Fedor petrovich litke and his expeditions to novaya zemlya
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Later exploration of Novaya Zemlya
- Acknowledgment
31 But thereafter for a week Litke found himself battling either strong winds or fog in a fruitless attempt to close with the south coast of the island, which he had been instructed to survey. The fact that he was well aware that this south coast was guarded by dangerous shoals made this a very stressful period. Concerned, as always, for the safety of his ship and his men, he finally abandoned this fruitless endeavor on 30 August and started for home. On the morning of the 31 st he sighted Kanin Nos and was able to check his chronometers. Swinging west with gentle winds, by noon on 2 September he was still 32 km off Mys Gorodetskiy. At that point he observed a particularly colorful example of a parhelion, whose features and color he described in great detail; the phenomenon persisted for over an hour. Headwinds and an opposing current slowed southward progress; by noon next day the brig was about 16 km northeast of Mys Gorodetskiy having made only 16 km in 24 hours. During the afternoon, however, Litke experienced a very unusual air-flow phenomenon; up above a steady west wind was filling the royals, the topgallants and even the upper parts of the topsails, while lower down an east wind was pressing the foresail and mainsail against the shrouds. On the 4
th and 5
th Novaya Zemlya was battling head winds and fog off Mys Orlovskiy, but at 4 pm on the 5 th a southwest wind drove away the fog to reveal that it was about 30 km miles off that cape, i.e. right among the Orlovskiye Koshki, the shoals where the brig had run aground in 1821. Sounding very frequently, Litke headed northwest and managed to find and follow a deeper channel and congratulated himself on never being in depths of less than 5.5 m. He managed to escape from this dangerous situation and by 8 pm was 10 km off Mys Orlovskiy, and swung south. For the next four days the brig was fighting a southwesterly headwind until it passed Mys Keretskiy. It reached the bar of the Dvina on the morning of 10 September but despite the wind being only moderate there was no sign of any pilot coming off. Litke was finally forced to send a boat to Ostrov Mudyuzhskiy to fetch a pilot. To Litke’s frustration, in the meantime the wind had died and he had to wait until the following morning to cross the bar. A positive aspect, however was that this gave him the opportunity to fix the position of the sand-spit of Nikol’skaya Kosa, some distance north of Ostrov Mudyuzh’skiy – at 64°59′40″N; 40°15′08″E (in fact 65°1′46.2″N; 40°10′10.6″E) – this being the northern tip of the complex of spits, bars and alluvial islands which form the Dvina delta. Heading up the river Novaya Zemlya dropped anchor at Solombala att dusk. 58 As usual Litke spent some time in Arkhangel’sk compiling his report and refining his maps. As a result it was early December before he returned south to St Petersburg. Later life Immediately after his return, for a couple of years Litke was kept busy writing his account of his expedition to Novaya Zemlya. He must have been intensely disappointed that despite his best efforts he had been unable to reach Mys Zhelaniya, or to survey the east coast of Novaya Zemlya. But that failure was not held against him by the naval authorities. In 1826 he was appointed to command the corvette Senyavin, to undertake a round-the-world cruise, along with Mikhail Nikolayevich Stanyukovich in Moller; their main focus being to survey the coasts of northwestern North America and northeastern Asia. 59 The two ships sailed from St Petersburg on 20 August 1826, reaching the North Pacific by way of Cape Horn, and thereafter 58 ibid, p. 266. 59 Litke, A voyage around the world; Alekseev, Fedor Petrovich Litke, pp. 87-128. 32 operated independently. In 1827, after calling at Novo-Arkhangel’sk (now Sitka), Unalaska in the Aleutians and the Pribilov Islands, Litke had time to survey only St Matthew’s Island before heading south. After calling at Petropavlovsk he continued south to the tropics where he spent the winter surveying the Carolines and the Bonin Islands. Back at Petropavlovsk by 1 June 1828, by 15 July he had reached Bering Strait where he surveyed the Diomede Islands and Mys Dezhnev. Thus he was on the threshold of the Arctic, for the fifth time in his career. But he did not enter the Chukchi Sea, swinging south instead to survey the south coast of Chukotka and the east coasts of Kamchatka before heading back south to the Carolines. He returned home by the Cape of Good Hope and, after visiting Paris and London, reached Kronshtadt on 25 August 1829. Figure 2. A mature Fedor Litke. On his return Litke was promoted to Captain First Class and was awarded the Order of Sv. Anna, Second class; he was also made a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences. 