Bellingshausen and Lazarev: discovery of Antarctica. F. Bellingshausen - discoverer of Antarctica New assault on the continent

The most terrible secret of Antarctica The English polar explorer Robert Scott sought to be the first to reach South Pole, but he was unlucky; he was ahead of the Norwegian Roald Amundsen. Scott found a pennant at the coveted spot, left by his opponent just a week before.

At the beginning of the 19th century, ships of the Russian fleet made a number of world travels. These expeditions enriched world science with major geographical discoveries, especially in the Pacific Ocean. However, the vast expanses of the Southern Hemisphere still remained a “blank spot” on the map. The question of the existence of the Southern Continent was also unclear.

In 1819, after long and very careful preparation, the south polar expedition set sail, consisting of two military sloops - “Vostok” and “Mirny”. The first was commanded by Thaddeus Faddeevich Bellingshausen, the second by Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev. Captain Bellingshausen was appointed head of the expedition. In total, 111 people set sail on the Vostok and 70 people on the Mirny. On July 16, 1819, the ships “Vostok” and “Mirny” weighed anchor and left their native Kronstadt roadstead amid fireworks from coastal artillery batteries.

In the large English port of Portsmouth, Bellingshausen stayed for almost a month to replenish provisions, purchase chronometers and various seafaring instruments. At the beginning of autumn, with a fair wind, the ships headed across Atlantic Ocean to the shores of Brazil. The weather was favorable for swimming.

After 21 days of sailing, the sloops approached the island of Tenerife. While the ship's crews stocked up on fresh water and provisions, the officers explored the mountainous, picturesque island.

It went down in history as the day of the discovery of the sixth continent - Antarctica. The honor of its discovery belongs to the Russian round-the-world naval expedition led by Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev.

At the beginning of the 19th century, ships of the Russian fleet made a number of trips around the world. These expeditions enriched world science with major geographical discoveries, especially in the Pacific Ocean. However, the vast expanses of the Southern Hemisphere still remained a “blank spot” on the map. The question of the existence of the Southern Continent was also unclear.

At the end of January 1820, sailors saw thick broken ice stretching to the horizon. It was decided to bypass it by turning sharply north.

Again the sloops passed the South Sandwich Islands. Bellingshausen and Lazarev did not give up trying to break through to the south. When the ships found themselves in solid ice, they continually turned north and hastily got out of the ice captivity.

On January 27, 1820, the ships crossed the Antarctic Circle. On January 28, Bellingshausen wrote in his diary: “Continuing our way south, at noon in latitude 69°21"28", longitude 2°14"50" we encountered ice, which appeared to us through the falling snow in the form of white clouds."

Having traveled another two miles to the southeast, the expedition found itself in “solid ice”; “an ice field dotted with mounds” stretched around.

Lazarev's ship was in conditions of much better visibility. In his diary, he wrote: “We encountered hard ice of extreme height... it extended as far as vision could reach.” This ice was part of the Antarctic ice sheet.

Russian travelers came less than three kilometers to the northeastern protrusion of that section of the coast of Antarctica, which 110 years later was seen by Norwegian whalers and called the Princess Martha Coast.

In February 1820, the sloops entered the Indian Ocean. Trying to break through to the south from this side, they approached the shores of Antarctica two more times. But heavy ice conditions forced the ships to retreat north again and move east along the ice edge.

After quite a long voyage across the Southern Polar Ocean, the ships arrived at the eastern coast of Australia. In mid-April, the sloop Vostok dropped anchor in the Australian harbor of Port Jackson (now Sydney). Seven days later, the sloop "Mirny" arrived here.

Thus ended the first period of research.

During all winter months sloops sailed in the tropical part Pacific Ocean, among the islands of Polynesia. Here the expedition members accomplished many important geographical works: they clarified the position of the islands and their outlines, determined the height of the mountains, discovered and mapped 15 islands, which were given Russian names.

Returning to Port Jackson, the sloop crews began to prepare for a new voyage to the polar seas. The preparation took about two months. In mid-November, the expedition set out to sea again, heading southeast. Continuing to sail south, the sloops crossed 60° S. w.

On January 22, 1821, an unknown island appeared before the eyes of travelers. Bellingshausen called it the island of Peter I - “the high name of the culprit of existence in Russian Empire navy".

