Faddey Faddeevich Bellingshausen (born September 9 (20), 1778 - death January 13 (25), 1852) - Russian navigator, took part in the first Russian circumnavigation. Led the first Russian Antarctic expedition, which discovered Antarctica. Admiral. The sea off the coast of Antarctica, the underwater basin between the continental slopes of Antarctica and South America, islands in the Pacific, Atlantic Oceans and the Aral Sea, the first Soviet polar station on King George Island in the South Shetland Islands.
Origin. Childhood
The future admiral was born in 1778 on the island of Ezel (modern Saaremaa Island) near Arensburg (modern Kingisepp) in Livonia (Estonia). By origin - a Baltic German from the Baltic noble family of Bellingshausen. Around a small island, the sound of sea waves was constantly heard. Already with early years the boy could not imagine life without the sea. That is why in 1789 he entered the Naval Corps in Kronstadt as a cadet. Science was easy for him, especially navigation and nautical astronomy, but Thaddeus was never among the first students.
Service start
1796 - midshipman Bellingshausen sets off on his first voyage to the shores of England, and at the end of this internship he was promoted to midshipman and sent for further service to the Revel squadron. In its composition, on various ships, a young officer sailed in the Baltic Sea. The future discoverer of the southern polar continent eagerly mastered the art of navigation, learning its secrets in practice. This did not go unnoticed, and in 1803 Bellingshausen was transferred to the Nadezhda ship to participate in the first Russian round the world expedition.
Circumnavigation. Service
This voyage under the leadership of I.F. Kruzenshtern himself became a wonderful school for a young officer, and the expedition leader highly appreciated the diligence and level of his maps.
Upon completion of the circumnavigation of the world, Faddey Faddeevich, already in the rank of lieutenant commander, until 1810 commanded a frigate on the Baltic Sea, participated in Russian-Swedish war. 1811 - sent to the Black Sea, where for 5 years he carried out a lot of work on compiling and correcting maps, the main coordinates of the eastern coast were determined.
By 1819, Captain 2nd Rank Bellingshausen had a reputation as a talented navigator, not only knowledgeable in astronomy, geography and physics, but also bold, decisive, and exceptionally conscientious. This allowed Kruzenshtern to recommend the captain as the leader of the expedition for discoveries and research in the Antarctic. Bellingshausen was urgently summoned to St. Petersburg, where on June 4 he took command of the Vostok sloop, which was to go to Antarctica.
Expedition preparation
"Vostok" and the second ship of the expedition "Mirny", built for round-the-world voyages, were specially adapted for polar conditions. The underwater part of the Vostok, at the request of Bellingshausen, was fastened and sheathed with copper. On the Mirny, a second skin was installed, additional hull fastenings, the pine steering wheel was replaced with an oak one. Together, the crews of the ships numbered 183 people. Lieutenant M.P. Lazarev was appointed commander of Mirny, who would eventually become a famous naval commander.
The expedition was prepared in a very short time - just over a month, but it was well equipped, primarily thanks to the efforts of Bellingshausen and Lazarev. The navigators had at their disposal the best nautical and astronomical instruments of those times. The leaders of the expedition paid special attention to the stock of various antiscorbutic drugs, among which were coniferous essence, lemons, sauerkraut, dried and canned vegetables. Given the climatic conditions, there were stocks of rum and red wine. As a result, no serious illnesses among seafarers have ever been observed.
Discovery of Antarctica
1819, July 16 - the sloops left Kronstadt, went to Copenhagen, then to the Canary Islands, and by mid-November they were already in Rio de Janeiro. There, for three weeks, the team rested and prepared the ships for sailing in difficult Antarctic conditions. Further, following the instructions, the ships went to the islands of South Georgia and to the "Sandwich Land" - open group islands, which he took for a single island. The navigators fixed the mistake and named the archipelago the South Sandwich Islands.
It was impossible to move further south - the path was blocked by solid ice. Therefore, Bellingshausen decided to go around the Sandwich Islands and look for a way along the northern edge of the ice. 1820, January 16 - entries appeared in the ship's log about the alleged proximity of land. The land was not visible, as it was under a continuous ice cover, but petrels were circling above the sloops, and coming closer to the ice, the cries of penguins were heard by the sailors. Later it will become known that the expedition was only 20 miles from the mainland, because this day is considered to be the official date of the discovery of Antarctica. If the ice cover had not been so strong at that time, the sailors would certainly have been able to see the land. Moving on, on February 6, we again approached the mainland closely, but the weather conditions again did not allow us to confidently assert that the white space on the horizon is land.
Again and again, moving away from the edge of the ice and approaching it further along the course, the travelers tried to break through the ice. They crossed the Antarctic Circle 4 times, sometimes approaching 3-4 km to the coast of Antarctica, but the result remained the same. In the end, attempts to get closer to the proposed land had a chance to stop. Severe storms could destroy the badly battered ships, it was necessary to replenish food and firewood, to give rest to the exhausted crew. We decided to go to Port Jackson (Sydney).
Discoveries
The instruction prescribed that during the winter in the Southern Hemisphere, research should be carried out in the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean. The sailors spent only one month in Australia, and on May 22, 1820, she set off for the Tuamotu and the Society Islands. In this voyage, islands were discovered, which were given Russian names (Kutuzov, Raevsky, Yermolov, Barclay de Tolly, etc.). Several islands were also found near the Fiji archipelago and north of Tahiti. Also, research was carried out on the islands that other travelers had already visited.
Another assault on Antarctica. More discoveries
1820, early September - the expedition returned to Port Jackson, a thorough preparation of the ships was carried out and already on November 11 set off for Antarctica again. On January 18, the expedition clearly saw the coast, which was called the Land of Alexander I. There were no more doubts: the new mainland had been discovered. With further navigation, the South Shetland Islands were explored, many of which were first mapped, about. Peter I and others. But the work on the description of the discovered lands had to be interrupted: serious damage to the Vostok forced Bellingshausen to decide to stop the expedition. The sailors traveled to Kronstadt through Rio de Janeiro, where they repaired the ship, then visited Lisbon, and in July 1821 returned to their homeland.
Expedition results
The expedition lasted 751 days. The sailors traveled 92,200 km. In addition to Antarctica, 29 islands were discovered by travelers. It was possible to collect large ethnographic, zoological and botanical collections. Navigators marked 28 objects on the map of Antarctica. They surveyed large water areas adjacent to the mainland, in in general terms gave a description of its climate, for the first time described and classified the Antarctic ice.
In this most difficult voyage, Thaddeus Faddeevich Bellingshausen proved himself to be a talented and skillful commander and was promoted to captain-commander. In addition, he was also a talented scientist. It was he who was the first, long before Darwin, to guess the mechanism of formation of coral islands. He also gave a correct explanation of the causes of the mass of algae in the Sargasso Sea, not being afraid to challenge the opinion of Humboldt himself. After visiting Australia, Bellingshausen strongly opposed the racial theory, according to which indigenous Australians were considered almost animals, incapable of learning.
The route of the expedition of Bellingshausen and Lazarev
Continuation of service
After his famous expedition, Faddey Faddeevich continued to serve in the navy: in 1821–1827 he commanded a flotilla in the Mediterranean; in 1828, already in the rank of rear admiral, he led a detachment of sailors-guards and led him by land from St. Petersburg through all of Russia to the Danube to participate in the war with Turkey; then on the Black Sea he commanded the siege of the Turkish fortress of Varna, etc.
