Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov discovered what. Captain Sedov - myths and reality

Name: George Sedov

Age: 36 years

Place of Birth: Sedovo

A place of death: Rudolph Island

Activity: polar explorer, hydrographer

Family status: was married

Georgy Sedov - biography

Ships are named after Georgy Sedov, educational establishments, the streets of our cities and many geographical objects. At the same time, the captain did not even reach the point of northern latitude from which other conquerors of the North Pole were just beginning their journey. He died after walking only two hundred kilometers towards the pole, which, moreover, had long been discovered by others.

He lies tied to the sledge. Exhausted, hungry dogs drag these sleds to the North Pole. Sedov is dying and already guesses about it, but he is not going to retreat from his intended goal. He himself can no longer walk, so the sledge is driven by his two companions, who have long lost faith in the successful outcome of this crazy expedition. There are still several months of travel through the snowy desert to the Pole, and fuel and food are already running out. Only a madman would continue forward under these conditions. But all proposals to turn back are harshly suppressed by the captain.

His companions begin to suspect that he has gone crazy. In one hand he frantically clutches a compass, the arrow of which points strictly north, and in the other - a revolver, in case the sailors turn south without permission. From time to time the captain loses consciousness, and then a bad thought creeps into the heads of his companions: the captain’s body can be fed to the dogs, and then they themselves can return home safely...

This is roughly how biographers who are inclined to debunk the myths of the Soviet era describe the finale of Georgy Sedov’s expedition to the North Pole. But what actually happened in February 1914 at eighty-second degrees north latitude? And why did Sedov, and not the other “two captains” - Georgy Brusilov and Vladimir Rusanov, whose Arctic expeditions started simultaneously with Sedov’s, but had even more tragic endings - remain a hero in history?

It’s not difficult to answer the second question - the main factor in the glorification of Georgy Sedov in Soviet time became his proletarian origin. The future polar explorer was born in a poor and large family on the Krivaya Kosa farm (today it is the village of Sedovo), located on the shore Sea of ​​Azov.

Sedov's father lived in fishing, involving his young sons in this business. Mother worked as a laundress for rich villagers. In addition to George, the family had eight more children. According to Sedov’s recollections, their father drank heavily, beat his wife, and sometimes disappeared for years. To feed themselves, children had to beg in neighboring villages and even steal.

Until the age of fourteen, Sedov was illiterate. He was never ashamed of this fact, as well as his “low” origin, and even indicated it in his autobiography. When a parochial school opened in Krivaya Kosa, Georgy begged his parents to allow him to study there and soon became one of the best students and even an unofficial assistant teacher.

Having graduated from three classes of school in two years with a certificate of merit, sixteen-year-old Georgy entered the position of housekeeper in one of the local offices, and soon became a clerk in a large store, where he received a good salary: 10 rubles a month. His former playmates looked at him with envy. But Sedov himself understood that this was only the beginning: “I served for a year, and the next year my salary was increased, my parents were delighted. But it was not there. Something new has arisen in my head: I want to study, study and study.”

From one of the captains who was delivering a load of salt to the store, Sedov learned that in Rostov-on-Don there are nautical classes in which you can study for free, you just need to work as a sailor on a ship for several months beforehand. He shared his plans with his parents, but they flatly refused to let him “wander around somewhere.” And so on a May night in 1894, Georgy, having pulled out his documents from his parents’ chest, secretly runs to Rostov to become a sailor.

Just two years later he successfully passes the exam to become a coastal navigator, and a year later he receives a diploma as a long-distance navigator. Now his main goal is scientific expeditions. But to be able to participate in them, you need to be a military man. And he goes to Sevastopol, where he enters military service. In 1901, he took final exams as an external student at the St. Petersburg Marine cadet corps and in the spring of 1902 he entered service in the Main Hydrographic Directorate of the Admiralty. And almost immediately he takes part in his first scientific expedition to the Novaya Zemlya region. Next year - a new journey. Now as an assistant to the head of the expedition to the Kara Sea region.

