In summer 1875 A.Chekanovsky, a geologist, wrote in his diary: "Here on August 26, 2001 we put our "chum" (Eskimo hut) at the coast, at the beginning of the Cape Tumul, the last cliff of the right shore of the Olenek river, the place, rich with memories of the remote times. Two miserable, darkened tombs rise above us at the steep bank. Rotted boards of tombs are scattered by winter storms near sunken graves. Among them there is a small, plain, weathered but still solid cross. There are some traces of the epitaph, and the legend is still alive among the local citizens. This is the grave of the unfortunate Pronchishchev and his courageous wife."

Vasily Vasieljevich Pronchishchev (1702–1736) was the commander of one of the detachments of the Great North Expedition. He was born in the Kaluzhskaia province in the noble family, owing a small estate. In 1716 he entered the Navigation school in Moscow. In 1717 he was moved up to St. Petersburg to the Marine Academy. He served at the Baltic and Caspian Seas. In 1733 he was made a lieutenant and was appointed a commander of the detachment of the Great North expedition.

The Great North expedition (1733–1743) (the official name – the second Kamchatskaia expedition) under the leadership of Vitus Bering, Captain-Commander and a famous navigator, mapped the Russian territories. They described all northern and eastern sea margins of Russia from Arkhangelsk to Okhotsk, enormous inland spaces of the East Siberia, the Kuril and the Aleutian Islands, discovered the routes to Japan and America, collected unique data about the nature and history of Siberia and the Far East.

This was the greatest scientific expedition in the whole history of the mankind. As a result of its activities the borders of the Russian Empire were extended on three parts of the world: Europe, Asia and America. During the expedition the Russian ships "Saint Peter" and "Saint Paul" under the command of Vitus Bering and Aleksey Shiroki accomplished the first in the Russian history Trans oceanic navigation, during which they reached the shores of America.

The Great North expedition required attraction of enormous financial resources and manpower. Thirteen ships, which were built in Arkhangelsk, Tobolsk, Yakutsk and Okhotsk, supplied seven research detachments. The detachments were to a great extent provided with equipment and provisions, the crews of the ships were entirely completed.

In June 1735 Vasily Pronchishchev on the ship "Yakutsk" started from Yakutsk its sailing downstream the Lena river. They sailed out in the open sea, and in August they reached the mouth of the Olenek river, where they stopped for spending the winter. In eleven months the detachment continued the voyage. At the latitude 77 degrees 55' the passage of the route was blocked by close pack ice and "Yakutsk" had to turn back.

Vasily Pronchishchev died on August 30 (September 10), 1736. Semyen I. Chelyuskin took command of the detachment.

Tatyana Feodorovna Pronchishchev (maiden name – Kondyreva) (1710–1736) participated with her husband in this expedition on her own free will and became the first woman polar explorer in the world. In documents she was named as a "wife of Sir Lieutenant". Only in 1982 scientists managed to discover her genuine name (before it was taken for granted that her name was Maria). She died on September 12 (23) 1736 in fourteen days after the death of her husband.