Which Russian admiral discovered Antarctica. Brief information from the history of discovery and research of Antarctica

27.09.2019

It was actually discovered in 1820, when on January 16 (28) an expedition led by the great Russian navigating officers Mikhail Lazarev and Thaddeus Bellingshausen noticed an unknown land nearby. This land turned out to be the sixth and last of the discovered globes - Antarctica.

The distance covered by the Mirny and Vostok boats was 100 thousand km.

The expedition members managed to accomplish something that was previously considered impossible.

After all, back in 1775, the famous James Cook, who was unable to break through the ice (he stopped about two hundred kilometers from Antarctica), wrote in his diaries that not a single person could move further south than him.

The Russian expedition did not land on the shores of Antarctica, and this is one of the reasons for the controversy about the discovery of the continent.

The expedition of Lazarev and Bellingshausen lasted just over two years (751 days), and the path they traveled was equal to two trips around the world.

Discovery of Antarctica: speculation and assumptions

The version about the existence of the continent itself was expressed in the second century AD by the ancient Greek geographer and astronomer Ptolemy. However, his assumptions for many centuries were not confirmed by scientific facts.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Portuguese, led by Amerigo Vespucci, reached the island of South Georgia, but returned due to extreme cold, which none of the members of the flotilla could endure. In 1775, James Cook sailed deep into the Atlantic waters, but he was unable to break through the cold and ice close to the mainland, and was also forced to retreat. Although he was in the existence of Antarctica.

Whoever first stepped on the ground discovered

Recently, the statement that it is not open until a person steps on it has become popular. Hence, another date for the “discovery” of the sixth continent is January 23, 1895, when the Norwegians Christensen (captain of the Antarctic ship) and Carlsen Borchgrevink (natural science teacher) reached the shore of Antarctica and landed on its soil.

Their expedition managed to obtain mineral samples and describe the aurora. A few years later, Borchgrevink returned to Antarctica, but as the leader of an expedition called the Southern Cross.

At the beginning of the 19th century. ships of the Russian fleet made a number of trips around the world. These expeditions enriched world science with the largest geographical discoveries, especially in the Pacific Ocean. However, the vast expanses of the Southern Hemisphere still remained a “blank spot” on the map. The question of the existence of the Southern Continent was also unclear.

In 1819, after long and very careful preparation, a south polar expedition set off from Kronstadt on a long voyage, consisting of two military sloops - “Vostok” and “Mirny”. The first was commanded by Thaddeus Faddeevich Bellingshausen, the second by Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev. The crew of the ships consisted of experienced, experienced sailors.

The Maritime Ministry appointed Captain Bellingshausen, who already had extensive experience in long-distance sea voyages, as head of the expedition.

Expedition leaders

Bellingshausen F.F.

Bellingshausen was born on the island of Ezel (the island of Sarema in Estonia) in 1779. “ I was born among the sea,” he said about himself later, “ just as a fish cannot live without water, so I cannot live without the sea».

The boy was ten years old when he was sent to study at the Naval Cadet Corps in Kronstadt. As a cadet, young Bellingshausen sailed to the shores of England during summer practice. After graduating from the Marine Corps at age 18, he received the rank of midshipman.

In 1803-1806. the young sailor took part in the first Russian trip around the world on the ship “Nadezhda” under the command of the talented and experienced navigator I. F. Krusenstern. During the expedition, Bellingshausen was mainly engaged in mapping and astronomical observations. These works were highly appreciated.

Lazarev M.P.

Commander of the sloop "Mirny" M.P. Lazarev was born in 1788 in the Vladimir province. Together with his two brothers, he also entered the Marine Corps. During his training, he visited the sea for the first time and fell in love with it forever.

Mikhail Petrovich began his service in the navy in the Baltic Sea. He took part in the war between Russia and Sweden and distinguished himself in a naval battle on August 26, 1808. In 1813, during the war for the liberation of Germany from the Napoleonic yoke, Lazarev took part in the landing operations and bombardment of the city of Danzig, and in this campaign he established himself as a brave, resourceful and diligent officer.

After the end of the war, Lieutenant Lazarev was appointed commander of the Suvorov ship, sent to Russian America. This circumnavigation Russians enriched geographical science with new discoveries. In the Pacific Ocean, Lazarev discovered a group of unknown islands, which he named after Suvorov.

In the voyage around the world, which was a good practical school for Lazarev, he showed himself to be a talented organizer and commander. And it is not surprising that it was he who was appointed assistant chief of the new round-the-world expedition.

