The sloop is “peaceful.” Battleship "St. Paul" Rum from the cold

Midshipman P. M. Novosilsky, who wrote an anonymous book: “The South Pole,” soon after returning from a circumnavigation of the world, was appointed teacher of higher mathematics, astronomy and navigation in the Naval Cadet Corps, and in 1825, having passed exams at St. Petersburg University, he switched to service in the Ministry of Public Education.

Hieromonk Dionysius (not mentioned in Bellingshausen’s book) was also on the voyage on the Mirny sloop.

For an unclear reason (possibly due to the fault of the editors of the first edition), Bellingshausen’s book listed only the names of the officers who participated in the expedition, while Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky also included lists of sailors. Kruzenshtern explained this circumstance in the following words: “I make it my duty to place here not only the names of the officers, but also the servants who all voluntarily undertook this first such long journey.”

We consider it necessary to correct this injustice and provide a complete list of the expedition’s sailors.

1. Sloop "Vostok"

1. Non-commissioned officers: navigators Andrei Sherkunov and Pyotr Kryukov, navigator's assistant Fyodor Vasiliev, paramedic 1st class Ivan Stepanov.

2. Quartermasters: Sandash Aneev, Alexey Aldygin, Martyn Stepanov, Alexey Stepanov, flute player Grigory Dianov, drummer Leonty Churkin.

3. Sailors of the 1st article: helmsman Semyon Trofimov; mars Gubey Abdulov, Stepan Sazanov, Pyotr Maksimov, Kondraty Petrov, Olav Rangopl, Paul Jacobson, Leon Dubovsky, Semyon Gulyaev, Grigory Ananyin, Grigory Elsukov, Stepan Filippov, Sidor Lukin, Matvey Khandukov, Kondraty Borisov, Eremey Andreev, Danila Kornev, Sidor Vasiliev, Danila Lemantov, Fedor Efimov, Christian Lenbekin, Efim Gladky, Martyn Lyubin, Gavrila Galkin, Yusup Yusupov, Gabit Nemyasov, Prokofy Kasatkin, Ivan Krivov, Matvey Lezov, Methuselah May-Izbai, Nikifor Agloblin, Nikita Alunin, Egor Kiselev, Ivan Saltykov, Ivan Sholokhov, Demid Antonov, Abrosim Skukka, Fedor Kudryakhin, Ivan Yarengin, Zakhar Popov, Filimon Bykov, Vasily Kuznetsov, Alexey Konevalov, Semyon Guryanov, Ivan Paklin, Ivan Grebennikov, Yakov Bizanov, Mikhail Tochilov, Matvey Popov, Elizar Maksimov, Pyotr Ivanov, Grigory Vasiliev, Mikhail Takhashikov, Pyotr Palitsin, Denis Yuzhakov, Vasily Sobolev, Semyon Khmelnikov, Matvey Rozhin, Sevastyan Chigasov, Danila Stepanov, Varfolomey Kopylov, Spiridon Efremov, Terenty Ivanov, Larion Nechaev, Fedot Razgulyaev, Vasily Andreev, Kirill Sapozhnikov , Alexander Bareshkov, Alexey Shilovsky, Afanasy Kirillov.

4. Various craftsmen: mechanic Matvey Gubin, timmerman Vasily Krasnopevov, blacksmith Pyotr Kurlygin, carpenter Pyotr Matveev, caulker Rodion Averkiev, sailboat Danila Migalkin, cupper Gavrila Danilov.

5. Gunners: artillery non-commissioned officers Ilya Petukhov and Ivan Korniliev, bombardier Leonty Markelov, gunners 1 article Zakhar Krasnitsyn, Yan Yatsylevich, Yakub Belevich, Egor Vasiliev, Vasily Kapkin, Feklist Alekseev, Semyon Gusarov, Stepan Yadynovsky, Nikita Lebedev, Gleb Plysov and Ivan Barabanov.

2. Sloop "Mirny"

1. Boatswain and non-commissioned officers: boatswain Ivan Losyakov, battalion sergeant rank Andrey Davydov, paramedic 1st class Vasily Ponomarev, mechanic Vasily Gerasimov, ship's assistant Vasily Trifanov, navigator's assistant Yakov Kharlav.

2. Quartermasters: Vasily Alekseev, Nazar Rakhmatulov, drummer Ivan Novinsky.

3. Sailors 1 article: Abashir Yakshin, Platon Semenov, Arsenty Filippov, Spiridon Rodionov, Nazar Atalinov, Egor Bernikov, Gabidulla Mamlineev, Grigory Tyukov, Pavel Mokhov, Pyotr Ershev, Fedor Pavlov, Ivan Kirillov, Matvey Murzin, Simon Taus, Ivan Antonov , Demid Ulyshev, Vasily Sidorov, Batarsha Badeev, Lavrenty Chupranov, Egor Barsukov, Yakov Kirillov, Osip Koltakov, Markel Estigneev, Adam Kukh, Nikolay Volkov, Grigory Petunii, Ivan Leontyev, Anisim Gavrilov, Larion Filippov, Thomas Vunganin. Danila Anokhin, Fyodor Bartyukov, Ivan Kozminsky, Frol Shavyrin, Arkhip Palmin, Zakhar Ivanov, Vasily Kurchavy, Philip Pashkov, Fyodor Istomin, Demid Chirkov, Dmitry Gorev, Ilya Zashanov, Ivan Kozyrev, Vasily Semenov.

