# Joseph Wiggins > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Joseph_Wiggins > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Joseph_Wiggins.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Wiggins > Source revision: 1329548854 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|English explorer}} {{for|the English footballer|Joe Wiggins}} {{use British English|date=August 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} thumb|right|Joseph Wiggins '''Joseph Wiggins''' [FRGS](/source/Royal_Geographical_Society) (3 September 1832 – 13 September 1905) was an [English](/source/English_people) mariner, born at [Norwich](/source/Norwich) into a family of mailcoach operators. He rounded out a successful career as a sea captain by utilizing a portion of the northern sea route to Siberia. He was the pioneer in demonstrating the practicability of trade relations by sea between the [North Sea](/source/North_Sea) countries and the northern portion of [Siberia](/source/Siberia). Beginning his voyages in 1874, he twice reached the [Ob River](/source/Ob_River), and five times carried cargoes to the [Yenisei River](/source/Yenisei_River), up which stream he once navigated his ship 2000 miles (3218 km). He facilitated the construction of the [Trans-Siberian railway](/source/Trans-Siberian_Railway) by carrying to that country a large cargo of rails. He was honored by the [Czar](/source/Alexander_III_of_Russia) for his pioneer work, which [Baron Nordenskiöld](/source/Adolf_Erik_Nordenski%C3%B6ld) described as an "Event rivaling in importance the return of the first fleet loaded with merchandise from India". In 1894 he was awarded the [Murchison Award](/source/Murchison_Award) by the [Royal Geographical Society](/source/Royal_Geographical_Society). In 2016, it was reported that the wreck of the steamship ''Thames'', with which Wiggins had made an expedition to the Yenisei River in 1876 and which sank there in 1878, had been discovered. ==References== {{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/09/discovery-of-the-year-sunken-british-steamship-the-thames-found-on-edge-of-arctic-circle |title='Discovery of the year': sunken British ship found in Russian Arctic |newspaper=The Guardian |first=Alec |last=Luhn |date=9 August 2016 |accessdate=9 August 2016}} *{{NIE}} *{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Henry |title=The Life And Voyages of Joseph Wiggins: Modern Discoverer of the Kara Sea Route To Siberia; Based on His Journals And Letters |year=2011 |orig-year=first published 1907 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing (original publisher John Murray, London) |isbn=978-1162995625}} ==Further reading== {{Commons category}} *{{cite journal |last1=Stone |first1=Ian R. |title=Joseph Wiggins (1832-1905) |journal=[Arctic](/source/Arctic_(journal)) |date=1994 |volume=47 |issue=4 |doi=10.14430/arctic1313|url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic47-4-405.pdf}} *{{Internet Archive author|sname=Joseph Wiggins|sopt=t}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Wiggins, Joseph}} Category:1832 births Category:1905 deaths Category:English sailors Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society {{UK-explorer-stub}} {{England-bio-stub}} --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Joseph Wiggins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Wiggins) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Wiggins?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.