60 To his disgust, however, his task of writing up the results of his cruise in Senyavin was interrupted by several other tasks. In the summer of 1830 he was ordered to take charge of a detachment of graduating officers and senior naval cadets on a cruise with two frigates and a brig to Revel, Copenhagen, around Britain, to Iceland, and finally to Brest. But an even more serious interruption to his scientific work came in 1832 when he was appointed tutor to Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, then only five years old. Initially he was obliged to spend from 9 am to 9 pm with his charge, with a nanny taking over for the ‘night shift.’ But when the 60 Alekseev, Fedor Petrovich Litke, p. 130. 33 Grand Duke reached the age of seven Litke was obliged to be responsible for the night shift as well, sleeping in the same room as his charge. He expressed his disgust at the situation in letters to his close friend Ferdinand Vrangel. 61 However he did find time to marry an English lady, Julia Brown (Julia Vasil’yevna), the governess to Grand Duchess Aleksandra Nikolayevna, on 17 December 1835. Their first son, Konstantin Petr Fedorovich was born on 25 August 1837, and a second son Nikolay on 14 August 1839. His wife’s health was poor, however, and she died on 8 September 1843 after giving birth to a still-born baby daughter. 62 His duties as tutor had become less onerous when Kapitan-leytenant Aleksandr Ozerov took over the ‘night watch’ early in 1839. Litke was promoted Vice-Admiral on 6 December 1843. Figure 3. Litke in old age. In the summer of 1844 he took the Grand Duke on a cruise from Arkhangel’sk to Kronshtadt via Copenhagen on board the ship Ingermanland. Along with Wrangel and K. M. Ber, Litke was instrumental in establishing the Russian Geographical Society, with the tsar’s approval, on 15 August 1845. 63 Then on 27 November 1846 he was appointed chairman of the Naval Scientific Committee and founded the journal Morskoy Sbornik (Naval Collection), the first issue of which was published on 15 March 1848. As of 24 November 1847 he became guardian to Grand Duke Konstantin, and with the latter’s marriage to Princesse Alexandra of Saxe-Alternburg on 30 August 1848, his responsibilities in that direction were substantially 61 ibid, p. 151. 62 ibid, p. 155. 63 ibid, p. 162. 34 reduced although they did not officially end until Konstantin’s 25 th birthday in the fall of 1852. Meanwhile, in the spring of 1847 Litke had purchased the estate of Avandus in Estonia, adjacent to Wrangel’s estate, Ruil’, and in the summer of 1849 was appointed Commander-in- chief of the Revel Naval Port. 64
On 16 February 1850 Litke who had been secretary and vice-chairman of the Russian Geographical Society was out-voted as vice-chairman (by one vote) by N. M. Murav’yev, to Litke’s great disappointment. Then in early February he was appointed commander-in-chief and military governor of Revel, and moved to that city. In light of this, he was very much involved in Russian preparations when, on 16 March 1854 Britain joined France and Turkey in declaring war on Russia. This intimate involvement continued when he was appointed commander-in-chief and military governor at Kronshtadt. 65 He was thus in charge when the British Royal Navy’s squadron entered the Baltic and mounted attacks on Sveaborg and other ports.
Figure 4. Litke in old age. Thereafter significant appointments and awards followed. Litke was promoted admiral on 27 March 1855 and was made a member of the Government Council on 23 October 1855. Two months later, on 28 December 1855 he was made an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences. In 1863 he was awarded the Order of Vladimir, First Class with large cross and on 24 February 1864 there came the appointment of which he was probably most proud, that of president of the Academy of Sciences. And on 28 October 1866 he was made a Count. Thereafter he started to take life a little more easily, spending more time at his estate, Avandus 64 ibid, p. 177. 65 ibid, p. 195. 35 and in travelling. By 1880 he was having serious problems with his eyesight. He died on 8 August 1882. 66
Later exploration of Novaya Zemlya In light of Litke’s failure, despite his repeated attempts to reach Mys Zhelaniya or to explore the east coast of Novaya Zemlya, it is appropriate to examine when that coast was finally surveyed. The Norwegian Eduard Johannessen, in Nordland is credited with the second circumnavigation of Novaya Zemlya (after Loshkin’s) in 1870, but he swung well east into the Kara Sea and saw little of the coast and certainly did not survey any part of it. 67 A year later Elling Carlsen in Sollid also circumnavigated the islands, but stayed much closer to the coast. He famously discovered relics of Barents’s wintering at Ledyanaya Gavan’. 68 Then, in 1879 on an expedition devoted mainly to sport-hunting Sir Henry Gore-Booth, on board Isbjørnen, ran through Matochkin Shar, and although encountering heavy ice in the Kara Sea did manage to coast southwards for about 100 km, hunting and surveying, before returning to Matochkin Shar.
