40 years ago, the popular film "Sannikov's Land" was released, based on the science fiction novel by Vladimir Obruchev.
Few of the admirers of the writer's creativity know that his main activity was science, and he brought the idea of the novel at the beginning of the 20th century from an expedition to Yakutia. It was there that the writer heard from the locals a beautiful legend about the flourishing archipelago of islands, lost in the vast expanses of the Arctic Ocean.
In support of their words, the Yakuts pointed out to Obruchev flocks of birds that flew north towards the ice hummocks of the Arctic. The natives believed that the Onkilon tribe, which the scientist later described in his book, once went after the birds: the great shaman "showed the people the way to this land."
In 1924, Obruchev completed the novel The Land of Sannikov, or The Last Onkilons. The writer did not even suspect that this land was known to the ancient Greeks under the name Hyperborea. It is about her as the ancestral home of the Hyperboreans and all mankind that is mentioned in some ancient spiritual treatises. However, despite numerous attempts, no one has managed to find it yet.
However, it is possible that this group of islands was not at all the legendary Hyperborea, but the Lomonosov ridge protruding from the water, once plunged into the Arctic Ocean. However, one should not speculate, it is better to turn to real events of the past.
A NOTE
Promotional video:
It turns out that the industrialist and merchant Yakov Sannikov really lived in Russia. As a skilled trader, he sought to find suppliers of cheap furs. Having traveled around many northern islands, one day, in clear weather, the merchant saw some land far, far away on the horizon. Not the towering ice hummocks, but the blackening peaks of the mountains of an unknown land.
The merchant received a strange answer to a question posed to local residents that it can be seen in the distance. It was explained to him that this is really land, but there is no way to get to it.
Frustrated, Sannikov tried more than once to get to the mysterious land, but in vain. Each time his dog teams, having retired a decent distance from the mainland, were forced to turn back, colliding with ice hummocks and a wide hole.
Finally upset, the merchant wrote letters telling about the new land to Moscow and St. Petersburg. The researcher suggested that the mysterious land could be not only a group of islands, but even a small continent with a warm climate. To everyone's surprise, the Russian Academy of Sciences favorably reacted to Sannikov's note, because earlier he had already discovered two previously unknown islands - Stolbovoy and Fadeevsky.
New Siberian Islands
WHERE ARE THE POLARS GONE?
I must say that everyone who came into contact with the secret of Sannikov Land fell under its mysterious charm and unconditionally believed in its existence. Admiral PF Anzhu was the first to try to test Sannikov's guess in practice. Members of his expedition also saw the outlines of an unknown land on the horizon, hired dog teams from the local residents and set off.
However, they, like Yakov Sannikov earlier, suffered a setback: they ran into ice hummocks, behind which there was a wide open hole, forcing the polar explorers to turn back. At the same time, the researchers' curiosity was fueled by the stories of fishermen and sailors about the mysterious land. The researchers argued that it gets significantly warmer as it approaches the pole.
In 1900, a large expedition was sent to an unknown land. It was headed by the geologist and traveler E. V. Toll. The journey lasted three years.
Thanks to his remarkable organizational skills, Baron Toll gathered a group of seasoned polar explorers on the Zarya yacht and together with them set off from St. Petersburg in search of a new land. Soon, the travelers really saw the outlines of the earth on the horizon, but they could not get to it. Unconditionally believing in a positive outcome of the case, the baron did not lose heart, he abandoned the yacht and, like many of his predecessors, went in search of a dog sled.
Zarya was supposed to pick up the travelers two months later from Novy Island. However, the yacht was trapped in ice, sharp ice floes proportioned her side and formed a serious leak. Zarya had to return to the port of Tiksi, which is the closest to the accident site. They began to look for Baron Toll only a year later, in 1903. The future admiral Alexander Kolchak was sent in search of him. The rescue expedition arrived at Bennett's Island, to which Toll had previously set off on dog sleds.
There Kolchak discovered the polar explorer's winter quarters in excellent condition. It seemed that people only left him for a short while to return soon. But neither Baron Toll, nor his assistants were found. Maybe they found the treasured land and settled on it forever?..
DAY TODAY
It would be strange if the search for an amazing land did not continue in the 20th century. Moreover, the researchers have many new opportunities. But even today there is no more clarity on this issue than at the beginning of the last century.
When the author of this article personally spoke with one Rear Admiral, who commanded a nuclear submarine in the Northern Fleet in Soviet times, he made it clear that there are still many blank spots in the Arctic. Islands can appear, suddenly rising out of the water, and sink into the ocean.
The admiral could not say anything more specific. The latest exploration, during which Sannikov Land could have been discovered, was carried out in the 1930s by the icebreaker "Sadko". The vessel carefully studied the Arctic near the New Siberian Islands, where Sannikov saw the outlines of his land, but to no avail.
In 1937, on the initiative of Academician Obruchev, even aerial reconnaissance was carried out, but it did not yield anything either - like space images taken later.
Still from the film "Sannikov Land"
VERSIONS, GUESS, FACTS
So, there is no Sannikov Land. It is a fact! But how can you not trust people with an impeccable reputation - Yakov Sannikov, Baron Toll, Admiral Kolchak ?!
So where could the legendary unknown land evaporate? The first version is rather prosaic. It is possible that the land, which was actually observed by both sailors and the inhabitants of the northern islands, gradually sank under water.
But it is unlikely that she managed to do this in 30-50 years, although there is an island on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago that annually loses up to 20 meters of the coastline. It is not difficult to calculate that in thirty years it will lose more than six hundred meters. However, it will not disappear completely! And on Sannikov Land, as the natives and polar explorers assured, there were black mountains! This means that an island with mountains needs more time to plunge into the deep sea forever.
However, scientists studying optical phenomena assure that a so-called confluence band sometimes appears near large continents and large islands. Often, such mirages are seen in the Laptev Sea near the Novosibirsk Islands, just where Sannikov first noticed his land. In this context, it is likely that the land that Sannikov saw is a chronomire, the ghost of a once-existing land.
The second version, actively discussed by lovers of mysticism, is the parallel worlds. Indeed, physicists have already proved that these worlds exist, and some of them even come into contact with each other through some kind of "rabbit holes". Perhaps, the adherents of this version argue, Sannikov's Land, like Vinland among the Scandinavians, Dilmun among the Sumerians, the Islands of the Blessed among the Greeks, are nothing more than worlds that appear in our reality due to the curvature of space.
In our time, an active process of melting ice in the Arctic has begun. This phenomenon has many drawbacks, such as the flooding of a number of coastal cities around the world. But on the other hand, when the Arctic ice melts, humanity will know for certain whether Sannikov Land actually existed and whether it was related to the legendary Hyperborea.
Dmitry LANSKOY