The mystery of the disappearance of brave Arctic explorers led by Vladimir Rusanov on the islands of the Kara Sea and Taimyr
"Fight and seek, find and not give up"Alfred Tennyson
This motto is carved on a commemorative cross erected at Cape Hut in honor of the polar explorer Robert Scott and his comrades, who died in 1912 on their way back from the South Pole.
Instead of a preface
2012 passed, 2013 came, then 2014. Significant years. A hundred years ago, these were years full of events: the whole world was agitated by the fate of three Russian polar expeditions that disappeared into the vast expanses of the icy Arctic. Unfortunately, modern Russia, preoccupied as always with its own problems, reacted very sluggishly to these significant dates. We instill in ourselves, as the highest modern achievement of Russia, flights to the North Pole, aviation support for high-latitude expeditions - so this is on modern technology! Yes, and today they are organized on the private funds of patrons, often simply laundering money received in dubious ways. And where is the state of Russia in the Arctic today? The cruises of atomic icebreakers to the North Pole are long gone. And what, Russia, which claims a large part of the Arctic Ocean basin, does not need further research of its own territory? Or are we waiting for global warming, when the polar ice will disappear into oblivion and we will swim in the Arctic like in the Mediterranean Sea?
Old Russia thought a little differently and a hundred years ago organized several sea polar expeditions at the same time in July-August 1912. As a result, the vast expanses of the Arctic from the Bering Strait to Spitsbergen were explored, new lands were discovered and annexed, in particular the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, the possibility of sailing by the northern sea route was proved, as M. Lomonosov spoke of. Not all expeditions were successful, and the fate of three of them still worries those who are not indifferent. They went sailing almost simultaneously and practically in the same year completely or partially disappeared in the Arctic silence. These were expeditions led by polar explorers, by that time already famous, G. Ya. Sedov, G. L. Brusilov and V. A. Rusanov.
I do not intend to dwell in detail on the biography of these personalities, their biographies, with the exception of the last days (years) of life - they are sufficiently highlighted in many works of another direction of research. I would like to draw your attention to some coincidences in the history of their last expeditions.
The collective image of Captain Tatarinov
In 2012, several television channels simultaneously broadcast two film versions of Veniamin Kaverin's novel Two Captains, which was perhaps the only indirect mention of the heroic and tragic fate of three polar expeditions led by Sedov, Brusilov and Rusanov. Indeed, if you carefully read the lines of this novel and compare them with the biographies and goals of their polar expeditions, it will be clear: Captain Ivan Tatarinov is a collective image of three real-life heroes, and the adventures, travels and discoveries of literary Tatarinov are a synthesis of three hydrographic expeditions, however, the story with the discovery of Severnaya Zemlya has been added, which is actually the merit of the no less famous polar explorer B. Vilkitsky.
But V. Kaverin lived in Soviet times, and it was unsafe to mention the achievements of the Vilkitsky expedition then, since it included one no less famous historical figure - A. Kolchak, the future admiral and Supreme ruler of Russia, and the open archipelago was originally named the name of Nicholas II. And B. Vilkitsky himself was on the other side of the confrontation in the Civil War.
So, the image of Captain Ivan Lvovich Tatarinov recalls several historical analogies. In 1912, three Russian expeditions set off on the Arctic voyage of the Arctic Ocean basin: on the ship “St. Fock "under the command of Georgy Sedov, on the schooner" St. Anna "- led by Georgy Brusilov and on the schooner" Hercules ", headed by Vladimir Rusanov. The novel “Two Captains” describes the fate of the expedition on the schooner “St. Maria "actually repeats the fate, time and route of Brusilov's" St. Anna "and his team. The appearance, character and views of Captain Tatarinov make him related to Georgy Sedov. Even in films, the portrait of Tatarinov is almost a copy of G. Sedov. But the book searches of Captain Tatarinov's expedition remind of Rusanov's true plans and intentions. And the rebellious character of Rusanov, his revolutionary activities, heightened sense of social injustice to a greater extent correspond to the image of a literary hero, but rather, on the contrary, the hero of the book is copied from the real Rusanov. This is the fate of the character in the navigator's novel “St. Mary "by Ivan Klimov echoes the true fate of the navigator of" St. Anna "Valerian Albanov.
Vladimir Rusanov: a talented geologist, a daring explorer
But we need to return to the main goal - to supplement the well-known historical facts of V. Rusanov's expedition with our own research and conclusions. But in order to separate the personality of Rusanov from his artificial literary prototype, perhaps, it is necessary to mention several historical facts of his biography, about the scientific merits that characterize this extraordinary personality, the goals and course of the preparation of the expedition, about his colleagues in the expedition. Otherwise, for those reading this article and previously unfamiliar with the history of this expedition and with its leader, it will be strange to have such an interest in these particular historical facts, although there are an indescribable number of such expeditions with a tragic and more favorable ending.
For the sake of fairness, it must be said that many scientific and journalistic works have been written about V. Rusanov and his last expedition. The list compiled by the bibliographer L.V. Elistratenko includes 68 published works on the biography of V. Rusanov and his last expedition, and if we take into account individual publications in periodicals, the figure will exceed a hundred. It is unlikely that I could add anything significant to his biography from the date of his birth to the beginning of the final stage of the expedition on the schooner "Hercules" (bot, as some researchers call this ship, although this is incorrect: the "Hercules" had two masts, according to sailing equipment is a schooner-cutter (tender), and a bot is a single-masted vessel).
But back to Vladimir Rusanov. He was neither a sailor nor a military man by profession, so the position and rank of captain is not for him. He was a talented geologist and geographer of world renown, who made a huge contribution to national and world science. I will not go into detail about his biography - it is well documented and well known. I give only a few characteristic fragments.
Vladimir Rusanov is a member of an underground Marxist circle while studying at the seminary, a member of the Social Democratic "Workers' Union", who was repeatedly harassed by the authorities by means of imprisonment and exile at the courses of free hearings at Kiev University. The restless personality of V. Rusanov, even in exile, studies the geology and geography of the Vologda region and the Perm Territory, but his path to education and science in Russia is closed because of his revolutionary activities, and in 1903 he leaves for France, where he brilliantly finishes his university studies at the Sorbonne ...
Upon his return, this talented geologist and geographer with already established scientific fame abroad, oddly enough, receives a favorable attitude in Russia and contributes to his intentions to explore Novaya Zemlya. He organized four expeditions to Novaya Zemlya, the results of which were impressive. V. Rusanov delivered a number of lectures, reports and articles that attracted public attention to the Arctic. He was especially worried about the fate of Novaya Zemlya. “A sad picture on Russian soil,” wrote Rusanov. “Where once our brave Russian Pomors used to hunt for centuries, now Norwegians live quietly and get rich easily.”
These expeditions brought Rusanov fame as a talented geologist and courageous explorer, the results of research on Novaya Zemlya and in the Arctic became the basis of his fundamental scientific works in geology and geophysics. So the first part of his last expedition, which ended in a tragic ending, presented Russia with coal deposits on Spitsbergen (the old Russian name is Grumant), which are still being developed by our Russian enterprises, and if the mining economy is questionable, then the presence of Russia as a state in foreign territory is already a strategy. Here is a description of the true patriot of the Motherland, squeezed out of Russia by the authorities at one time.
Too schematic and short about Rusanov's biography, but even this modest summary speaks of his importance as a person, scientist and researcher to whom the Russian state owes a lot. Let me make one digression: on one of the programs on the Kultura television channel, in a discussion about the contemporary role of Che Guevara, the writer A. Kabakov stated the thesis that a revolutionary is an intellectual with a big heart, but devoid of intelligence, that smart people do work instead of revolution. It is hardly possible to blame the scientist V. Rusanov for lack of intelligence, and these two personalities have done so much for their homeland and their brotherly people - God forbid, each writing fraternity, and that the existing "smart" plankton and modern mimicry will justly be forgotten. And a big heart - is that bad?
Expedition in the ocean
In June 1912, the hunting schooner Hercules left the Arkhangelsk port. On the instructions of the government (Ministry of Internal Affairs) of Russia, 14 polar explorers on board had to stake out coal deposits on the “no man's” archipelago of Svalbard. The expedition promised Russia a lot of money.
