Dmitry Ovtsyn (1708-1757) was a 2nd rank Captain, Russian marine surveyor, one of the first Russian explorers of the Arctic, and a participant in the Great North Expedition (1733-1743). He took part in the description of the northern coast of Russia and in the search for a sea passage from Ob to Yenisei. In 1737, he reached the mouth of the Yenisei and went up the river to reach Turukhansk. He described the Gulf of Ob in detail during his voyages near the northern shores of Siberia, a cape at the Taimyr Peninsula and the strait between Oleny island and Sibiryakov island in the Kara Sea.
One of the unique Arctic shuttle tankers designed for the year-round delivery of crude oil from the Yamal Peninsula (Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District) to the port of Murmansk (Novy Port project) is named after Dmitry Ovtsyn. For the first time in the history of Arctic navigation Shturman Ovtsyn, as part of a convoy of vessels lead by Atomflot's nuclear icebreaker 50 let Pobedy, took part in a unique transit on the Northern Sea Route, in a westerly direction, in late December-early January.