1839 - Vice-Admiral Faddey Faddeevich Bellingshausen received the highest post on the Baltic Sea as chief commander of the Kronstadt port and Kronstadt military governor. Despite his advanced age, every summer the admiral took large fleets to sea for maneuvers and brought the coordination of their actions to perfection.
1846 - the Swedish admiral Nordenskiöld was present at the maneuvers, who concluded that no fleet in Europe would make such an evolution.
Death. Heritage
Bellingshausen died on January 25, 1852 in Kronstadt. A note was found on his desk - the last in his life. It read: “Kronstadt must be planted with such trees that would bloom before the fleet passes into the sea, so that a particle of the summer woody smell gets to the share of the sailor.”
Bellingshausen's work "Double surveys in the South Arctic Ocean and sailing around the world during 1819, 1820 and 1821, made on the sloops Vostok and Mirny, first published in 1831 (reissued in 1869). In addition, according to the results of the expedition, the admiral himself prepared the Atlas for the Journey of Captain Bellingshausen (1831).
An outstanding Russian naval officer, scientist, navigator and humanist F.F. Bellingshausen was born on September 20, 1778 on the island of Esel (now Saarema) near the city of Kuressare (Arensburg).
He graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps in Kronstadt. In 1797 he received the rank of midshipman and was sent to the ships of the Revel squadron of the Baltic Fleet. In 1803-1806 he participated in the first Russian circumnavigation on the ship "Nadezhda" under the command of I.F. Krusenstern. In 1806, Bellingshausen received the rank of lieutenant commander. After returning from the expedition, he commanded various ships in the Baltic and Black Seas. In 1819-1821, he led a round-the-world expedition on the sloops Vostok (under the command of F.F. Bellingshausen) and Mirny (under the command of Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev (1788-1851)). The purpose of the expedition was determined by the Naval Ministry as scientific - the discovery of the Antarctic Pole in the possible proximity with the aim of "acquiring the most complete knowledge about our globe."
On July 4 (July 16), 1819, the Russian Antarctic expedition under the command of the captain of the second rank F.F. Belingshausen left Kronstadt. The flagship was the Vostok sloop with a displacement of 900 tons, a waterline length of 40 m, a width of about 10 m, a sail area of more than 2000 square meters with a crew of 117 people. The second sloop called "Mirny" was commanded by Lieutenant M.P. Lazarev. The sloops developed speeds up to 8-10 knots. By November 1919 the expedition had reached the South Georgia Islands. Moving to the southeast, on December 30, 1819, the ships reached the "Sandwich Land", discovered by J. Cook. The expedition explored this land, which turned out to be an archipelago and was named the South Sandwich Islands. Russian navigators for the first time established a connection between this group of islands and other islands and rocks of the southwestern Atlantic and for the first time indicated the presence of an underwater ridge of volcanic origin (now the South Antilles Range), which has a length of 2.5 thousand km in the western part Atlantic Ocean between 53° and 60° S
On January 26, 1820, the ships crossed the Antarctic Circle, on January 28, the expedition discovered Antarctica, approaching it at the point 69 ° 21 "S and 2 ° 14" W. (the area of the modern Bellingshausen Ice Shelf). On February 18, 1820, the expedition came very close to the mainland (the northwestern ledge of the Princess Ranhilda coast). For the third time on February 26, 1820, Russian ships reached only 60°49"S and 49°26"E, about 100 km north of Prince Olaf Land.
In November 1820, the expedition again went to the "ice mainland". On January 10, 1821, an island was discovered named after Peter I (68 ° 47 "S and 90 ° 30" E), and on January 28, the expedition discovered a coast named after Alexander I (Alexander I Land, located between 69° and 73° S and 68° and 76° E). Russian ships were unable to break through to the shore due to solid ice. Bypassing them from the north, Bellingshausen turned east and crossed the extreme southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean (in the twentieth century this part was called the Bellingshausen Sea), where he found "New Shetland", previously discovered by William Smith. The Russian expedition explored the new land and found that it is a chain of islands stretching from the Drake Passage to the east-northeast for almost 600 km. Separate South Shetland Islands were named Berezina, Borodino, Waterloo, Leipzig, Maloyaroslavets, Polotsk, Smolensk, and the northeastern ones - the names of Mikhailov, Mordvinov, Rozhnov, Shishkov.
On February 11, 1821, the Bellingshausen expedition turned north.
On July 24, 1821, after 751 days of sailing, the ships returned to Kronstadt. During the journey, the expedition also discovered a number of islands in the tropical Pacific Ocean.
Bellingshausen and Lazarev compiled descriptions of the islands and maps, collected ethnographic, botanical and zoological collections, conducted systematic observations of the state of the atmosphere and sea water. In 1826, Bellingshausen was promoted to rear admiral. In 1827 he participated in the assault on the Turkish fortress of Varna. On December 6, 1830, Bellingshausen received the rank of Vice Admiral and was appointed commander of the 2nd Naval Division of the Baltic Fleet. During his service, he scientific work in the field of artillery, later he wrote the work "On aiming artillery pieces at sea".
Journey F.F. Bellingshausen is described in his book "Double surveys in the Southern Arctic Ocean and sailing around the world during 1819-1821, made on the sloops Vostok and Mirny", which was first published only in 1831, 10 years after the expedition. In 1845 F.F. Bellingshausen was elected a full member of the Russian Geographic Society. In 1848 he was appointed an honorary member of the Naval Scientific Committee.
Faddey Faddeevich Bellingshausen is a Russian navigator, an outstanding naval figure who took part in the first round-the-world expedition of Russian navigators under the command of I.F. Kruzenshtern. Subsequently, he was also entrusted with the command of a round-the-world expedition, during which Bellingshausen discovered Antarctica.
The beginning of a maritime career
Faddey Faddeevich was born on September 20, 1778 on the island of Ezel in a noble family of Baltic Germans. From early childhood, the boy wanted to connect his fate with the sea, and at the age of ten he entered the Naval Cadet Corps. After graduating in 1796 with the rank of midshipman, the young Bellingshausen set sail for the coast of England.
A year later, having received his first officer rank of midshipman, the navigator joined the expedition of I.F. Kruzenshtern, which made the first round-the-world trip in the history of the Russian fleet.
Rice. 1. F. F. Bellingshausen.
Bellingshausen took an active part in compiling maps, which were later included in the famous Atlas of Krusenstern. He was trusted to carry out important hydrographic surveys.
Having received the rank of lieutenant commander in 1806, Bellingshausen commanded various ships of the Black Sea and Baltic fleets.
Bellingshausen's round-the-world trip
In preparing the next round-the-world expedition, I.F. Kruzenshtern persistently recommended Bellingshausen's candidacy for the role of commander. The goal of the upcoming trip was simple and at the same time difficult to implement - a thorough study of the Antarctic Pole.
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The expedition consisted of two sloops - Mirny and Vostok. In the summer of 1819, ships left Kronstadt and headed for Rio de Janeiro. Then the Russian navigators headed south, where they explored the Sandwich Islands and discovered three new islands along the way.
Rice. 2. Bellingshausen expedition.
In January 1820, the ships reached the coast of Antarctica and, moving east, explored the continental shelf covered with ice. So Bellingshausen discovered a previously unknown continent, which he dubbed "ice".
After that important event the ships separated and went to Australia: one - on the water surface of the Indian Ocean, the second - the South. During this journey, new islands and picturesque atolls were discovered.