4. Various craftsmen: mechanic Vasily Gerasimov, carpenters Fedor Petrov and Pyotr Fedorov, caulker Andrei Ermolaev, sailboat Alexander Temnikov, potter Potap Sorokin.

5. Gunners: artillery senior non-commissioned officer Dmitry Stepanov; gunners 1 article Pyotr Afanasyev, Mikhail Rezvy, Vasily Stepanov, Vasily Kuklin, Efim Vorobyov, Ivan Sarapov.

Expedition supplies

Despite the great rush to equip the expedition, it was generally well supplied. However, this supply still did not fully correspond to its main goal - navigation in the ice. On this occasion, the later famous navigator and geographer F.P. Litke, who saw the sloops “Vostok” and “Mirny” in the Portsmouth roadstead during his voyage on the sloop “Kamchatka”, wrote in his unpublished diary that their supplies and equipment were done “according to example of the “Kamchatka” and, if their command staff did not agree with something, then they answered him: “that’s how it was done in Kamchatka,” although this sloop was intended for ordinary navigation, and, in addition, there was no response from Captain Golovnin about his qualities.

Particular attention was paid to providing ships with the best nautical and astronomical instruments of that time. Due to the fact that at that time all these instruments were not manufactured in Tsarist Russia, during the period of stay in Portsmouth, chronometers and sextants made by the best English craftsmen were purchased in London. In this regard, the Russian ships were much better equipped than the English ones: the author of the preface to the first translation of Bellingshausen’s book into English, Frank Debenham, especially emphasizes that while in the English fleet there was still a disdainful attitude towards chronometers, and there were English admirals who Thus, chronometers were banished from the ships subordinate to them (and they were officially adopted in the English fleet only in 1825), in the Russian navy this device, essential for determining longitudes, was already included in the standard equipment of ships.

The expedition was well supplied with all kinds of antiscorbutic food products, which included pine essence, lemons, sauerkraut, dried and canned vegetables; in addition, on every suitable occasion, the commanders of the sloops bought or bartered (on the islands of Oceania from local residents) a large amount of fresh fruit, which was partly stored for future use for the upcoming voyage in Antarctica, and partly provided for the full use of all personnel. To warm the sailors who froze while working on the yards during the freezing winds and frosts in the Antarctic, there was a supply of rum; Red wine was also purchased to add to drinking water when sailing in hot climates. All personnel, on the basis of special instructions, were obliged to observe the strictest hygiene: living quarters were constantly ventilated and, if necessary, heated, frequent washing was ensured in an improvised bathhouse, requirements were made for the constant washing of linen and beds and for airing clothes, etc. Thanks to the listed measures and the highly qualified ship 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.

To communicate with each other, the sloops had a telegraph, which had recently been invented by the Russian naval officer, Lieutenant Commander A. Butakov. This telegraph, which he improved in 1815, “consisted of a box with 14 sheaves and a plank with the same number of sheaves, with round halyards attached, with flags tied to them, for hoisting on the mizzen yard”; Butakov also published the Marine Telegraph Dictionary. This Russian invention brought great benefit to the expedition for negotiations between sloops over long distances.

Sloop "Vostok"

The ship was launched from the slipway of the Okhtinskaya shipyard in St. Petersburg in 1818. Its length is 40 m, width about 10 m, draft 4.8 m, displacement 900 tons, speed up to 10 knots. The armament consisted of 28 guns. Crew 117 people.

On July 3 (15), 1819, the sloop “Vostok” under the command of captain II rank F.F. Bellingshausen, the head of the round-the-world Antarctic expedition, and the Mirny sloop under the command of Lieutenant M.P. Lazarev left Kronstadt and on January 16 (28) of the following year reached the shores of Antarctica. After repairs in Sydney (Australia), the ships explored the tropical Pacific Ocean, and then on October 31 (November 12), 1820, they again headed for Antarctica. On January 10 (22), 1821, the sloops reached the southernmost point: 69°53" south latitude and 92°19" west longitude. On July 24 (August 5), 1821, having completed a difficult voyage, the ships arrived in Kronstadt. In 3a 751 days they covered 49,723 miles (about 92,300 km). The most important result of the expedition was the discovery of the huge sixth continent - Antarctica. In addition, 29 islands were mapped and complex oceanographic work was carried out. In memory of this significant voyage, a medal was knocked out in Russia.