Expedition

First stage

On July 16, 1819, the ships “Vostok” and “Mirny”, which made up the “Southern Division”, weighed anchor and left their native Kronstadt roadstead amid the fireworks of artillery coastal batteries. There was a long journey ahead to unknown countries. The expedition was tasked with penetrating as far south as possible in order to finally resolve the question of the existence of the Southern Continent.

In the large English port of Portsmouth, Bellingshausen stayed for almost a month to replenish provisions, purchase chronometers and various seafaring instruments.

At the beginning of autumn, with a fair wind, the ships headed across Atlantic Ocean to the shores of Brazil. The weather was favorable for swimming. Rare and weak storms did not disrupt the routine of life on ships. From the very first days of the voyage, scientific observations were made, which Bellingshausen and his assistants carefully and in detail recorded in the logbook. Every day, under the leadership of Kazan University professor, astronomer Simonov, officers were engaged in astronomical observations and calculations geographical location vessel.

After 21 days of sailing, the sloops approached the island of Tenerife. While the ship's crews stocked up on fresh water and provisions, the officers explored the mountainous, picturesque island.

Further sailing took place in the zone of constant northeastern trade winds under a cloudless sky. Move sailing ships accelerated significantly. Having reached 10° N. sh., the sloops entered a zone of calm, usual for equatorial places. Sailors measured air and water temperatures at different depths, studied currents and collected collections of marine animals. The ships crossed the equator, and soon, with a favorable southeast trade wind, the sloops approached Brazil and anchored in a beautiful, convenient bay, on the shores of which the city of Rio de Janeiro lies. It was big dirty city, With narrow streets, where many stray dogs roamed.

At that time, the slave trade flourished in Rio de Janeiro. With a feeling of indignation, Bellingshausen wrote: “ There are several shops here that sell blacks: grown men, women and children. At the entrance to these disgusting shops, one sees in several rows sitting, scabbed blacks, small ones in front, and large ones behind... The buyer, having chosen a slave at his request, takes him out of the rows forward, examines his mouth, feels his whole body, beats him with his hands. different parts, and after these experiments, confident in the strength and health of the black man, he buys him... All this produces disgust for the inhuman owner of the shop».

After loading with provisions and checking their chronometers, the ships left Rio de Janeiro, heading south to unknown areas of the polar ocean.

In the temperate zone of the southern Atlantic Ocean, coolness began to be felt in the air, although the southern summer had already begun. The further south you went, the more birds you encountered, especially petrels. Whales swam past in large herds.

Scientific work

At the end of December 1819, the sloops approached the island of South Georgia. The sailors began to describe and photograph its southern coast. The northern side of this mountainous island, covered with snow and ice, was mapped by the English navigator James Cook. The ships slowly moved forward, very carefully maneuvering among the floating ice.

Soon Lieutenant Annenkov discovered and described big Island, which was named after him. On his further journey, Bellingshausen made several attempts to measure the depth of the ocean, but the survey did not reach the bottom. At that time, no scientific expedition had attempted to measure the depth of the ocean. Bellingshausen was many decades ahead of other researchers in this; Unfortunately, the technical means of the expedition did not allow us to solve this problem.

Then the expedition encountered the first floating “ice island.” The further south we went, the more often giant ice mountains - icebergs - began to appear on our way.

At the beginning of January 1820, sailors discovered an unknown island completely covered with snow and ice. The next day, two more islands were seen from the ship. They were also put on the map, named after the expedition members (Leskov and Zavadovsky). Zavadovsky Island turned out to be active volcano more than 350 m high. Having landed on the shore, members of the expedition climbed the slope of the volcano to the middle of the mountain. Along the way, we collected penguin eggs and rock samples. There were a lot of penguins here. The sailors took several birds onto the ship, which entertained the crews of the ships along the way.

Penguin eggs turned out to be edible and were used as food. The open group of islands was named after the then Minister of the Navy - the Traverse Islands.

On ships that made long voyages, people usually suffered from lack of fresh fresh water. During this voyage, Russian sailors invented a way to obtain fresh water from the ice of icebergs.

Moving further south, the ships soon again encountered a small group of unknown rocky islands, which they called the Candlemas Islands. Then the expedition approached the Sandwich Islands discovered by the English explorer James Cook. It turned out that Cook mistook the archipelago for one large island. Russian sailors corrected this error on the map.

The whole group open islands Bellingshausen named it the South Sandwich Islands.