In the fall, the expedition again headed towards the south polar seas, and crossed the Arctic Circle three times. Encountering an obstacle in the form of solid ice on their way, the sailors were forced to change course and head north. In the summer of 1821 the expedition safely returned to Kronstadt.
Swimming Bellingshausen can rightfully be called one of the most difficult and dangerous. He was able to prove to the whole world that the study of the polar regions is possible even on two modest sloops, completely unsuitable for passing through the ice.
Rice. 3. Antarctica.
During world travel Bellingshausen discovered 29 islands and one coral reef in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. A total of 92,000 km were traveled by brave sailors, rich naturalistic collections were brought.
Faddey Faddeevich died at the age of 73 as military governor of Kronstadt and with the rank of admiral.
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(1779-1852)
The outstanding Russian navigator Thaddeus Faddeevich Bellingshausen, who, together with M.P. Lazarev, discovered the mainland of Antarctica and thereby approved the priority of our Motherland in this remarkable geographical discovery, was born on September 20, 1779 near the city of Kingisepp (Arensburg) on the island of Saaremaa (Ezel), which is now part of Estonia.
From childhood, which the young F.F. Bellingshausen spent on the shores of the Gulf of Riga, either in Ahrensburg or in its environs, he dreamed of becoming a sailor and constantly said to himself: “I was born in the middle of the sea, and like a fish cannot live without water, so and I can't live without the sea." It is not surprising, therefore, that when he was 10 years old, in 1789 he was assigned as a cadet to the Naval Corps, which was then in Kronstadt. Thus, his dream was realized, and subsequently, until his advanced years, he spent almost every year on the voyage.
Thanks to his brilliant abilities, it was easy for F.F. Bellingshausen to study in the Naval Corps, but, according to his biographers, he was distinguished by a “somewhat frisky disposition”, as a result of which, at the end of the Naval Corps, he was not among the first in his graduation. In 1796, F. F. Bellingshausen was promoted to midshipman and, continuing to be listed in the corps, went on his first long overseas voyage to the shores of England. After being promoted to the first officer rank of midshipman in 1797, he was assigned to the Revel squadron, in which for six years he sailed on various ships in the Baltic Sea.
The young officer tried to improve his knowledge in the field of naval sciences and diligently carried out his official duties. With these qualities, F.F. Bellingshausen attracted the attention of the fleet commander, Admiral Khanykov, who recommended him for appointment to the first Russian round-the-world expedition of Kruzenshtern-Lisyansky. In 1803, he was transferred to the ship Nadezhda, which was commanded by the head of the expedition himself, Lieutenant Commander. Under the guidance of the head of the expedition, F. F. Bellingshausen improved his marine knowledge and took an active part in the marine inventory of the coasts under study and in the compilation of new sea charts. I. F. Kruzenshtern gives the following assessment of his hydrographic and cartographic work: “Almost all the maps were drawn by this last skilful officer, who at the same time shows the ability of a good hydrographer; he also drew up the general map. The Central Naval Museum has a whole atlas with numerous original maps of the young F. F. Bellingshausen.
During the circumnavigation of the world, F. F. Bellingshausen received the rank of lieutenant, and upon returning from the voyage, the rank of lieutenant commander.
After returning from the expedition, F. F. Bellingshausen sailed until 1810 on the Baltic Sea, successively commanding various frigates. In 1809, he took part in the Russian-Swedish war, commanding the frigate "Melpomene" and carrying a continuous six-month patrol in the Gulf of Finland to monitor the actions of the enemy, Swedish and English, fleets. In 1811, F. F. Bellingshausen was transferred to Black Sea Fleet, in which he remained until 1819 as commander of the first frigate "Minerva", and then the frigate "Flora", and took part in the hostilities off the Caucasian coast. On the Black Sea, he paid great attention to hydrographic issues and contributed a lot to the compilation and correction of maps, determining the coordinates of the main points east coast Black Sea. In 1816, F. F. Bellingshausen was promoted to captain of the 2nd rank.
In 1819, he was urgently summoned by the Minister of Marine to St. Petersburg to receive a responsible appointment.
At that time, two expeditions were urgently equipped in St. Petersburg, each consisting of two ships: one of them, the so-called first division, consisting of the Vostok and Mirny sloops, was intended for research in the South Pole region; second expedition. representing the second division, consisting of the sloops "Otkrytme" and "Blagonamerenny" - in the area North Pole. The main task of both expeditions was scientific geographical research and discoveries, and the first Russian Antarctic expedition was intended to verify the statement of the English navigator James Cook, who, based on his own voyage, denied the possibility of the existence of the mainland in high southern latitudes, in places accessible to navigation. This opinion of Cook was accepted by geographers and navigators all over the world as an indisputable truth, and his mistake was the reason for the refusal of further scientific expeditions to the Antarctic regions for more than 40 years.
Outstanding navigators of that time took part in the organization of these expeditions, starting from the older generation in the person of the famous hydrograph Admiral Gavrila Andreevich Sarychev and ending with the young lieutenant O. E. Kotzebue, who had just returned from a round-the-world voyage on the Rurik brig. A detailed note on this subject, concerning mainly the Antarctic expedition, was also compiled by I. F. Kruzenshtern, who then, due to his illness, was living in the vicinity of the city of Rakvere (Vezenberg). Kruzenshtern considered the Antarctic expedition a great Russian patriotic deed and dedicated the following words to it in his note: “We must not allow the glory of such an enterprise to be taken away from us: it will certainly go to the British or French in a short time.” I. F. Kruzenshtern further drew attention to the need for the most thorough and comprehensive preparation of the expedition, including its scientific part and the appointment of a suitable leader. I. F. Kruzenshtern considered the most worthy head of the “first division”, intended for discoveries in the Antarctic region, to be the outstanding navigator Captain 2nd Rank V. M. Golovnin, who, however, at that time was on a round-the-world voyage on the sloop “Kamchatka” . In view of this, I.F. Kruzenshtern suggested appointing F.F. Bellingshausen instead of him, characterizing him with the following words: “he has special merits for commanding such an expedition: he is an excellent naval officer and has rare knowledge in astronomy, hydrography and physics. Our fleet, of course, is rich in enterprising officers, however, of those whom I know, no one except Golovnin can compare with Bellingshausen. The appointment of F.F. Bellingshausen took place: on June 4, 1819, he took command of the Vostok sloop and at the same time took command of the "First Division".
At that time he was 40 years old, and he was in the full bloom of his powers and abilities. Service in his younger years under the command of an experienced old sailor Admiral Khanykov, participation in the first Russian circumnavigation under the leadership of I.F. Kruzenshtern, and finally, 13-year-old independent command of ships developed the main business and personal qualities of F.F. Bellingshausen. His contemporaries portray him as a brave, resolute, knowledgeable commander, an excellent sailor and a learned hydrograph-navigator, a true Russian patriot. Remembering the joint voyage, M.P. Lazarev subsequently called him nothing but "a skillful fearless sailor", and added to this that "he was an excellent, warm-hearted person." Such a high appraisal, coming from the mouth of one of the largest Russian naval commanders MP Lazarev, is worth a lot. F. F. Bellingshausen was a strict but humane boss. He repeatedly showed his humanity in the cruel age of the Arakcheevshchina and during his round-the-world voyage he never used corporal punishment in relation to the sailors subordinate to him, he cared about their living conditions and health.
