Who discovered Vilkitsky Strait? Where is he located?

The navigators of pre-revolutionary Russia pursued the goal of finding a Great Route in the northern waters, allowing them to freely swim from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. They reached places on which no human foot had walked. They were able to discover new lands and make incredible discoveries in the sea waters.

In September 1913, the research expedition made a great discovery. It turned out that the waters that wash the cape of Chelyuskin from the north are not a spacious sea, but a narrow channel. Subsequently, this part was given the name - Vilkitsky Strait.

Strait location

The Northern Earth archipelago is separated from the Taimyr Peninsula not by wide ocean waters, but by a narrow water area. Its length does not exceed 130 meters. The narrowest part of the strait is located in the area of Bolshevik Island, where two capes meet - Chelyuskin and Taimyr. The width of this part of the water area is only 56 meters.

If you look at the map, you can see that where the Vilkitsky Strait is located, to the north-east of Bolshevik Island is another small water area. This is the Strait of Evgenov. It isolates two tiny islands (Starokadomsky and Maly Taimyr), located in the southeast of the archipelago from the rather large Bolshevik.

In the west, there are 4 small islands of Heyberg. At this point the depth of the water area varies in the range of 100-150 meters. The eastern part of the strait descends to a depth of more than 200 meters.

The map clearly shows which seas are connected by the Vilkitsky strait. Due to a small channel, the waters of the two seas, Kara and Laptev, are interrelated.

Story of the Strait

Attempts to explore the northern parts of the Great Sea Route began to be undertaken at the end of the XIX century. In 1881, in the waters around Taimyr, the ship "Jeannette" was shuttled by D. De-Long. The campaign was unsuccessful: the ship was crushed by powerful northern ice.

The expedition led by the Swedish navigator Adolf Erik Nordenscheldom plowed the ocean near the Northern Land in 1878. However, they could not find a narrow channel. Then who opened the Vilkitsky Strait?

In 1913 to explore the expanses of the Arctic Ocean the Russian expedition is sent. Seafarers equipped two ships - Vaigach and Taimyr. B. Vilkitsky was appointed captain of the second icebreaker. The researchers were to photograph the coasts and islands scattered along the Arctic Ocean. In addition, they should find in the ocean a water area suitable for laying the Northern Waterway. Mariners traveling on the icebreaker "Taimyr" were lucky to open a large archipelago, which occupied 38,000 m ^{2 of} land. Initially, on the initiative of Boris Vilkitsky, he was given the name of the Land of Emperor Nicholas II. Now his name is Northern Earth.

A few more small islands will be discovered and described in the same expedition. The world learns about the Maly Taimyr, the islands of Starokadom and Vilkitsky. The most important discovery of the 20th century will be Vilkitsky Strait. Boris Andreevich will name the aquatorium the Strait of the Tsarevich Alexei.

Results of expeditionary voyage

The expedition, begun in 1913, lasted more than two years. At the end of the navigation period on 25.11.13, the ships moored in the Vladivostok bay of the Golden Horn in order to survive the winter in tolerable safe conditions. In 1914, with the beginning of navigation, the icebreakers, leaving Vladivostok, moved westward. Having reached Taimyr, the ships got up for the winter in the Toll Bay. As soon as navigation became possible, they again went out into the ocean, paving the Northern way for end-to-end sea crossings. Boris Andreevich managed to prove that navigation on the Arctic seas is not a myth, but a reality.

Strait value

The navigators passed on the icebreaker through the Vilkitsky Strait, which became the main part of the Great Sea Route, which allowed free movement from the Far East to Arkhangelsk. The first unimpeded passage across the Arctic Ocean, carried out by Boris Andreevich, ended in September 1915 in the port of Arkhangelsk.

Whose name is the strait?

Officially, the name of the strait, given by the discoverer in honor of the Tsesarevich, lasted only two years - from 1916 to 1918. After the October Revolution, it will be renamed. The controversy about the one named after the Vilkitsky Strait will not be abated. Whose name is the water area - seafarer A. Vilkitsky or his son, Boris Andreevich?

There is evidence that in 1913-1916 he bore the name of Andrei Vilkitsky, a prominent Russian cartographer. It is also claimed that with the advent of Soviet power, it was called "the Strait of Boris Vilkitsky." The name in honor of the one who opened the water area lasted until 1954.

Once again, the channel was renamed exclusively for the convenience of reading on maps. The name of the man leading the great expedition was cut off from the name. On the cards they began to write simply - the Vilkitsky Strait. And this despite the fact that writing a name in the name was considered a fundamentally important aspect.

In the Arctic, a considerable number of place names bear the name of Boris Andreevich's father. His name is the island, the glacier, several capes. However, there is an opinion that the name of the water area, most likely, was distorted intentionally, guided by the political background.

Boris Vilkitsky: facts from the biography

Without knowledge of the biography of the hydrograph-surveyor, the researcher of the Arctic expanses, it is difficult to explain the introduction of changes in the name of the strait. The birthplace of Boris Andreevich, born on 03/03/1885 - Pulkovo. His father, Andrei Vilkitsky, is a legendary navigator.

Graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps, taking the rank of midshipman in 1904, became a participant in the Russo-Japanese War. For courage in bayonet attacks brave sailor was awarded four military orders. In the last battle he was seriously wounded, taken prisoner and repatriated.

After the war he graduated from the Maritime Academy of St. Petersburg. Having received his education, he became an employee in the Main Hydrographic Administration of Russia. He was engaged in research of the Baltic and the Far East.

In the First World War took under the command of the destroyer "Letoon." For daring sally in the camp of the enemy received a reward for bravery - George's weapon. Three years after the October Revolution, in 1920, the HESLO officer, having decided on emigration, left Soviet Russia.

Punishment for the traitor of the motherland

Apparently, the unseemly act was the reason that the name of the strait reinsurers have removed his name. At the same time, it is surprising that the hereditary officer who served in the tsarist fleet was not branded as an enemy of the people and did not bother to add it to the list of sworn counterrevolutionaries. In addition, the name of the white emigrant was not erased from the map of the Arctic, although with the arrival of the Soviet authorities, the names of open and named toponyms were removed from it. The former name of Vilkitsky Strait was found in 2004.

The surname of the seafarer was added again to his name, restoring justice. The discovery of the strait, which provided for a through navigation in the northern waters, is still considered the world's largest discovery of the twentieth century.