The sailors predicted many troubles for "Hercules", since there was a woman on the ship. Her name was Juliette Jean, she was a Frenchwoman and a full member of the expedition and the crew of the schooner - a doctor and geologist. She was also in love with the Russian polar explorer Vladimir Rusanov, who was heading the expedition. They met at the Sorbonne, where they studied together, and on their return from the voyage they were going to get married. Two years ago, they had to postpone their wedding because of Vladimir's fourth expedition to Novaya Zemlya, during which he was the first to go around its northern and southern islands, mapping unknown bays, mountains and glaciers. This time Juliet did not want to part with Vladimir: they did not believe in omens.
“Today I will board my ship Hercules,” wrote Vladimir Alexandrovich Rusanov to his mother. - Everything is ready for departure, everything is well prepared, there are fourteen of us. If I don’t return by November, it means that we are wintering in ice. Rest assured for us! "
Contrary to predictions, the planned part of the expedition turned out to be fantastically successful. Departing on June 26 (old style) 1912 from Aleksandrovsk-on-Murman (now the city of Polyarny), the schooner "Hercules" a week later approached the western side of Spitsbergen. From here, a transition was made through the southern regions of the archipelago. It was possible to find here rich deposits of coal. Almost 30 application pillars were installed, securing the right for Russia to mine coal. Work on Svalbard lasted six weeks. The expedition ended successfully. It was possible to return to their native shores and sail back to Arkhangelsk. But something happened that no one expected. Rusanov, Juliette and nine other people without permission, without the permission of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - the organizer and curator of the expedition, left on the "Hercules" across the northern seas for further polar exploration and adventure. The journey was pure gamble and arbitrariness, but if it was successful, Rusanov would have gotten away with it.
Three Rusanovites returned with documents and reports on the first stage of the expedition on a Norwegian ship through Murmansk, who did not want to continue their journey. Even later, a strange telegram left by Rusanov in the Nenets camp Matochkin Shar was transmitted to the mainland: “The south of Spitsbergen, the Island of Hope is surrounded by ice. We were engaged in hydrography. By storm they were carried to the south of Matochkin Shara. I go to the northwestern tip of Novaya Zemlya, from there to the east. If the ship dies, I head to the nearest islands along the way: Uedineniya, Novosibirsk, Wrangel. Stocks for a year. Everyone is healthy. Rusanov ”(Vize, 1948, p. 108). This telegram was delivered by the ship "Olga Konstantinovna" to Arkhangelsk and on September 4 (August 23, old style), 1912, it was received by GA Sadovsky, the manager of the Arkhangelsk governor's affairs (quite quickly - in just four days). Since then, nothing is known about the fate of the Russian polar explorer, the brave French woman in love with him, and nine other people. The prediction came true!
Risky plan
Something in the telegram received on the mainland is wrong - both with meaning and with grammar. Judging by the text, the draft telegram was written on Novaya Zemlya, where the schooner approached from Spitsbergen eight days later. Why describe the events in Svalbard in an unrelated manner and with syntax errors? Where does the schooner "Hercules" intend to go with the members of Rusanov's expedition? The answer is not as obvious as it seems from his quoted telegram. Because there are two assumptions about the intentions of the expedition leader. The phrase "if the ship dies" is very embarrassing. And if he doesn't die? Literary negligence is not in the style of V. Rusanov, which means that the original text was arbitrarily changed. This discrepancy in the telegram for 100 years has confused specialists and is a bone of contention.
So, if the ship dies, the expedition is almost doomed, because it was not ready for the pedestrian crossing: there were no dogs, no sledges, or other special support on board. Convincing confirmation of this is the expedition of John Franklin (1845-1847) to find the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Then the crew members of the two ships had to walk hundreds of miles on ice and snow-covered tundra on foot, side boats as a cargo vehicle, and the crew members as draft force. But there the expedition outnumbered Rusanov's expedition by more than 10 times.
And everything, in the end, depends on where the sea voyage ends, how far the expedition will be from the inhabited areas - where you could count on help. The length of the sea route from Matochkin Shara to about. The seclusion in the Kara Sea is approximately 990 km. If we take half of this path (490 km), that is, the estimated place of loss of the vessel, add 1513 km to the New Siberian Islands and plus another 1350 km to about. Wrangel, we get, according to the most conservative estimates, 3350 km of walking distance, if you literally believe the text of the received telegram. G. Sedov did not succeed in the hike to the North Pole on sled dogs, from which he was six hundred kilometers away, and after all, even in Arkhangelsk, during the preparation of both expeditions, V. Rusanov's public speech criticizing this plan of G. Sedov caused strained relations between the two famous polar explorers.
And what was the best option for Rusanov's route? There are two versions here. Apparently, in the note left by Rusanov in the Matochkin Shar camp, an inaccuracy appeared, caused either by the haste of writing, or by distortion of the original text. Most likely, there is no particle "not" in the phrase "if the ship dies ...". Still somehow it is possible to understand and admit the route to the Island of Solitude, but walking several thousand kilometers across the Arctic to the New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island is beyond the bounds of fantasy, Rusanov was hardly so naive. But this is where it is necessary to turn to the previous letters and statements of Rusanov.
Even before sailing to Spitsbergen, in his article “Plan of the Spitsbergen Expedition”, Vladimir Aleksandrovich wrote that he considered it as “a small first test”. And speaking of the "Hercules", he argued that "with such a vessel it will be possible to broadly illuminate and quickly move forward the issue of the Great Northern Sea Route - to pass the Siberian Sea from the Arctic to the Pacific Ocean." In a word, even then Rusanov had a plan, after the completion of work on Spitsbergen, to go to Novaya Zemlya and then to the east. This means that Rusanov did not even anticipate and did not consider the pessimistic version of the loss of the ship, and the telegram delivered to the mainland has a significant inaccuracy.
Earlier, engrossed in the problems of the Northern Sea Route Rusanov in the article "Is it possible to urgently navigate between Arkhangelsk and Siberia through the Arctic Ocean?" outlined a plan for through navigation. “Until now,” he wrote, “with unshakable and incomprehensible stubbornness they are trying to go to Siberia ... perhaps farther south: through the Yugorsk Shar, through the Kara Gates, in more rare cases - through Matochkin Shar. I suggest just the opposite. I propose to go around Novaya Zemlya as far north as possible ... ”. Below he continues: “It should be borne in mind that the direction of the currents of the northern part of Novaya Zemlya is still unexplored and that my assumptions in this regard are hypothetical. That is why the clarification of this fundamental issue, in my opinion, should be the most important task of the Novaya Zemlya expedition in 1910. This expedition will have to finally clarify the question of how convenient the trade route I propose to Siberia is. "
Oddly enough, Rusanov in his intuitive conclusions based on the enormous experience of the scientist was right, and this is obvious today. The central and southern parts of the Kara Sea are filled with ice almost all year round, which was confirmed by subsequent studies, and we must pay tribute to the sailors of Mangazeya, who in the distant past drove ships in the southern part of the Kara Sea through the Yugorsky Shar Strait. In contrast to the neighboring Barents Sea, sailors called the Kara Sea "ice bag" and "ice cellar". On the eastern shores of Novaya Zemlya, there is the Novaya Zemlya ice massif, which melts only by the end of summer. In the coastal zone of the northern part of the island, fast ice breaks up and melts in summer, so the northern route was, in Rusanov's opinion, more preferable.
Let's turn again to Rusanov's article cited above, where he twice mentions the need to find a more convenient way from Arkhangelsk to Siberia. But the already existing route criticized by him connected Arkhangelsk with a specific landmark - the mouth of the Yenisei. This means that the initial goal of Rusanov is possible - a new route to the Yenisei through the northern tip of Novaya Zemlya. But then, comparing this plan with the text of the last left note, the main grandiose plan of Rusanov appears: first, to reach the mouth of the Yenisei along the northern part of the Kara Sea, and then go north and east - to the Pacific Ocean through the Bering Strait.
Apparently, the basis was the assumption that north of Taimyr there is a continuous ocean with favorable ice conditions, similar to the northern part of the Kara Sea, and the Gulf Stream still has an effect on mitigating the ice conditions, making it passable for non-icebreaking ships. Could he have assumed that on his way there would be Severnaya Zemlya, discovered only in 1913 by B. Vilkitsky's expedition. This archipelago already forms a different hydrographic and ice situation, and the existing Vilkitsky Strait is very rarely cleared of ice, and it is a great success and luck to pass it by ships of non-icebreaking class.
Rusanov was sure that the proposed route to the Novosibirsk Islands, and then to Wrangel Island on a wooden schooner, is quite realizable in two navigation. Back in 1878, the Swede Erik Nordenskjöld unexpectedly went through almost the entire Northern Sea Route in one navigation, rounding the northern tip of Eurasia - Cape Chelyuskin (the first reliable voyage past it) - and wintering off the coast of Chukotka.