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It would be almost another 30 years before any other part of the east coast was surveyed. This was in 1908 by an off-shoot of Charles Bénard’s expedition on board Jacques Cartier. Two members of that expedition, V. A. Rusanov and Dr Candiotti, travelled by boat through Matochkin Shar then north to Neznayemiy Zaliv, from where they crossed the north island to Krestovaya Guba, then returned. 70 Two years later Rusanov led his own expedition. On board Dmitriy Solunskiy he circumnavigated the north island in a clockwise direction, despite heavy ice in the Kara Sea, surveying and mapping the east coast in some detail for the first time. 71 Then in 1911, in a small cutter, Polyarnaya, he circumnavigated the south island, in a counter-clockwise direction, completing the first survey of the east coast of that island. 72 Thus, it was not until about 90 years after Litke’s final effort that the icebound east coasts of Novaya Zemlya were fully explored and surveyed in some detail. Had he been able to see into the future, one feels that on seeing how many others were foiled by the ice of the Kara Sea his understandable disappointment at not having been able to complete the task himself would have been justifiably assuaged. References Alekseev, A. I., Fedor Petrovich Litke, Fairbanks, University of Alaska Press, 1996. Barr, W., ‘Charles Bénard’s first expedition to Novaya Zemlya, 1908’, Polar Record, 23(146), 1987, pp. 511–29. Barrow, J., A chronological history of voyages into the Arctic regions; undertaken chiefly for
66
ibid, p. 216. 67 Heuglin, ‘E. H. Johannesens Umfahrung’ . 68
Jonge and Van Campen , Nova Zembla (1596-1597). 69 Markham, A polar reconnaissance. 70 Barr, ‘Charles Bénard’s first expedition’; Bénard, Dans l’océan glacial; Tsvetkova, ‘Zhizn’ i podvig’. 71 Rusanov, ‘Na “Dmitrii Solunskom”’. 72 Rusanov, ‘Na “Polyarnoy”’. 36 Belov, M. I., Arkticheskoye moreplavaniye s drevneyshikh vremen do serediny XIX veka, Istoriya otkrytiya i osvoyeniya Severnogo morskogo puti, I, Moscow, Izdatel’stvo “Morskoy transport”, 1956. Bénard, C., Dans l’océan glacial et en Nouvelle-Zemble (avril-septembre 1908), Paris, Albin Michel, 1909. De Veer, G., A true description of three voyages by the North-east towards Cathay and China
Hakluyt, R., ed., The principall voiages and discoveries of the English nation, London, 1589. Facsimile reprint, Hakluyt Society, Extra series 39, 1965, 2 vols. Heuglin, T. von, 1871. ‘Kapitän E. H. Johannesens Umfahrung von Nowaja Semla in Sommer 1870 und Norwegischer Finwalfang östlich von Nordkap’, Petermanns Geographische
Jonge, J. K. J. and S. R. Van Campen, Nova Zembla (1596-1597). The Barents relics: recovered in the summer of 1876 by Charles W. Gardiner, Esqu, and presented to the Dutch government, London, Trübner & Co., 1877. Litke, F. P., Chetyrekhkratnoye puteshestviye v Servernyy Ledovityy Okean na voennom brige “Novaya Zemlya” v 1821-1824 godakh, Moscow, OGIZ Gosudarstvennoye Izdatel’stvo Geograficheskoy Literatury, 1948. —, A voyage around the world 1826-1829. Vol. I. To Russian America and Siberia, Kingston ON, Limestone Press, 1987. Markham, A. H., A polar reconnaissance; being the voyage of the Isbjørn to Novaya Zemlya in
Orlov, B., ‘Fedor Petrovich Litke: ego zhisn’ i deyatel’nost’ (1797-1882)’ in B. Orlov, ed., Chetyrekhkratnoye puteshestviye v Severnyy Ledovityy Okean na voennom brige “Novaya Zemlya” v 1821-1824 godakh, Moscow, OGIZ Gosudarstvennoye Izdatel’stvo Geograficheskoy Literatury, 1948, pp. 6–25. Rusanov, V. A., ‘Na “Dmitrii Solunskom” vokrug Novoy Zemli. Obzor deyatel’nosti Novozemel’skoy ekspeditsii 1910 goda’, in A. Tsvetkova, ed., Vladimir Rusanov. Stat’i. lektsii, pis’ma, Moscow/Leningrad, Izdatel’stvo Glavsevmorputi, 1945a, pp.134–59. —, ‘Na “Polyarnoy” vokrug yuzhnogo ostrova Novoy Zemli’, in A. Tsvetkova, ed., Vladimir Rusanov. Stat’i. lektsii, pis’ma, Moscow/Leningrad, Izdatel’stvo Glavsevmorputi, 1945b, pp. 162–95.
Tsvetkova, A., ‘Zhizn’ i podvig V. A. Rusanova’, in A. Tsvetkova, ed., Vladimir Rusanov. Stat’i, lektsii, pis’ma, Moscow/Leningrad, Izdatel’stvo Glavsevmorputi, 1945, pp. 5–59. Acknowledgment I wish to thank Mr Robin Poitras of the Department of Geography, University of Calgary for his superb cartographic contribution. Yüklə 1,69 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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