Antarctica discovered by the Russian expedition

28 January 1820

On January 16 (28), 1820 the first Russian Antarctic expedition on sloops ‘Vostok’ and ‘Mirnuy’ led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Michel Lazarev discovered Antarctica.

The hypothesis about the existence of the South land was put forward by ancient geographers and was supported by the Middle Ages scholars. Beginning from the 16th century it had been searched by Portuguese B. Diash, F. Magellan, a Dutchman A. Tasman, an Englishman D. Cook. After unsuccessful efforts to find the South continent, Cook declared: “… I may say with confidence, that no man would ever dare to penetrate south deeper than I managed to do it. The lands that possibly exist at the south, would never be explored”.

On July 4 (16), 1819 the expedition consisting of 2 sloops under the command captain 2nd class captain F. Bellingshausen left Kronstadt for Rio de Janeiro. The crews consisted of the military sailors-volunteers. The sloop “Vostok” was led by Bellingshausen, the sloop “Mirnuy” – by lieutenant Lazarev. The objective of the expedition were the discoveries made “in a possible proximity to the Antarctic pole”. The navigators were supposed to explore the South Georgia and the Hawaiian Islands once discovered by Cook and to “continue their explorations to the farthest possible latitude”, making “every possible effort to approach the pole in search for unknown lands”.

In Antarctic waters “Vostok”  and “Mirnuy” had made a hydrographic inventory of the southwestern coasts of the South Georgia island. Discovered were the capes, gulfs and a group of islands named after the expedition participants: Annenkov island, Zavadovsky island, Leskov island, Torson island. The navigation was very difficult and dangerous. Small wooden sailing vessels were forced to maneuver near ices and icebergs, often in the fog. On January 16 (28), heading for the south, the Russian navigators discovered the sixth continent of the Earth.

 Bellingshausen-Lazarev expedition is fairly considered one of the most important and complicated Antarctic surveys. In total it had made 4.972 miles which is two and a quarter times longer that the Equator line. The navigation lasted for 751 days. 527 of them the sloops were in motion and 122 days to the south of the 60th parallel and 100 days in ices. Besides geographic discoveries (Antarctica continent and 29 islands), the expedition had done many interesting and valuable astronomy, oceanography, synoptic and ethnography observations.

 

Lit.: Ларионов А. Открывшие Антарктиду // Моделист-Конструктор. 1968. № 4; Открытие Антарктиды: Фаддей Беллинсгаузен и Михаил Лазарев [Электронный ресурс] // Россия в красках. 2004-2014. URL: http://ricolor.org/history/eng/expedition/antarctida/.

 

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

The first Soviet scientific station ‘Mirniy’ opened in Antarctica // On this day. 13 February 1956;

Arctic Museum, the first in the world, opened in Leningrad 75 years ago // On this day. 8 January 1937;

Беллинсгаузен Ф. Ф. Двукратные изыскания в Южном Ледовитом океане и плавание вокруг света в продолжении 1819, 20 и 21 годов, совершённые на шлюпах Восток и Мирном под начальством капитана Беллинсгаузена, командира Шлюпа Востока. Шлюпом Мирным начальствовал лейтенант Лазарев. СПб., 1831. Ч. 1;

Беллинсгаузен Ф. Ф. Двукратные изыскания в Южном Ледовитом океане и плавание вокруг света в продолжении 1819, 20 и 21 годов, совершённые на шлюпах Восток и Мирном под начальством капитана Беллинсгаузена, командира Шлюпа Востока. Шлюпом Мирным начальствовал лейтенант Лазарев. СПб., 1831. Ч. 2;

Митинг в честь русских капитанов Михайло Лазарева и Фаддея Беллинсгаузена на флотилии «Слава», 1951 г. : [фрагменты кинохроники / реж. монтажа Т. И. Дьяконова]. СПб., 2010;

Тарапыгин Ф. А. Известные русские военные деятели: краткое их жизнеописание. СПб., 1911.