In Search of the “Ice Continent”. Faddey Bellingshausen

September 2018 is the 240th birth anniversary of Faddey Bellingshausen, the discoverer of the southern continent, called “Antarctica” in the future.

On September 20, 1778 a long-awaited son was born in the family of a baron on the island of Ezel (Saaremaa).

The newborn boy became the successor of the ancient Baltic clan. He was called Fabian Gottlieb Bellingshausen. And looking at that ruddy munchkin, his parents hardly thought that in forty years this boy would forget their native German language, in pure Russian he would command the flotilla, lead the southern polar expedition and become the discoverer of the new most southern continent.

At the age of 10 he was sent to study at the Marine Cadet Corps in Kronstadt. And 14 years later, in 1803, he was appointed a midshipman on “Nadezhda” frigate and set out on his first voyage around the world under the command of Admiral Krusenstern.

In this dangerous and difficult journey, Bellingshausen was assigned the role of a cartographer. With German punctuality, he performed astronomical observations and made maps. All his cartographic works during these three years, concerning unknown or previously undescribed countries, were subsequently highly appreciated.

In 1819, a group of Russian researchers initiated an expedition to search the Southern mainland. Although half a century before this, James Cook had stated quite categorically that the land beyond the Southern Arctic Circle had not been available. Nevertheless, Alexander I endorsed this bold proposal. The main task of the expedition was determined by the marine ministry as “discoveries in the possible proximity to the Antarctic Pole” with the purpose of “acquiring the fullest knowledge of our globe”.

The position of the commander of the expedition remained vacant for a long time. Only a month before setting the sail, a naval sailor of the 2nd rank, captain Fabian Gottlieb Bellingshausen, who had become Faddey Faddeevich for his colleagues and friends, was approved for the position.

Due to the urgent preparation, the expedition set sail on ships that had not been adapted to sail in polar latitudes: on “Vostok” sloop (commanded by Bellingshausen) and on “Mirny” sloop, which was headed by lieutenant Mikhail Lazarev.

On July 16, 1819, “Vostok” and “Mirny” sloops, which constituted the “Southern Division”, were unanchored and left native Kronstadt followed by celebratory gunfire from the artillery coastal batteries.

Only six months later, on January 15, the travelers crossed the Southern Arctic Circle for the first time. The next day, they solved a problem that had been considered by Cook to be unsolvable: they reached less than 3 km to the northeast protrusion of the coast.

Trying to circumvent the impassable ice from the east, “Vostok” and “Mirny” crossed the Arctic Circle three more times during that Antarctic summer and tried to go closer to the pole.

Many times the ships got into a difficult situation. Solid ice threatened to become an ice captive. It took a lot of skilled art to save the ships from damage.

The short Antarctic summer was over. At the beginning of March 1820, the sloops, separated by agreement, explored the southeastern Indian Ocean, stood in Sydney, jointly examined the Tuamotu archipelago, found a number of atolls being unknown to Europeans. They discovered the island of Russians, Lazarev island, Vostok island, several more islands.

Bellingshausen made several attempts to measure the depth of the ocean, but the lead-and-line did not reach the bottom. At that time, no scientific expedition tried to measure the depth of the ocean. Bellingshausen was many decades ahead of other researchers doing that, but, unfortunately, the expedition’s equipment did not allow to solve this problem.

In November 1820, both crews went to the “ice continent” again. Three times the sloops crossed the Arctic Circle, but could not come close to the mainland because of the ice barriers. And finally, on January 15, 1821, on absolutely clear and beautiful day, the crews of both ships saw the land — a very high cape from “Mirny”, and a mountainous coast from “Vostok”. Bellingshausen called it “The Shore of Alexander I”. “I bename this discovery as the shore because the remoteness of the other end to the south has disappeared into thin air…”

On January 30, 1821, it was discovered that “Vostok” was in need of a major repair, the leak was spreading every day. F.Bellingshausen gave the “Southern Division” an order to turn north.

In early March 1821, the sloops anchored in the roads of Rio de Janeiro. Two months later, after a thorough repair, the ships went out to sea, standing for their native shores.

On July 24, 1821, the sloops returned to Kronstadt.

So Faddey Bellingshausen, hereditary German baron, increased the glory of the Russian state, to which he served faithfully and loyally until the last days of his life, and wrote the greatest geographical discovery in its history forever.

In 1839, holding the rank of admiral, Bellingshausen was appointed chief commander of the port of Kronstadt. It was under his leadership that Kronstadt turned into an impregnable fortress.

Bellingshausen died in 1852 at the age of 74.

Sofia Bakaleeva