Foggy, cloudy weather made sailing very difficult. The ships were constantly in danger of running aground.

With every mile to the south it became more and more difficult to get through the ice. At the end of January 1820, sailors saw thick broken ice stretching to the horizon. It was decided to bypass it by turning sharply north. Again the sloops passed the South Sandwich Islands.

On some Antarctic islands, sailors encountered huge numbers of penguins and elephant seals. The penguins usually stood in a tight formation, the elephant seals were immersed in deep sleep.

But Bellingshausen and Lazarev did not give up trying to break through to the south. When the ships found themselves in solid ice, they continually turned north and hastily got out of the ice captivity. Great skill was required to save ships from damage. Masses of perennial solid ice were found everywhere.

The expedition's ships nevertheless crossed the Antarctic Circle and on January 28, 1820 reached 69°25′ S. w. In the foggy haze of a cloudy day, the travelers saw an ice wall blocking their further path to the south. These were continental ice. The expedition members were sure that the Southern Continent was hidden behind them. This was confirmed by the many polar birds that appeared above the sloop. And indeed, only a few miles separated the ships from the coast of Antarctica, which the Norwegians called the coast of Princess Martha more than a hundred years later. In 1948, the Soviet whaling flotilla "Slava" visited these places, establishing that only poor visibility prevented Bellingshausen from clearly seeing the entire coast of Antarctica and even Mountain peaks inland.

In March, with the onset of autumn, the nights became longer, frosts intensified, and storms became more frequent. Navigation among the ice became more and more dangerous, as the general fatigue of the team from the continuous harsh struggle with the elements was taking its toll. Then Bellingshausen decided to take the ships to Australia. In order to cover a wider area with research, the captain decided to send the sloops to Australia in different ways.

On March 21, 1820, a severe storm broke out in the Indian Ocean. Bellingshausen wrote: “ The wind roared, the waves rose to an extraordinary height, the sea seemed to mix with the air; the creaking of parts of the sloop drowned out everything. We were left completely without sails at the mercy of the raging storm; I ordered several sailors' berths to be stretched out on the mizzen shrouds in order to keep the sloop closer to the wind. We were consoled only by the fact that we did not encounter any ice during this terrible storm. Finally, at 8 o’clock they shouted from the tank: ice floes ahead; This announcement struck everyone with horror, and I saw that we were being carried onto one of the ice floes; they immediately hoisted the foresail and put the rudder on board to windward; but as all this did not produce the desired effect and the ice floe was already very close, we just watched as we were brought closer to it. One ice floe was carried under the stern, and the other was directly opposite the middle of the side, and we expected the blow that was to follow: fortunately, a huge wave that came out from under the sloop pushed the ice floe several fathoms».

The storm continued for several days. The exhausted team, straining all their strength, fought against the elements.

And the albatross birds with outstretched wings swam between the waves as if nothing had happened.

In mid-April, the sloop Vostok dropped anchor in the Australian harbor of the port of Jaxoi (now Sydney). Seven days later, the sloop Mirny arrived here. Thus ended the first period of research.

Second phase

Throughout the winter months, the sloops sailed in the tropical Pacific Ocean, among the islands of Polynesia. Here the expedition members carried out many important geographical works: they clarified the position of the islands and their outlines, determined the height of the mountains, discovered and mapped 15 islands, which were given Russian names.

Returning to Zhaksoi, the crews of the sloops began to prepare for a new voyage to the polar seas. The preparation took about two months. In mid-November, the expedition set out to sea again, heading southeast. Soon a leak opened in the bow of the sloop “Vostok”, which was eliminated with great difficulty. Continuing to sail south,* the sloops crossed 60° S. w. Floating ice floes began to come across on the way, and then solid ice appeared. The ships headed east along the ice edge. The weather was noticeably deteriorating: the temperature was dropping, a cold gusty wind was driving dark snow clouds. Collisions with small ice floes threatened to intensify the leak in the hull of the Vostok sloop, and this could lead to disastrous consequences.

Suddenly a strong storm broke out. I had to retreat north again. The abundance of floating ice and bad weather prevented advance to the south. The further the sloops moved, the more often icebergs were encountered. At times, up to 100 ice mountains surrounded the ships. Tacking between icebergs at strong wind and snowfall required enormous effort and great skill. Sometimes only the skill, dexterity and speed of the crew saved the sloops from inevitable death.

At the slightest opportunity, the ships again and again turned straight south and sailed until solid ice blocked the path.

Victoria!

Finally, on January 22, 1821, happiness smiled on the sailors. A black spot appeared on the horizon.