Then there was the Russo-Japanese War, during which Sedov commanded a destroyer in the Amur Bay. For his participation in this war he received the Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd degree. In 1908 he studied the Caspian Sea, in 1909 he explored the mouth of the Kolyma, and in 1910, with his direct participation, the Olginsky village on Novaya Zemlya was founded. In the same year, on the recommendation of Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, he was accepted into the Russian Geographical Society.

Georgy Sedov - biography of personal life

In 1910, Sedov got married to Vera Valeryanovna May-Mayevskaya, for whom every page of his future polar diaries was imbued with love. But here comes a black streak in his previously brilliant career. Colleagues always treated “this upstart from nowhere” with disdain. Sedov joked that he was almost the only officer in the entire Russian fleet who did not have nobility. While he is on expeditions, this is not noticeable, but as soon as he returns to the capital, injections rain down literally from all sides.

And, of course, he, the “hillbilly,” cannot be forgiven for marrying the general’s niece (Sedov’s wife was the niece of General Mai-Maevsky, in the future a prominent figure in the White movement). In the Admiralty, intrigues and behind-the-scenes games begin around his person, as a result of which Senior Lieutenant Sedov is removed from a hydrographic expedition he had carefully prepared to the little-explored eastern seas of the Arctic and sent once again to the Caspian Sea, which has been studied far and wide, from where he writes to his wife:

“...Under the pressure of injustice and resentment, I can lose control of myself and do something that will have a serious impact on our fate. Although I try with all my might to give room to prudence in myself and to paralyze obsessive thoughts about offense... Now I won’t be able to join the navy at all, even if I were a golden man, but I’m not used to being offended and I don’t let anyone offend.”

And then Georgy Sedov, driven by wounded pride, sets himself the main goal of his life: he decides to go to the North Pole. It doesn’t matter that the Americans Frederick Cook and Robert Peary have already been there. Sedov formulates his task this way: the discovery of the North Pole by a Russian sailor.

In a memo sent on March 9, 1912 to his superiors at the Main Hydrographic Directorate, he writes: “We will prove to the whole world that the Russians are capable of this feat.”

Sedov certainly wanted to sail in the summer of 1912. It is possible that pragmatic reasons were also involved here: in 1913 the three-hundredth anniversary of the Romanov dynasty will be celebrated. The Russian flag at the North Pole will be a good gift to the sovereign. Needless to say, what opportunities this opens up! And the ill-wishers and intriguers will subside.

The expedition was prepared in terrible haste. Officials either promised government support or refused it. On the pages of the press heated discussions unfolded about the feasibility of an expedition to the North Pole. Journalist of “New Time” M.O. Menshikov wrote: “I don’t know Sedov, and no one knows. If this is a private enterprise, we wish it success, but if it is a national enterprise, if the State Duma gives money, then we need to find other bosses, more respectable ones...

He was answered by the famous Arctic explorer, General A.I. Varnek, under whose command Sedov sailed in the Kara Sea: “One name is G.Ya. Sedov, whom I have known for a long time as a hardy and energetic researcher, gives me the right to hope that his enterprise, dear to the Russian national feeling, will be crowned with success... Always when it was necessary to find someone to carry out a difficult and responsible task, sometimes associated with considerable danger among the polar ice, my choice fell on him, and he carried out these orders with full energy, the necessary caution and knowledge of the matter.”

But still state support Sedov's idea was not found. A specially created commission came to the conclusion that Sedov’s calculations were far from reality. Then he made an appeal to the public. With the support of the famous publisher Mikhail Suvorin, the “Sedov Committee” was created, which organized fundraising for the expedition. Among the donors were both ordinary people and famous people: Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen, singer Fyodor Chaliapin... Nicholas II himself allocated ten thousand rubles. But still there was a catastrophic lack of money, and then Suvorin issued a loan to Sedov from his own funds, hoping to cover expenses through future exclusive reports.

Now Sedov was leaving for the Pole as a debtor, and it was impossible for him to return without victory. True, the hydrographic department in which Sedov served nevertheless met halfway: he was granted leave for two years with pay. Sedov went to his homeland for the last time, to Krivaya Kosa, to say goodbye to his elderly parents, brothers and sisters, and then went to Arkhangelsk to equip the chartered ship “Holy Martyr Phocas” and recruit a crew.