For the final preparation of the expedition to leave for a dangerous and responsible long-distance navigation F. F. Bellingshausen had very little time left - a little more than a month. The commander of the second of them, Mirny, Lieutenant Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev, who was appointed much earlier and was a worthy subordinate and comrade of F. F. Bellingshausen, did a lot for the proper supply of both sloops.
In view of the hasty preparation of the expedition, it included not ships specially built for navigation in ice, but ships already under construction and intended for other purposes. The Vostok sloop, which was being built at the Okhten shipyard in St. Petersburg, was of the same type as the Kamchatka sloop, which was already on a round-the-world voyage under the command of V. M. Golovnin (the latter gives the following data on the size of these sloops: a displacement of about 900 tons , length 39.5 m, width 10 m, draft with a full load of 4.5 m). "Vostok" had a number of design flaws (excessive height of the masts, insufficient hull strength, poor material, careless work), in which F. F. Bellingshausen directly blames the builder V. Stoke. The second ship of the expedition, commanded by MP Lazarev, was originally built as a transport for sailing in the Baltic Sea; it was built at the shipyard in Lodeynoye Pole by the Russian master Kolodkin. In preparation for the campaign, Lazarev made a number of changes to the design of the Mirny, as a result of which it turned out (according to its commander) to be “the most convenient in terms of its strength, spaciousness and peace”, its only drawback was its slow speed, which required special naval art M P. Lazarev, so as not to be separated during the voyage from the faster Vostok (the dimensions of the Mirny sloop: displacement 530 tons, length 36.5 m, width 9.1 m, draft 4.3 m). The personnel of the expedition included: 9 officers and 117 sailors on the Vostok sloop, 7 officers and 72 sailors on the Mirny sloop. On the sloop "Vostok" were, in addition, astronomer, professor of Kazan University I. Simonov and painter P. Mikhailov seconded to the expedition.
There was not a single foreigner on the ships of F. F. Bellingshausen and M. P. Lazarev. This circumstance is emphasized by Professor Simonov, a member of the expedition, who, in his speech delivered at a ceremonial meeting of the university after his return in July 1822, stated that all the officers were Russian, and although some of them had foreign surnames, but, “being the children of Russian subjects born and raised in Russia cannot be called foreigners.”
Among the officers of the expedition were many leading representatives of the Russian liberal intelligentsia, including the future participant in the Decembrist uprising, Lieutenant K.P. Torson.
Despite the great haste with the equipment of the expedition, it was, in general, well equipped. Particular attention was paid to providing the ships with the best nautical and astronomical instruments for that time.
The expedition was well supplied with all kinds of antiscorbutic food products, which included coniferous essence, lemons, sauerkraut, dried and canned vegetables; in addition, on every suitable occasion, the commanders of the sloops bought and bartered (on the islands of Oceania from local residents) a large amount of fresh fruit, which was partially prepared for the future for the upcoming voyage in Antarctica, and partially provided for use by personnel. To warm the sailors, who were freezing while working on masts and yards during icy winds and frosts in the Antarctic, there was a supply of rum; red wine was also purchased to add to drinking water when swimming in hot climates. All personnel, on the basis of a special instruction, were obliged to observe the strictest hygiene; living quarters were constantly ventilated and, if necessary, heated, frequent washing in the bath was ensured, requirements were made for the constant washing of linen and beds and for airing clothes, etc .; thanks to the above measures and the high qualification of the ship's doctors, there were no serious illnesses on the sloops, despite the difficult climatic conditions of navigation and frequent transitions from heat to cold and back.
Each of the sloops had a significant library containing all published descriptions of sea voyages in Russian, English and French, marine astronomical yearbooks, essays on geodesy, astronomy and navigation, sailing directions and instructions for navigation, various nautical tables, essays on terrestrial magnetism, celestial atlases, notes of the Admiralty Department, etc.
The main goal of the expedition was determined by the instructions of the Minister of Marine as follows: after exploring the island of New Georgia and the area of \u200b\u200bthe so-called “Sandwich Land”, Bellingshausen was to “go south” and “continue his research to the remote latitude that he could reach”, use “every possible diligence and the greatest effort to reach as close as possible to the pole, looking for unknown lands”, and he was allowed to stop these searches only “with insurmountable obstacles”.
The sloops "Vostok" and "Mirny" left Kronstadt on July 16, 1819, and after short stops in Copenhagen, Portsmouth and the Canary Islands, arrived on November 14 in Rio de Janeiro, where they spent three weeks to rest the crew before a tiring and difficult voyage in the Antarctic, to prepare sloops for stormy trips and to receive fresh provisions.
According to the instructions received, the expedition was to begin its research work from the island of South Georgia and the “Sandwich Land” discovered by Cook, the nature and size of which were not determined. F. F. Bellingshausen explored the southern coast of the island of New Georgia and put it on the map, marking a number of geographical points with Russian names in honor of the expedition members.
Then the expedition went to the notorious "Sandwich Land" on the way to this "Earth" was made on January 3, 1820. The first major discovery was the discovery of a group of islands, which was named by Bellingshausen by the name of the then Russian naval minister the islands of the Marquis de Traverse, and its individual islands - by the names of the expedition members (Zavadovsky Island, Leskov Island and Torson Island, renamed Vysokiy Island after the Decembrist uprising). On January 11, the expedition approached the area of "Sandwich Land" and discovered that the points that Cook considered to be her capes were in fact separate islands. F. F. Bellingshausen showed exceptional tact, retaining for the islands discovered by Russian navigators the names that Cook gave to the capes, and for the entire group - the name of Sandwich (South Sandwich Islands). Then the expedition proceeded to those "attempts" to reach the mainland, which the instruction prescribed to it.
With the entry of the ships of the expedition into the high southern latitudes, the navigation conditions became very difficult, requiring from Russian sailors the greatest art of sailing ships, attention, observation, endurance and perseverance in achieving the goal. From the beginning of January 1820, the ships entered the zone of Antarctic floating ice and icebergs, maneuvering between which in fog and snow, stormy winds, heavy seas and swell required great skill and courage. The difference in the speeds between the two sloops made it very difficult to sail together: the Vostok had to reduce its speed all the time, and the Mirny, on the contrary, despite the storm winds, had to force sails. F. F. Bellingshausen in his reports repeatedly notes the merits of M. P. Lazarev, only thanks to whose maritime art the ships never parted even in conditions of poor visibility and all dangerous areas passed together. The sloops were repeatedly close to death when, in stormy winds and in fog, they made their way between huge floating ice and icebergs that swelled, locating the latter only by the noise of breakers. Despite his exceptional courage and experience, M.P. Lazarev believed that Bellingshausen was taking too much risk by maneuvering with large moves between ice fields in conditions of poor visibility. In his remarks, M.P. Lazarev said: “although we looked ahead with the greatest care, it seemed to me not entirely prudent to go on a cloudy night at 8 miles per hour.” To this remark, F.F. Bellingshausen replied: “I agree with this opinion of Lieutenant Lazarev and was not very indifferent during such nights, but I thought not only about the present, but disposed of actions so as to have the desired success in our enterprises and not remain in the ice during the upcoming equinox” (during the equinox, severe storms are common). This was, perhaps, the only disagreement during the voyage between him and his companion, with which he was connected by cordial friendly relations.
Both sloops nevertheless did not avoid collision with ice fields and received serious damage to their hulls. The Vostok received especially serious damage, the state of this sloop by the end of the expeditions generally aroused fears: its hull was very loose and took a lot of water, dampness and rot developed in the interior, the team had to continuously pump out the water entering the ship through the hole with hand pumps. F. F. Bellingshausen, in describing his voyage, writes on this occasion that he found "one consolation in the thought that courage sometimes leads to success."
