Rapid coastal erosion may be observed in many places in the Arctic as a result of thermal abrasion in ice‐rich unconsolidated sediments and especially in massive ground ice. In two instances, those of Semenovskiy and Vasil'yevskiy islands in the Laptev Sea, the result, documented in the literature, has been the disappearance of the islands. The authors analyze the results of various surveys and present their findings as to the pattern and rates of coastal erosion and lowering of the seabed (also due to thermal abrasion) on the sites of the former islands since their disappearance. (For comparison with the situation in the Beaufort Sea, discussion of the similar disappearance of St. Diomede Island in Laptev Strait and some ideas as to how this phenomenon relates to such “disappearing islands”; as “Sannikov Land”; see: William Barr, “Retreating coasts and disappearing islands in the Arctic,”;The Musk‐OxNo. 18, 1976, pp. 103–111.) (The translation is by William Barr of the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon.)