place
the Archipelago
also: Архипелаг, Архипелаге
A stretch of island-studded sea -- most likely the Greek Archipelago / eastern Mediterranean waters -- crossed on the final leg of Chekhov's return sea voyage from Sakhalin, where his ship was caught in a storm and a cold nor'easter; he caught the cold there that he reports nursing in several homecoming letters of December 1890.
Reading notes
- To I. L. Leontyev, 10 December 1890. Moscow. §7 in the Archipelago, where we were caught in a storm and a cold nor'easter was blowing, I caught cold
Refers to a stretch of island-studded sea -- most likely the Greek Archipelago / eastern Mediterranean waters -- crossed on the final leg of Chekhov's return sea voyage from Sakhalin via Hong Kong, Singapore, Ceylon, and the Suez Canal to Odessa; the storm and cold nor'easter (норд-ост) there gave him the cold he reports still nursing on arrival in Moscow.