During the voyage, the expedition members used every opportunity to determine their location astronomically. In addition to the navigators and astronomer Simonov, both commanders also participated in the observations. The accuracy of observations by Russian navigators still amazes the participants of modern Antarctic expeditions.
The Russian expedition came close to the mainland of Antarctica for the first time on January 16, 1820, during its first "attempt" to penetrate south, and we consider this day as the date of its discovery. The visibility conditions, however, were not good enough, and the exceptional honesty and exactingness with regard to the reliability of the discovery did not allow the Russian sailors to claim that they actually saw the low part of the mainland, and not the ice fast ice. Now, however, no one doubts that F. F. Bellingshausen and M. P. Lazarev discovered the sixth part of the world on that very day. For the second time, the expedition was close to the mainland on February 2, 1820. In the same place in 1948, the Soviet whaling expedition Slava was located, which, under excellent visibility, clearly saw the entire coast and mountain peaks in the depths of the continent. He characterizes his impressions of the ice that F. F. Bellingshausen saw in front of him from February 17 to 18 during the next approach to the mainland with the following words: “Here behind the ice fields fine ice and the islands of the mainland of ice, whose edges are broken off perpendicularly and which continues as far as we see, rising to the south like a coast. This characterization shows that F. F. Bellingshausen himself doubted whether he saw a shore in front of him. The very description of the ice, made by the Russian navigator, fully corresponds to the view of the coast of Antarctica in this region, as we know it from later research. Many of the expedition officers were confident in the proximity of the coast. Perhaps the most convincing in this regard is the conclusion of F.F. Bellingshausen, made by him at the end of the voyage, after the expedition discovered the island of Peter I. This conclusion is, as it were, the result of his idea of the polar regions. He's writing: " Huge ice, which, as they get closer to South Pole rise in the gentle mountains, I call hardened, assuming that when the frost is 4 ° on the best summer day, then further south, of course, the cold does not decrease, and therefore I conclude that this ice goes through the pole and must be motionless, touching in places shallow waters, or islands like the island of Peter I, which are undoubtedly located in high southern latitudes and also adjoins the coast, which exists (in our opinion) in the vicinity of the latitude and longitude in which we met the sea swallows” [vol. e. February 5-7, 1820].
During this period, the expedition crossed the Antarctic Circle three times.
In early March 1820, due to unfavorable weather and the need to stock up on fresh provisions and firewood and give rest to the personnel, F. F. Bellingshausen decided (which was in accordance with the instructions) to leave the high southern latitudes, head to the Australian Port Jackson (Sydney) for long stay, and after that, according to the instructions, for the duration of the winter of the southern hemisphere, begin research in the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean.
After a month's stay in Sydney, both sloops on May 22, 1820 headed for the area of the Tuamotu archipelago and the Society Islands. To the east of the island of Tahiti, in June 1820, a Russian expedition discovered a whole group of islands, called the islands of the Russians (the islands of Kutuzov, Lazarev, Raevsky, Yermolov, Miloradovich, Greig, Volkonsky, Barclay de Tolly, Wittgenstein, Osten-Saken, Moller, Arakcheev ). After that, the sloops "Vostok" and "Mirny" visited the island of Tahiti and went back to Sydney for rest, repairs and acceptance of various supplies before a new trip to Antarctic waters. On the way to Sydney, the expedition discovered a number of islands (Vostok, Grand Duke Alexander Nikolayevich, Ono, Mikhailov and Simonov).
In early September 1820, the expedition returned to Sydney, where they began the most thorough repair of both ships, especially the sloop Vostok. The expedition stayed in Sydney for almost two months and on November 11, 1820, again went to sea to reach high latitudes in other sectors of the Antarctic that had not yet been visited. From the end of November, the expedition resumed its attempts to reach the mainland of Antarctica. "Attempts" to penetrate possibly further south during this period were made four, and three times the ships penetrated beyond the southern polar circle.
However, in this sector of the Antarctic, the mainland does not reach the Antarctic Circle far, and only the fourth attempt was successful: on January 21, 1821, Peter I Island was discovered, and on January 18, the Alexander I Coast, about which F. F. Bellingshausen writes: “I I call this acquisition a shore because the remoteness of the other end to the south has disappeared beyond our vision. On February 1, Bellingshausen headed for the archipelago of the South Shetland Islands, the discovery of which he learned while in Australia. From February 5 to 8, the expedition explored the southern shores of the archipelago, discovering that it consists of a dozen larger islands and many smaller ones. All the South Shetland Islands were put on the map, and names were given to all of them (Borodino, Maly Yaroslavets, Smolensk, Berezina, Polotsk, Leipzig, Waterloo, the island of Vice Admiral Shishkov, etc.). After surveying the South Shetland Islands, the expedition headed back to their homeland, calling at Rio de Janeiro, where the sloops were again carefully repaired, and to Lisbon.
Finally, on July 6, 1821, the sloops Vostok and Mirny anchored in the Small Kronstadt roadstead in the places from which they set off on their glorious and dangerous journey more than two years ago.
The expedition lasted 751 days (including 527 sailing days and 224 anchoring days); the ships traveled about 49,000 nautical miles, which is 2.25 times the length of the equator.
What were the results of the first Russian Antarctic expedition? The expedition discovered the mainland of Antarctica and walked around it. In addition, she has rediscovered 29 previously unknown islands, including 2 in Antarctica, 8 in the southern temperate zone, and 19 in the hot zone.
The great merit of the Expedition was to accurately determine geographical location islands, capes and other points and compiling a large number of maps, which was a favorite specialty of F. F. Bellingshausen himself. These definitions have not lost their significance and differ very little from the latest definitions, produced on the basis of more accurate methods and more advanced nautical instruments. The map of the South Shetland Islands was the most accurate until the second half of the 20th century, and the sketches of the islands made by the artist Mikhailov are still used. Astronomer Simonov made systematic observations on changes in air temperature, navigators - on the elements of terrestrial magnetism. The expedition made many important oceanographic studies; she was the first to take water samples from the depths with a primitive bathometer made from improvised means; experiments were made with lowering the bottle to a depth; for the first time, the transparency of water was determined by lowering a white plate to the depth; the depths were measured, as far as the length of the existing lotline allowed (apparently, up to 500 m); an attempt was made to measure the temperature at depth; the structure was studied sea ice and freezing of water of different salinity; compass deviations were determined at various courses and wind direction at various altitudes using balloons, which was a novelty at that time.
The expedition collected rich ethnographic, zoological and botanical collections, which were then transferred to various museums in Russia, where they are still kept.
The expedition was greeted in the homeland with great solemnity. Her discoveries were of great importance. In foreign countries, the priority of the Russian discovery was recognized indisputably.
Only after more than 20 years was the first foreign expedition sent to Antarctic waters. The leader of this English Antarctic expedition 1839-1843. James Ross wrote: "The discovery of the most southern of the known continents was valiantly conquered by the fearless Bellingshausen, and this conquest remained with the Russians for a period of more than 20 years."
In 1867, the German geographer Peterman, noting that in the world geographical literature the merits of the Russian Antarctic expedition were completely underestimated, points to the fearlessness of F. F. Bellingshausen, with whom he went against the opinion of Cook that had prevailed for 50 years: Bellingshausen can be put along with the names of Columbus, Magellan and James Ross, with the names of those people who did not retreat before the difficulties and imaginary impossibilities created by their predecessors, with the names of people who went their own independent way, and therefore were the destroyers of barriers to discoveries, which epochs are marked.
