The Verkhneudinsko-Okhotsk expedition (1735-1737) took place as part of the Great Northern Expedition with the goal of finding a shorter route to the Pacific Ocean than were known at that time. This path was not supposed to use the Amur River , so as not to provoke China . Nevertheless, it was necessary to study the surroundings of Amur with the aim of resolving border disputes.
The expedition consisted of two expeditions. In the first campaign of 1735-1736, the detachment set off from Nerchinsk along Shilka . Before reaching the Amur River, they went along Gorbitsa , then along Nyukzhe and Olekma they reached Lena and then reached Yakutsk .
The second attempt in 1737 to get around Yakutsk also began in Nerchinsk, but went through Gilyuy and Zeya .
Skobeltsyn’s detachment placed border guards in the direction of its route and installed 63 border lighthouses. Important ethnographic and historical-geographical data on the peoples of Siberia and the Far East were obtained.
It was not possible to lay the route, the main reason is the low discipline among the guides from the local residents, some of whom simply escaped, frightened by the supposedly evil spirits in those places, and the other part, instead of completing the task, was mainly engaged in sable hunting.