In 1828, the sloop Vostok was removed from the lists of the fleet and dismantled. Nowadays, two Soviet Antarctic scientific stations bear the names of the sloops “Vostok” and “Mirny”. According to established tradition, the name “Vostok” was transferred to the largest research vessel.

DISCOVERY OF ANTARCTICA
Antarctica is the sixth continent of our planet. Translated from Greek, the word “Antarctica” means “against the north.” The history of the discovery of this continent is very interesting.
Back in the 2nd century AD, the famous ancient Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy, and after him many other scientists purely speculatively assumed that since there are large continents in the north and in the middle latitudes, then in the south, as a counterbalance to them, there should be a “Great Unknown Land” .
In those distant times, ancient ships did not go out to the open sea, they stayed near the coast, and there was no one to confirm or refute the opinion of scientists. However, in 650, the legendary Polynesian navigator Hute-Rangiora, while in the waters of the Arctic Ocean on his canoe Te-iwi-Atea, discovered white cliffs, the peaks of which rose so high that they pierced the clouds, towering above the vast ice cover of an unknown land.
Later, with the development of nautical art and shipbuilding, when a compass appeared and ships “learned” to sail against the wind, sailors began to make bold attempts to discover the mysterious continent. It is assumed that back in 1501 - 1502, Neronha and Amerigo Vespucci reached 54° south latitude.
Attempts continued in the future. In 1772 - 1775, the famous navigators James Cook and Furneaux sailed in the southern seas of the Arctic Ocean on the ships Resolution and Adventure and discovered the island. South Georgia, where Amerigo and Neronha allegedly reached, crossed the southern polar circle three times, and... D. Cook categorically rejected the existence of the Great Southern Land. Or rather, he believed that even if it exists, it is impossible to achieve it.
The authority of the outstanding English navigator was so great that for almost half a century no one made an attempt to get further to the south than he did, much less organize a special expedition.
English and American whalers sailed in Antarctic waters at the beginning of the 19th century, but they were not in the mood for geographical discoveries.
The solution to the problem - whether the Great Southern Land still exists - was undertaken by brave Russian sailors.
On July 16, 1819, the first Russian Antarctic expedition set out from Kronstadt on two war sloops “Vostok” and “Mirny” to circumnavigate the world. The sloop "Vostok" was commanded by the head of the expedition, Captain 2nd Rank F.F. Bellingshausen, the sloop "Mirny" was commanded by Lieutenant M.P. Lazarev.
The voyage took place in incredibly difficult conditions, especially in the waters of the Arctic Ocean, where storms, snowfalls, icing, fog and frost accompanied the ships for more than a hundred days. Despite the hardships and dangers, the expedition carried out extremely important research that made it possible to establish the existence of a huge continent - Antarctica; in addition, twenty-nine islands were discovered. All of them were named by Russian names. Russian sailors made the greatest geographical discovery, writing a new page in the history of the exploration of the Earth.
The swimming continued for more than two years. Only on August 27, 1821, the sloops “Vostok” and “Mirny” returned to Kronstadt. The great undertaking was successfully completed. The ships under sail covered an enormous distance - about one hundred thousand kilometers.
In memory of the significant voyage of two Russian ships to Antarctica, a medal was struck with the inscription on one side: “The sloops Vostok and Mirny 1819.”
Ten years later, in 1831, the book “Twice explorations in the Arctic Ocean and voyages around the world during 1819, 20 and 21, accomplished on the sloops Vostok and Mirny,” written by F. F. Bellingshausen, was published. In honor of the feat of Russian sailor-scientists who discovered an unknown continent and the islands adjacent to it, two Soviet Antarctic stations “Vostok” and “Mirny” were named after the glorious ships. Their names are deeply symbolic for our time.
After the expedition of F.F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev, the exploration of Antarctica began.
Today, Antarctica is an international land with an unusually wide range of scientific activities, with hundreds of scientists from all five continents working there; Research stations in twelve countries conduct systematic research. The most intensive work on studying Antarctica is carried out by the Soviet Union, which has over ten operating stations. The cooperation of scientists from different countries, the mutual exchange of scientific information, and friendly work over the past ten years have made it possible to learn more about Antarctica than in previous millennia.

