The day of November 6, 1824, was very unpleasant from the very morning. Rain and piercing cold wind. By the evening it intensified even more, foreshadowing a terrible disaster for Petersburg. It was only when the water rose three and a half feet that the signal lights were lit at the Admiralty and cannon shots were repeatedly fired throughout the night (November 7).
But many folk omens, which the learned people of that time laughed at, foreshadowed a catastrophe four months before that fateful day. In summer, the stone lying near the shore on Kamenny Island was covered with water. According to the old-timers, this foreshadowed an extraordinary rise in water in the fall.
The ants arranged their "warehouses" of winter stocks unusually high - on the upper crossbar of the gate. And again, old people saw this as a warning: when there is big water, ants make their nests as high as possible.
A few days before November 7, the famous physicist and mechanic Rospini saw that his barometers were showing such low pressure as he had never seen before.
The day before the flood, a cat in one house dragged her kittens to that rung of the stairs, to which the water did not rise later. In many houses, rats and mice have moved from the basement to the attic. But most of the inhabitants reacted to the monstrous gusts of wind with a kind of careless frivolity, although the wind raised the water in the rivers and canals of St. Petersburg to the very banks. On the morning of November 7, when people who were going about their business appeared on the streets, the wind had already turned into a terrible storm, which tore off roofs from houses and uprooted large trees.
The well-known publicist and writer of that time Faddey Bulgarin noted in his notes that “by 10 o'clock crowds of curious people rushed to the banks of the Neva, which rose high in foamy waves and smashed them with a terrible roar on the granite banks.
The immense expanse of the Gulf of Finland seemed like a boiling abyss, over which was high mist from spray. White foam swirled over the water masses, which continually increased, and then rushed to the shore with fury. Many people died from the incessant water flow. The wind intensified, and therefore the rise of the water in the Gulf of Finland spread a disaster over the whole city. The Neva, having encountered an obstacle in its natural course, could not pour out into the sea. It grew in its banks, overflowed the canals and through underground pipes poured into the streets with fountains”.
By twelve o'clock in the afternoon, two-thirds of the city was already flooded. Yet even this circumstance did not alert many. Some simply watched with curiosity as the water from the grates of underground pipes gushed with fountains. Others seemed to notice the rapid arrival of water, but did not care at all about saving property, and indeed life in general.
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And the elements were already raging with might and main. Suddenly, at once, the Neva water poured into all the streets, from all sides. It flooded the lower floors of houses, carriages, broke fences, destroyed bridges over canals, lampposts and with rushing debris knocked out not only glass, but also the frames in the windows, doors, railings, fences … Only then confusion and horror gripped Petersburgers. No one really knew what to tackle, because a rare person was where he should be at that moment.
At noon, the streets were already fast rivers, along which barges, galleons, police booths, rooftops, firewood, and all kinds of rubbish in general rushed. In the midst of the gusts of a terrible storm, desperate human cries, the neighing of horses, the bellowing of cows and the heart-rending barking of dogs raced from all directions. Isaac's bridge, which was then a steep mountain, was torn apart by a storm, which rushed in different directions.
People scurried along the flooded streets on boats, lifeboats and simply on liferafts. From all sides, the perishing prayed for help. But the wind was so strong and violent that the life of the rescuers was often endangered and they themselves were forced to seek salvation in high places. Many, when saving things and goods, themselves perished in the cellars.
The enraged Neva was a formidable force. Along it (from Vasilievsky Island to Okhta) barges with hay, firewood, coal, rafts, logs, various ships and wreckage of buildings rushed. The most horrible sight was probably the Galernaya harbor and the state-owned cast iron factory. Many houses in the harbor, perhaps, could still withstand the fury of the waves and wind, but the greatest harm was done to them by large ships. They ran there with such speed that even strong houses collapsed instantly upon collision with them. Many people then escaped on the very ships that damaged their homes. The Black River near the harbor was especially littered with huts and all kinds of buildings.
A. P. Bushutsky, adjutant of Count M. A. Miloradovich, later wrote:
“Water boiled in the Neva, like in a boiler. The houses on the embankment looked like the sails of ships diving among the waves. On the square opposite the palace, the picture appeared as follows. Under an almost black sky, the dark greenish water swirled like in a great whirlpool; wide sheets of iron, torn from the roof of the new building of the General Staff building, were worn through the air, whirling high and rapidly. The storm played with them, as if in peace.
The spectacles of destruction and death were especially terrible at the Iron Works. From the very beginning of the flood, workers were allowed to return to their homes separate from the factory. But the water was coming in so quickly that it soon became an insurmountable obstacle.
Alexander I watched the horrors of the flood from the balcony of the Winter Palace. As soon as the water was glassy enough to drive through the streets, he drove to Galernaya Harbor.
