Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen were two young men from Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 who went with fellow Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen

Roald Amundsen

Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....

 on his 1918 Arctic expedition aboard ship Maud

Maud (ship)

The Maud, named for Queen Maud of Norway, was a ship built for Roald Amundsen for his second expedition to the Arctic. Designed for his intended voyage through the Northeast Passage, the vessel was specially built at a shipyard in Asker, Norway on the Oslofjord.The Maud was launched in June 1916...

. Peter Tessem was a carpenter and Paul Knutsen was an able-bodied
seaman. One year into the expedition, in 1919, Amundsen left Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen behind at Cape Chelyuskin

Cape Chelyuskin

Cape Chelyuskin is the northernmost point of the Eurasian continent , and the northernmost point of mainland Russia. It is situated at the tip of the Taymyr Peninsula, south of Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia...

 after having made winter quarters there. Amundsen chose Peter Tessem because he had been suffering from chronic headaches throughout the winter and was not fit to continue the long expedition; and Paul Knutsen because he had wintered previously in the Kara Sea

Kara Sea

The Kara Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia. It is separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya....

 in 1914-1915 with Otto Sverdrup

Otto Sverdrup

Otto Neumann Knoph Sverdrup was a Norwegian sailor and Arctic explorer.-Early and personal life:...

 on ship Eclipse, so he knew about the locations of the caches of provisions left by Sverdrup in the area.
The men were instructed to wait for the freeze-up of the Kara Sea and then sledge southwestwards along the western coast of the Taymyr Peninsula

Taymyr Peninsula

The Taymyr Peninsula is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of mainland Eurasia and Asia...

 towards Dikson

Dikson (urban-type settlement)

Dikson is an urban locality in Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. Population: Dikson is the northernmost port in Russia and one of the northernmost settlements in the world. It is located so far north that one may experience complete darkness with no civil twilight...

 carrying the mail and the valuable scientific data accumulated by the expedition. Meanwhile the Maud continued eastwards into the Laptev Sea

Laptev Sea

The Laptev Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, the Taimyr Peninsula, Severnaya Zemlya and the New Siberian Islands. Its northern boundary passes from the Arctic Cape to a point with co-ordinates of 79°N and 139°E, and ends at the Anisiy...

.

These two men disappeared mysteriously during their 800-km trip over the ice and were never seen again. The Norwegians' journey was identical in its last 600 km to the sledge trip undertaken a few years earlier at the orders of Baron Eduard Toll

Eduard Toll

Eduard Gustav von Toll was a Baltic German geologist and Arctic explorer in Russian service. Often referred to as Baron von Toll or as Eduard v. Toll, in Russia he is known as Eduard Vasiliyevich Toll . Eduard Toll was born on and he died in 1902 in an unknown location in the Arctic Ocean)...

 by Zarya

Zarya (polar ship)

Zarya was a steam- and sail-powered brig used by the Russian Academy of Sciences for a polar exploration during 1900–1903.Toward the end of the 19th century, the Russian Academy of Sciences sought to build a general-purpose research vessel for long-term expeditions. The first such Russian...

 Captain Nikolai Kolomeitsev and Cossack

Cossack

Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...

 Stepan Rastorguyev

Stepan Rastorguyev

Stepan Innokentyevich Rastorguyev was an officer of the Yakut Cossack Regiment and an explorer.As Rastorguyev's parents died early, he was reared by his kindred. Then he was sent to the Okhotsk Sea coast, Kamchatka and Chukotka...

. In 1901 Kolomeitsev and Rastorguev had covered the distance from Bukhta Kolin Archera, SW of Taymyr Island

Taymyr Island

Taymyr Island, Russian: Остров Таймыр , is a large island in the coast of the Kara Sea. Its length is and its average width about . This island is located west of the Taymyr Gulf in an area of skerries right off the western coast of the Taymyr Peninsula...

, to Dikson in one month, so Tessem and Knutsen's trip should not have taken much longer. However, almost a year passed and nothing was heard of the two Norwegians.

Norwegian search expedition

The alarm was raised in March 1920 by Amundsen's brother Leon when he got a telegram from his brother. Roald Amundsen, who was wintering then near Ayon Island

Ayon Island

Ayon Island is an island in the coast of Chukotka in the East Siberian Sea. The island itself consists mainly of low lying tundra, is populated mainly by Chukchi, who use the tundra as pasture for their reindeer herds.-Geography:...

, in the East Siberian Sea

East Siberian Sea

The East Siberian Sea is a marginal sea in the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the Arctic Cape to the north, the coast of Siberia to the south, the New Siberian Islands to the west and Cape Billings, close to Chukotka, and Wrangel Island to the east...

, was enquiring whether his men had reached home safely.

Veteran Arctic explorer Otto Sverdrup, acting on behalf of the Royal Norwegian Department for Churches and Education

Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research

Royal Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research is a Norwegian responsible for education, research and kindergartens. The ministry was established in 1814, and since October 18, 2007 led by Tora Aasland and Kristin Halvorsen in 2009. The department reports to the legislature...

, tried to conduct a search by sending schooner Heimen to the Kara Sea on 23 August 1920. But the schooner encountered heavy ice already east of Dikson and Captain Lars Jakobsen was forced to turn back when he was close to the Mikhailov Peninsula

Mikhailov Peninsula

The Mikhailov Peninsula is a small peninsula in the eastern shores of the Kara Sea on the western side of the Taymyr Peninsula...