11 years before Rusanov, a similar campaign was carried out by the same Russian romantic, geologist and traveler Baron Eduard Vasilyevich Toll. On June 21, 1900, E. Toll left Kronstadt on the Zarya yacht and by autumn reached the north-western coast of Taimyr. The further sea voyage was prevented by the accumulation of ice, and his expedition had to stop for the winter; Such a forced anchorage, which Toll spent with great benefit for science and practical results, lasted until September 1901, when it became possible for the yacht "Zarya" to traverse Cape Chelyuskin to the eastern coast of Taimyr. Although the main goal of the expedition undertaken by Baron Toll was the hypothetical "Sannikov Land", he managed to make a serious claim for a geographical discovery in the territory of the present Krasnoyarsk Territory: Toll, exploring the geomorphism of folded rocks at Cape Chelyuskin, argued that somewhere in the ocean opposite Taimyr was a large island land area, which was confirmed in 1913 by B. Vilkitsky, now it is the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. Toll was very worried that the role of Russia was insufficient in expanding geographical research of adjacent oceanic territories, when foreigners do it for the Russians, in particular, he very painfully perceived the discovery by the American De Long of three islands north of the East Siberian archipelago: Bennett, Henrietta and Jeanette. E. Toll left Bennett's island on his last journey, and, unfortunately, like the fate of V. Rusanov, where E. Toll met his death and where his grave is still unknown.
In 1902, E. Toll, along with several like-minded people, disappeared into the vast expanses of the Arctic, but left a huge mark on the history of polar research. Isn't it true that these two personalities are strikingly similar in purposefulness, deep knowledge, scientific activity, true patriotism and tragic destinies.
Rusanov had another remarkable landmark that convinces him of the reality of his plans - F. Nansen. This Norwegian navigator and polar explorer in one summer navigation in 1893 on the three-masted schooner "Fram" sailed from Norway through the Yugorsky Shar and the Kara Sea and entered the Laptev Sea, which subsequently took Toll more than two years. He failed in his attempt to reach the North Pole, but he and his companion had to survive in the Arctic for two harsh years - two winters in a row with practically no food supplies.
Nansen was a competitor and opponent of V. Rusanov on a trip to Spitsbergen, it was a kind of competition - who first landed on the archipelago, find and stake out coal deposits. By the way, F. Nansen, this outstanding polar explorer, also visited Krasnoyarsk, which is reminiscent of a memorial plaque installed on the wall of an old house at the intersection of Surikov and Karl Marx streets, passed the Yenisei to Dikson.
Let us draw our conclusion on the second part of the expedition undertaken by Rusanov: his intention to enter the Laptev Sea was not an adventure - rather, extremism, and that he was a realist and did not anticipate the most optimistic outcome, says the phrase from the note that the schooner has reserves for a whole year ... In addition, he knew the food and coal storage depots that his predecessor E. Toll had created along the coast of Taimyr in the last century.
The question remains: did Rusanov have an intention first to go to the mouth of the Yenisei, and then to the east, to the Laptev Sea? Unfortunately, there is no documentary confirmation of this, but such a route of passage in one navigation, if lucky, a non-icebreaker vessel is quite feasible, taking into account the experience of its predecessors - F. Nansen and E. Toll. If ... If Rusanov was not a true explorer and did not go to the final goal not through the Yugorsky Shar strait, but by the northern route, skirting Novaya Zemlya.
Friends and associates of V. Rusanov in his last expedition
It was the twentieth century, and it seems that all organizational procedures for state-sponsored expeditions were developed and recorded down to the smallest detail. It seems that there is nothing easier: to raise the state archives and find out the list of the personnel of V. Rusanov's expedition on the schooner "Hercules". Yes, and then there was a contract system, contracts with members of the expedition were documented. But in our case, it was not so. Today we hate "bureaucracy" so much, and we are rather delighted with "liberalism", but in the further fate of V. Rusanov's expedition, liberalism played a cruel joke.
Just imagine that such a department as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, being the initiator and financier of the expedition to Spitsbergen, freed itself from protocol formalities - all operations to support the expedition were transferred to V. Rusanov, and no reports were even required. This is incomprehensible to us today. But it was so. Using state money, V. Rusanov personally selected a hunting vessel in Norway suitable for sailing in the Arctic basin, equipped the expedition and staffed the personnel, and concluded contracts with them.
Unfortunately, V. Rusanov, before the start of the expedition, did not leave reports on the expedition's manning on the mainland, and his descendants had to restore the list of personnel using indirect information. This is the problem I faced when I began my own research of the route and the fate of V. Rusanov's expedition. And although the bulk of my research using the flatbed scanning method was completed, it took me a long time to start completing the narrative. The maximum task that I set myself - to determine the last whereabouts of each member of the lost expedition - turned out to be quite problematic. It was useless to contact the regional archives and libraries, I had to establish contact with those who had been dealing with this issue for a long time and professionally - as a historian, writer, journalist and traveler. Many thanks to such famous personalities as polar travelers and writers D. Shparo and A. Shumilov, polar explorer and journalist V. Salnikov, writer V. Koryakin, ethnographer V. Antonov, aviation veteran R. Buinov, sea captain, veteran G. Burkov , as well as the Oryol house-museum "V. Rusanov ".
As a result of doubts and comparisons of scattered information, a complete and, as I think, accurate list of the expedition appeared, which, to my satisfaction, was confirmed by the early publication of the article "People of Rusanov" by D. Shparo and A. Shumilov in the magazine "Vokrug Sveta" No. 11 (2470) for November 1979. I was not disappointed with such a discovery, because until I got to the article, I re-read a huge amount of materials about V. Rusanov's expedition, I kind of began to live their life and worry about their fate, which allowed me to draw some psychological conclusions about the influence of each participant on the fate of the expedition.
So, in my opinion, a complete and accurate list of the participants in the last expedition of V. Rusanov, who left for Spitsbergen from Aleksandrovsk-on-Murman in June 1912 on the schooner "Hercules":
Rusanov Vladimir Alexandrovich - head of the expedition. Kuchin Alexander Stepanovich - assistant to the head of the expedition, captain of the "Hercules". Samoilovich Rudolf Lazarevich - mining engineer. Svatosh Zenon Frantsevich - zoologist. Juliette Jean-Saussin - physician, geologist. Belov Konstantin Alekseevich - captain's mate, navigator. Semenov Konstantin Alekseevich - Art. mechanic. Popov Alexander Yakovlevich - sailor-boatswain. Cheremkhin Vasily Timofeevich - sailor. Bykovsky Fedor Alexandrovich - junior assistant mechanic. Popov Vasily Grigorievich - sailor. Chukhchin Alexander Spiridonovich - sailor. Rabbi Alexey Andreevich is a sailor. Ermolin Fedor Mikhailovich - sailor.
Frankly speaking, V. Rusanov gathered some of the best specialists on the expedition. This was facilitated by Rusanov's authority as a polar explorer with vast practical experience, the government's trust in him and the ability to captivate people with his ideas. Moreover, the leader of the expedition was given a kind of "carte blanche" - Rusanov was not limited in the appointment of monetary rewards to the members of his team. Imagine that a simple sailor, sailor V. Cheremkhin wrote about this in a letter to his mother, was assigned a monthly allowance of 60 rubles - huge money for ordinary people. Pay attention to the qualitative composition: all the lower ranks of the crew, sailors, were graduates of nautical schools, experienced, more than once went to the Arctic seas, tempered morally and physically.
I do not set myself an impossible mission for myself - to present biographies of each participant in the expedition in the format of a newspaper article, I think this is a subject for writing talent, which I do not pretend to be, and this is not the main goal of my research. I have already mentioned that Rusanov formed a brilliant expedition team that could ensure the success of his most incredible events. And most importantly, they were real like-minded people, which is required for extreme travel. True, three out of fourteen had a somewhat critical attitude towards events incomprehensible to them, and they left the schooner in Svalbard - these are R. Samoilovich and Z. Svatosh, they may not have seen their place at the new stage of the expedition, and boatswain A. Popov, who referred to age and health.