On January 28, 1821, in cloudless, sunny weather, the crews of the ships observed a mountainous coast that stretched to the south beyond the limits of visibility. Bellingshausen wrote: “At 11 o’clock in the morning we saw the coast; its cape, stretching to the north, ended in a high mountain, which is separated by an isthmus from other mountains.” Bellingshausen called this land the Land of Alexander I. Now there is no longer any doubt: Antarctica is not just a giant ice massif, not an “ice continent,” as Bellingshausen called it in his report, but a real “earthly” continent.

Completing their “odyssey,” the expedition examined in detail the South Shetland Islands, which was previously only known to have been observed by the Englishman William Smith in 1818. The islands were described and mapped. Many of Bellingshausen's satellites took part in Patriotic War 1812. Therefore, in memory of her battles, individual islands received appropriate names: Borodino, Maloyaroslavets, Smolensk, Berezina, Leipzig, Waterloo. However, they were later renamed by English sailors.

In February 1821, when it became clear that the sloop Vostok had leaked, Bellingshausen turned north and, via Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon, arrived in Kronstadt on August 5, 1821, completing his second circumnavigation.

The expedition members spent 751 days at sea and covered more than 92 thousand kilometers. 29 islands and one coral reef were discovered. Collected by her scientific materials gave us the opportunity to get our first impression of Antarctica.

Russian sailors not only discovered a huge continent located around the South Pole, but also conducted important research in the field of oceanography. This branch of science was just in its infancy at that time. The discoveries of the expedition turned out to be a major achievement of Russian and world geographical science of that time.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

TO early XIX century, there were still many corners of the earth where no human had set foot. It seemed that the Great Geographical Discoveries were left behind: the last triumph of travelers - the discovery of Australia - took place in 1606. People suspected that somewhere beyond the Antarctic Circle there was an unknown land back in the 16th century. But it was impossible to swim to it - the climatic conditions were too harsh, and the ships then were not built the strongest.

For many years, the subantarctic island of South Georgia remained the extreme point for many restless travelers.

James also wanted to try to discover the unknown Southern Land. He failed to do this - multi-year ice interfered, although Cook continued to believe in the existence of an as yet undiscovered continent. A couple of years later, the famous captain set off to meet his fate: in 1779, Cook was killed by the natives of the Hawaiian Islands. And the next attempts to discover an unknown continent will fail.

In 1819, the admiral sent a letter to the Naval Ministry of the Russian Empire, in which he stated the need to prepare expeditions to reach the South and North Poles, respectively. The sloops Mirny and Vostok were supposed to reach the South Pole. The first was commanded by lieutenant, and the second by captain 2nd rank Thaddeus Bellingshausen.

"Vostok" was built by British engineers and was quite inferior to "Mirny" in terms of characteristics. Main problem consisted of insufficient hull density and low speed.

On July 15, 1819, both sloops left Kronstadt. This daring attempt to reach the South Pole went down in history as the First Russian Antarctic Expedition.

Russian sailors set off in the direction Latin America. Already in early November, Mirny and Vostok arrived in Rio de Janeiro. Here the sailors were horrified by the slave trade that flourished in those parts. However, in Russia at that time, not all was well with personal freedoms: at that time there were still 42 years left before the abolition of serfdom. From the coast of Brazil, the expedition set off towards the island of South Georgia. The researchers managed to map that part of the island that James Cook failed to reach.

The further course of the expedition was rich in minor geographical discoveries. For example, sailors discovered Annenkov Island, named after Vostok crew member Mikhail Annenkov.

In general, the Russians saw a lot of interesting things on this expedition. Along the way, the sailors increasingly came across giant icebergs. They also saw whales.

On the island, named after the assistant commander of the sloop “Vostok” Ivan Zavadovsky, the sailors managed to feast on penguin eggs.

Russian sailors managed to refute, or rather expand, one of James Cook’s discoveries: Sandwich Island turned out to be a group of 11 small islands. Subsequently, the crews of “Vostok” and “Mirny” had to perform miracles of navigation every now and then, rescuing ships from seemingly hopeless captivity in the ice. Despite deteriorating conditions, the expedition continued.

And on January 28, 1819, the sloops reached 69°25′ south latitude. And Bellingshausen and Lazarev discovered Antarctica.