ABOUT THE SHIPS OF THE SAILING FLEET
The beginning of the 19th century was the heyday of the Russian sailing fleet. From 1803 to 1866, Russian sailors made, mainly on wooden sailing ships, 28 circumnavigations and 17 semi-circumnavigations. As a rule, these were naval ships, which, depending on the number of guns and masts installed on them, were divided into 6 ranks.
Brigs became widespread - small two-masted ships with 16 - 20 small-caliber guns on the upper, open deck, intended for parcel and cruising operations and for attacking enemy merchant ships. These were ships of the sixth rank. Corvettes and sloops, which, unlike brigs, carried three masts, were considered ships of the fifth rank. Corvettes had from 18 to 30 small-caliber guns mounted on the upper deck and were used for reconnaissance and dispatch service. Sloops are military vessels, slightly larger than corvettes.
On some sloops (in particular, on the Vostok sloop), the artillery was located on the upper and battery decks. Sloops were used for circumnavigation of the world, scientific expeditions, and sometimes as military transports. The most numerous group of ships of the era of sailing fleet were frigates. These were three-masted ships carrying 50 and sometimes more guns located on the upper and battery decks. They were called ships of the fourth rank. And finally, the main power of the sailing navy is battleships, intended for conducting general naval battles. Their artillery armament reached 120 guns, which were located on four decks (including the top one). Depending on the number of guns, battleships were classified into the third, second and first ranks. The displacement of the largest of them - ships of the first rank - exceeded 3000 tons, which was the limit that still made it possible to create a durable wooden structure.

EXPEDITIONAL SHIP SLOOP "VOSTOK"
For Russian expeditions around the world, brigs, corvettes, sloops, frigates, i.e. ships of 6, 5 and 4 ranks were used.
To survey the Southern Arctic Ocean, it was decided to quickly build a frigate-armed warship and equip an expedition. The prototype for the sloop "Vostok" with minor changes was
frigates "Castor" and "Pollux", built in 1807. "Vostok" was built at the Okhtinskaya shipyard in St. Petersburg. The laying of the ship took place in 1817, launching in 1818, completion and equipment were carried out too hastily. Therefore, during a long and difficult voyage, serious shortcomings in the design of the sloop were revealed: insufficient hull strength, the vessel’s unsuitability for navigation in ice, raw material (the wood from which the set, plating and decks are made), excessive height of the spar, malfunctions of the tiller, rudder, and low capacity. Hence the cramped conditions in the ship's quarters for sailors and officers. In the conditions of stormy weather that accompanied the sloop while sailing in high latitudes, it was necessary to repeatedly install additional fastenings. The grooves of the casing diverged, water flowed inside, which had to be pumped out with hand pumps. All these shortcomings could have been eliminated if there had been no desire to speed up the departure of the high-latitude expedition.

SHIP COURSES RELATIVE TO WIND
or port tack. When there are headwinds, you have to tack, sail in a broken course, zigzag. Figure 2 shows how the sloop “Vostok” maneuvered, getting from island A to island B, the straight distance between the ships being only 100 miles. Tackling against the wind and changing tacks, the ships had to travel twice as far.
Navigation instruments on sailing ships of the early 19th century, by modern standards, were far from perfect; they consisted of astrolabes, sexgates, chronometers and magnetic compasses. The first three instruments were used to determine a place in the sea, and with the help of a magnetic compass the direction of movement of the ship was determined. Despite all the improvements, this device has changed little. The ship's compass consists of a copper bowl suspended on a cardan joint; thanks to the hinge, the compass maintains a horizontal position. The cardan joint is fixed in the upper part of the binnacle - a wooden bedside table. Inside the pot, on a vertical needle axis, a card with a magnet attached to it rotates freely, which serves to determine the cardinal points (Fig. 3).
Figure 1 shows a general view of the sloop “Vostok”, partially cut along the center plane showing the living and service spaces. The bow part of the deck up to the foremast is called the forecastle. The next part of the deck, from the foremast to the mainmast, is called the waist. The deck from the main mast to the mizzen mast is called the quarterdeck and, finally, the aft part from the mizzen mast to the stern is called the poop.
To prevent the underwater part from becoming overgrown with algae and shells, which would reduce the speed of the ship, it was lined with copper sheets. Three masts carried sails, the total area of ​​which was over 2 thousand square meters.
In Figure 2, the arrows show the direction of the wind blowing on the sails. The wind blowing into the bow of the ship is called opposite or headwind, the position of the ship is left. The sails flutter, sway, the ship does not move or even goes backwards. The wind blowing aft is favorable and fills all the sails; this position is called jibe, the ship is sailing with full wind. When the wind blows on board, the ship's position is gulfwind. And if the wind blows between the left and half wind directions, the position is called close-hauled, and between the jibe and half-wind - backstay.
Subsequent intermediate directions from the north to the north-east are designated NNO, and from the rest to the north - ONO; respectively, from north to west NNW, and from west to north WNW; counting from south to east, they are designated SSO, and from the east - OSO; respectively, from south to west - SSW, and from west - WSW.
The average direction between each of the 16 points also has its own name, which is made up of the name of the main, or quarter point, closest to the given one, the Latin letter “t” - “ten”, which in Dutch means the preposition “to”, and the name of the cardinal direction , to which this intermediate point tends. For example, from N to the right to O the intermediate point will be NtO, and to the left to W - NtW, respectively, from O to N - OtN, and to S - OtS and so on, as shown on the card. The center of the card is mounted on a vertical axis-needle, thanks to which it can very easily rotate in a horizontal plane and always indicate where north is.
END OF PARAGMEHTA BOOKS

Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

East
Postage stamp of the USSR, 1965
Service:
Vessel class and type	Sloop
Main characteristics
Displacement	985 t
Length	39.62 m
Width	10.36 m
Draft	4.8 m
Travel speed	up to 10 knots
Crew	117 people
Armament
Artillery	16 137 mm guns, 12 120 mm carronades

Vessel history

The ship was launched from the slipway of the Okhtensky Admiralty shipyard in St. Petersburg in 1818.