But about the assistant to the leader of the expedition, the captain of the schooner "Hercules", on whom the fate of the expedition largely depended - about Alexander Kuchin, it is necessary to present several characteristic details of his biography. “... Rusanov's closest assistant was 24-year-old Alexander Stepanovich Kuchin, the captain of the Hercules. A hereditary sailor, a graduate of the Arkhangelsk trade and nautical school, Kuchin got acquainted with the sea from childhood. He sailed on fishing boats, often visited Norway. At the age of 18, by the way, he compiled the Small Russian-Norwegian Dictionary. Like Rusanov, Kuchin participated in practical revolutionary work - he sent Bolshevik literature from Norway to Russia. Kuchin was the only foreigner aboard Amundsen's Fram during the 1910-1911 voyage. A persistent, fascinated Russian youth was included in the expedition despite the decision of the Norwegian parliament, on the recommendation of Fridtjof Nansen himself ”(D. Shparo and A. Shumilov).
Kuchin acquired the experience of sailing in the polar ice of Antarctica on the very same "Fram", and this experience is better than the knowledge of any armchair scientists, although his theoretical works on oceanography are recognized by world science as outstanding. Such a specialist was a real luck for Rusanov and his expedition.
And a little more about personalities: "Doom on the ship" - Juliette Jean-Saussin. By 1912, she graduated from the natural faculty of the University of Paris, worked on a dissertation for a doctorate in geology and studied at the second faculty of the university - medicine. After all, this is not just a woman on a ship, but an invaluable specialist, an intellectual. And what does the female sex have to do with it, are you never enough prejudices in the world? Doesn't the Russian name of the woman Maria Pronchishcheva mean anything to you? Look at the geographical map of Taimyr - there the bay and the cape bear her name (however, the real name of the wife and associate of the navigator and polar explorer Vasily Pronchishchev is Tatiana).
The beginning of research and a leap into the unknown
From the letters of the Hercules crew members to their relatives, from the stories of their relatives, it follows that none of the expedition members, except for Rusanov himself, Kuchin and Juliette Jean-Sessin, going to Spitsbergen, did not really know exactly where and for how long they would leave for the Arctic ocean "Hercules". And Rusanov himself made the final decision on the further route of the expedition only on Novaya Zemlya. It is precisely established that on August 18, 2012, the schooner "Hercules" with members of the expedition V. Rusanov was still in the Matochkin Shar Strait, and then went west, but the date when the schooner entered the Barents Sea is not indicated in any available source. Only one thing is certain: after August 18, 1912, the expedition dissolved in time and space for many years.
The studies were carried out by the flatbed scanning method, which was mentioned in one of the issues of the "Krasnoyarsk version" ("KB" No. 248 dated 01.08.2012 - Ed. Note). Moreover, so that the already available published information would not affect the research, I began work before the beginning of a detailed study of archival sources and publications on this topic by other authors, some of them visited the memorable places of Rusanov's expedition. The aim of my research was to restore the route, clarify or exclude the versions proposed by other authors. The graphical figure shows a generalized result of the research, this is how the route of the schooner "Hercules" looks schematically. For natural reasons, I will not be able to show all the fragments used in this work, otherwise the newspaper article will turn into a geographical atlas with fictional commentaries.
To those reading this material, I must say that in order to build such a demonstration scheme, it was necessary to create and study at least three dozen fragments with the maximum resolution. For these purposes, it was convenient to use the Internet program Google earth, which gives a resolution of the image of the Earth's surface up to ten meters per centimeter, the possibility of using a coordinate grid as control points, determining exact coordinates and graphical construction of routes. Of course, for clarity, topographic maps made by surveyors are better suited, but their use is associated either with restricting access to them, or these are maps with an unsatisfactory scale.
The route scheme in general coincides with the graphics given in the publications of D. Shparo and A. Shumilov. But these researchers reconstructed the route based on the discovered artifacts, while I was looking for a material information object - a route projected onto the Earth's surface. The main differences in the schematic map are marked with ovals. The western (left) oval marks out a part of the initial route, and such a zigzag indicates that the schooner "Hercules" could not immediately go north along the coast of Novaya Zemlya, and for some time left to the south - apparently, it skirted the pack ice nailed by the current to the coast. The right oval marks the eastern part of the schooner's route, which means two options: either the ship went according to Rusanov's plan in the Laptev Sea, skirting the Taimyr, or the ice, overtaken in the central part of the Kara Sea, dictated the route of the direction of movement to the east. On the significant sections of the route, I will also stop separately and explain what their peculiarity is and what information they contain about the fate of the expedition. And first, the general characteristics of the constructed route.
Let's go back to the initial path of the expedition route. By the beginning of the movement of the schooner (about August 18, 1912), the path to the north along Novaya Zemlya was complicated by the presence of ice fields, so the schooner makes a kind of detour around, moving first to the south. To reach the northern tip of Novaya Zemlya, to travel 930 kilometers, the expedition vessel had to spend almost two months of time, which is so scarce in the Arctic seas. Yes, starting a journey and waiting for a move in free water is a drama, and the worst was yet to come.
Yes, Rusanov, perhaps, was the first to carry out a long sea voyage with access to the Kara Sea, rounding Novaya Zemlya from the north, but on this section of the way the schooner encountered enormous difficulties. I have already mentioned the forced loop to the south at the beginning of the movement, and further along the route there was also difficult ice conditions, which delayed the expedition for two months, and only by October the ship would traverse Cape Zhelaniya.
The lost two months influenced the further fate of the expedition in the most significant way: the Arctic winter with all its “charms” was approaching, and the opportunity to go around Taimyr in one navigation narrowed like “shagreen skin”. As a result of unfavorable circumstances, the expedition was able to break through to the east only to Taimyr Island near the Nordenskjold archipelago, where it stopped for the winter.
D. Shparo and A. Shumilov assumed that the sinking of the ship "Hercules" occurred somewhere in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Mikhailov Peninsula, long before the final point I found - off the eastern coast of Utiny Island, located south of the Minin Peninsula. But the fact that the expedition reached this area is also confirmed by the artifacts found on the Minin Peninsula, which directly indicate that the items belonged to the members of Rusanov's expedition. The difference is in which way - by water or on foot - they got to this land area. Of course, there is no more important evidence of the results of the expedition's activities, except for the ship's log and other accompanying documents, because they should have kept some kind of descriptive chronology. These documents are always in packaging for long-term storage, as much as possible protected from external influences - it is, perhaps, a metal box or a sturdy leather bag, and this artifact should be looked for. But more on that later.
The beginning of the tragedy
Having passed 120 kilometers from Cape Zhelaniya, on October 14, 1912, the captain of the schooner "Hercules", assistant to the head of the expedition, Alexander Kuchin, who just turned 25, perishes. The cause of death is a topic of additional research, and the documents of the expedition, which are buried somewhere in Taimyr, could shed light on these circumstances. A specialist in polar navigation, one of two convinced adherents in the expedition of V. Rusanov, died - a huge, if not decisive, loss for the expedition.
The command of the ship passed to A. Kuchin's fellow student at the nautical school, Konstantin Belov, who did not yet have the experience of polar navigation, which was his predecessor. But the schooner with the members of the expedition continued its way to the east, however, gradually shifting to the south due to the ice situation, dictating the direction of movement, or some correction of the plans of the expedition. But the precious time to bend around Novaya Zemlya was lost, winter and polar night set in. Having reached Taimyr Island, V. Rusanov decides to stop for the winter, or maybe it was forced by insurmountable circumstances.
The members of the expedition spent the winter on the ship and drifted westward with the ship. (This statement is unlikely, since the drift of the ice massif itself near the coast in winter is unlikely, but the scanning recorded this fact). Another conscious variant of the direction of movement is also possible: the expedition ran out of food supplies, and the schooner went west along the coast of Taimyr to the Middendorf Bay, where in 1900 E. Toll left a warehouse on one of the capes.
The schooner with the expedition reached Cape Sterligov, where on 03/15/1913, the head of the expedition, V.A.Rusanov, died. The reason for the death of Rusanov is still unclear, and I did not set such a goal for myself, perhaps in the future it will be precisely established if the documents of the expedition are found. Death occurred on the ice fast, so the body was transferred to the opposite side of the mouth of the Lenivaya River and buried on solid ground at an altitude of 6 meters above sea level. Now it is difficult to explain why the body was moved to the south for 4.5 km, and not to the east - 1.3 km, where the relief is similar. Apparently, there was some specificity of the place and time of burial.
From Cape Sterligov, the remains of the expedition first move westward, then the course changes sharply to the north, and the schooner's movement in this direction ends on one of the islands of the Mona group (today it is Hercules Island, named after the schooner of Rusanov's expedition). Such a route is also unlikely in winter in a sedentary ice field (for the section of the route from Cape Sterligov to Hercules Island about 39 km, and this is drifting), but the visit by the expedition to this island is confirmed by an artifact found on it - a pillar with the inscription “Hercules 1913”, which with a very high degree of probability it was the members of Rusanov's expedition who put it. On this island, the place of death of V. Rusanov's wife Juliette Jean-Sossin, a doctor and geologist of the expedition, was recorded. It happened on April 10, 1913, a month after the death of her husband.