Academician Yu. M. Shokalsky, comparing the achievements of the Antarctic expeditions of Cook and Bellingshausen, made the following calculation: the first of them was south of the parallel 60 ° for 75 days, the second - 122 days; Cook was in the ice for 80 days, Bellingshausen - 100 days; Cook's ships parted, and both Russian sloops, in the most difficult conditions, went all the time together.
F. F. Bellingshausen himself showed himself in this voyage not only as a talented expedition leader, an outstanding sailor and an excellent comrade, but as a highly educated scientist and observer.
F. F. Bellingshausen solved many complex physical and geographical problems, however, unfortunately, scientific fame did not go to him, but to foreign scientists who dealt with the same issues much later. Thus, long before Darwin, F. F. Bellingshausen quite correctly explained the origin of coral islands, which had been a mystery before him; he gave a correct explanation of the origin of algae in the Sargasso Sea, challenging the opinion of such an authority in the field of geographical science of that time as A. Humboldt; he has many correct thoughts in questions of the theory of ice formation, which have not lost their significance; they also resolved many questions of oceanography. Finally, one cannot ignore the statements of F.F. Bellingshausen, directed directly against racial theory and concerning Australians (in describing his voyage, he says: “the consequence showed that the natural inhabitants of Australia are capable of education, despite the fact that many Europeans in their offices do deprived them of all abilities).
As a reward for the successful completion of the assignment, F. F. Bellingshausen “was promoted to captain-commander and received a number of other awards. From 1822 to 1825, he held positions on the coast, apparently in order to be able to process the materials of his voyage for publication. For this purpose, he used his diaries and notes, the journals of the Vostok and Mirny sloops and the notes of all members of the expedition, as well as the observations of the astronomer Simonov and maps and drawings by the artist Mikhailov. This work was completed in 1824, when the author submitted to the Admiralty Department a manuscript containing 10 notebooks. However, this work was published under the title "Double surveys in the Southern Arctic Ocean and voyage around the world in the course of 1819, 1820 and 1821, carried out on the sloops Vostok and Mirny only in 1831. This first edition consisted of two volumes without all kinds of illustrations, and all the maps and drawings were collected in the "Atlas" attached to it (19 maps, 13 types, 2 types of ice islands and 30 different drawings depicting various animals, birds and fish, etc.).
All further service of F. F. Bellingshausen proceeded in almost continuous voyages, military and combat service and in senior command positions. In 1821-1827. we see him commanding a detachment of ships in the Mediterranean. In 1828, being rear admiral and commander of the guards crew, he, together with the latter, left Petersburg by land and went to the Danube to participate in the war with Turkey. On the Black Sea, he played a leading role in the siege of the Turkish fortress of Varna, and then, having his Rear Admiral's flag on the ships "Parmen" and "Paris", and in the capture of this fortress, as well as a number of other cities and fortresses. In 1831, already Vice-Admiral F.F. Bellingshausen was the commander of the 2nd Naval Division and annually cruises with it in the Baltic Sea.
In 1839, the last stage of his life path and career: he is appointed to the highest military post on the Baltic Sea - the chief commander of the Kronstadt port and the Kronstadt military governor. This position was combined with an annual appointment as Commander Baltic Fleet during his summer voyages and until his death (at the age of 73), F.F. Bellingshausen continued to go to sea for combat training of the fleet entrusted to him.
As the chief commander of the Kronstadt port, Admiral (since 1843) F.F. Bellingshausen took an exceptionally large part in the construction of new granite harbors, docks, granite forts, preparing the Baltic stronghold to repel an enemy invasion, just as he performed a similar task the former co-sailor Admiral M.P. Lazarev in the south - in Sevastopol. F. F. Bellingshausen diligently trained his fleet and, in order to improve the quality of artillery fire, developed and calculated special tables published under the title "On aiming artillery pieces at sea." As already noted, F. F. Bellingshausen was an excellent sailor and until the end of his days he skillfully taught his commanders in maneuvering and evolution. Contemporaries who participated in these evolutions gave him the certification of a “master of his craft”, and the Swedish Admiral Nordenskiöld, who was present at the naval maneuvers in 1846, exclaimed: “I bet with anyone that not a single fleet in Europe will make these evolutions.” To the honor of the old admiral, it must be said that he highly appreciated the courage and initiative of young commanders, and when (in 1833) during the autumn voyage at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland on a stormy autumn night, the commander of the frigate Pallada, the future illustrious naval commander P.S. Nakhimov raised the signal “the fleet is heading for danger” to his admiral, the latter unquestioningly changed the course of the wake column, thanks to which the squadron was saved from an accident on the rocks.
F. F. Bellingshausen was interested in geographical issues all his life, re-read all the descriptions of circumnavigations and transferred all new discoveries to his map. His name is listed among the first elected full members of the Russian Geographical Society.
When he was the chief commander in Kronstadt, he showed much concern for raising the cultural level of naval officers; in particular, he was the founder of one of the largest Russian libraries of that time - the Kronstadt Marine Library. His great practical experience owes much to the success of the Russian round-the-world expeditions of the period when he was in charge of their equipment in Kronstadt.
F.F. Bellingshausen was also engaged in ship architecture: during the overhaul of ships in Kronstadt, their contours were improved, and he himself was the author of the project for the large military schooner "Whirlwind", for which he himself made all the drawings and calculations.
F. F. Bellingshausen is characterized by his humanity in relation to the sailors and constant concern for him. In Kronstadt, he significantly improved the living conditions of the teams by building barracks, arranging hospitals, and planting greenery in the city; especially much was done by him to improve the nutrition of the sailors in the sense of increasing the meat ration and the extensive development of vegetable gardens to supply them with vegetables. After the death of the admiral, a note was found on his desk with the following content: “Kronstadt should be planted with such trees that would bloom before the fleet goes to sea, so that a particle of the summer woody smell gets to the sailor’s share.”
Faddey Faddeevich Bellingshausen died on January 25, 1852 in Kronstadt and was buried here. In 1870, a monument was erected in Kronstadt in memory of F. F. Bellingshausen. Subsequently, the following were named after F.F. Bellingshausen geographic features: 1) the Bellingshausen Sea - in Antarctica, in the area of the islands of Peter I and Alexander I Land discovered by the Russian expedition, and 2) Bellingshausen Island - in the group of the South Sandwich Islands. Bellingshausen left a noticeable mark on the history of the Russian fleet and raised the world prestige of Russian navigators and Russian oceanographic and hydrographic science with his remarkable voyage to the shores of Antarctica.
Bibliography
- Shvede E. E. Faddey Faddeevich Bellingshausen / E. E. Shwede // People of Russian Science. Essays on outstanding figures of natural science and technology. Geology and geography. - Moscow: State publishing house of physical and mathematical literature, 1962. - S. 419-431.
Russian navigator, participant of round-the-world voyages
He led the first Russian Antarctic (around the world) expedition on the sloops Vostok and Mirny, which in January 1820 discovered Antarctica and several islands in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Named after him cape on Sakhalin, Russian scientific Bellingshausen polar station on King George Island (Waterloo), which is part of the South Shetland Islands group (opened February 22, 1968 at the southwestern tip of the island, Cape Fidles), Bellingshausen Sea(marginal sea of the Southern Ocean off the coast of Antarctica, between the Antarctic and Thurston peninsulas), shelf bellingshausen glacier(located in the eastern part of the Princess Martha Coast (East Antarctica)), Bellingshausen Basin(depression of the bottom in the southeast Pacific Ocean between the continental slope of Antarctica, South America and the West Chilean Rise), island in the Tuamotu archipelago, and Thaddeus Islands And Gulf of Thaddeus in the Laptev Sea.