In 751 days they covered 49,723 miles (about 92,300 km). The most important result of the expedition was the discovery of the huge sixth continent - Antarctica. In addition, 29 islands were mapped and complex oceanographic work was carried out. In memory of this significant voyage, a medal was knocked out in Russia.

Write a review about the article "Vostok (sloop)"

Notes

Literature

• Marine encyclopedic dictionary. L.: Shipbuilding, 1991. ISBN 5-7355-0280-8

Excerpt characterizing the East (sloop)

- What the hell is this! - said Ilaginsky the stirrup.
“Yes, as soon as she stopped short, every mongrel will catch you from stealing,” said Ilagin at the same time, red-faced, barely catching his breath from the galloping and excitement. At the same time, Natasha, without taking a breath, squealed joyfully and enthusiastically so shrilly that her ears were ringing. With this screech she expressed everything that other hunters also expressed in their one-time conversation. And this squeal was so strange that she herself should have been ashamed of this wild squeal and everyone should have been surprised by it if it had been at another time.
The uncle himself pulled the hare back, deftly and smartly threw him over the back of the horse, as if reproaching everyone with this throwing, and with such an air that he didn’t even want to talk to anyone, sat on his kaurago and rode away. Everyone except him, sad and offended, left and only long after could they return to their former pretense of indifference. For a long time they looked at the red Rugay, who, with his hunchbacked back and dirt stained, rattling his iron, with the calm look of a winner, walked behind the legs of his uncle’s horse.
“Well, I’m the same as everyone else when it comes to bullying. Well, just hang in there!” It seemed to Nikolai that the appearance of this dog spoke.
When, long after, the uncle drove up to Nikolai and spoke to him, Nikolai was flattered that his uncle, after everything that had happened, still deigned to speak with him.

When Ilagin said goodbye to Nikolai in the evening, Nikolai found himself at such a far distance from home that he accepted his uncle’s offer to leave the hunt to spend the night with him (with his uncle), in his village of Mikhailovka.
- And if they came to see me, it would be a pure march! - said the uncle, even better; you see, the weather is wet, the uncle said, if we could rest, the countess would be taken in a droshky. “Uncle’s proposal was accepted, a hunter was sent to Otradnoye for the droshky; and Nikolai, Natasha and Petya went to see their uncle.
About five people, large and small, courtyard men ran out onto the front porch to meet the master. Dozens of women, old, big and small, leaned out from the back porch to watch the approaching hunters. The presence of Natasha, a woman, a lady on horseback, brought the curiosity of the uncle's servants to such limits that many, not embarrassed by her presence, came up to her, looked into her eyes and in her presence made their comments about her, as if about a miracle being shown, which is not a person, and cannot hear or understand what is said about him.
- Arinka, look, she’s sitting on her side! She sits herself, and the hem dangles... Look at the horn!
- Father of the world, that knife...
- Look, Tatar!
- How come you didn’t somersault? – said the bravest one, directly addressing Natasha.
The uncle got off his horse at the porch of his wooden house overgrown with a garden and, looking around at his household, shouted imperiously that the extra ones should leave and that everything necessary for receiving guests and hunting would be done.
Everything ran away. Uncle took Natasha off the horse and led her by the hand along the shaky plank steps of the porch. The house, unplastered, with log walls, was not very clean - it was not clear that the purpose of the people living was to keep it stain-free, but there was no noticeable neglect.
The hallway smelled of fresh apples, and there were wolf and fox skins hanging. Through the front hall, the uncle led his guests into a small hall with a folding table and red chairs, then into a living room with a birch round table and a sofa, then into an office with a torn sofa, a worn carpet and with portraits of Suvorov, the owner’s father and mother, and himself in a military uniform . There was a strong smell of tobacco and dogs in the office. In the office, the uncle asked the guests to sit down and make themselves at home, and he himself left. Scolding, his back not cleaned, entered the office and lay down on the sofa, cleaning himself with his tongue and teeth. From the office there was a corridor in which screens with torn curtains could be seen. Women's laughter and whispers could be heard from behind the screens. Natasha, Nikolai and Petya undressed and sat on the sofa. Petya leaned on his arm and immediately fell asleep; Natasha and Nikolai sat in silence. Their faces were burning, they were very hungry and very cheerful. They looked at each other (after the hunt, in the room, Nikolai no longer considered it necessary to show his male superiority in front of his sister); Natasha winked at her brother, and both did not hold back for long and laughed loudly, not yet having time to think of an excuse for their laughter.