A terrible picture of destruction appeared before him. Amazed, he left the carriage and stood in silence for several minutes. Tears slowly ran down his face. The people surrounded the Emperor with screams and sobs. "God punishes us for our sins!" - said someone from the crowd. "No, for mine!" - answered mournfully, sadly the Emperor.
For a whole week he visited the places of ruin, bringing material aid and consolation to the victims."
Many details about how the unfortunate people died are contained in the letters of I. I. Martynova:
“My neighbor Hoffmann had two drowned women swimming in the basement. Another neighbor, Gerakov, drowned seven people. One of these victims brings a hand with three folded fingers to her forehead to cross herself. A 25-ruble note is clutched in the other hand.
One woman lost her shelter, runs on the water with her young daughter, choosing high places. She no longer thinks about her life. Suddenly he sees a soldier behind him who is floating on a log. She throws her child over his head towards him. The soldier picks up the girl, and before his eyes the poor mother plunges into the water and drowns."
Of the many tragic episodes of the Petersburg flood described by I. I. Martynov, only one bright moment stands out: “The wife of a soldier went shopping at the market and locked the room, leaving her two babies there. On the way, she was caught by water and had to flee to someone else's house. The next morning she hurries home and longingly thinks that she will no longer see her children alive. But, opening the door, to her greatest joy, she sees her children sleeping on the table in the middle of the room. The arrival of the mother woke up the children, and they said: “We were playing in the room, and as water began to come in here, we jumped onto a chair, and then onto the table. It was a lot of fun when the table started floating around the room. But it was difficult to hold on to it, then we lay down and fell asleep."
But there were very few such happy occasions. The water rose frantically until two o'clock, and at a quarter past three it suddenly began to subside quickly. Indescribable joy gripped the people of St. Petersburg. However, this was followed by almost night darkness, and by the morning of November 8 frost hit. The cold became especially sensitive for those who fled not in living quarters, not in houses, but on roofs, attics and trees, who had no food or warm clothes at hand.
In the Admiralty and wherever the buildings were made of stone, the flood had a less harmful effect. But the flooding of all the lower floors, shops, warehouses, shops, storage sheds and cellars inflicted untold losses. In a short time, it was impossible to save all the goods and supplies, and 300,000 poods of sugar were lost on the Exchange alone. Salt disappeared no less. Groats and oats, as well as all colonial goods, became completely useless.
Bulls, horses, cows and other domestic animals in St. Petersburg alone, 3609 heads perished. It was impossible to take them outside the city and bury them, so they burned them right in the city.
More than three thousand people died in the city, mostly people from the lower class. But those that survived were not much different from the dead - they were so exhausted by the struggle with the waves.
The coming winter threatened with cold. Where in buildings water reached the stoves, they became completely unusable, and it was impossible to heat them. Little by little, not only the bricks collapsed, but the tiles themselves. The water raised the floors and damaged the brick pavement under the floors, which had to be redone.
The flood was also witnessed by A. S. Griboyedov, who later wrote: “The wind is the strongest, and in the panorama there is a wide spectacle of disasters … Chaos, the ocean, a vague mixture of slabs that flowed around the visible part of the city from everywhere, and in neighboring houses, I noticed how the water started to stocks of wood, took it apart piece by piece, in pieces and their, and barrels, tubs, carts and carried away into the common abyss … Descending a few steps, I learned that fifteen children, clinging, climbed over the roofs and still not overturned countryside, escaped into the room, to the owner of the house, through the window … All this was orphaned. Where are their fathers, mothers?"
A figurative picture of the St. Petersburg flood on November 7, 1824 was given in his poem "The Bronze Horseman" by A. S. Pushkin, although the concept and idea of the work is, of course, much deeper.
As a reminder of this terrible calamity, for a long time on the walls of St. Petersburg houses there were marks in the form of tin, and in some places also marble tablets with the inscription: "November 7, 1824".
Floods, large and small, threatened St. Petersburg constantly. In 1890, a new flood occurred, which differed from all the previous ones with extraordinary speed. And also by the fact that it was a complete surprise for everyone. The water level nearly reached only a foot or two of the ill-fated November 7, 1824 flood. And only due to the fact that after 1824 the Obvodny Canal was dug.
By the evening of August 16, the water level in the Neva and on the entire coast of the Gulf of Finland suddenly dropped significantly. One of the Oranienbaum ships ran aground so thoroughly that it had to be removed by extraneous means. But this decline did not last long. At about 8 o'clock in the evening, the water began to rise rapidly, and already at 11 o'clock Petersburg was flooded.
The greatest extent of the flooding took place in the area of Vasilievsky Island, especially on its outskirts - in Galernaya harbor and on Golodai Island. Here the water from the shores of the Neva Bay emerged on August 15, but has not yet reached the houses. On the 16th, the wind intensified to the degree of a storm, raised the water in the harbor and by 10 o'clock in the evening flooded the streets, houses and gardens. But the locals were so confident in their safety that they quietly went to bed. However, after 15 minutes they were awakened by water that penetrated into the lower floors. Only then did the dull night time and the swiftness of the flood cause a terrible commotion.
