Faddey Faddeevich Bellingshausen (born 9 (20) September 1778 - death 13 (25) January 1852) - Russian navigator, took part in the first Russian round-the-world voyage of IF Kruzenshtern. He led the first Russian Antarctic expedition to discover Antarctica. Admiral. The sea off the coast of Antarctica, the underwater basin between the continental slopes of Antarctica and South America, islands in the Pacific, Atlantic Oceans and the Aral Sea, the first Soviet polar station on King George Island in the South Shetland Islands archipelago are named after him.
Origin. Childhood
The future admiral was born in 1778 on the island of Ezel (present-day Saaremaa) near Ahrensburg (present-day Kingisepp) in Livonia (Estonia). Originally a Baltic German from the Bellingshausen noble family of Eastsee. The sound of sea waves was constantly heard around the small island. From an early age, the boy could not imagine life without the sea. That is why in 1789 he entered the Naval Corps in Kronstadt as a cadet. The sciences were easy for him, especially navigation and nautical astronomy, but Thaddeus was never among the first students.
Service start
1796 - Midshipman Bellingshausen sets off on his maiden voyage to the shores of England, and at the end of this internship he was promoted to midshipman and sent for further service in the Revel squadron. In its composition, on different ships, the young officer sailed in the Baltic Sea. The future discoverer of the southern polar continent eagerly mastered the art of sailing, in practice comprehending its secrets. This did not go unnoticed, and in 1803 Bellingshausen was transferred to the ship "Nadezhda" to participate in the first Russian round-the-world expedition.
Promotional video:
Circumnavigation. Service
This voyage, under the command of I. F. Kruzenshtern himself, became a wonderful school for the young officer, and the leader of the expedition highly appreciated the diligence and level of his maps.
Upon completion of his circumnavigation of the world, Faddey Faddeevich, already in the rank of lieutenant commander, until 1810 commanded a frigate in the Baltic Sea, participated in the Russian-Swedish war. 1811 - goes to the Black Sea, where in 5 years he did a lot of work on drawing up and correcting maps, determined the main coordinates of the eastern coast.
By 1819, Captain 2nd Rank Bellingshausen had a reputation as a talented sailor, not only versed in astronomy, geography and physics, but also bold, decisive, exceptionally conscientious. This allowed Krusenstern to recommend the captain as the leader of the expedition for discoveries and research in the Antarctic region. Bellingshausen was urgently summoned to Petersburg, where on June 4 he took command of the sloop Vostok, which was to sail to Antarctica.
Preparing the expedition
The Vostok and the second ship of the Mirny expedition, built for round the world voyages, were specially adapted for polar conditions. The underwater part of the "Vostok" was fastened and sheathed with copper at Bellingshausen's request. The Mirny was equipped with a second skin, additional hull mountings, and replaced the pine steering wheel with an oak one. Together, the ships' crews numbered 183 people. Lieutenant MP Lazarev was appointed commander of Mirny, who would eventually become a famous naval commander.
The expedition was prepared in a very short time - just over a month, but it was equipped, primarily thanks to the efforts of Bellingshausen and Lazarev, perfectly. The navigators had the best nautical and astronomical instruments at their disposal. Special attention was paid by the leaders of the expedition to the stock of various antiscorbutic agents, among which were coniferous essence, lemons, sauerkraut, dried and canned vegetables. Given the climatic conditions, there were stocks of rum and red wine. As a result, no serious illness among the sailors was ever observed.
Discovery of Antarctica
1819, July 16 - the sloops left Kronstadt, entered Copenhagen, then the Canary Islands, and by mid-November were already in Rio de Janeiro. There, for three weeks, the team rested and prepared ships for sailing in difficult Antarctic conditions. Then, following the instructions, the ships went to the islands of South Georgia and to the "Land of Sandwich" - a group of islands discovered by James Cook, which he took for a single island. The sailors identified the error and named the archipelago the South Sandwich Islands.
It was impossible to move further south - the path was blocked by solid ice. Therefore, Bellingshausen decided to go around the Sandwich Islands and look for a path along the northern edge of the ice. 1820, January 16 - records of the alleged proximity of land appeared in the logbook. The land was not visible, since it was under a continuous ice cover, but petrels circled above the sloops, and coming closer to the ice, the sailors could hear the cries of penguins. Later it will become known that the expedition was only 20 miles from the mainland, therefore this day is considered to be the official date of the discovery of Antarctica. If the ice cover at that time was not so strong, sailors would certainly be able to see the land. Moving on, on February 6, they again came close to the mainland, but the weather conditions again did not allow us to assert with confidencethat the white space on the horizon is dry land.