“I call this finding a shore because the distance of the other end to the south disappeared beyond the limit of our vision. This coast is covered with snow, but the scree on the mountains and steep cliffs had no snow. A sudden change of color on the surface of the sea gives the idea that the coast is extensive or, at least, does not consist only of the part that was before our eyes,” Thaddeus Bellingshausen wrote in the logbook the next day.

The first Russian Antarctic expedition lasted 751 days. Its participants mapped 29 new islands. And most importantly, they were the first to discover a new continent.

Antarctica discovered by Russian expedition

On January 16 (28), 1820, Antarctica was discovered by the first Russian Antarctic expedition on the sloops “Vostok” and “Mirny” under the leadership of Thaddeus Faddeevich Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev.

The hypothesis about the existence of the Southern Land was put forward by geographers ancient world and was supported by scientists of the Middle Ages. Since XVIV. The Portuguese searched for her. Dias, F. Magellan, Dutchman A.Tasman, Englishman D.Cook. After unsuccessful attempts to find the Southern Continent, Cook stated: “... I can safely say that not a single person will ever dare to penetrate further south than I did. The lands that may be in the south will never be explored."

July 4 (16), 1819 d. expedition consisting of 2 sloops under the command of captain 2nd rank F.F. Bellingshausen left Kronstadt for Rio de Janeiro. The crews were staffed by volunteer military sailors. The sloop "Vostok" was commanded by Bellingshausen, the sloop "Mirny" was commanded by Lieutenant Lazarev. The purpose of the expedition was discoveries “in the possible vicinity of the Antarctic Pole.” The navigators were instructed to explore South Georgia and Sandwich Land (now the South Sandwich Islands, once discovered by Cook) and “continue their research to the most distant latitude that can be reached,” using “all possible diligence and the greatest effort to reach as close to the pole as possible, looking for unknown land."

In Antarctic waters, "Vostok" and "Mirny" made a hydrographic inventory of the southwestern shores of the island. South Georgia. Capes, bays and a group of islands were discovered, named after the expedition members: Annenkov Island, Zavadovsky Island, Leskova Island, Thorson Island. The swim was extremely difficult and dangerous. Small wooden sailing ships were forced to maneuver close to ice and icebergs, often in fog. Following a course to the south, Russian navigators discovered the sixth continent of the Earth on January 16 (28) in the area of ​​69°21" - 69°29" south latitude and 2°14" - 2°35" west longitude.

The Bellingshausen-Lazarev expedition is rightly considered one of the most important and difficult Antarctic expeditions. She traveled a total of 4 thousand 972 miles - a path two and a quarter times the length of the equator. The voyage lasted 751 days, of which the sloops were on the move for 527 days, 122 days south of the 60th parallel and 100 days in the ice. In addition to geographical discoveries (the mainland of Antarctica and 29 islands), the expedition made a lot of interesting and valuable astronomical, oceanographic, synoptic and ethnographic observations.

Lit.: Larionov A. Who discovered Antarctica // Modeler-Constructor. 1968. No. 4;Discovery of Antarctica: Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev [ Electronic resource] // Russia in colors. 2004-2015. URL: http://ricolor.org/history/eng/expedition/antarctida/.

See also in the Presidential Library:

The first Soviet scientific station “Mirny” was opened in Antarctica // On this day. February 13, 1956 ;

The world's first Arctic museum was opened in Leningrad // On this day. January 8, 1937 ;

Bellingshausen F. F. Twice explorations in the Arctic Ocean and voyages around the world in the continuation of 1819, 20 and 21, carried out on the sloops Vostok and Mirny under the command of Captain Bellingshausen, commander of the Sloop Vostok. The sloop Mirny was commanded by Lieutenant Lazarev. St. Petersburg, 1831. Part 1 ;

Bellingshausen F. F. Twice explorations in the Southern Ocean and voyages around the world in the continuation of 1819, 20 and 21, carried out on the sloops Vostok and Mirny under the command of Captain Bellingshausen, commander of the Sloop Vostok. The sloop Mirny was commanded by Lieutenant Lazarev. St. Petersburg, 1831. Part 2 ;

Rally in honor of Russian captains Mikhailo Lazarev and Thaddeus Bellingshausen on the Slava flotilla, 1951: [newsreel fragments / dir. editing by T.I. Dyakonov]. St. Petersburg, 2010 ;

Tarapygin F.A. Famous Russian military figures: a brief biography of them. St. Petersburg, 1911 .