Dogs, pigs, cows raised an incredible roar and howl, which were soon joined by heart-rending cries of people. The floors in the lower floors of the houses were washed out, they blocked the exit, and asleep people struggled to get out of their homes. And when they got out, they saw that whole stacks of firewood had been blown across the harbor, cabbage washed from the gardens was floating in the streets. Then it was calculated that about 1,500 cabbage beds died and more than 400 fathoms of stacked firewood were carried away. To complete the misfortune, a fire broke out at the corner of Kanarechnaya Street and Sredny Prospekt, and firefighters got there, drowning in water on the spokes.
The water did not subside, and by three o'clock in the morning it had reached an unprecedented level - over ten feet. In the dim light of the coming morning, the inhabitants of St. Petersburg saw how great the disaster was. The bridges have collapsed in many places, small bridges have been washed away altogether. The workers of the Baltic Shipyard could not get into their workshops and workshops, since the horse trams left only from the Pokrovsk community. Yes, and they made their way through great obstacles, as barrels, household utensils and all kinds of furniture, taken from the sheds, floated through the streets.
In many stables, wooden floors were raised by the water, so that the horses stood in their stalls belly-deep in the water, and the inverted planks floated next to them. The frightened animals flew into a rage, and only after long efforts did the workers take them out of the stables to a high place.
Those from Petersburgers who could, went to higher places. Those who did not succeed spent the night on the roofs.
The Smolensk cemetery presented a terrible picture. The water coming here from the Galernaya harbor broke the fence and applied whole heaps of cabbage, which then remained lying among the graves. Forty graves were washed out, and some, recently dug, had not yet settled and were badly damaged. After the water receded, the picture was mystical. The crosses on many of the graves, which were more impressive, were crooked. And almost all of the wooden ones were washed away, and so they floated around the cemetery along with tables, benches, wreaths and grave boxes. In many graves, coffins buried in them were opened. The gravediggers later said that several cows had also sailed to the cemetery.
The water also disturbed a lot of ashes, especially in the back rows of the cemetery. For a long time the soil there was a real jelly, and the smell reminded of the consequences of the disaster.
Vasilievsky Island suffered the most, as the lowest. Here, almost all the dachas were flooded with water, on the surface of which boards, logs and all kinds of rubbish floated. The flood terribly frightened the summer residents, who moved from the lower floors to the upper ones and even to the roof.
A terrible commotion was caused by the storm-driven water among the walking public in the Krestovsky Garden. The formidable element reached its culmination on Elagin Island. On the night of August 17, everything here at once found itself under water: the palace with all its services, the cottage of the Minister of Finance, the Imperial gardening, the cottages of the court clergy. Communication with them was maintained by boats. Floating bollards, torn down bridges and docks, overturned kiosks were visible everywhere on the island.
The water caught the dacha residents so unaware that none of them could save anything from their belongings. Even the chickens that were at the administration of the Imperial Gardening, and they all died. Losses in the Elagin gardens amounted to more than 300,000 rubles.
That night the Slavyanka restaurant was also swimming in the water. All its terraces, billiard and bowling rooms were flooded with water. The audience running out and on the streets saw the same picture. They fought for places in the stagecoaches, there were no cabs at all.
The audience from "Aquarium", where on that fateful evening, the benefit performance of its director was, escaped from the water in a very original way. Late pedestrians had to wander through the back streets for a long time, looking for dry places. But they were nowhere to be found! Then the braver ones took off their shoes and trousers, threw them behind their backs and embarked on a journey across the sea, "like on dry land."
At a time when the water flooded the alleys of the Alexander Garden, the Zoological Garden did not even suspect that they would soon be caught by surprise by the flood. At the beginning of eleven o'clock in the evening, the performance in the open area ended, and the audience went to the veranda, vying with each other to occupy tables. True, the administration, not wanting to frighten the people yet, nevertheless began to rescue the animals - at first, small animals, since they were placed in the lower parts of the garden.
Soon the police still had to warn the public about the danger, but they did not attach much importance to this message and continued to amuse themselves. Only when the water appeared from behind the stage, where the musicians are playing, did they all jump up from their seats. Some rushed to the gate, but were cut off by the already raging water. So many had to return to the verandas again.
The rescued animals were placed on the stage, in the buffet, on the terraces - in a word, wherever water could not reach. When the elephant was taken out of the stall, he, feeling himself free, began to rush around the garden, looking for dry land.
During a flood, it was especially difficult to save chamois, rams, gazelles. Out of fear, they did not want to follow where they were being led, and all the time they tried to run away.
The seal acted the most witty of all. Thanks to the turmoil that reigned around, he got out of his small cage and, despite the pursuit, escaped through the open gate, gaining the much-desired freedom.
HUNDRED GREAT DISASTERS. N. A. Ionina, M. N. Kubeev