"I was born in the middle of the sea; as a fish cannot live without water, so I cannot live without the sea."
(Faddey Faddeevich Bellingshausen)
"Our fleet, of course, is rich in enterprising and skillful officers, but of all of them, whom I know, no one, except Golovnin, can equal Bellingshausen."
(Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern)
Brief chronology
1789 entered the Kronstadt Naval Cadet Corps
1797 promoted to midshipman - the first officer rank
1803-06 took part in the first round-the-world voyage of Russian ships on the frigate Nadezhda under the command of Ivan Kruzenshtern
1810-19 commanded various ships in the Baltic and Black Seas
1819-21 as a captain of the 2nd rank, he led a new round-the-world expedition sent to the south polar seas on the sloops Vostok and Mirny. For 751 days of sailing, the expedition discovered 29 islands in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and Antarctica, including a new mainland, called by Bellingshausen the “ice mainland”. The first descriptions of Antarctica were made, rich collections of plants and animals were collected.
1828-29 As a rear admiral, he participated in the siege and capture of the fortress of Varna during the Russian-Turkish war
1839-52 made military governor of Kronstadt and in this post received the rank of admiral and the Order of Vladimir I st.
1845 Thaddeus Bellingshausen was elected a full member of the Russian Geographical Society
1848 the great navigator was appointed an honorary member of the Naval Scientific Committee
Life story
F.F. Bellingshausen was born on September 20, 1778 on a Baltic island Ezel(now Saarema) near the city of Kuressare (Arensburg). The childhood of the great navigator was spent in the Pilguze family estate, where all the dreams of the young Bellingshausen were connected with the sea and the profession of a sailor.
In 1789 F.F. Bellingshausen entered the Naval Cadet Corps in Kronstadt. After graduating in 1797 with the rank of midshipman, he sailed for 6 years in the Baltic on the ships of the Revel squadron.
The love for science was noticed by the commander of the Kronstadt port, who recommended Bellingshausen to Ivan Kruzenshtern, under whose leadership in 1803-06 F.F. Bellingshausen made the first round-the-world voyage on the frigate Nadezhda. Completed most of the cards included in " Atlas to the journey around the world of captain Kruzenshtern". In 1806, F.F. Bellingshausen received the rank of captain-lieutenant. After returning from the expedition, he commanded various ships in the Baltic and Black Seas, conducted important hydrographic studies
In 1819-1821 he headed round the world expedition on the sloops "Vostok" (under the command of F.F. Bellingshausen) and "Mirny" (under the command of Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev). The purpose of the expedition was determined by the Naval Ministry as scientific - the discovery of the Antarctic Pole in the possible proximity with the aim of "acquiring the most complete knowledge about our globe."
On July 4, 1819, the ships left Kronstadt. On January 16, 1820, the ships of Bellingshausen and Lazarev approached an unknown "ice continent" in the area of the Princess Martha Coast. This day is dated discovery of Antarctica. Three more times this summer they crossed the Antarctic Circle, in early February they again approached Antarctica near the Princess Astrid Coast, but due to snowy weather they could not see it well. In March, when navigation off the coast of the mainland became impossible due to the accumulation of ice, the ships parted by agreement to meet in the port of Jackson (now Sydney). Bellingshausen and Lazarev went there by different routes. Accurate surveys of the Tuamotu Archipelago were made, a number of inhabited atolls were discovered, including the Russian Islands. In November 1820, the ships again headed for Antarctica, rounding it from the Pacific Ocean. The islands of Shishkov, Mordvinov, Peter I, Alexander I Land were discovered. On January 30, when it turned out that the Vostok sloop was leaking, Bellingshausen turned north and through Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon on July 24, 1821 arrived in Kronstadt, completing his second circumnavigation.
The expedition members spent 751 days at sea, covered more than 92,000 km. 29 islands and 1 coral reef have been discovered. F.F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev compiled descriptions of the islands and maps, collected ethnographic, botanical and zoological collections.
Upon returning from a round-the-world expedition, F.F. Bellingshausen commanded a naval crew for 2 years, held staff positions for 3 years, in 1826 led a flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea, took part in the siege and assault of Varna during Russian-Turkish war.
In 1831-38 he led a naval division in the Baltic, from 1839 until the end of his life he was a military man governor of Kronstadt, and during the summer voyages he was annually appointed commander of the Baltic Fleet. During his service, he carried out scientific work in the field of artillery, later he wrote the work "On Aiming Artillery Guns at Sea".
In 1843 he received the rank of admiral. It should be noted that F.F. Bellingshausen did a lot to strengthen and improve Kronstadt; paternally cared for his subordinates, seeking to improve the nutrition of sailors; founded the maritime library. Bellingshausen's biographers noted his benevolence and composure: he kept his presence of mind both under enemy fire and in the fight against the elements.
F.F. Bellingshausen was married and had four daughters. The great navigator died on January 25, 1852 in Kronstadt, where in 1870 a monument was erected to him.
Discovery of Antarctica
The fact that there could be a vast land beyond the Antarctic Circle, most geographers and navigators had no doubts. Another thing is that it was extremely difficult to swim in these icy latitudes. And after, in 1773, James Cook himself, confident in the existence of land there, declared its inaccessibility, attempts to break through to it ceased for a long time. Only at the beginning of the 19th century, English sailors discovered several small islands between 50 and 55 degrees south latitude. Captain W. Smith, passing in 1819 to the south of the Drake Strait, discovered an island there, which he called South Shetland.
By this time, Russia, inspired by the victory over the Napoleonic coalition and the increased influence in Europe and the world, realized itself as a great maritime power. Experienced sailors I.F. Kruzenshtern, O.E. Kotzebue and polar explorer Admiral G prix du cialis .A. Sarychev took the initiative to equip a Russian expedition to search for the southern mainland. After the highest approval of the project by Alexander I maritime ministry already at the beginning of February 1819 formulated scientific task expeditions: "discovery in the possible vicinity of the Antarctic Pole" with the aim of "acquiring the most complete knowledge about our globe."
Further, everything was done in the "best" traditions of the Russian authorities. It turned out that “the deadline is yesterday!” The start was scheduled for the summer of the same year. The sloop, a three-masted warship with guns on the upper deck, was recognized as the most suitable for carrying out such a serious state task. Such vessels were in the Russian Navy in the first half of the 19th century. In administrative haste, the expedition was composed of the sloop "Vostok" (with a displacement of 985 tons) and transport, which was urgently converted into a sloop with a displacement of 884 tons called "Mirny". At the same time, both ships were not adapted to sailing in polar waters. In addition, Vostok and Mirny had different speeds stroke - 18.5 and 14.8 km / h, respectively.