Last nautical miles
Apparently, K. Belov, as the senior in position, knowing the navigational situation in the Arctic and sailing directions, made the decision (or fulfilled the last order of V. Rusanov) to move from the unnamed island to the Yenisei and to the nearest settlements. Dixon Island was such a point. The schooner passed along the Mikhailov Peninsula and Popov-Chukhchina Island and entered the Minin skerries. Since the passages in the skerries of Minin are constantly clogged with ice and driftwood, the voyage was long and difficult. It is possible that the members of the expedition (if it can be called such now) stopped and went out on the way to land, and there you need to look for artifacts - evidence of its activities.
At first, the ship clearly strove to the south, towards the final goal, but when passing the Glubokiy Strait on the traverse of Kosterin Island, an insurmountable obstacle arose for the ship, otherwise it would be impossible to logically explain its movement around Fr. Arctic foxes, and through the Sterligov Strait to complete the route on Utiny Island. Apparently, the ship subsequently collapsed and sank near the island.
The ending of the tragedy
The crew of the vessel from the remaining 8 people, leaving on about. Duck, crossed it and went through the strait to the mainland - the Minin Peninsula. The group organized a permanent stay in the bay on the southern coast of the Minin Peninsula. Here it was decided to send the three most hardy sailors, to provide them with food and other equipment as much as possible for access to places of economic activity on the mainland (perhaps this was the most famous point - Dixon), perhaps, to find a camp of indigenous people or animal traders.
The composition of this group: sailors V. Popov, A. Chukhchin and F. Ermolin. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that, according to the text of Rusanov's last note from the Matochkin Shar Strait in August 1912, the schooner had food supplies for one year. And all the latest events took place already in 1914, and, presumably, Popov's vanguard group was very poorly provided, and the calculation, probably, was based on prey to feed the sea animal or on a successful meeting with hunters and fishermen. This group again passed through the straits, through Utiny Island and reached Pestsovy Island, where death stopped their further advance. The time of death of these sailors, which literally differs in days, indicates that they stopped moving at the same time, most likely, a strong snow storm began, and people who did not have shelter and heating died freezing.
In the course of the study, tragic and difficult to explain circumstances in the fate of the expedition appeared. Apparently, mutual understanding in the team after the death of their leaders V. Rusanov and A. Kuchin was enough only until the landing on the Minin Peninsula. Then the most intelligent part of the team - the captain's mate, navigator K. Belov and Art. mechanic K. Semenov - separated from most of the group and began to move to the north-western coast of the Minin Peninsula. This cannot be explained in any way, except for a sharp conflict within the group. Or maybe the higher ranks of the crew had considerations of this order: in the northwestern part of the peninsula, they would rather meet fur traders or passing sea vessels than in a small bay hidden in the skerries.
I do not exclude the most inappropriate option: the complete lack of food could provoke cannibalism, to which the sailor's unit, less burdened with morality, could go. F. Nansen suggested something similar during the drift on the "Fram", but he skillfully prevented this, occupying people with labor. The fact that the members of G. Sedov's expedition dismembered the dead body of their chief in order to feed the sled dogs was also documented.
The first of the group that landed on land was K. Belov, it happened on March 9, 1914, the burial place was at the place of death. K. Semyonov made his way to the north of the Minin Peninsula for another three months and, apparently, found some kind of building of animal hunters, where he could exist for a relatively long time. The date of death is fixed on June 12, 1914, respectively, the place of death coincides with the place of burial (if it can be called such).
I believe that in this place one should look for the most important evidence of the expedition - the ship's log, protocol and diary notes, as well as the results of scientific research. The place of death of Semyonov is quite convincingly fixed by natural landmarks on the map of the peninsula, you can also determine the exact coordinates with an error of several seconds and carry out an instrumental search.
The decision to direct the Popov-Chukhchin-Ermolin group to the south was made, according to my information, after the intellectuals left, since the distance covered by the southern group was 20 km, and this distance can be covered in a few days, while the difference in the dates of death of Belov and members of this group - 2 months.
The sailors who remained on the southern coast of the Minin Peninsula died in a very strange way: F. Bykovsky and V. Cheremkhin died their own or violent deaths at the same time on May 26, 1914. But for some reason they, who died in different places and at a distance from their main base, are both buried in the same place. This rather suggests that only A. Rabbi, who survived, could deliver and bury them, rather than excluding his conscious guilt in their death. By the way, A. Rabbi is a hereditary Pomor and had the best qualities and experience of a sailor-sailor among the members of the expedition, as well as physical hardening, and, accordingly, the date of his death was recorded last - August 12, 1914, which is quite natural for this person. But, apparently, at the end of the waiting period, he also decided to go south, because there, south of the main camp, is the place of his last stay; or maybe the Rabbi just went to the coast to get food or a flipper for a fire and died in an accident. And such a case could be a meeting with a polar bear - a neighbor dangerous to humans.
Places of death and burial of the last members of the expedition
New searches are coming
About how the search for the missing expeditions of V. Rusanov, G. Sedov and G. Brusilov was organized, how artifacts related to these expeditions were found, those interested in these issues can find information in other literary sources, of which there are a sufficient number. Such targeted search activities were carried out at the state level with the involvement of foreign polar explorers and the efforts of enthusiasts.
As a conclusion. To date, neither the place of the sinking of the ship "Hercules", nor the remains of the members of the expedition have been found. The only artifacts found, confidently identified as belonging to members of the expedition or testifying to its whereabouts, are fragments of the sailor books of Popov and Chukhchin and a wooden pillar found on an unnamed island, erected in the shape of a huria, with the inscription "Hercules, 1913" carved.
And today, interest in the fate of V. Rusanov's expedition has not disappeared: according to the information I have, the "Club of travelers of Dmitry and Matvey Shparo", "House-Museum of Vladimir Rusanov" in Oryol, journalists and individual enthusiasts are planning new search expeditions in 2013 Rusanov to Taimyr and to the New Siberian Islands - in search of Baron Toll. Perhaps my research described above will help in the upcoming quest to uncover the mystery of the disappearance of these brave Arctic explorers. It is necessary to look for new artifacts in the places of wintering camps on the north-western coast of Taimyr Island, on Hercules Island, on the southern coast of the Minin Peninsula - at the camp site. There should be traces of life and lost or forgotten things, or even just hidden. And, of course, one must search in places of death and burials, where, in addition to human remains, which are difficult to identify, there must be personal items.
My recommendations for search expeditions would be as follows. In order to save time and resources, not to comb the entire coast of Khariton Laptev - this has already been done by the specialists of the Dikson Hydromet, but without a goal directly related to V. Rusanov; it is proposed to concentrate prospecting work on Taimyr Island, Sterligov Cape, Hercules Island, Mikhailov Peninsula, the southern half of the Minin Peninsula, and Pestsovy Island.
It would be desirable, if possible, for Krasnoyarsk residents to participate in the search for the missing Rusanov expedition, since it can be argued with absolute certainty that the remains and traces of the expedition's activities are on the islands of the Kara Sea and on Taimyr, the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, on our territory.
Native open spaces
Russia is the most extraordinary and amazing country in the world. This is not a formula of official patriotism, it is the absolute truth. Unusual because it is infinitely diverse. Amazing because it is always unpredictable. The gentle and gentle spring sun sinks in a deadly snowstorm in ten minutes, and a bright triple rainbow shines after a black cloud that has flown away. The tundra of the Arctic is combined with desert dunes, swampy taiga is replaced by monsoon forests, and boundless plains smoothly turn into equally boundless mountain ranges. Through Russia the greatest rivers of Eurasia carry their waters - no other country in the world has such an abundance of great flowing waters. Volga, Ob, Irtysh, Yenisei, Lena, Amur ... And the largest lakes in the world - the salty Caspian and fresh Baikal. And the world's longest steppes - from the banks of the Donets to the Amur region. To match the geographical abundance - the diversity of peoples, their customs, religions, cultures. Nenets reindeer herders set up their chums next to well-maintained high-rise buildings. Tuvans and Buryats roam with herds and yurts along federal highways. In the Kazan Kremlin a large new mosque is adjacent to an old Orthodox cathedral; in the city of Kyzyl, the Buddhist suburgan glows white against the background of a golden-domed church, and not far from them, the breeze flutters colorful ribbons at the entrance to the shaman's yurt ...