« I recognized the pipe at first sight, wrote Bellingshausen, that I see the shore, but the officers, also looking through the pipes, had different opinions. At 4 o'clock I notified Lieutenant Lazarev by telegraph that we could see the coast. The sloop “Mirny” was then close to us astern and understood the answer... It is impossible to express in words the joy that appeared on everyone’s faces when they exclaimed: “Beach! Shore!».

The island was named after Peter I. Now Bellingshausen was sure that there must still be land somewhere nearby.

Finally his expectations were realized. On January 29, 1821, Bellingshausen wrote: “ At 11 o'clock in the morning we saw the shore; its cape, extending to the north, ended high mountain, which is separated by an isthmus from other mountains" Bellingshausen called this land the Coast of Alexander I.

« I call this finding a shore because the distance of the other end to the south disappeared beyond the limit of our vision. This coast is covered with snow, but the scree on the mountains and steep cliffs had no snow. A sudden change in color on the surface of the sea suggests that the shore is extensive or, at least, does not consist only of the part that was before our eyes».

The land of Alexander I has still not been sufficiently explored. Its discovery finally convinced Bellingshausen that the Russian expedition had approached the still unknown Southern Continent.

This is how the greatest geographical discovery of the 19th century took place.

Having solved the centuries-old mystery, the sailors decided to go northeast to explore the South Shetland Islands. Having completed the work of filming them south coast, the sailors were forced to urgently go north: every day the leak in the storm-battered ships intensified. And Bellingshausen sent them to Rio de Janeiro.

At the beginning of March 1821, the sloops anchored in the roadstead of Rio de Janeiro. Thus ended the second stage of a wonderful voyage.

Two months later, after thorough repairs, the ships went to sea, heading towards their native shores.

On August 5, 1821, “Vostok” and “Mirny” arrived in Kronstadt and dropped anchor in the same place from which they left more than two years ago.

They spent 751 days sailing and covered more than 92 thousand km. This distance is two and a quarter times the length of the equator. In addition to Antarctica, the expedition discovered 29 islands and one coral reef. The scientific materials she collected made it possible to form the first idea of Antarctica.

Prologue

Russian sailors not only discovered a huge continent located around the South Pole, but also conducted important research in the field of oceanography. This branch of science was just in its infancy at that time. F.F. Bellingshausen was the first to correctly explain the causes of sea currents (for example, the Canary), the origin of algae in the Sargasso Sea, as well as coral islands in tropical areas.

The discoveries of the expedition turned out to be a major achievement of Russian and world geographical science of that time.

The entire subsequent life of Bellingshausen and Lazarev after returning from the Antarctic voyage was spent in continuous voyages and combat naval service. In 1839, Bellingshausen, with the rank of admiral, was appointed chief commander of the Kronstadt port. Under his leadership, Kronstadt turned into an impregnable fortress.

Bellingshausen died in 1852, at the age of 73.

Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev did a lot for the development of the Russian navy. Already with the rank of admiral, commanding the Black Sea Fleet, he achieved complete rearmament and restructuring of the fleet. He raised a whole generation of glorious Russian sailors.

Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev died in 1851.

Already in our time, some states sought to divide Antarctica among themselves. Geographical Society Soviet Union expressed strong protest against the unilateral actions of these states. In the resolution on the report of the late President of the Graphic Society, Acad. L. S. Berg says: “ Russian navigators Bellingshausen and Lazarev circumnavigated the Antarctic continent in 1819-1821, approached its shores for the first time and discovered Peter I Island, Alexander I Land, Traverse Islands and others in January 1821. In recognition of the services of Russian navigators, one of the southern polar moraines was named the Bellingshausen Sea. And therefore, all attempts to resolve the issue of the Antarctic regime without the participation of the Soviet Union cannot find any justification... The USSR has every reason not to recognize any such decision».

Antarctica is mysterious and cold ground, which for several centuries has haunted researchers and travelers from all over the world. So who discovered Antarctica, and in what year did this happen?

History of Antarctic exploration

Antarctica was discovered by two Russian navigators F. Bellingshausen and M. Lazarev in 1820. However, even before this great discovery, others sea vessels with equally famous scientists approached its shores, or knew about the existence of the mainland.

Rice. 1. Fadey Bellingshausen and M. Lazarev.

