Rastorguyev Island
Encyclopedia
Kamennyye Islands
The Kamennyye Islands or Kammennyy Islands is a group islands covered with tundra vegetation. It is located in the Kara Sea, off the coast of Siberia, west of the mouths of river Pyasina.The main islands are :...
. It is located in the Kara Sea
Kara Sea
The Kara Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia. It is separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya....
close to the shores of the Taymyr Peninsula
Taymyr Peninsula
The Taymyr Peninsula is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of mainland Eurasia and Asia...
, about 30 km from the coast.
Winters are long, cold and bitter, and the surrounding sea freezes solid about ten months every year.
The whole area around Rastorguyev Island was explored by Russian geologist Baron Eduard von Toll
Eduard Toll
Eduard Gustav von Toll was a Baltic German geologist and Arctic explorer in Russian service. Often referred to as Baron von Toll or as Eduard v. Toll, in Russia he is known as Eduard Vasiliyevich Toll . Eduard Toll was born on and he died in 1902 in an unknown location in the Arctic Ocean)...
during his last venture, the Russian Arctic Expedition of 1900-1903. This large island was named by him after Stepan Innokentyevich Rastorguyev
Stepan Rastorguyev
Stepan Innokentyevich Rastorguyev was an officer of the Yakut Cossack Regiment and an explorer.As Rastorguyev's parents died early, he was reared by his kindred. Then he was sent to the Okhotsk Sea coast, Kamchatka and Chukotka...
, an Imperial Russian Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
officer accompanying him.
Toll sent Rastorguyev along with hitherto captain of ship Zarya
Zarya (polar ship)
Zarya was a steam- and sail-powered brig used by the Russian Academy of Sciences for a polar exploration during 1900–1903.Toward the end of the 19th century, the Russian Academy of Sciences sought to build a general-purpose research vessel for long-term expeditions. The first such Russian...
, N. N. Kolomeitsev
Nikolai Nikolaevich Kolomeitsev
Nikolai Nikolaevich Kolomeitsev, also spelt Kolomeytsev was a Ukrainian Russian naval officer and explorer of the Arctic.-Biography:...
on a long sledge trip with the mission of organizing coal depots for the Zarya on Kotelny Island and Dikson
Dikson
Dikson Island , initially Dickson, is the name of an island in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, situated in the Kara Sea near the mouth of the Yenisei River. A nearby urban-type settlement of Dikson, which functions as a port and hydrometeorological centre is located at...
, as well as to bring the mail of the expedition to Dudinka
Dudinka
Dudinka is a town and the administrative center of Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It was the administrative center of Taymyr Autonomous Okrug, which was merged into Krasnoyarsk Krai on January 1, 2007. It is a port in the lower reaches of the Yenisei River,...
. This mission helped to bring relief to Baron Toll in a difficult situation concerning his relationship with Captain Kolomeitsev. Rastorguyev was always ready to help Baron Eduard von Toll during his explorations in the Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
n coast and Toll never hid the fact that he was grateful for his services.
In 1937 another island, Kolchak Island
Kolchak Island
Kolchak Island or Kolchaka Island , is an island in the Kara Sea located NE of the Shturmanov Peninsula, in an area of skerries south of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago. Compared to other large islands in the area it has a quite regular shape....
, located in the Taymyr Gulf
Taymyr Gulf
The Taymyr Gulf is a gulf in the Kara Sea that includes the estuary of the Lower Taymyr River. The estuary opens roughly northwestwise from the western coast of the Taymyr Peninsula into the eastern expanses of the Kara Sea, widening from about 4 km at the river's mouth to about 20 km...
further east along the Taymyr Peninsula
Taymyr Peninsula
The Taymyr Peninsula is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of mainland Eurasia and Asia...
's coast, was renamed after Stepan Rastorguyev. Thus, for a few decades, there were two "Rastorguyeva" islands in the Kara Sea itself. However, the other island's previous name was restored on 23 August 2005, so that now there is less confusion.
See also
- Kamennyye IslandsKamennyye IslandsThe Kamennyye Islands or Kammennyy Islands is a group islands covered with tundra vegetation. It is located in the Kara Sea, off the coast of Siberia, west of the mouths of river Pyasina.The main islands are :...
- Kolchak IslandKolchak IslandKolchak Island or Kolchaka Island , is an island in the Kara Sea located NE of the Shturmanov Peninsula, in an area of skerries south of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago. Compared to other large islands in the area it has a quite regular shape....