Prefaces

E. E. Shvede. The first Russian Antarctic expedition 1819–1821

The first three decades of the 19th century were marked by numerous Russian voyages around the world, most of which were caused by the presence of Russian possessions in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska and the bordering coasts of North America.

These trips around the world were accompanied by major geographical discoveries in the Pacific Ocean, which placed our Motherland in first place among all other states in the field of Pacific research of that time and oceanographic science in general. Already during the first seven Russian voyages around the world - I. F. Kruzenshtern and Yu. F. Lisyansky on the ships "Neva" and "Nadezhda" (1803–1806), V. M. Golovnin on the sloop "Diana" (1807–1809) , M. P. Lazarev on the ship “Suvorov” (1813–1816), O. E. Kotzebue on the brig “Rurik” (1815–1818), L. A. Gagemeister on the ship “Kutuzov” (1816–1819), 3 I. Ponafidina on the ship “Suvorov” (1816–1818) and V. M. Golovnina on the sloop “Kamchatka” (1817–1819) - vast areas of the Pacific Ocean were explored and numerous discoveries of new islands were made.

However, the vast expanses of the three oceans (Pacific, Indian and Atlantic) south of the Antarctic Circle, which at that time were united under the general name of the Southern Arctic Ocean, as well as the very southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean, remained completely unexplored by either Russian or foreign expeditions.

Many foreign expeditions of the 18th century. By sailing in these waters, they sought to reach the shores of the mysterious continent of Antarctica, legendary information about the existence of which has been widespread in geographical science since ancient times. The discovery of the southern continent was largely devoted to the second voyage around the world (1772–1775) by the English navigator Captain James Cook. It was the opinion of Cook, who proved in the report on his second voyage that Antarctica either does not exist, or that it is completely impossible to reach it, that served as the reason for the refusal of further attempts to discover a sixth of the world, almost half a century until the departure of the Russian Antarctic expedition of Bellingshausen - Lazarev.

Cook, resolutely denying the existence of a southern continent, wrote: “I have circled the ocean of the southern hemisphere in high latitudes and rejected the possibility of the existence of a continent, which, if it can be discovered, is only near the pole in places inaccessible to navigation.” He believed that he had put an end to further searches for the southern continent, which was a favorite topic for discussion among geographers of that time. In his afterword, Cook says: “If we had discovered the mainland, we would certainly have been better able to satisfy the curiosity of many. But we hope that the fact that we have not found it after all our persistent research will leave less opportunity for future speculation regarding unknown worlds yet to be discovered."

Highlighting the success of the expedition in many other ways. Cook ends his work with the following glories: “this alone will be enough to consider our journey remarkable in the opinion of well-disposed people, especially after the disputes about the southern continent cease to attract the attention of philosophers and cause them to disagree.”

Thus, Cook’s fatal mistake had the consequence that at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. the prevailing belief was that Antarctica did not exist at all, and all the areas surrounding the South Pole then appeared as a “white” spot on the map. It was under these conditions that the first Russian Antarctic expedition was conceived.

Expedition preparation

Drawing up an expedition plan. It is difficult to say who had the first idea about this expedition and who initiated it. It is possible that this idea arose almost simultaneously among several of the most outstanding and enlightened Russian navigators of that time - Golovnin, Kruzenshtern, and Kotzebue.

In archival documents, the first mentions of the projected expedition are found in the correspondence of I. F. Kruzenshtern with the then Russian Minister of Maritime Marquis de Traversay (Golovnin at that time was on a circumnavigation of the world on the sloop "Kamchatka", from which he returned after the departure of the Antarctic expedition from Kronstadt).

In his letter dated December 7, 1818, the first document concerning this expedition, Kruzenshtern, in response to a message about the planned sending of Russian ships to the south and north poles, asks Traverse for permission to present his thoughts on the organization of such an expedition.

After this, the Minister of Marine entrusted the preparation of notes on the organization of the expedition to both Kruzenshtern and a number of other competent persons, including a representative of the older generation of Russian sailors - the famous hydrographer Vice Admiral Gavrila Andreevich Sarychev. Among the archival documents there is also a note “A brief overview of the plan for the proposed expedition”, which does not have a signature, but, judging by the references to the experience of the brig “Rurik”, which had just returned from a circumnavigation of the world (arrived in St. Petersburg on August 3, 1818), belongs to the pen of the commander of the latter - Lieutenant O. E. Kotzebue. According to some data, it can be assumed that Kotzebue’s note is the earliest of all and it provides for sending only two ships from Russia, and their separation was planned at the Hawaiian Islands, from where one of the ships was supposed to cross the Pacific Ocean to the west - to the Bering Strait, the second - to the east, in order to try to get closer to the South Pole.