Russia is a country where you will never get bored. Everything is full of surprises. A beautiful asphalt highway is suddenly replaced by a broken dirt road, and that one goes into an impassable swamp. It sometimes takes three times more time to overcome the last 30 kilometers of the journey than the previous ten thousand. And the most unexpected thing in this mysterious country is the people. Those who know how to live in the most difficult, even impossible natural conditions: in the mosquito taiga, in the waterless steppe, in the highlands and in flooded valleys, in 50-degree heat and 60-degree frost ... Those who have learned to survive, I will note, by the way, under the yoke of all kinds of authorities , none of which has ever been merciful to them ... Those who have created in these swamps, forests, steppes and mountains a unique culture, or rather, a multitude of unique cultures. Who made the great the history of the Russian state - a story, also consisting of countless great, heroic and tragic stories.
Living witnesses of the historical past, the work of famous, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, unknown Russians - architectural monuments. The architectural wealth of Russia is great and diverse. It reveals the beauty of the Russian land, and the ingenuity of the mind of its people, and sovereign might, but most importantly - the greatness of the human spirit. Russia has been under construction for a thousand years in the most difficult conditions imaginable. Among the harsh and meager nature, in continuous external wars and internal struggles. All the great things that have been raised on Russian land, was erected by the power of faith - faith in the truth, in a bright future, in God. Therefore, in architectural monuments, with all their constructive, functional and ideological diversity, there is a common principle - the striving from earth to heaven, from darkness to light.
It is simply impossible to tell in one article about all the wonderful places in Russia - natural, historical, poetic, industrial, memorial. Twenty such pages would not be enough for that. The publishers and I decided: I will only write about the places I have visited myself, which I have seen with my own eyes. Therefore, in our publication, Klyuchevskaya Sopka does not smoke, the islands of the Kuril ridge do not rise from the Pacific waters, the white cover of the Arctic Ocean does not sparkle ... I have not been to these and many other places, I dream of visiting and writing about them. Many remarkable monuments of history and culture were not included in the book. St. George Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky and St. Sophia Cathedral in Vologda, the Kremlin of Tula and Kolomna, the Vorobyovo estate in Kaluga and Maryino in the Kursk region, the building of the local history museum in Irkutsk and the drama theater in Samara, the Saratov Conservatory and the "City House" in Khabarovsk ... List endless.
In addition, we decided not to get carried away with the story about big cities, about million-strong megalopolises (limiting ourselves to a selective survey of architectural wealth of Moscow and St. Petersburg), but to give preference to a distant Russia, living away from wide torny roads and from the noise of business and industrial centers.
Another version of the death of V. Rusanov's expedition
At the end of last year, an anniversary meeting of the Geographical Society of the USSR Academy of Sciences was held, dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the polar expeditions of G. Ya. Sedov, G. L. Brusilov and V. A. Rusanov, who made a great contribution to the science of the Arctic, but ended tragically.
The reasons for the tragedies that befell the expedition have not yet been clarified: the burial of G. Ya. Sedov on Franz Josef Land has not been found, no traces of the death of St. Anna ”, although the polar ocean usually gave out in the end some information about ships captured by ice, the mystery of the death of the expedition of Vladimir Rusanov, which, as most polar scientists now admit, happened somewhere in Taimyr, most likely in the river basin, has not been revealed Pyasiny.
Geographers were interested in the letters that came to the address of the House-Museum of V. A. Rusanov in Orel from the old-timers of Taimyr A. M. Korchagina and L. N. Abramova and, possibly, concerning the fate of the Rusanovites.
One day in July 1952, nurse Korchagina was sent from the regional center Volochanka to the village of Kresty on Pyasina. At first, the three of us sailed on a boat with guides Georgy Yuriev (or Yurlov) and Peter Borovkov along the Volochanka River upstream for 40-50 kilometers. The next morning, leaving the boat, we went on foot along the "only summer path" to the Avam river. We walked along a barely noticeable forest path that crossed dry streams and skirted bogs - the path passed along the eastern outskirts of the Tagenarsky portage. The guides determined the direction along the broken branches of the larch trees, and at the turns they broke the branches themselves. At about 11 o'clock in the afternoon we reached the Bear Forest - it was recognized by the many bear footprints on the sand in the dried-up stream beds. Here Yuryev said that the next notable place would be the graves of two Russians, buried a long time ago, "under the tsar."
The graves were approached at about 4 pm. From the path to the left, just a few steps away, were two stakes with rusty cans at the top. If it were not for the stakes, these barely noticeable elevations overgrown with grass could have been passed by. On the first tin can Korchagina disassembled the letters "... s" stuffed with a nail, and on the second - "...". The beginning of the words (as Korchagina understood - the names of the buried) could not be read due to rust. When questioned by Korchagina, Yuriev, who came to Taimyr as a seventeen-year-old boy in the first post-revolutionary years and lived almost without a break in the Avam region, said:
“I heard from nomad reindeer herders that even during the reign of the tsar, they found a boat somewhere on the coast, near which the dead people were lying, and one was in the boat itself. Their number was odd. The nomads buried the corpses by laying stones around them. And two or three of this expedition with their chief commander, even before the death of the rest, managed to reach the drag. On the way, they weakened, threw part of the load and were later found frozen. Who buried them and made inscriptions on the posts is unknown. They all came from the mainland and found many minerals. According to the nomadic reindeer herders, the manuscripts and documents of the deceased were placed in the graves of those buried on the forest trail. ” This is how A. M. Korchagin conveyed the story of the conductor.
From the graves, the travelers walked along the path until 9 o'clock in the evening, went to a small machine on the Avam River, where there was a first-aid post and a radio station. The next morning, Korchagina and Yuryev sailed downstream on a branch boat, then sailed along the Dudypte River to its mouth - this time to Pyasina, to the Kresty barn.
A teacher from the local school Plyusnina (or Plaksina), who had worked in Kresty since pre-war times, told Korchagina that she had also heard about the dead expedition from reindeer herders who brought their children to school: “They found the dead near the boat, having driven herds of reindeer to the coast in the summer. The dead were buried with stones. "
Returning to Volochanka, Korchagina told her acquaintances about the graves on the drag, but it turned out that many knew about them.
Three decades have passed, Yuryev and Borovkov are no longer alive, but, probably, people who have heard from their fathers and grandfathers about this long-standing tragedy are still living in the Avam tundra. This is how Antonina Mikhailovna Korchagina ended her letter.
Probably, the graves on the portage are not connected with rumors about those killed near the boat, “somewhere on the coast”. It is not known which coast G. Yuriev meant, sea, river or lake. It is necessary to find out from the old-timers of the Avamskaya tundra, which is what the Taimyr ethnographers are now doing. The mystery of the longstanding rumors about the lost expedition must be solved.
After all, the now well-studied history of the discovery and development of Taimyr does not know anything about the death of any Russian expedition in the Pyasina basin or on the Tagenarsky portage.
And here is the message of Lydia Nikolaevna Abramova, a resident of the city of Avdeevka, Donetsk region: “In 1975, living in the village of Novorybnoe, Khatangsky district, I spoke to an elderly Dolgan woman who showed two sagging graves on the very bank of the Khatanga, opposite the old cemetery. According to the Dolgan woman, in her childhood, when there was no permanent settlement here, but only a nomad camp, Russians were buried - a pregnant woman and her husband, who were still alive brought by her parents from somewhere from the tundra. Dolganka saw how some “handwritten books” were placed in the woman’s grave, which the dead were very dear ”.
Although there are no precise indications so far that those who perished in Taimyr, as described by A. M. Korchagin and L. N. Abramova, could have been Rusanovites, the Geographical Society of the USSR came to the opinion that this information should be checked on the spot. After all, it could have happened that the Rusanovites managed to climb far up the Pyasina by boat, and the meeting with the nomads did not bring them salvation. In those years, after the so-called "Turukhan riot", during which a large group of political exiles-anarchists fled from the pursuit of the gendarmes along the Zatundrinskaya road to Khatanga, where they were overtaken and partially shot, partially captured, the entire nomadic population of Taimyr was strictly forbidden by the police provide assistance to unknown Russians, try to detain them, and even allowed them to use weapons. It could have turned out that part of the Rusanovites, possibly Rusanov himself and his wife Juliette Jean, managed to persuade some passing nomads to take them away from a hostile nomadic clan on Avama. Therefore, the appearance of two unknown persons - a man and a pregnant woman - in the area of \u200b\u200bthe present village of Novorybnoe in the pre-revolutionary years must certainly be checked.