Sedov outlined the plan of his expedition in an interview with the Elisavetgrad News newspaper dated July 10, 1912: “From Franz Josef Land, off Teplitz Bay, where St. Phocas" by August 15 of this year, I propose to head to the pole no earlier than March 1 of next year, because until then it will be night there. I take with me 60 dogs, 4 kayaks loaded with tools, sledges, skis and provisions. I expect to cover the entire journey from Joseph Land to the Pole in 83 days, making an average of 10 miles per day, and if everything goes smoothly, I will reach the Pole on May 26, 1913. I’ll stay there for a day or two and also allow 83 days for the return trip. Thus, if the course of affairs is favorable, already on the 20th of August 1913 I will return to the members of the expedition I left on Joseph’s Land and by the same time I will come to Teplitz Bay and “St. Foka."

Sedov intended to go to the Pole in a group of four people. The rest of the expedition was to remain on Franz Josef Land for scientific works and wait for the return of the pole party. After chaotic preparations and a struggle with the port administration, which made demands one more absurd than the other (for example, it refused to release the ship until the destination port was named), the expedition left Arkhangelsk. It was already August 15th. The end of navigation was approaching. But on August 15, Sedov expected to be already in Teplitz-Bai. Plans were crumbling before our eyes.

There was no question of reaching Franz Josef Land this year. "Foka" barely made it through the ice to Novaya Zemlya, where it settled for the winter. On the way, in the village of Olginsky, founded several years ago by Sedov himself, five extra sailors were written off from the ship. There were 17 people left on board. During the voyage, shortages of equipment were discovered, and many products were spoiled. The caretaker and veterinarian Pavel Kushakov wrote in his diary: “We were looking all the time for lanterns and lamps, but we didn’t find anything. Neither a single kettle nor a single camping pot were found. Sedov says that all this was ordered, but, in all likelihood, was not sent... The corned beef turns out to be rotten, it is absolutely impossible to eat. When you cook it, there is such a corpse-like smell in the cabins that we all have to run away. The cod turned out to be rotten too.”

Most of the dogs, especially those bought in Arkhangelsk, were not adapted to the conditions of the Far North and soon died from the cold. It is interesting that the supplier of these dogs was a certain von Vyshimirsky, whose surname Veniamin Kaverin took for the dishonest supplier of the expedition, Captain Tatarinov, in the novel “Two Captains”.

During the winter of 1912-1913, several sleigh trips were made around Novaya Zemlya. Sedov himself, with the sailor Inyutin, walked around the archipelago from the north in two months, filling in the last blank spots on its map. This expedition showed that the captain himself, his companions, and even the remaining dogs were in excellent shape. If Foka had managed to reach Franz Josef Land this year, the Pole would, without a doubt, have been conquered. But let's be realistic...

All other members of the expedition turned out to be realists. On August 21, 1913, "Saint Foka" escaped from ice captivity, but only the ship reached open water, the officers submitted a report to Sedov that they all considered it necessary to interrupt the expedition and head south. Sedov read it with a pale face, and then went to his cabin.

With an incredible effort of will, he managed to peacefully suppress this “mutiny on the ship.” “Saint Foka” continued its journey north, but this did not add to the team’s sympathy for Sedov. Soon the ship was surrounded by ice again, and on September 8, 1913, it entered its second winter quarters at the southern tip of Franz Josef Land in a bay called Tikhaya. The pole is about a thousand kilometers away. Too much...

The second winter turned out to be much harsher than the first. People began to get sick from monotonous food. Everyone's thoughts were only about a speedy return. And only Sedov was eager to move further to the north. But his health also deteriorated greatly. He did not leave his cabin for several days, remaining in bed. It was clear to the naked eye that the captain was developing scurvy. And the veterinarian Kushakov, Sedov’s deputy for economic affairs, kept repeating one thing: just mild bronchitis and an exacerbation of rheumatism. It seemed that he specifically wanted to send Sedov off the ship so that he himself could remain the absolute master on it.

