In 1876 M. Sidoroff, well known for the lively interest which he takes in navigation in the Siberian waters, had a ship Severnoe Sianie (the Aurora) built and fitted out at Yeniseisk, in order to carry goods from the Yenisej to Europe. The vessel was placed under the command of a Russian sea-captain, Schwanenberg. Under him Nummelin served as mate, and the vessel had a crew of eighteen men, most of whom had been exiled to Siberia for crime. In consequence of various mishaps the vessel could not get farther the first year than to the neighbourhood of the mouth of the Yenisej, where it was left in winter quarters at the place which has been named above. Nummelin and four exiles remained on board, while Schwanenberg and the rest of the crew returned to Yeniseisk on the 28th September. Frost had already commenced. During the two following weeks the temperature kept in the neighbourhood of the freezing point; clear weather alternating with snow and rain.
On the 5th of October the crew withdrew to their winter quarters, having previously collected driftwood and placed it in heaps in order that they might easily find it under the snow.
On the 16th October the thermometer at eight o'clock in the morning showed -4.5° and afterwards sank lower every day, until after the 21st October the mercury for some days was constantly under -10°. On the 26th October the temperature was -18°, but in the beginning of November it rose again to -2°. On the 6th November it sank again to -17°, but rose on the 11th to -3.5.° On the 14th November the thermometer showed -23.5°, on the 21st -29'5°. Next day in the morning it stood at -32°, and in the evening at -37°, but these figures were arrived at by guess, the instrument not indicating so low temperatures. This temperature of -30° to -32°, varying with frozen mercury, continued till the end of November, when it rose again to -11.5°. At Christmas there was again a temperature of -31° and the six following days the mercury was frozen, with which the new year came in. The temperature then rose again to -20°, but soon sank so that from the 16th January the mercury was frozen for five days. On the 22nd January the reading was -9°. On the 26th the mercury froze again, and on the 29th the temperature was -6°. During the month of February the temperature never rose above -24°; the mercury was frozen on the 20th, 25th, 26th, and 28th. This was the case on the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 14th, 16th, and 18th March; on the 22nd March the reading was -7°, on the 30th -29°. April began with -31°, but the temperature afterwards rose, so that on the 16th it reached -11° and varied between -21° and -6° (the 25th). On the 2nd May the reading in the morning and evening was -12°, at mid-day -2° to -5°. On the 8th May it was +0, on the 17th -10.5°, on the 31st +0.5°. June began with +1.5°. On the 8th the reading at mid-day was +11°, on the morning and evening of the same day +2° to +3°. During the remainder of June and the month of July the temperature varied between +2° and +21°.
It was in such circumstances that Nummelin and his four companions lived in the ill-provided house of planks on the Little Briochov Island. They removed to it, as has been already said, on the 5th October; on the 20th the ice was so hard frozen that they could walk upon it. On the 26th snowstorms commenced, so that it was impossible to go out of the house.
The sun was visible for the last time on the 21st November, and it reappeared on the 19th January. On the 15th May the sun no longer set. The temperature was then under the freezing point of mercury. That the upper edge of the sun should be visible on the 19th January we must assume a horizontal refraction of nearly 1°. The islands on the Yenisej are so low that there was probably a pretty open horizon towards the south.
Soon after Christmas scurvy began to show itself. Nummelin's companions were condemned and punished criminals, in whom there was to be expected neither physical nor moral power of resistance to this disease. They all died, three of scurvy, and one in the attempt to cross from the Briochov Islands to a simovie at Tolstoinos. In their stead Nummelin succeeded in procuring two men from Tolstoinos, and later on one from Goltschicha. On the 11th May a relief party arrived from the south. It consisted of three men under the mate Meyenwaldt, whom Sidoroff had sent to help to save the vessel. They had first to shovel away the snow which weighed it down. The snow lay nearly six metres deep on the river ice, which was three metres thick. When they at last had got the vessel nearly dug out, it was buried again by a new snowstorm.
In the middle of June the ice began to move, and the river water rose so high that Nummelin, Meyenwaldt, and four men, along with two dogs, were compelled to betake themselves to the roof of the hut, where they had laid in a small stock of provisions and fuel. Here they passed six days in constant peril of their lives.
The river had now risen five metres; the roof of the hut rose but a quarter of a metre above the surface of the swollen river, and was every instant in danger of being carried away by a floating piece of ice. In such a case a small boat tied to the roof was their only means of escape.
The whole landscape was overflowed. The other houses and huts were carried away by the water and the drifting ice, which also constantly threatened the only remaining building. The men on its roof were compelled to work night and day to keep the pieces of ice at a distance with poles. The great inundation had even taken the migrating birds at unawares. For long stretches there was not a dry spot for them to rest upon, and thus it happened that exhausted ptarmigan alighted among the men on the roof; once a ptarmigan settled on Meyenwaldt's head, and a pair on the dogs.
On the 23rd June the water began to fall, and by the 25th it had sunk so low that Nummelin and his companions could leave the roof and remove to the deserted interior of the house.