At the beginning of the 16th century in 1501-1502, the Portuguese discoverer Amerigo Vespucci put forward a guess about the existence of the mainland. By chance, he was lucky enough to give his name to North and South America, but failed to get closer to Antarctica. He reached the island of South Georgia, which is located quite far from Antarctica, but did not dare to advance further due to the extreme cold that shackled all members of the team. Fearing for his men, Vespucci retreated.

Rice. 2. Amerigo Vespucci.

In the second half of the 18th century, the English traveler James Cook became interested in Antarctica. He approached the South Pole closer than his predecessors, practically confirming his guesses about the existence of a southern land bound by ice. Cook returned to his homeland, confident that no one would advance further to the South Pole due to harsh weather conditions.

When was Antarctica discovered?

So in what year was Antarctica discovered? In 1819, by order of Tsar Alexander I, the round the world expedition under the leadership of Fadey Bellingshausen and his deputy M. Lazarev. They were faced with the task of confirming or denying the existence of the sixth continent. The expedition was carried out on two ships – “Vostok” and “Mirny”.

On January 16, 1820, the crew of Bellingshausen and Lazarev were the first to reach the shores of Antarctica. In honor of his king, Thaddeus Bellingshausen named these lands the lands of Alexander I. Also as a result of this sea travel Other discoveries were also made. For example, the Antarctic Peninsula was discovered, on which the northernmost and only extreme point mainland - Cape Sifre (Cape Prime Head).

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On June 24, 1821, after spending 751 days on the expedition, the ships “Vostok” and “Mirny” returned to their homeland in Kronstadt. Their mission was accomplished and satisfied the wildest wishes of the navigators.

However, Mikhail Lazarev and Thaddeus Bellingshausen only reached the shores of Antarctica and described them. The American crew of the ship Cecilia entered the mainland for the first time. This happened in 1821.

After the discovery of Antarctica by Russian navigators, at the end of January and November 1820, the whaling ships of Bransfield and Palmer reported that they had seen the Southern Continent. Did they really see southern lands or simply glaciers, remained unknown. In other respects, this was no longer important, since these events occurred after the discovery of Russian travelers.

Currently, there are no states on the territory of Antarctica, and the number of people on the mainland does not exceed 4 thousand. In 1959, the Antarctic Act was signed, which allows the use of the mainland's lands only for peaceful purposes. Representatives of 145 countries monitor the implementation of the law.

What have we learned?

Antarctica is the coldest continent on earth. That is why, due to the harsh conditions, it was the most difficult to open. This happened only in the 19th century. Amerigo Vespucci and James Cook thought about the existence of Antarctica. They tried to make their way to the shores of Antarctica, but they failed. Only in 1820 were Russian travelers Bellingshausen and Lazarev able to reach the shores of the mainland. From this moment on, a new era of study and development of a previously unknown continent began.

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January 28, 1820 (January 16, old style) went down in history as the day of the discovery of the sixth continent - Antarctica. The honor of its discovery belongs to the Russian round-the-world naval expedition led by Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev.

At the beginning of the 19th century. ships of the Russian fleet made a number of trips around the world. These expeditions enriched world science with major geographical discoveries, especially in the Pacific Ocean. However, the vast expanses of the Southern Hemisphere still remained a “blank spot” on the map. The question of the existence of the Southern Continent was also unclear.

In July 1819, after long and very careful preparation, a south polar expedition set out from Kronstadt on a long voyage, consisting of two military sloops - “Vostok” and “Mirny”. The first was commanded by Thaddeus Faddeevich Bellingshausen, the second by Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev.

The Maritime Ministry appointed Captain Bellingshausen, who already had extensive experience in long-distance sea voyages, as head of the expedition. The expedition was tasked with penetrating as far south as possible in order to finally resolve the question of the existence of the Southern Continent.

In the large English port of Portsmouth, Bellingshausen stayed for almost a month to replenish provisions, purchase chronometers and various seafaring instruments.

In early autumn, with a fair wind, the ships headed across the Atlantic Ocean to the shores of Brazil. From the very first days of the voyage, scientific observations were made, which Bellingshausen and his assistants carefully and in detail recorded in the logbook. After 21 days of sailing, the sloops approached the island of Tenerife.

The ships crossed the equator, and soon approached Brazil and anchored in Rio de Janeiro. Having stocked up on provisions and checked their chronometers, the ships left the city, heading south to unknown areas of the polar ocean.

At the end of December 1819, the sloops approached the island of South Georgia. The ships slowly moved forward, very carefully maneuvering among the floating ice.

