Zarya (polar ship)
Encyclopedia
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
used by the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
for a polar exploration during 1900–1903.
Toward the end of the 19th century, the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
sought to build a general-purpose research vessel for long-term expeditions. The first such Russian ship—and, for a couple of decades, the only one—was the Zarya. In 1899, Baron Eduard 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)...
, an Arctic explorer preparing to embark on a new polar voyage, bought a Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
three-masted barque
Barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...
called Harald Harfager (the nickname of a King of Norway) for the cost of 60,000 ruble
Ruble
The ruble or rouble is a unit of currency. Currently, the currency units of Belarus, Russia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria, and, in the past, the currency units of several other countries, notably countries influenced by Russia and the Soviet Union, are named rubles, though they all are...
s. Toll was helped in his choice by Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...
, who recommended to use a ship similar to his Fram
Fram
Fram is a ship that was used in expeditions of the Arctic and Antarctic regions by the Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Oscar Wisting, and Roald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912...
. The ship had a displacement of 450 tonnes and a draught of 5 meters.
Renamed Zarya, the ship was sent to the shipyard of Colin Archer
Colin Archer
Colin Archer was a Norwegian naval architect and shipbuilder from Larvik, Norway. His parents emigrated from Scotland to Norway in 1825....
in Larvik
Larvik
is a city and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. Larvik kommune - has about 41 364 inhabitants and covers 530 km2....
to be heavily modified in order to deal with the ice. In October 1899 the ship was certified by Norwegian authorities for a three-year expedition in the Arctic.
The Russian Polar Expedition, 1900–1903
On June 21, 1900, Zarya left Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
with a crew of 20. N. N. Kolomeitsev
Nikolai Nikolaevich Kolomeitsev
Nikolai Nikolaevich Kolomeitsev, also spelt Kolomeytsev was a Ukrainian Russian naval officer and explorer of the Arctic.-Biography:...
was the commander of the ship. On July 24 she arrived at the harbour of Alexandrovsk on Murman (today Polyarny
Polyarny
Polyarny is a closed town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the outermost western side of the Kola Bay. Population: -History:It was founded in 1896 and named Alexandrovsk in honor of Tsar Alexander III. Town status was granted to it on , 1899...
) and then continued toward 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....
. The Zarya made her first wintering trapped in the ice of a bay that Toll named after Colin Archer shipyard (Bukhta Kolin Archera) near Taymyr Island
Taymyr Island
Taymyr Island, Russian: Остров Таймыр , is a large island in the coast of the Kara Sea. Its length is and its average width about . This island is located west of the Taymyr Gulf in an area of skerries right off the western coast of the Taymyr Peninsula...
. The scientists spent 11 months researching the Nordenskiöld Archipelago
Nordenskiöld Archipelago
The Nordenskiöld Archipelago or Nordenskjold Archipelago is a very large and complex cluster of islands in the eastern region of the Kara Sea. Its eastern limit lies west of the Taymyr Peninsula....
and 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...
coast. In the spring Kolomeitsev was sent on a long sledge trip by expedition leader Eduard Toll, and at this point second-in-command, Fyodor Andreyevich Matisen
Fyodor Andreyevich Matisen
Fyodor Andreyevich Matisen was a lieutenant of the Russian Imperial Navy, hydrographer, and explorer.-The Russian Polar Expedition :...
became the captain for the remaining part of the expedition.
Laptev Sea
The Laptev Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, the Taimyr Peninsula, Severnaya Zemlya and the New Siberian Islands. Its northern boundary passes from the Arctic Cape to a point with co-ordinates of 79°N and 139°E, and ends at the Anisiy...
towards the New Siberian Islands
New Siberian Islands
The New Siberian Islands are an archipelago, located to the North of the East Siberian coast between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea north of the Sakha Republic....
, searching for the legendary Sannikov Land
Sannikov Land
Sannikov Land was a phantom island in the Arctic Ocean. Its supposed existence became something of a myth in 19th-century Russia.Yakov Sannikov and Matvei Gedenschtrom claimed to have seen it during their 1809-1810 cartographic expedition to the New Siberian Islands...