Since the verification of the information by Korchagina and Abramova is associated with the search and opening of old burials, the Geographical Society turned to the all-Union bodies of justice for help and supported the intention of a group of tourists from Oryol, fellow countrymen V.A.Rusanov, to organize a trip along the rivers of the Pyasinsky basin.
It is assumed that the residents of Orlov, who have already participated in many difficult trips, will go down the Pyasina River in kayaks with a stop at Dudypta and Avam, and walk along a forest path from Avam to Volochanka. Residents of Orlov intend to conduct searches in contact with the justice authorities, they will probably visit the village of Novorybnoye on Khatanga. Let's hope that in the coming years the mystery of the death of Rusanov's expedition will be revealed.
V. Troitsky, candidate of geographical sciences
It was the largest and most massive initiative of Russian researchers since the Great Northern Expedition of the 18th century. Then 7 detachments passed a huge territory from the mouth of the Pechora to Kamchatka, made a map of the Arctic coast of Eurasia. Semyon Chelyuskin's group conquered the northernmost point of the mainland, and Captain Vitus Bering for the first time led ships along the strait from Chukotka to Alaska.
Map of the Russian Empire in 1745 based on the results of the Great Northern Expedition
Photo: wikipedia.org
The results of expeditions at the beginning of the 20th century dreamed of no less grandiose: to put the Russian flag at the North Pole and go through the Northern Sea Route in one navigation, securing the shortest route from Europe to Asia for Russia.
Thirst for discovery and the race of Empires
Rusanov, Brusilov and Sedov joined in the last competitions in the history of the planet for great geographical discoveries. By the beginning of the 20th century, there were only 2 large blank spots on the world map - the north and south poles. As Soviet researchers wrote, it was an "imperialist race for land." And in part, they were right - the expeditions were sent by all the empires of that time, so no one was surprised, for example, the Belgians led by Baron de Gerlache in Antarctica, or the Italians led by the Duke of Abruzzo in the Arctic. In addition, there was a special political alignment in the north of the planet. In 1905, after more than 300 years in union, first with Denmark, then with Sweden, Norway gained independence. The descendants of the Vikings enthusiastically joined the race of empires for a "place in the sun", even if this sun was for the Scandinavians and, for geographical reasons, polar. At the beginning of the 20th century, coal was found on the Spitsbergen islands, which at that time were formally "no-man's", and industrialists from all over the world rushed to these northern mines. The main thing is to stake out plots. In 1878-79 the Swede Adolf Erik Nordenskjöld sailed the northern sea route on the steamer Vega in one navigation. In December 1911, the Norwegian Roald Amundsen was the first to reach the South Pole. In 1909, two Americans at once, Robert Peary and Frederick Cook, announced the conquest of the North Pole. The Russian flag lagged behind in this northern race of imperial standards.
Roald Amundsen at the South Pole
Collage: Channel Five
Cook at the North Pole. Piri squad at the North Pole
Collage: Channel Five
A Gift to the Emperor and a Bad Year
It seemed that everything was favorable for the three Russian captains, who rushed north in 1912: 1913, the year of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, was approaching and the prospect of helping the crown in the form of the endless Arctic made the imperial officials look a little more favorably at the desperate initiatives of the three pioneers.
Ketch of Rusanov's expedition "Hercules", schooner of Brusilov's expedition "Saint Anna", schooner of Sedov's expedition "Saint Great Martyr Foka"
Collage: Channel Five
Unfortunately, nature did not favor, the ice situation in the Arctic seas in 1912 turned out to be one of the most severe in all the years of observation. Something similar was repeated only in 1983, after 3 generations. But then they did not pay attention to the weather: ambition, prowess, and the "Russian maybe" became a universal energy cocktail for all three researchers, which drove them forward. As it turned out, towards death. Rusanov's expedition died completely, from Brusilov's party, 2 out of 24 miraculously survived, three of Sedov's group died, including the head of the expedition.
Newsreel of Sedov's expedition
Video: wikipedia.org
Literary immortality or how three captains became two
The tragic fate of the three captains who set off in the harsh summer of 1912 to conquer the Arctic would most likely remain a topic of interest to rare enthusiasts. But the stories of Rusanov, Brusilov and Sedov were immortalized in his novel "Two Captains" by the writer Veniamin Kaverin.
Veniamin Kaverin and the first edition of the novel "Two Captains"
Collage: Channel Five
The work turned out to be so bright and fascinating that millions of boys enthusiastically followed Sanya Grigoriev's search for traces of the expedition of Captain Ivan Tatarinov. In fact, the writer artistically processed and compiled the real stories of the three polar explorers into one. The appearance of Captain Tatarinov is from Georgy Sedov, the hero of the novel has his biography, character, difficulties with the preparation of the expedition.
Actor Ivan Vlasov as Captain Tatarinov in the film series "Two Captains", 1976, director E. Karelov
Photo: m.kino-teatr.ru
The route of the ship "Saint Mary" in the novel exactly repeats the path of the schooner "Saint Anna" Lieutenant Brusilov. The letters of the navigator Klimov Kaverin took from the diary of the real navigator of the Brusilov expedition Valerian Albanov.
Collage: Channel Five
The tragic ending - death somewhere in the snow near the Taimyr Peninsula after the discovery of unexplored lands - echoes the story of Vladimir Rusanov. However, the stories of each of the three captains are so dramatic that they may well be the basis for individual literary works.
Stills from the film series "Two Captains", 1976, director E. Karelov
Screen: youtube.com
Captain Sedov. The madness of the brave
Georgy Sedov
Photo: vmnews.ru
The literary captain Tatarinov learned the most from Georgy Sedov. The ideologically correct choice of the Soviet writer Kaverin. Still, Sedov is the son of a simple fisherman, he achieved everything with work and perseverance. He made a career from a sailor to a military officer, a talented hydrographer. He was a staunch patriot and made up his mind to a desperate rush to the pole in 1912 to overtake the Norwegians, and in particular, Roald Amundsen, who had already staked out the South Pole. Here is what Sedov himself wrote:
"He (Amundsen) wants to go in 1913, and we will go this year and prove to the whole world that the Russians are capable of this feat ..."
Because of the haste, the expedition was really poorly prepared: there were missing canned food, and dogs that were not fit for riding. That's just no "Nikolai Antonovich", as in the novel, is not involved in this. Sedov personally organized the expedition. He also paid for his mistakes. In 1914, after two hard wintering on a ship sandwiched in the ice, sick, Sedov with 2 sailors tried to march on dog sleds to overcome the last 1000 kilometers to the Pole. When he was completely exhausted, he ordered to tie himself to the sledges and drag the dying man to the pole. Didn't get it.
Schooner "Holy Great Martyr Phoca" at Novaya Zemlya
Photo: wikipedia.org
The expedition then with difficulty returned home, burning everything that could burn in the furnaces of the schooner "Holy Great Martyr Fock", including clothes and musical instruments. Many details of this voyage were told to the writer Kaverin by the participant of the expedition Nikolai Pinegin. He, among other things, took photographs and filmed, so that the "Sedovites" became the heroes of the first ever documentary film about the Arctic. This historical footage was then actually reconstructed in a television movie.
Nikolay Pinegin aboard the schooner "The Holy Great Martyr Foka"
Collage: Channel Five
Captain Rusanov. The Hercules Adventure
Vladimir Rusanov
A photo: polit.ru
Kaverin's novel was so good that many consider the discoveries described in it to be genuine. So, there were cases when, in geography lessons, schoolchildren stubbornly argued that it was Captain Tatarinov who discovered the Severnaya Zemlya. This archipelago near the Taimyr Peninsula is the last major geographical discovery of our time. It was made, indeed, by the Russian officer Boris Vilkitsky. He was the first of our compatriots to go through the Northern Sea Route in one navigation. That is, he did what another prototype of the literary captain Tatarinov, Vladimir Rusanov, aspired to. Rusanov's expedition in 1912 was the most prepared of the three. She was supported by the Ministry of the Interior, because the official goal of the team was to explore the islands of Svalbard.