Soon Lieutenant Annenkov discovered and described small island, which was named after him. On his further journey, Bellingshausen made several attempts to measure the depth of the ocean, but the survey did not reach the bottom. Then the expedition encountered the first floating “ice island.” The further to the south, the more often giant ice mountains - icebergs - began to appear on the way.

The open group of islands was named in honor of the then Minister of the Navy - the Traverse Islands.

On ships making long voyages, people usually suffered from a lack of fresh fresh water. During this voyage, Russian sailors invented a way to obtain fresh water from the ice of icebergs.

Bellingshausen named the entire group of open islands the South Sandwich Islands.

At the end of January 1820, sailors saw thick broken ice stretching to the horizon. It was decided to bypass it by turning sharply north. Again the sloops passed the South Sandwich Islands.

The expedition's ships crossed the Antarctic Circle and on January 28, 1820 reached 69 degrees 25 minutes south latitude. In the foggy haze of a cloudy day, the travelers saw an ice wall blocking their further path to the south. As Lazarev wrote, the sailors “met hardened ice of extreme height... it extended as far as vision could reach.” Moving further to the east and whenever possible trying to turn south, the researchers always encountered an “ice continent”. Russian travelers came less than 3 km to the northeastern protrusion of that section of the coast of Antarctica, which Norwegian whalers saw 110 years later and called Princess Martha Coast.

In February 1820, the sloops entered the Indian Ocean. Trying to break through to the south from this side, they approached the shores of Antarctica two more times. But heavy ice conditions forced the ships to move north again and move east along the ice edge.
On March 21, 1820, a severe storm broke out in the Indian Ocean, which lasted for several days. The exhausted team, straining all their strength, fought against the elements.

In mid-April, the sloop Vostok dropped anchor in the Australian harbor of Port Jackson (now Sydney). Seven days later, the sloop Mirny arrived here. Thus ended the first period of research.

Returning to Zhaksoi, the crews of the sloops began to prepare for a new voyage to the polar seas. The preparation took about two months. In mid-November, the expedition set out to sea again, heading southeast. Continuing to sail south, the sloops crossed 60 degrees south latitude. Finally, on January 22, 1821, happiness smiled on the sailors. A black spot appeared on the horizon. The island was named after Peter I.

On January 29, 1821, Bellingshausen wrote: “At 11 o’clock in the morning we saw the shore; its cape, extending to the north, ended in a high mountain, which is separated by an isthmus from other mountains.” Bellingshausen called this land the Coast of Alexander I. The Land of Alexander I has still not been sufficiently explored. But its discovery finally convinced Bellingshausen that the Russian expedition had approached the still unknown Southern continent.

On February 10, 1821, when it became clear that the sloop Vostok had leaked, Bellingshausen turned north and, via Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon, arrived in Kronstadt on August 5, 1821, completing his second circumnavigation.

The expedition members spent 751 days at sea and covered more than 92 thousand kilometers. 29 islands and one coral reef were discovered. The scientific materials she collected made it possible to form the first idea of Antarctica.

Russian sailors not only discovered a huge continent located around the South Pole, but also conducted important research in the field of oceanography. This branch of science was just in its infancy at that time. The discoveries of the expedition turned out to be a major achievement of Russian and world geographical science of that time.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

Only 120 years have passed since people began to explore the continent known as Antarctica (1899), and nearly two centuries have passed since sailors first saw its shores (1820). Long before Antarctica was discovered, most early explorers were convinced that there was a large southern mainland. They called it Terra Australis incognita - Unknown Southern Land.

The origins of ideas about Antarctica

The idea of its existence came to the minds of the ancient Greeks, who had a penchant for symmetry and balance. There must be a large continent in the South, they postulated, to balance the large land mass in the Northern Hemisphere. Two thousand years later, great experience geographical research gave Europeans enough reason to turn their attention to the South to test this hypothesis.

16th century: first erroneous discovery of the Southern Continent

The history of the discovery of Antarctica begins with Magellan. In 1520, after he sailed through the strait that now bears his name, the famous navigator suggested that he South coast(now we borrow that this is an island Tierra del Fuego), may be the northern edge of a great continent. Half a century later, Francis Drake established that Magellan's supposed "continent" was only a series of islands near the tip of South America. It became clear that if there really was a southern continent, it was located further south.

XVII century: one hundred years of approaching the goal

Subsequently, from time to time, sailors, carried off course by storms, again discovered new lands. They often lay further south than any previously known. Thus, while attempting to navigate around Cape Horn in 1619, the Spaniards Bartolomeo and Gonzalo García de Nodal veered off course, only to discover tiny pieces of land they called the Diego Ramírez Islands. They remained the southernmost of the discovered lands for another 156 years.