A gloomy atmosphere reigned in the winter hut. Even Sedov’s closest friend, the artist Pinegin, doubted the success of the trip to the Pole. This is what he wrote in his diary five days before saying goodbye to the captain: “Sedov’s attempt is insane. Travel almost 2000 kilometers in five and a half months without intermediate warehouses with provisions designed for five months for people and two and a half for dogs? However, if Sedov had been healthy, like last year, with such youngsters as Linnik and Pustotny, with proven dogs, he could have achieved great breadth.

Sedov is a fanatic of achievements, unparalleledly persistent. He has a vital trait: the ability to adapt and find a way where another situation seems hopeless. We would not be particularly worried about the fate of the leader if he were completely healthy. His plans are always designed for feat; for the feat, strength is needed - now Sedov himself does not know the exact measure of it... Everyone is participating in the latest training camp, but the majority cannot help but see what outcome can be expected. And yet no one can interfere with Sedov’s decision to start fighting. There is something that organized our enterprise: this something is the will of Sedov.

The only way to oppose it is to rebel. But who will take upon himself the responsibility to claim that Sedov’s forces do not correspond to his enterprise? Some of the expedition members even suggested tying Sedov up or locking him in a cabin, just to keep him from certain death. They said that the scientific observations and research carried out by members of the expedition during two wintering periods were in themselves excellent results, and that a trip to the Pole was impossible under these conditions. In a one-on-one conversation, Pinegin told Sedov about the mood in the team, that going further north was suicide, and suggested that Sedov at least postpone the exit for a couple of weeks until he finally recovered. Sedov replied: “Of course, I see all the obstacles, but I believe in my star.”

Some time after Sedov’s death, the geographer of the expedition, Vladimir Wiese, reflecting on the reasons that pushed their captain to this suicidal campaign, wrote in his diary: “Sedov was quite clearly aware that his return to Russia without a serious attempt to reach the Pole would be tantamount to moral death for him. . There is no return to his homeland - his enemies are waiting there, who will close all doors in front of him and forever put an end to all dreams of great work as a researcher, a sailor, and Sedov devoted his entire life to this work. Returning to Russia meant for Sedov to turn from a brave and honest sailor into a laughing stock for the “white bone”.

Therefore, Sedov did not see any other option but to go to the Pole, even if it was tantamount to suicide. It was impossible to break this will, which chose the first between death and shame.” So, on Sunday, February 2, 1914, Georgy Sedov, accompanied by two sailors - Grigory Linnik and Alexander Pustoshny, set off on three sleds to conquer the North Pole. The sailors were volunteers. What made them go together with Sedov towards certain death? Or was Sedov’s moral strength so great that he not only believed in his star, but also forced others to believe?! Even such grated rolls as Linnik.

This is what the Arkhangelsk newspaper wrote about Grigory Linnik, introducing its readers to the participants of the expedition on the eve of its departure from Arkhangelsk: “G.V. Linnik -26 years old, sailor, from Poltava province, tall blond with weak hair; a man who has seen the world. Linnik sailed in the Black Sea and the Far East, visited Sakhalin, participated in a gold mining expedition to the Lena River, and studied English and Chinese in the Far East. Passionately loves travel. He is the only member of the expedition who knows how to handle sled dogs."

Alexander Pustotny was only 21 years old. In the navy they are called “newcomers.” He had just graduated from pilot school in Arkhangelsk, and he had not yet had any special achievements in life, so the newspaper did not write anything about him. ...At ten in the morning a prayer service was served on the ship, Sedov gave a speech, during which he almost burst into tears. Many team members also shed tears. It is documented: “I set out on the road not as strong as I need and as I would like to be at this time.” the most important moment... But I ask: do not worry about our fate. If I am weak, my companions are strong.

We will not give polar nature away for nothing. It’s not my health that worries me most, but something else: performing without the funds I was counting on. Today is a great day for us and for Russia. But is it really necessary to go to the Pole with such equipment? Instead of sixty dogs, we have twenty-four, our clothes are worn out, our provisions are depleted by work on Novaya Zemlya, and we ourselves are not as healthy as we need to be. All this, of course, will not prevent us from fulfilling our duty. I believe that the pole party will return safely, and we will return to our homeland as a close family, happy with the consciousness of our duty fulfilled. I want to tell you not goodbye, but goodbye!”