Spitsbergen
Photo: Channel Five archive
Yes, and Vladimir Rusanov himself, not a sailor at all, but a geologist, moreover, with a worldwide reputation. On the eve of the fateful expedition, he defended his doctoral dissertation at the Sorbonne. 35-year-old Rusanov brilliantly fulfilled the task assigned to him, explored more than 20 coal-bearing areas on the then disputed islands of Spitsbergen. But, having sent a full report on his research, then he arranged a uniform adventure. In the same 1912 Rusanov turned his ship "Hercules" not to his native shores, but to the east and independently tried to go through the Northern Sea Route. It is not known until the end what happened to the team. Only in 1934 on the islands to the west of Taimyr were the personal belongings of the expedition members and a board with the inscription:
"Hercules 1913".
When Kaverin was writing his novel, he already knew about the finds. There is a version that Rusanov could have visited Severnaya Zemlya, even though this archipelago is 600 kilometers from the site of the discovery of the expedition sites ... Nevertheless, traces of the presence of some people are also found there, northern folklore ascribes them to the Rusanovites, but there is no scientific evidence this is not. Neither the remains of Vladimir Rusanov nor 10 of his companions have been found so far. Unlike the literary captain Tatarinov. Sanya Grigoriev discovered his last camp, as well as the diaries, and this became a beautiful ending to the adventure novel.
An excerpt from the film series "Two Captains", 1976, directed by E. Karelov
Video: youtube.com
Captain Brusilov. The main secret of the Russian Arctic
Georgy Brusilov
Photo: perfect-it.ru
Brusilov was the youngest of the three captains who set off to conquer the north in the summer of 1912. He was barely 28 years old at that time. The young officer had already shown himself during the Russo-Japanese War, but the honor of his surname obliged him to do great things. The Brusilovs are an honored dynasty of officers. George's grandfather fought against Napoleon; father, vice admiral, was the founder and first head of the Naval General Staff; uncle - a general from the cavalry, became famous a few years later with the famous "Brusilov breakthrough" during the First World War. George decided to go through the Northern Sea Route in one navigation. With the money of relatives, a large schooner, 45 by 7 meters, was bought, it was several times larger than that of the other two expeditions. They sailed from the Nikolaevsky (now Annunciation) bridge in St. Petersburg. The mother of Emperor Nicholas II, Maria Feodorovna, even boarded the ship. In general, the Brusilovites were not deprived of attention.
Brusilov Expedition Team
Photo: wikipedia.org
However, less than two weeks of sailing in the northern seas, the schooner froze into the ice and never got out of this cold captivity. Further, "Saint Anna" limply drifted downstream near the Franz Josef Land archipelago. It was the longest drift in the history of Russian Arctic research - 1,575 kilometers in a year and a half. At least, such a segment is documented. In April 1914, part of the crew left the ship and went on foot to land. The path of 400 kilometers out of 11 people covered only 2. Memories of one of the survivors, navigator Albanov, formed the basis of Kaverin's novel. The schooner "Saint Anna" herself, together with Captain Brusilov and the remnants of the crew, disappeared without a trace in the northern open spaces. And the fate of this Russian "flying Dutchman" is still one of the main mysteries of the Arctic.
Schooner "Saint Anna" in the water area of \u200b\u200bthe Neva
Photo: proboating.ru
In search of "Saint Anne": "Fight and seek ..."
Attempts to find traces of Brusilov's expedition were fruitless for many years. Only in 2010, a group of researchers led by the famous polar explorer Oleg Prodan discovered human remains, scraps of clothing and personal belongings of 4 people on one of the islands of Franz Josef Land. As the experts later established, these are the traces of the pedestrian party that left the schooner together with the navigator Albanov. DNA was extracted from the bones, but after 100 years they could not find relatives of the members of the expedition for comparison.
Oleg Prodan
Photo: konyukhov.ru
Oleg Prodan's group at the site of the discovery of the alleged remains of Brusilov's expedition members
Photo: kenozero.ru
In subsequent years, enthusiasts returned to the archipelago more than once, combing the islands. They even put beacons at the point where the "Saint Anna" was last located in the hope that it would be possible to track the currents and outline the approximate area of \u200b\u200bthe search for the schooner's wreckage. In 2016, while inspecting the polar lands from a helicopter, Oleg Prodan died along with two more crew members. The search was interrupted because of this tragedy, but did not stop. Researchers on the yacht "Alter Ego" from Murmansk set off in the footsteps of "St. Anna". Their ultimate destination is the numerous islands of Franz Josef Land.
Photo: wikipedia.org
In the area of \u200b\u200bthe archipelago, the yacht was seen for the last time, a foot party from a schooner made its way to the islands, and the remains of crew members were found there. There is a version, based on modern studies of currents around the archipelago, that the schooner could have been nailed to one of the islands. As a last resort, some debris. So, already in search, the motto of Kaverin's hero "Two Captains" is embodied:
"Fight and seek, find and not give up!"
Vitaly Voronin
(1912-1914)Geologist Vladimir Aleksandrovich Rusanov first visited the Arctic in 1907.
He reached Matochkin Shar on a passenger steamer, and then on a Nenets longboat sailed the entire Matochkin Shar to the Kara Sea and back, ”describing the strait along the way in navigational and geological terms.
In 1908 Rusanov again visited Novaya Zemlya. He carried out geological research and, in particular, crossed Novaya Zemlya along the 74th parallel, from Krestovaya Bay in the west to the Unknown Gulf in the east and back.
In 1909 Rusanov explored the western coast of Novaya Zemlya from Krestovaya Bay to the Admiralty Peninsula on a sailboat.
In 1910, on the motor-sailing vessel “Dmitry Solunsky” (displacement of 180 tons, captain GI Pospelov), he walked around the northern island of Novaya Zemlya in the sun.
In 1911 Rusanov walked around the southern island of Novaya Zemlya on a small motor-sailing yacht “Polyarnaya”.
Finally, in 1912, he went to the Arctic on the Hercules hunting ship (displacement 64 tons, motor - 24 forces). The ship was commanded by Captain Alexander Stepanovich Kuchin, who had just returned from Amundsen's Antarctic expedition.
First, Rusanov went to Spitsbergen, considered at that time "no man's land", and surveyed the coal-bearing areas on the coast of the gulfs. Bellsund and Isfjord. From Spitsbergen he went to Novaya Zemlya and left a note here, which, by the way, said:
“I am going to the northwestern tip of Novaya Zemlya. If the ship dies, I will head to the nearest islands of Solitude, Novosibirsk, Wrangel along the way. Stocks for a year, everyone is healthy. Rusanov ”.
He did not tell anyone about his intention to cross the Northern Sea Route. Rusanov was an ardent advocate of the development of the Northern Sea Route "and wrote several articles about the need for this development. Rusanov, like Brusilov, knew that just at that time the icebreaking steamers Vaigach and Taimyr were preparing to pass the Northern Sea Route from east to west and, therefore, in case of need could help him. Finally, the very content of his note, left on Novaya Zemlya, does not give rise to doubts that he was going to fulfill his old dream.
For a long time nothing was known about the further fate of “Hercules”. Only in the summer of 1934 the motor-sailing boat “Stalinets”, which was carrying out hydrographic work in the skerries of Minin, discovered on the island of Hercules (named so later) a pillar of fin with the inscription “Hercules 1913” and a number of broken sledges. Somewhat later, in the same area, but on another island, now called Popov-Chukchin Island, the same "Stalinist" found the seaworthy book of the sailor "Hercules" Alexander Spiridonovich Chukchin, a certificate issued in the name of the sailor Vasily Grigorievich Popov, a silver watch with with the initials of Popov, several business cards of the zoologist of the expedition, Z. F. Svatosh. Decaying clothes, a camera and rifle cartridges lay near the shore. In 1936, Popov-Chukchina Island was thoroughly surveyed by the hydrographic team on the "Toros" ship. At the same time, knives, Browning clips, cartridges, buttons, copper money, scraps of clothing, postal receipts and an autograph of V.A.Rusanov were additionally found.
These findings proved that, despite the unfavorable ice conditions of 1912 and 1913, Rusanov still managed to cross the southern part of the Kara Sea.
It is still unknown whether the things found are evidence of a shipwreck or traces of the death of only two people, sent for any purpose from the Hercules. It is only known that in 1947, on the northeastern coast of Bolshevik Island (Severnaya Zemlya), (in the depths of Akhmatov Bay, the remains of a human skeleton, five opened cans, remnants of a fire, fragments of boards fastened with bolts and resembling the skin of a ship were found.
To this day, we do not know what kind of tragedy played out there. The question arises: what if these are the remnants of Rusanov's expedition? But what if Rusanov discovered the Severnaya Zemlya before the expedition of the icebreaking ships "Taimyr" and "Vaigach" and paid with his life, carried away by the description of a previously unknown land?