The next step on a long journey, the end of which was to be marked by the discovery of Antarctica, was taken in 1622. Then the Dutch navigator Dirk Gerritz reported that in the region of 64° south latitude he allegedly discovered a land with snow-capped mountains, similar to Norway. The accuracy of his calculation is doubtful, but it is possible that he saw the South Shetland Islands.

In 1675, the ship of the British merchant Anthony de La Roche was carried far to the southeast of the Strait of Magellan, where, at latitude 55°, he found refuge in an unnamed bay. During his stay on this landmass (which was almost certainly the island of South Georgia) he also saw what he thought was the coast of the Southern Continent to the southeast. In reality it was most likely the Clerk Rocks Islands, which lie 48 kilometers southeast of South Georgia. Their location corresponds to the shores of Terra Australis incognita, placed on the map of the Dutch East India Company, which at one time studied the reports of de La Roche.

18th century: the British and French get down to business

The first truly scientific search, the purpose of which was the discovery of Antarctica, took place at the very beginning of the 18th century. In September 1699, the scientist Edmond Halley sailed from England to establish the true coordinates of the ports in South America and Africa, take measurements of the Earth’s magnetic field and look for the mysterious Terra Australis incognita. In January 1700, he crossed the border of the Antarctic Convergence Zone and saw icebergs, which he wrote down in the ship's log. However, cold stormy weather and the danger of colliding with an iceberg in the fog forced him to turn north again.

Next, forty years later, was the French navigator Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozières, who saw an unknown land at 54° south latitude. He named it "Cape of Circumcision", suggesting that he had found the edge of the Southern Continent, but it was actually an island (now called Bouvet Island).

The Fatal Misconception of Yves de Kergoulin

The prospect of discovering Antarctica attracted more and more sailors. Yves-Joseph de Kergoulin sailed with two ships in 1771 with specific instructions for the search southern continent. On February 12, 1772, in the southern Indian Ocean, he saw land shrouded in fog at 49° 40", but was unable to land due to rough seas and bad weather. A firm belief in the existence of the legendary and hospitable southern continent blinded him to believe that that he actually discovered it, although the land he saw was an island. Returning to France, the navigator began to spread fantastic information about the densely populated continent, which he modestly called “New Southern France" His stories convinced the French government to invest in another expensive expedition. In 1773, Kergulen returned to the mentioned site with three ships, but never set foot on the shore of the island that now bears his name. Worse, he was forced to admit the truth and, returning to France, spent the rest of his days in disgrace.

James Cook and the search for Antarctica

The geographical discoveries of Antarctica are to a large extent connected with the name of this famous Englishman. In 1768 he was sent to the South Pacific to search for a new continent. He returned to England three years later with a variety of new information geographical, biological and anthropological nature, but did not find any signs of the southern continent. The sought-after shores were again moved further south from their previously assumed location.

In July 1772, Cook sailed from England, but this time, on instructions from the British Admiralty, the search for the southern continent was the main mission of the expedition. During this unprecedented voyage, which lasted until 1775, he crossed the Antarctic Circle for the first time in history, discovered many new islands and went south to 71° south latitude, which no one had previously achieved.

However, fate did not give James Cook the honor of becoming the discoverer of Antarctica. Moreover, as a result of his expedition, he became confident that if there was an unknown land near the pole, then its area was very small and was of no interest.

Who was lucky enough to discover and explore Antarctica?

After the death of James Cook in 1779 European countries They stopped searching for the great southern continent of the Earth for forty years. Meanwhile, in the seas between the previously discovered islands, near the still unknown continent, whalers and hunters were already in full swing. sea beast: seals, walruses, fur seals. Economic interest in the circumpolar region grew, and the year of the discovery of Antarctica was steadily approaching. However, only in 1819, Russian Tsar Alexander I ordered an expedition to be sent to the southern circumpolar regions, and thus the search was continued.

The head of the expedition was none other than Captain Thaddeus Bellingshausen. He was born in 1779 in the Baltic states. He began his career as a naval cadet at the age of 10 and graduated from the Kronstadt Naval Academy at the age of 18. He was 40 when he was called to lead this exciting journey. His goal was to continue Cook's work during the voyage and move as far south as possible.