The last photos were taken. The entire healthy crew and officers walked several miles behind the sledge, seeing off their captain, and soon three people and 24 dogs were left alone with white silence. Sedov, Linnik, and even the “new guy” Pustotny kept diaries during their short journey. These records are today the only evidence of further tragedy.

The first few days went more or less normally, despite a strong headwind, continuous hummocks and temperatures below minus forty. During a hike around Novaya Zemlya a year ago, worse things happened! But soon Sedov began to suffer from shortness of breath, his gums were bleeding and his legs were swollen, and he could not walk on his own. It was scurvy after all. He had to be put in a sleeping bag and tied to the sled. At night he had chills, so the kerosene stove, designed to last a few minutes a day, was constantly burning, and the fuel was consumed at a frantic pace. Linnik and Pustotny rubbed the patient’s chest and legs with alcohol every hour.

It was planned to replenish fuel supplies and treat the captain in Teplitz Bay, a bay on Rudolf Island, where the Italian expedition of the Duke of Abruzzo had left a winter hut and some supplies several years earlier. But there were still a few days' journey to Teplitz Bay, and it was not a fact that the Italians left there exactly what they needed, and Sedov was getting worse and worse every day. He began to lose consciousness, and the sailors began bleeding from their noses and throats from hard work. The first aid kit that “Doctor” Kushakov gave them contained only bandages, Vaseline, eye drops and headache powder.

As a medicine for Sedov, a little cognac was added to his tea, which, according to the contract with the suppliers, had to be drunk at the pole. But this didn't help much. Soon Sedov began to refuse food. It was no longer good for anything. Linnik and Pustotny, first with hints, and then more and more openly and persistently, began to invite Sedov to return back, but he suppressed any talk about returning: “We are going strictly north. In Teplitz Bay I’ll get better in a week!” But when he lost consciousness, he muttered in delirium: “Everything is lost, everything is lost...”

They haven't been going anywhere for the last three days. Sedov began to go into agony. He moaned terribly and almost did not regain consciousness. On February 20, at about three o’clock in the afternoon, he uttered his last words: “My God, my God... Linnik, support me!” And he died in the latter’s arms. “The fear and pity that took possession of me at that moment will never be erased from my memory in my life,” Linnik later wrote in his diary. - Feeling sorry in my soul for a loved one, my second father - my boss, I and Pustotny silently looked at each other for about fifteen minutes, then I took off my hat, crossed myself and, taking out a clean handkerchief, closed my boss’s eyes.

Once in my life at that moment I did not know what to do or even feel, but I began to tremble with inexplicable fear. It was crazy to despair, and when the creepiness of the first impression gradually began to fade, I told Pustoshny to get fur suits for both of us and immediately put out the primus stove, since we were running out of kerosene.” The sailors decided to return to the ship. Having abandoned two sledges and most of the food and equipment right on the ice (as you can see, the version of famine disappears), they reached the nearest shore (it was Cape Auk on Rudolf Island) and buried the body of their captain, covering it with stones and placing a flag in the grave , which Sedov was going to erect at the North Pole.

A cross made from Sedov’s skis was placed over the grave. Two weeks later they came to “Saint Phokas”, frostbitten and barely alive. For the last four days there was nothing to heat the tent; almost all the fuel was used up during the captain’s illness. Of the 24 dogs, 14 survived. And even those were barely alive. It’s scary to imagine what would have happened to the expedition if, according to Sedov’s will, it had continued to move towards the Pole...

At the end of the winter, the Foka returned to Arkhangelsk, however, to do this it was necessary to burn all the deck superstructures. Linnik and Pustoshny were arrested on suspicion of murdering Sedov, which is why rumors spread around Arkhangelsk that they either ate him themselves or fed him to dogs. But after cross-examination and studying Sedov’s diary, the sailors were acquitted. However, no one – including the capital’s “Sedov Committee” – gave a damn about Sedov’s expedition: the First World War, and reports from the front displaced the news of both Sedov’s death and the return of “Saint Phocas” from the front pages of newspapers... The scientific materials of the expedition also turned out to be of no use to anyone, and its property was sold at auction for next to nothing. ...

