On July 4, 1900, 124 years ago, the schooner "Zarya" of the Russian Academic Polar Expedition, led by the famous Arctic explorer Baron Eduard Vasilievich Toll (1858–1902), set off from Kronstadt in search of the mythical Sannikov Land. The first mention of the mysterious island was made in 1811 by the fur hunter, Yakov Sannikov, an experienced polar traveler who had previously discovered the Stolbovoy and Faddeevsky islands. He speculated about the existence of an "extensive land" to the north of Kotelny Island. According to the hunter, "high stone mountains" rose above the sea. Another piece of evidence supporting the existence of extensive lands in the north were numerous observations of migratory birds flying further north in the spring and returning with offspring in the fall. Since birds could not inhabit an icy desert, it was suggested that the land located to the north, Sannikov Land, was rich and fertile, and the birds flew there. It was for the search of this land that the Arctic expeditions of Baron Toll (1858–1902) were aimed, as he was convinced of the existence of Arctida – the northern polar continent. On August 13, Toll saw the outlines of four table mountains that to the east connected with lowland terrain. "Thus, Sannikov's report was fully confirmed," wrote the polar explorer in his diary. "We are therefore entitled to draw a dotted line on the map and write on it: 'Sannikov Land'...". However, in 1938, Soviet pilots proved that Sannikov Land does not exist. According to researchers, it, like many Arctic islands, was composed not of rocks but of permafrost, over which a layer of soil was deposited. At the end of the 19th or beginning of the 20th century, the ice melted, and Sannikov Land disappeared, like the Vasilievsky and Semenovsky islands, composed of fossil ice.