The then famous navigator Mikhail Lazarev was appointed deputy head of the expedition. In 1913-1914 he accomplished as captain trip around the world on the sloop "Suvorov". What else is Mikhail Lazarev known for? The discovery of Antarctica is a striking, but not the only impressive episode from his life dedicated to serving Russia. He was a hero of the Battle of Navarino at sea with the Turkish fleet in 1827, and commanded for many years Black Sea Fleet. His students were famous admirals - heroes of the first Sevastopol defense: Nakhimov, Kornilov, Istomin. His ashes deservedly rest with them in the tomb Vladimir Cathedral in the Sevastopol.

Preparation of the expedition and its composition

Its flagship was the 600-ton corvette Vostok, built by English shipbuilders. The second ship was the 530-ton sloop Mirny, a transport ship built in Russia. Both ships were made of pine. The Mirny was commanded by Lazarev, who was involved in the preparations of the expedition and did a lot to prepare both ships for sailing in the polar seas. Looking ahead, we note that Lazarev’s efforts were not in vain. It was the Mirny that showed excellent performance and endurance in cold waters, while the Vostok was taken out of sailing a month ahead of schedule. Vostok had a total of 117 crew members, and 72 were on board Mirny.

Beginning of the expedition

She started on July 4, 1819. In the third week of July, the ships arrived in Portsmouth, England. During a short stay, Belingshausen went to London to meet with the President of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks. The latter sailed with Cook forty years ago and now supplied the Russian sailors with books and maps left over from the campaigns. On September 5, 1819, Bellingshausen's polar expedition left Portsmouth, and by the end of the year they were near the island of South Georgia. From here they headed southeast to the South Sandwich Islands and conducted a thorough survey of them, discovering three new islands.

Russian discovery of Antarctica

On January 26, 1820, the expedition crossed the Antarctic Circle for the first time since Cook in 1773. The next day, her log shows that the sailors sighted the Antarctic continent while 20 miles away. The discovery of Antarctica by Bellingshausen and Lazarev took place. Over the next three weeks, the ships plied continuously in coastal ice, trying to approach the mainland, but they failed to land on it.

Forced voyage across the Pacific Ocean

On February 22, “Vostok” and “Mirny” suffered from the most severe three-day storm during the entire voyage. The only way to save the ships and crews was to return to the north, and on April 11, 1820, the Vostok arrived in Sydney, and the Mirny entered the same harbor eight days later. After a month of rest, Bellingshausen led his ships on a four-month exploratory voyage to Pacific Ocean. Arriving back in Sydney in September, Bellingshausen was informed by the Russian consul that an English captain named William Smith had discovered a group of islands at the 67th parallel, which he named South Shetland and declared them part of the Antarctic continent. Bellingshausen immediately decided to take a look at them himself, hoping at the same time to find a way to continue further movement to the south.

Return to Antarctica

On the morning of November 11, 1820, the ships left Sydney. On December 24, the ships crossed the Antarctic Circle again after an eleven-month break. They soon encountered storms that pushed them north. The year of the discovery of Antarctica ended hard for Russian sailors. By January 16, 1821 they had crossed Arctic Circle at least 6 times, and each time the storm forced them to retreat to the north. On January 21, the weather finally calmed down, and at 3:00 am they noticed a dark speck against the background of the ice. All the telescopes on the Vostok were aimed at him, and, as the daylight grew, Bellingshausen became convinced that they had discovered land beyond the Arctic Circle. The next day, the land turned out to be an island, which was named after Peter I. Fog and ice did not allow landing on land, and the expedition continued its journey to the South Shetland Islands. On January 28, they were enjoying fine weather near the 68th parallel when land was once again sighted about 40 miles to the southeast. Too much ice lay between the ships and land, but a number of mountains free of snow were seen. Bellingshausen called this land the Alexander Coast, and it is now known as Alexander Island. Although it is not part of the mainland, it is nevertheless connected to it by a deep and wide strip of ice.

Completion of the expedition

Satisfied, Bellingshausen sailed north and arrived in Rio de Janeiro in March, where the crew remained until May, making major repairs to the ships. On August 4, 1821 they dropped anchor in Kronstadt. The journey lasted two years and 21 days. Only three people were lost. The Russian authorities, however, turned out to be indifferent to such a great event as the discovery of Antarctica by Bellingshausen. Ten years passed before the reports of his expedition were published.

As with any great achievement, Russian sailors found rivals. Many in the West doubted that Antarctica was first discovered by our compatriots. The discovery of the mainland was once attributed to the Englishman Edward Bransfield and the American Nathaniel Palmer. However, today practically no one questions the primacy of Russian navigators.