In 1938, employees of a Soviet air base on Rudolf Island found the remains of skis, a flag, fur clothing, a hammer hatchet and a flagpole. On the flagpole you could make out the words: “Polar Expedit. Sedow 1914". The captain’s remains were nowhere to be found. Whether this is due to polar bears or the notorious “human factor”, we will never know.

But the flagpole from Sedov’s grave still visited the North Pole. When on August 17, 1977, the Soviet nuclear-powered icebreaker "Arktika" reached the place where Sedov was so eager to go, the state flag of the USSR was installed there, mounted on a flagpole found on Cape Auk.

P.S. When I started collecting material for this article, I was almost sure of Sedov’s insanity. How could it be possible not to notice obvious things and so furiously walk towards one’s own death and, moreover, lead other people to death? But as I studied documents and other people’s memories of him, the powerful, calm and reliable bulk of this man stood before me. A person faced with insurmountable circumstances. One who did not panic, who did not compromise, but who managed to accept these insurmountable circumstances and even try to overcome them. So the captain, having encountered the deadly pressure of a white squall in the ocean, directs his ship straight towards the storm, because he simply has no other choice.

Georgy Sedov born on May 5, 1877 in the village of Krivaya Kosa (now the village of Sedovo, Donetsk region), located on the shores of the Azov Sea. From the age of eight, little Yegor’s father, Yakov Evteevich, began to take him fishing, so the boy could only dream of getting an education. But soon the dream of the future navigator came true.

The Sedov house was often visited by a teacher who noticed the potential of the smart young man and insisted on teaching the boy. Georgy Sedov I completed a three-year gymnasium course in 2 years. After school, he was sent to serve with a local priest, where this study was a burden for George - Sedov was drawn to the sea. Having learned about nautical schools in Taganrog and Rostov, the young man left home in May 1894, taking with him some personal documents.

In Rostov, the head of the maritime school interviewed an eighteen-year-old young man, and, making sure of his literacy, promised to enroll him, but on one condition, Georgy Sedov must present a certificate of three months' sailing on merchant ships. The young man was able to fulfill this requirement by getting a job as a sailor on the ship. With excellent recommendations, the future navigator arrived at the head of the school and was immediately enrolled. Having brilliantly completed his studies in 1898, Georgy Sedov received training as a navigator.

The young sailor was immediately hired as a captain's mate on the ship." Sultan" Sedova associates many serious trials with this ship. So, when the captain unexpectedly fell ill, the young navigator took command and, in a severe storm, led the merchant ship to its destination. Taking the place of the ship's captain, the young navigator gained an unforgettable experience. After sailing the seas for some time, Georgy Sedov in October 1901 passed the exams as an external student for the full course of the St. Petersburg Naval Corps and a year later, with the rank of reserve lieutenant, he was seconded to the Main Hydrographic Directorate. So Georgy Sedov became a researcher.

In April 1903, the researcher was sent to Arkhangelsk, where he took part in an expedition to explore Novaya Zemlya and the shores of the Kara Sea. After spending about a year in these parts, it was enough to “fall in love” with the Arctic forever.

For a while research work interrupted by the Russo-Japanese War. Georgy Sedov was sent to Far East, where he became the commander of a destroyer. Throughout the entire period, the naval commander strove to the north with all his heart, and only in 1908 did he manage to return to St. Petersburg to his previous place - to the Main Hydrographic Directorate.

Georgy Sedov, ship commander

After a year of hard work in the Caspian Sea, Georgy Sedov became interested in the problem of the passability of the Northern Sea Route, as a result of which he was appointed head of the expedition to study the mouth of the Kolyma River and search in this region for a convenient fairway for merchant ships coming from Arkhangelsk. In one year, the navigator managed to describe and map not only the mouth of the river, but also the shores of the sea and the depths of its coastal part.

Returning to St. Petersburg, Georgy Sedov I read a report at the Geographical Society, where I expressed my opinion on the suitability of the lower reaches of the Kolyma for navigation. He also proposed a new method for determining geographic coordinates. After which they started talking about the researcher seriously. He became a member of the Geographical Society. All this time, the navigator was haunted by the thought of traveling to the North Pole.