(Zemlya Sannikova), but was soon blocked by floating pack ice. During 1902 the attempts to reach Sannikov Land continued while Zarya was trapped in fast ice. Leaving the ship, Baron Toll and three companions went in search of the elusive land, one of the main objects of the expedition. They vanished in November 1902 while travelling away from Bennett Island
Bennett Island
Bennett Island is the largest of the islands of the De Long group in the northern part of the East Siberian Sea. The area of this island is approximately 150 km² ...
towards the south on loose ice floes.
Badly beaten by the ice, and beyond any hope of repair, Zarya was finally moored east of the delta
River delta
A delta is a landform that is formed at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river...
of the river Lena
Lena River
The Lena is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean . It is the 11th longest river in the world and has the 9th largest watershed...
, in the Bay of Tiksi
Tiksi Bay
Tiksi Bay is a 21-km-long bay of the Laptev Sea that cuts into the northern part of the Sakha Republic, Russia. It is up to 17 km wide and has a depth of 2 to 11 meters. The Sogo and Yuryage Rivers discharge into the bay....
on the lee side of Brusneva Island
Brusneva Island
Brusneva Island , is a small island in the Laptev Sea. It is located off the eastern side of the Lena delta in the Tiksi Bay, only 5 km ENE of Tiksi...
, never to leave the place again. Instead of the Russian flag, she flew the flag of the Neva Yacht Club
Neva Yacht Club
The Neva Yacht Club, is a sailing club located in Saint Petersburg, close to the Neva River, originally founded in 1718...
, the oldest yacht club in Russia, until she was stripped of all equipment and her hull was allowed to fill with water. Captain Matisen returned to Yakutsk
Yakutsk
With a subarctic climate , Yakutsk is the coldest city, though not the coldest inhabited place, on Earth. Average monthly temperatures range from in July to in January. The coldest temperatures ever recorded on the planet outside Antarctica occurred in the basin of the Yana River to the northeast...
and the remaining members of the expedition left for Saint Petersburg.
Today, the city museum in Polyarny
Polyarny
Polyarny is a closed town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the outermost western side of the Kola Bay. Population: -History:It was founded in 1896 and named Alexandrovsk in honor of Tsar Alexander III. Town status was granted to it on , 1899...
, Russia keeps documents and artifacts related to the expedition.
An island in the vicinity of Cape Chelyuskin
Cape Chelyuskin
Cape Chelyuskin is the northernmost point of the Eurasian continent , and the northernmost point of mainland Russia. It is situated at the tip of the Taymyr Peninsula, south of Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia...
(Остров Заря) at 77°37′N 104°24′E, as well as a peninsula east of the Middendorff Bay
Middendorff Bay
The Middendorff Bay, is a deeply indented bay in the shores of the Taymyr Peninsula. It is located southwest of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago in the Kara Sea and it is open towards the west. This bay is limited on its eastern side by the Zarya Peninsula, named after Baron Eduard von Toll's ship Zarya...
(полуостров Заря) and the strait between Belkovsky Island
Belkovsky Island
Belkovsky Island is the westernmost island of the Anzhu Islands subgroup of the New Siberian Islands archipelago in the Laptev Sea. The strait between Belkovsky Island and neighboring Kotelny Island is known as the Zarya Strait, after Eduard Toll's Zarya...
and Kotelny Island were named Zarya to commemorate this Russian polar ship.
External links
- History of Zarya and the expedition (in Russian, museum in PolyarnyPolyarnyPolyarny is a closed town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the outermost western side of the Kola Bay. Population: -History:It was founded in 1896 and named Alexandrovsk in honor of Tsar Alexander III. Town status was granted to it on , 1899...
) - http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/fi-jakt.html & http://www.encspb.ru/en/article.php?kod=2804016491 Nevsky Flot (Neva Yacht Club)