Vostok and Mirny left Kronstadt on July 4, 1819. During December, while exploring the vicinity of the island of South Georgia, Russian sailors discovered several islands and gave them the names of members of the expedition of officers M.D. Annenkova, A.S. Leskova, K.P. Thorson and I.I. Zavadovsky. The group of islands of the Marquis de Traversay got its name in honor of the minister of the sea. To the southeast, the ships passed to Sandwich Land, discovered by D. Cook, and found out that it was an archipelago. It was given the name of the South Sandwich Islands. After the discovery of an underwater ridge stretching for 3.5 thousand km in the western part of the Atlantic Ocean, Mirny midshipman Pavel Mikhailovich Novosilsky wrote: “Now it is obvious that from the Falkland Islands a continuous mountain range continues under water, emerging from the sea with the rocks of Aurora, South George, Clark's Stones, Marquis de Traverse, Sreteniya and Sandwich Islands; the volcanic nature of this ridge is undoubted: the smoking craters on the islands of Zavadovsky and Sanders are clear proof of this.” Now this underwater ridge is called the South Antilles and is presumably considered an underwater continuation of the Andes.
Swimming took place in the hardest weather conditions. For long weeks and months it snowed incessantly, it was replaced by continuous fogs, the ships were forced to maneuver almost blindly between huge ice floes and whole ice mountains - icebergs. During snow storms, the temperature dropped to -5°C, which in a hurricane wind corresponds to a temperature of minus twenty degrees and below. Clear weather, which delighted the sailors on January 3, 1820, made it possible to approach South Tula, the land closest to the Pole, discovered by D. Cook, and discover that it consists of three rocky islands covered with eternal snow and ice. This gave reason to assume that there must be new islands or even the mainland behind them.
“Do not lose face” On January 15, Russian sailors crossed the Antarctic Circle for the first time, and the next day, as M.P. Lazarev, “We reached a latitude of 69 ° 23ў8І, where we met hardened ice of extreme height, and on a beautiful evening then ... it extended as far as vision could only reach, but we did not enjoy this amazing spectacle for long, because soon it became cloudy again and went as usual snow ... From here we continued our way to the east, encroaching at every opportunity to the south, but we always met ice continent not reaching 70°. Cook gave us such a task that we were forced to undergo the greatest dangers in order, as they say, "not to lose face." What did the future Admiral Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev understand by this “do not lose face”? The famous English navigator, a representative of a country that, not without reason, called itself the title of "mistress of the seas", argued that southern land there is, but inaccessibility does not allow to confirm the reality of its existence. What follows from this? Yes, young Russia does not call itself the mistress of the seas, and her navy still very young. But only she, Russia, was able to repel the invasion of the united troops of Europe under the command of Napoleon. And the victories of the Russians in battles on the seas forced all the maritime powers of the world to reckon with this new force. Of course, it was the Russian sailors who had to solve the geographical and nautical problem, which the great Briton Cook considered insoluble. And it was done. The ships of Bellingshausen and Lazarev came closer than 3 km to the northeastern ledge of that section of the coast of the "ice mainland", which more than a century later, Norwegian whalers called the Princess Martha Coast. In that Antarctic "summer" "Vostok" and "Mirny" crossed the Arctic Circle three more times, trying to move closer to the pole.
Approaching on February 5 and 6 for 3 km to the northeastern ledge of the Princess Astrid Coast (above 69 degrees south latitude), the sailors discovered an ice shelf in this area (now named after M. Lazarev). On modern maps, it is located to the south, since as a result of melting, the ice shelves of Antarctica are gradually receding to the south.
The weather conditions remained extremely difficult, the sun very rarely pleased the northerners who always missed it. M.P. Lazarev wrote: “Running between the ice islands in clear weather and hoping for the continuation of it, they sometimes climbed into such a thicket that at one time there were up to one and a half thousand of them in sight, and suddenly a clear day turned into the gloomiest, the wind grew stronger and it snowed, - our horizon was sometimes limited no further than 20 sazhens ... ".
When the so-called Antarctic "summer" was over, Bellingshausen and Lazarev took the "Vostok" and "Mirny" to the north and agreed to spend some time on autonomous navigation in order to explore in more detail the southeastern part of the Indian Ocean, which was shown very approximately on the maps of that time. . In the second half of April, the ships met in Sydney, where they stayed for a month. In July, the captains, while exploring the Tuamotu archipelago, found a number of inhabited atolls unknown to Europeans, not yet mapped, and gave them the names of Russians. statesmen, commanders and naval commanders. To the north of Tahiti, sailors discovered the island of Vostok, and to the southeast of Fiji they named the newly discovered islands in honor of the members of the expedition of the artist P.N. Mikhailov and astronomer I.M. Simonov.
After resting for about 2 months, the expedition in November 1820 again headed for the "ice mainland". Having passed the island of Macquarie, in mid-December, the ships withstood a severe storm with “such great gloom that one could barely see 30 fathoms ... Terrible gusts of wind ran, waves rose into the mountains ...” (F.F. Bellingshausen). Again the sloops crossed the Arctic Circle three times, and on the third time clear signs of land appeared.
Finally, on January 10, 1821, when the expedition, moving south to 69 ° 53 ", turned east, the Russian sailors saw the coast in a few hours. P. Novosilsky wrote: "... The sun flashed from the clouds, and its rays illuminated the black rocks of the , snow-covered island. Soon gloom set in again, the wind freshened, and the island that appeared to us disappeared like a ghost. On January 11 in the morning ... we clearly saw a high island covered with snow, blackening headlands and rocks on which it could not hold. The open island ... was named name ... Peter I "
On January 15, 1821, the sky over Antarctica was unusually clear and clear, the sun was bright and the air was clear. Everything came together as if specifically so that the polar navigators saw the land in the south. A very high cape was clearly visible from Mirny, which was connected by a narrow isthmus with a chain of low mountains extending to the southwest. The sailors of the "Vostok" looked at the mountainous coast, covered with snow, with the exception of talus on the mountains and steep cliffs. Head of the expedition F.F. Bellingshausen called it the "Coast of Alexander I", explaining: "The sudden change in color on the surface of the sea gives the idea that the coast is extensive." On January 30, 1821, it turned out that the Vostok needed major repairs, and the expedition turned north. On July 24, 1821, the sloops returned to Kronstadt. According to the authors of "Essays on the history geographical discoveries”, the sailors spent 751 days outside their native shores, and during this time they were under sail for 527 days, including 122 days south of 60 degrees south latitude, never parting against the will of the commanders. They circumnavigated the world in the high southern latitudes.
Since historians of geographical discoveries do not mention cases of scurvy during the expedition, this can be explained by the peculiarities of Russian cuisine: as you know, people in Rus' did not winter without stocks of sauerkraut. Therefore, the commanders of the "Vostok" and "Mirny" did not have to, like Cook, figure out how to make the sailors eat this yummy. So there was enough vitamin C in the naval diet.
But people die not only from scurvy, and during the more than two-year voyage, the ship's priest twice buried the dead comrades, sending their bodies into the depths of the sea. Of the 190 members of the expedition, 188 returned home. Such statistics, despite the severity of the conditions of polar navigation and the severity of discipline in the Russian navy, were simply unprecedented at that time.
And in general, according to the geographical results achieved the first Russian Antarctic expedition- the greatest in the 19th century. A new part of the world was discovered (“ice continent”, “continent of ice”, “ice stronghold”), later called Antarctica, to the shores of which Russian sailors approached nine times, including four times at a distance of 3 to 15 km; large water areas adjoining the new continent were characterized for the first time; for the first time, the ice of Antarctica was described and classified, and a correct characterization of its climate was given in general terms; 28 objects that received Russian names are plotted on the map of Antarctica; 29 islands were found in the high southern latitudes and in the tropics. The course of the expedition and its results are described by F.F. Bellingshausen in the book "Double surveys in the Southern Arctic Ocean and sailing around the world ...".
