12
discovered that one of his chronometers was broken. The damage could not be repaired in
Arkhangel’sk, but fortunately he still had two other chronometers.
Litke had again been allocated the brig Novaya Zemlya for his voyage. Since the ice on
the Dvina went out at the unusually early date of 11 April, he was able to bring the brig from
Lapominskaya Gavan’ to make final preparations on the 26
th
. Thereafter there was some delay
in making arrangements to careen the brig to check on damage to the hull caused by the
groundings during the previous season. It was found that about 2 m of the keel was completely
broken off. This was quickly repaired and the work of loading the ship could begin on 15 May.
By 10 June Novaya Zemlya was ready to put to sea. The brig’s total complement this year was
48; once again it included Leytenant Mikhail Lavrov and Litke’s younger brother Mishman
Aleksandr Petrovich. Medical officer this year was Nikita Smirnov. There were 28 seamen on
board, including a carpenter, sailmaker, blacksmith, caulker, steward and gunner.
Delayed by foul weather and northerly winds for a week the brig finally headed
downriver on 17 June. Even then, however, she was delayed for a further four days off Ostrov
Brevennik. Litke set his men to try fishing, both on the river and on a nearby lake, but with
little success. Novaya Zemlya finally resumed her progress downriver at 10 am on the 21
st
, and
crossed the bar at 5 pm, heading northwest under full sail.
Next morning a wind from the ENE soon strengthened to gale force and Litke began
the slow process of navigating the gorlo by tacking from side to side mainly under reefed
topsails. Finally, on the 24
th
a fair southwesterly wind started to blow, permitting rapid progress
northwards. By 8 am on the 25
th
the brig was passing Ostrov Sosnovets and by 6 pm the high,
sheer cliffs of Mys Orlovskiy. By about noon on the 27
th
Novaya Zemlya was off Svyatoy
Nos.
29
In order to check the distance from Svyatoy Nos to Kanin Nos, following his
instructions, Litke had hoped to take care of the matter immediately, but the wind now swung
into the northeast, making the crossing to Kanin Nos difficult, if not impossible. Instead he
swung into Svyatoynosskiy Zaliv, just beyond Svyatoy Nos, with the intention of making a
thorough survey of the Iokangskiye Ostrova, on the southwest side of that embayment. He
landed first on Ostrov Sal’nyy, finding the south side of the island very pleasant, with a fine
expanse of grass, plus wild onions of which his men harvested a supply, plus cloudberries and
strawberries in flower. For his astronomical observations he selected a spot on the shores of the
Iokanga River where he found an abundance of dwarf birch and juniper, reindeer tracks, and
clouds of mosquitoes.
Next morning there was a minor panic when Litke discovered that he had forgotten to
wind his chronometers. This meant that until he could reach a location where the longitude was
known he could not use the chronometers to establish his longitude. Nonetheless, along with
Lavrov and Sofronov Litke completed a survey of all four Iokangskiye Ostrova, and of the
excellent anchorage which lies in their lee. One evening they were visited by a group of Sami
who accompanied a priest, Father Ioann; based at Kola he was making his regular circuit
around the whole of Kol’skiy Poluostrov to Kandalaksha, from where he would return to Kola
via lakes and rivers.
Litke also visited a Sami camp about two miles up the Iokanga, to which they had
moved out from their winter camp inland in May, to spend the summer catching salmon in the
river or in Ozero Iokanga a short distance upstream. They would trade most of their catch to
29
ibid, p. 147.
13
pomory who came from various places around the White Sea. The camp consisted of 11
conical houses made of brushwood covered with turf.
On the morning of 2 July Litke weighed anchor intending once again to run over to
Kanin Nos to check its location but a flat calm, followed by a totally foul wind from EbS,
forced him to change his plan and he headed back to the Kola coast. But then a violent squall
hit out of the northwest, giving way to a steady strong wind from that direction, when he was
within half a mile of the coast; he changed his plan again, resuming his easterly course, and
heading out from Svyatoy Nos at 8 pm But at 7 am on the 3
rd
he ran into dense, wet fog.
Undaunted he continued, and soon after noon sighted the snow-covered coast of Kanin Nos.
The distance covered, as revealed by his log placed the cape at 68°28′15″N; 43°21′48″E.
30
In
fact its coordinates are 68°39′19″N; 43°17′15″E.
When there was no sign of the weather clearing, in order to confirm these coordinates,
Litke headed back across to the Kola coast. By the early hours of the 6
th
land appeared, which
he took to be Ostrov Nokuyev. He soon realized his mistake, however; it was the rocky
peninsula of Mys Chernyy Nos, joined to the mainland by a low isthmus, just southeast of
Ostrov Nokuyev.
The Sami had told him that there wsa a good harbour on the east side of Ostrov
Nokuyev; this is Zaliv Vostochnyy Nokuyevskiy, leading beyond into Guba Ivanovskaya. It
appeared to Litke to be quite open to the sea and he cautiously sent one of his navigation
officers to reconnoitre it by boat. On receiving a flag signal he followed him in with the brig.
He surveyed and sounded the anchorage, and determined that the northern tip of the island lay
at 68°26′35″N; 38°35′E. In reality its coordinates are 68°23′N; 38°27′25″E. Then, swinging
round the island Litke quickly surveyed Zaliv Zapadnyy Nokuyevskiy and, just beyond it,
Guba Varzinskaya where, in the winter of 1553–4 Sir Hugh Willoughby and the entire
complements of his two ships, Bona Esperanza and Bona Confidentia died during an
unanticipated wintering.
31
A rustic wooden monument on the shores of the Varzina River now
commemorates this event.
On the morning of the 8
th
, with a light easterly breeze Litke continued westwards, to the
Sem’ Ostrova. By 6 pm
Novaya Zemlya was lying at anchor between the westernmost of these
islands, Ostrov Kharlov, and the mouth of the Kharlovka River. But with the combination of
the flood tide from the northwest and a strong wind from the ENE, the brig started moving
north, dragging the anchor; with only 27 m of cable out the anchor was soon hanging free as
the ship moved into deeper water and started drifting even faster. Sail was set in an attempt to
gain control of the brig, but in shallower water again the anchor started dragging again, and
little progress was made towards safety, despite the crew’s best efforts to weigh anchor. When
the brig was within a cable-length of Ostrov Kharlov and Litke was about to order the cable
cut, the crew finally succeeded in weighing anchor and Novaya Zemlya ran south to a more
secure anchorage.
After lunch next day Litke and some of his officers went ashore at the mouth of the
Kharlovka to select a site for observations. There they found another Sami encampment of
several huts. Here the Sami spent the summer fishing for cod, halibut and haddock. They spent
the winter about 150 km up the Kharlovka. They guaranteed to provide Novaya Zemlya with a
supply of fresh fish.
30
ibid, p. 153.
31
Hakluyt, The principall navigations, vol. 1, pp. 263-95.