March 14, 1858, Eduard Toll, a Russian geologist, outstanding explorer of the northeastern and arctic territories of this country and member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society was born.
In 1885 - 1886 Eduard Toll took part in a scientific expedition of Alexander Bunge that explored the Novosibirsk Islands near the east Siberian coast of the Arctic Ocean. The scientist traveled on the dog sledges across the largest island of the archipelago, Kotelny, and in the north he saw four mountains that were connected with the lowlands. He decided that it was Sannikov Land in front of him. The geologist thought that this land was composed of basalts, just like some other islands of the Novosibirsk archipelago. In his opinion, it was 150 - 200 kilometers to the north from the already explored islands.
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Sannikov Land is a mystic island in the Arctic Ocean that some researchers claimed to have seen to the north of the Novosibirsk Islands. It took its name to honor Russian researcher Yakov Sannikov who was the first one to report the island's existence in 1810. You can see Sannikov Land on ancient maps.
Once back again to St. Petersburg, the expedition participants compiled a geological description of the Novosibirsk Islands. Travelers gathered a great collection of fossil animals and plants: two and a half thousand artifacts.
The Russian Geographical Society highly appreciated the results of this expedition and awarded Eduard Toll with the N.M. Przhevalsky Large Silver Medal.
In 1893 Toll discovered the remains of a huge mammoth near the Svyatoy Nos Cape. The geologist also discovered and mapped Anabarskaya Guba, studied Khatanga Bay and the lower Anabar River, described a few ridges in the north of Siberia. In addition, upon request of Fridtjof Nansen, a polar researcher, he arranged food stores for the wintering of the ship “Fram” on the East Siberian Islands.
In 1899, Eduard Toll started preparations for a new expedition aimed at studying sea currents in the Kara and East Siberian seas of the Arctic Ocean, at discovering new and studying the already known islands in this part of the Arctic and, in case of success, at finding Sannikov Land.
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June 21, 1900 the Zarya ship left St. Petersburg. In the summer of 1901 the expedition examined Taimyr. In May 1902 they started to prepare for a journey to Bennett Island by sledge and kayak (Bennett Island belongs to the De Long Island group in the East Siberian Sea in the northeastern part of the Novosibirsk Islands). Zarya should have reached Bennett Island in two months.
July 5, 1902, Toll left Zarya together with three expedition members and on August 3 they reached Bennett Island.
The ship Zarya attempted to reach Bennett Island at the appointed time but was unable to do so because of severe ice conditions. The ship was seriously damaged and couldn’t continue the voyage. In September 1902, the captain of Zarya Lieutenant Matisen was forced to head the vessel to Tiksi Bay.
Some researchers think that Sannikov Land was formed of fossilized ice covered with soil. And it disappeared as the ice melted.
In 1903, a search expedition led by Lieutenant Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak traveled to Bennett Island and found the place where Toll's camp was located, as well as Toll’s diaries and the collections of the Zarya expedition. It is known that Toll and his companions decided to move south towards the continent without waiting for Zarya. Though no trace of them have been found yet.