Again and again, moving away from the ice edge and approaching it further along the course, the travelers tried to break through the ice. They crossed the Antarctic Circle 4 times, sometimes approaching 3-4 km to the coast of Antarctica, but the result remained the same. In the end, attempts to get closer to the alleged land had to be stopped. Strong storms could ruin badly battered ships, it was necessary to replenish food and firewood supplies, to give rest to the exhausted crew. We decided to go to Port Jackson (Sydney).
Discoveries
The instruction ordered to conduct research in the southeastern Pacific Ocean during the winter in the Southern Hemisphere. The sailors spent only one month in Australia, and on May 22, 1820 she sailed to Tuamotu and the Society Islands. In this voyage, islands were discovered, which were given Russian names (Kutuzov, Raevsky, Ermolov, Barclay de Tolly, etc.). Several islands were also discovered near the Fiji archipelago and north of Tahiti. Also, research was carried out on the islands, which had already been visited by other travelers.
Again the storming of Antarctica. More discoveries
1820, beginning of September - the expedition returned to Port Jackson, thorough preparation of the ships was carried out and already on November 11 again set off for Antarctica. On January 18, the expedition clearly saw the coast, which was named the Land of Alexander I. There was no more doubt: the new continent was discovered. During further voyage, the South Shetland Islands were explored, many of which were first mapped, about. Peter I and others. But the work on the description of the discovered lands had to be interrupted: serious damage to the "Vostok" forced Bellingshausen to decide to terminate the expedition. The sailors traveled to Kronstadt through Rio de Janeiro, where they repaired the ship, then visited Lisbon, and in July 1821 returned to their homeland.
Expedition results
The expedition lasted 751 days. The sailors covered 92,200 km. Besides Antarctica, travelers discovered 29 islands. They managed to collect large ethnographic, zoological and botanical collections. On the map of Antarctica, navigators have put 28 objects. They surveyed large water areas adjacent to the mainland, gave a general description of its climate, described and classified the Antarctic ice for the first time.
In this most difficult voyage, Faddey Faddeevich Bellingshausen proved himself to be a talented and skillful commander and was promoted to captain-commander. In addition, he also turned out to be a talented scientist. It was he who, long before Darwin, was the first to guess about the mechanism of formation of coral islands. He also gave the correct explanation of the causes of the appearance of the mass of algae in the Sargasso Sea, not being afraid to challenge the opinion of Humboldt himself. After visiting Australia, Bellingshausen vigorously opposed the racial theory that indigenous Australians were considered almost animals unable to learn.
The route of the Bellingshausen and Lazarev expedition.
Continuation of service
After his famous expedition, Faddey Faddeevich continued to serve in the navy: in 1821-1827 he commanded a flotilla in the Mediterranean; in 1828, already in the rank of rear admiral, he led a detachment of sailors-guards and led it on dry land from St. Petersburg across all of Russia to the Danube to participate in the war with Turkey; then on the Black Sea he commanded the siege of the Turkish fortress of Varna, etc.
1839 - Vice-Admiral Faddey Faddeevich Bellingshausen received the highest post in the Baltic Sea as the chief commander of the Kronstadt port and the Kronstadt military governor. Despite his advanced age, the admiral every summer brought out large fleets to sea for maneuvers and brought the coordination of their actions to perfection.
1846 - The Swedish Admiral Nordenskjold was present at the maneuvers, who concluded that no fleet in Europe would make such an evolution.
Death. Heritage
Bellingshausen died on January 25, 1852 in Kronstadt. A note was found on his desk - the last one in his life. It read: "Kronstadt must be planted with such trees that would bloom before the fleet passes into the sea, so that the sailor gets a particle of summer woody smell."
Bellingshausen's work “Two-fold surveys in the South Arctic Ocean and voyages around the world during 1819, 1820 and 1821, performed on the sloops Vostok and Mirny, first appeared in 1831 (republished in 1869). In addition, according to the results of the expedition, the admiral himself prepared the Atlas for the voyage of Captain Bellingshausen (1831).