On March 31, 1819, Kruzenshtern sent his extensive note of 14 pages to the Minister of the Navy from Revel, with an accompanying letter. In the letter, Kruzenshtern states that given his “passion” for this kind of travel, he himself would ask to be placed at the head of the expedition, but this is prevented by a serious eye disease, and that he is ready to draw up detailed instructions for the future head of the expedition.

In his note, Krusenstern refers to two expeditions - to the North and South Poles, and each of them includes two ships. He, however, pays special attention to the expedition to the South Pole, about which he writes: “This expedition, in addition to its main goal - to explore the countries of the South Pole, should especially have in mind everything that is incorrect in the southern half of the Great Ocean and replenish all those located in it shortcomings, so that it can be recognized as, so to speak, the final journey into this sea.” Krusenstern concludes this remark with the following words, full of patriotism and love for the Motherland and desire for its priority: “We should not allow the glory of such an enterprise to be taken away from us; within a short time it will certainly fall to the British or French.” Therefore, Kruzenshtern was in a hurry to organize this expedition, considering “this enterprise one of the most important that has ever been undertaken... A journey, the only one undertaken to enrich knowledge, will, of course, be crowned with the gratitude and surprise of posterity.” However, he still “after careful consideration” proposes to postpone the start of the expedition to next year in order to prepare it more thoroughly. The Minister of Maritime remained dissatisfied with a number of Kruzenshtern’s proposals, in particular regarding the postponement of the expedition for a year and the separate departure of both expeditions from Kronstadt (the minister insisted on all four ships traveling together to a certain point and their subsequent separation along routes).

The government rushed in every possible way to organize the expedition and forced its exit from Kronstadt. In his note, Kruzenshtern also outlined the heads of both “divisions” sent to the South and North Poles. Kruzenshtern considered the most suitable head of the “first division” intended for discoveries in the Antarctic to be the outstanding navigator Captain 2nd Rank V. M. Golovnin, but he planned O. E. Kotzebue as the last head of the “second division” going to the Arctic. in the northern latitudes on the Rurik, which proved his outstanding qualities as a navigator and learned sailor. Due to the absence of Golovnin, Kruzenshtern proposed in return to appoint his former co-voyager, Captain 2nd Rank F.F. Bellingshausen, who then commanded one of the frigates on the Black Sea. On this occasion, Kruzenshtern wrote: “Our fleet, of course, is rich in enterprising and skillful officers, but of all those I know, no one except Golovnin can compare with Bellingshausen.”

The government, however, did not follow this advice, and Kruzenshtern’s closest assistant on the round-the-world expedition on the Nadezhda ship, Captain-Commander M.I. Ratmanov, was appointed head of the first division, and Lieutenant-Commander M.N. Vasiliev was appointed head of the second. Ratmanov, who shortly before his appointment was shipwrecked off Cape Skagen while returning from Spain, was in Copenhagen and his health was in a disturbed state. On this occasion, he asked not to send him on a long voyage, and, in turn, nominated F.F. Bellingshausen.

Selection of ships. As already noted, at the request of the government, both expeditions were equipped in a very hasty manner, which is why they included not sailing ships specially built for sailing in ice, but sloops that were under construction, intended for departure on regular voyages around the world. The first division consisted of the sloops “Vostok” and “Mirny”, the second division consisted of the sloops “Otkrytie” and “Blagomarnenny”. The basic data of these sloops are given in table. 1.

Table 1

Basic data of the sloops “Vostok” and “Mirny”

