captain Joseph Wiggins reached the mouth of the Enisei River aboard his screw schooner Thames. This was the second expedition that approached this river from the sea in almost 150 years. The voyage paved a path for British commercial shipping in the Kara Sea, which saw its greatest intensity in the concluding decade of the 19th century. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Wiggins stubbornly continued staging expeditions even after repeated failures. His devotedness to the idea of establishing a sea highway to Siberia inspired others. This circumstance makes him a key figure in polar history. Regardless of the commercial nature of his expeditions, Wiggins was not an entrepreneur. Neither was he an accomplished polar explorer. In fact, we find in him the last of the merchant adventurers, the heir to Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor. This article focuses on Wiggins’s expedition of 1876–1877 to the Enisei River, which has not yet become an object of special attention in literature, and discusses the development and exploitation of the Kara Sea Route in connection with it.