. Jakobsen tried then to hire dogs or reindeer for an overland expedition, but the practical difficulties he encountered became unsurmountable, for the area was practically uninhabited except for the little station at Dikson.

Soviet search expedition

Finally, in 1921 Nikifor Begichev led a Soviet expedition in search for Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen on request of the government of Norway. Captain Lars Jakobsen and Alfred Karlsen, another Norwegian who had been with him at Dikson and who acted as interpreter, accompanied Begichev. Begichev had a good impression of Jakobsen and Karlsen; he thought that they were tough, reliable and helpful.
At the start of their search, they had a letter dating from November 18, 1919, found about a tenth of the way from Cape Chelyuskin to Dikson, placed in a tin can in a cairn

Cairn

Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...

 on on Mys Vil’da

Cape Vilda

Cape Vilda is a landhead in the Kara Sea, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Federation. This cape is located on the western shore of the Taymyr Peninsula, at the western end of the Middendorff Bay....

. It said that Tessem and Knutsen were heading towards Dikson in good health with provisions for twenty days.
On August 2, 1919, some distance south-west of the letter, the Norwegian sledge was found by Begichev, indicating that something had gone wrong with the Norwegians. Further, near Sterligov cape, he found other materials. On August 16, 1919, Begichev found a fireplace with smoked men's bones near Primetnyi cape, including a skull, empty cartridges, and a broken knife, suggesting a physical struggle.
After examination of the things, Begichev decided that the bones belonged to one of the missing Norwegian seamen; however, after Begichev's death, it was presumed that the bones belonged to somebody from Rusanov

Vladimir Rusanov

Vladimir Alexandrovich Rusanov was an experienced Russian geologist who specialized in the Arctic.In 1909–1911 V. A. Rusanov carried out explorations in Novaya Zemlya. He was helped by Tyko Vylka, his guide, who later became the Chairman of the Novaya Zemlya Soviet.In 1912 Rusanov had been...

's expedition.

The expedition of 1922 found theodolite

Theodolite

A theodolite is a precision instrument for measuring angles in the horizontal and vertical planes. Theodolites are mainly used for surveying applications, and have been adapted for specialized purposes in fields like metrology and rocket launch technology...

, mail, and other things on the Zeledeev river, 80 km from Dikson, belonging to Knudsen and Tessem. Closer to Dikson, on the Uboynaya river, two pairs of Norwegian skis and part of a sleeping-bag were found. Finally, in July 1922, three kilometers from Dikson, Begichev found the skeleton of the man wearing a golden watch engraved with Peter Tessem's name.

The search was abandoned, but before Captain Jakobsen and Alfred Karlsen returned to Norway via Krasnoyarsk

Krasnoyarsk

Krasnoyarsk is a city and the administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located on the Yenisei River. It is the third largest city in Siberia, with the population of 973,891. Krasnoyarsk is an important junction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and one of Russia's largest producers of...

, they had established good friendships with many Russians. Owing to their good character, the Soviet authorities and many persons in different places of Russia went out of their way to assist them. This was not always easy considering the penury of the times in the early Soviet Union.

Remains found by chance

In August 1922 a geological expedition led by N. N. Urvantsev

Nikolay Urvantsev

Nikolay Nikolayevich Urvantsev was a Soviet geologist and explorer. He was born in the town of Lukoyanov of Nizhny Novgorod Governorate, Russian Empire to the family of a merchant...

 found by chance the mail and scientific data that Tessem and Knutsen had been carrying. The valuable documents lay strewn about, abandoned near the mouth of the Zeledeyeva River

Zeledeyeva River

The Zeledeyeva River is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. Its source is in the Byrranga Mountains.It flows across desolate tundra regions into the Kara Sea....

. Later the skis belonging to the disappeared Norwegians were found at the mouth of the Uboynaya River

Uboynaya River

The Uboynaya River is a river in the Taymyr Peninsula, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Federation. Its source is in the Byrranga Mountains.It flows across desolate tundra regions into the Kara Sea. The lichen Dactylina arctica is common and abundant in the area....

. In July 1922 a mummified corpse, practically a skeleton, was found on the mainland shore across from Dikson Island within sight of the weather station that was the two men's destination.

Forensic analysis revealed that it was one of the two Norwegian explorers and that the most likely cause of death was starvation. Another possible cause of death is that the Norwegian hurried when he saw the lights of the polar station, so that he slipped and fell down. He might have knocked himself unconscious hitting a boulder, could not stand up and froze to death.

It is not clear, however, whether the corpse by the shore was Peter Tessem's or Paul Knutsen's. But the golden watch with engraved Tessem's name on it let to presume that it was Tessem. The photo of the skeleton was taken by Georgy Rybin

Georgy Rybin

Georgy Nikolaevich Rybin . was a Russian hуdrographer; explorer of the Arctic seas and the Baltic Sea.- Biography :- Family and Childhood :...

.
The other body was never found.
The dead man was buried farther up the slope in the same spot and his grave was marked with a driftwood cross. Two years later the crew of Norwegian ship Veslekari erected a more imposing larch cross on the spot. In 1958 the remains were moved to the top of the cape where there is now a granite monument with a plaque inscribed in Russian and in the Roman alphabet to honor the memory of the dead Norwegian . The inscription reads:
TESSEM, Norwegian seaman, member of the expedition, MS Maud, died 1920.