Regarding the Kamchatka sloop of the same type as the Vostok, V. M. Golovnin writes: “The Maritime Department decided to deliberately build a warship for the intended voyage in a frigate arrangement, with only a few changes that were necessary for the type of service of this upcoming vessel”; in another place he says that “the size of this sloop was equal to a mediocre frigate.” M.P. Lazarev, in a letter to his friend and former co-voyager A.A. Shestakov, notes that the Vostok was built according to the plan of the previous frigates Castor and Pollux (built in 1807), but with the difference that on it the upper deck was solid, without split waists. Lazarev believed that “this ship is completely inconvenient for such an enterprise due to its small capacity and cramped conditions for both officers and crew.” The sloop “Vostok” (like a whole series of sloops of the same type “Kamchatka”, “Otkrytie”, “Apollo”) was built by naval engineer V. Stoke (an Englishman in Russian service) and in practice turned out to be little successful. Bellingshausen complains that the Minister of the Navy recognized the choice of this sloop as successful only because the same type of sloop "Kamchatka" was already on a circumnavigation of the world with V. M. Golovkin, while the latter, in his already cited work, complains about not entirely satisfactory seaworthiness your sloop. Bellingshausen repeatedly dwells on a number of design shortcomings of the sloop "Vostok" (excessive spar height, insufficient hull strength, poor material, careless work) and directly accuses Stoke of having these shortcomings. Thus, regarding the malfunction of the tiller, he writes: “the unreliability of the tiller proves the negligence of the shipmaster, who, forgetting the sacred duties of service and humanity, exposed us to destruction.” Elsewhere, regarding the insufficient height of the hatch coamings on the upper deck, he accuses Stoke of being out of practice. “These and other errors encountered in construction occur more due to the fact that shipwrights build ships without ever having been at sea themselves, and therefore hardly a single ship comes out of their hands perfectly.” The sloop "Vostok" was built from damp pine wood and did not have any special fastenings other than ordinary ones; the underwater part was fastened and sheathed with copper on the outside, and this work was already carried out in Kronstadt by the Russian shipwright Amosov. The hull of the sloop "Vostok" turned out to be too weak for navigation in ice and in conditions of continuous stormy weather and it had to be repeatedly reinforced, all the weights were reloaded into the hold, additional fastenings were installed and the sail area was reduced. Despite this, by the end of the voyage the Vostok had become so weak that further attempts towards the south seemed almost impossible. The incessant outflow of water exhausted people extremely... Rot appeared in different places, moreover, the shocks received from the ice forced Captain Bellingshausen to abandon the search a month earlier and think about returning.” “The sloop had a strong movement, the Waderwels grooves, with each tilt from side to side, were sensitively heard,” writes Bellingshausen on December 1, 1820. The sloop did not even have additional (“false”) outer plating, which was required in preparation for the expedition by M.P. Lazarev, who oversaw the outfitting of both sloops due to the fact that Bellingshausen’s appointment took place only 42 days before the expedition left Kronstadt.

Despite such unsatisfactory design and seaworthiness of the sloop, the Russian sailors completed the difficult task with honor and completely completed the circumnavigation of the entire Antarctic waters. Bellingshausen repeatedly had to ponder the question of whether on such a damaged ship it was necessary to cross the ice fields again and again, but each time he found “one consolation in the thought that courage sometimes leads to success” and steadily and firmly led his ships to the intended goal.

But the second sloop, Mirny, built by the Russian shipwright Kolodkin in Lodeynoye Pole, showed excellent seaworthiness. Probably, the design of this ship was drawn up by the remarkable Russian naval engineer I.V. Kurepanov, who built the same type of sloop “Blagomarnenny” in Lodeynoye Pole (in total he built 8 sailing battleships, 5 frigates and many small ships during his service); Kolodkin was only the executor of this project. The sloop "Mirny" was significantly smaller in size, and was initially listed in the fleet lists as the transport "Ladoga". It has been rebuilt somewhat to give it the appearance of a warship. In addition, its commander, an excellent maritime practitioner, Lieutenant M.P. Lazarev, made a lot of efforts in the preparatory period before setting off on a long voyage to improve the seaworthiness of this sloop (it was equipped with a second skin, the pine rudder was replaced with an oak one, additional hull fastenings, the rigging was replaced with stronger ones, etc.), built, however, from good pine wood with iron fastenings, but designed for navigation in the Baltic Sea. M.P. Lazarev gives a positive assessment of his sloop: the same type “Mirny” and “Blagomarnenny”, in his words, “later turned out to be the most comfortable of all the others, both in terms of their strength, spaciousness and peace: there is only one drawback against the “Vostok”, and “Opening” was underway,” and further: “I was very pleased with my sloop,” and “while standing in Rio de Janeiro, Captain Bellingshausen considered it necessary to add another 18 knits and standers to secure the “Vostok” together; “Mirny” didn’t complain about anything.” Both Bellingshausen and Lazarev repeatedly complain about the fact that both divisions included two completely different types of ships, significantly different from each other in speed. Bellingshausen writes regarding the renaming of the transport “Ladoga” into the sloop “Mirny”: “despite this renaming, every naval officer saw what an inequality there should be in sailing with the sloop “Vostok”, therefore, what a difficulty it would be for them to remain in the formation and what This should have resulted in slowness in swimming.”

Lazarev expresses himself more sharply: “Why were the ships sent, which must always stay together, and by the way there is such inequality in sailing that one must constantly carry all the foxes and therefore strain the spars, while the companion carries very small sails and waits? I’ll leave this riddle to you to guess, but I don’t know.” And the mystery was solved by the little naval experience of the then naval minister Traverse, who led first the Black Sea Fleet, which he commanded, and then the entire Russian fleet to decline in comparison with the previous brilliant period of Ushakov and Senyavin, and the subsequent, no less glorious, period of Lazarev, Nakhimov and Kornilov.

It was only thanks to the amazing seamanship of M.P. Lazarev that the sloops were never separated during the entire voyage, despite the exceptionally poor visibility conditions in Antarctic waters, dark nights and continuous storms. Bellingshausen, introducing the Mirny commander on the way from Port Jackson to the award ceremony, especially emphasized this invaluable quality of M.P. Lazarev.