Khariton Prokofievich Laptev (Russian:Харитон Прокофьевич Лаптев; 1700–1763) was a Russiannaval officer andArcticexplorer.
Khariton Laptev was born in agentry family, Laptev family which was a branch of theLopukhin family, in the village of Pokarevo nearVelikiye Luki (in the southern part of today'sPskov Oblast), just a year before his cousinDmitry Laptev was born in the nearby village of Bolotovo.
Khariton Laptev started his career in theRussian Navy as acadet in 1718. By 1730, he was already in charge of a military ship, and in 1734 participated in thesiege of Gdańsk.
In 1739–1742, Khariton Laptev led one of the parties of theSecond Kamchatka expedition. Together withSemion Chelyuskin,N. Chekin, andG. Medvedev, Laptev described theTaimyr Peninsula from the mouth of theKhatanga River to the mouth of thePyasina river and discovered a few of the islands in the area. After the expedition, he participated in the creation of the "General Map of the Siberian and Kamchatka Coast", and continued his military service in theBaltic Fleet. The sea coastline of the Taimyr Peninsula, a cape on theChelyuskin Peninsula and other landmarks bear his name. TheLaptev Sea was also named after him (and his cousinDmitry Laptev). The 1962-builticebreakerLedokol-3 was renamedKhariton Laptev in 1966 in his honor.
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