At that time, both poles had already been conquered, however, a long-term discussion about the primacy of conquering the top of the planet continued between the discoverers Peary and Cook. Georgy Sedov was surprised by the fact that none of the Russians had ever made an attempt to reach the North Pole, even despite the fact that most of the territory of this region borders on Russia. And then the researcher decided to prepare his project, appealing to the fact that data on the influence of processes occurring at high latitudes is very important for understanding the climate in general. This event required about 70,000 rubles.

The State Duma approved the expedition and allocated twice as much funds. Senior Lieutenant Sedov was transferred from the Admiralty to the Navy, which could be considered a brilliant success. Despite the demotion, he fell into the privileged caste of naval officers. However, the Council of Ministers refused to authorize the project, but this did not become an obstacle for Sedov, and he organized an entire campaign to raise funds. They also helped with the ship - the fur trader Dikin agreed to transfer a sailing-steam vessel called " Holy Martyr Phocas" It was a two-masted schooner, built in Norway with advanced sailing equipment, and had additional plating on the sides. In a word, everything necessary that was required for sailing in the northern latitudes.

a team of pioneers led by Sedov on the schooner “Holy Martyr Foka”

So, with incredible efforts, Georgy Sedov set out on the open sea on August 27, 1912, with the thought that the first Russian expedition to the North Pole had taken place.

The expedition reached Novaya Zemlya safely. Next, the course led to the land of Franz Joseph, but the researchers had to stay for the winter on Novaya Zemlya. For 352 days, the schooner “Holy Martyr Foka” stood frozen in ice. During this time, the team patched up the ship and in August 1913 the expedition continued its journey. Later, the ship settled in Tikhaya Bay on Hooker Island for the second wintering. Those were long and cold days. Many in Georgy Sedov’s team were already against the event. To keep warm and cook food, they burned everything that came to hand. Coal reserves were running low. Part of the ship's crew fell ill with scurvy due to a lack of vitamin C in the body, and naval commander Georgy Sedov also fell ill, but he did not retreat. Yes, he actually did not intend to do this, because bankruptcy awaited him in Russia - the funds borrowed must be repaid with a fee for the provided materials of his research. Georgy Sedov in this situation preferred to achieve his goal at any cost.

On February 15, 1914, Sedov and several volunteers set off on dog sleds to Rudolf Island. He planned to walk to the northernmost point of the planet, plant a flag and, at the behest of the ice, return to New Earth or Greenland.

schooner "Holy Martyr Foka" in the ice

Every day the expedition covered no more than 15 km. On the way they were hampered by the piercing wind, wormwood and cracks. The discoverer's strength gradually left him, but he did not give up. Three weeks later, the heart of Georgy Sedov’s already completely exhausted body stopped. The calendar showed March 5, 1914. Georgy Yakovlevich’s team duly buried Rudolf Island, the northernmost island of the northern archipelago. A few days later, at the cost of incredible efforts, the sailors returned to the ship, and already in August 1914, “ Holy Martyr Phocas"arrived in Arkhangelsk.

After a medical examination of the entire crew, it was determined that there was not a single healthy person left on board. A specially created commission discovered that the middle deck had been completely removed from the ship, as well as the entire wood paneling cabins There was an assumption that Georgy Sedov was killed, but the information was not confirmed. Despite the tragic consequences, Georgy Sedov wrote his name in the history of navigation and discoveries, but we must remember that the Arctic does not forgive mistakes.

Everyone who happened to live during the Soviet period remembers the enthusiastic epithets addressed to the first Russian traveler who set his goal to conquer the North Pole - G. Ya. Sedov. Coming from the poorest strata of society, he was given credit for the energy and determination that allowed the village boy to gain worldwide fame. They tried not to talk about the results of his expedition, since it ended tragically, demonstrating an example of a rash and frivolous approach to solving a complex scientific problem.

The son of a fisherman from a poor family

Future naval lieutenant Georgy Sedov was the youngest son in the large family of Yakov Evteyevich, a fisherman from the Krivaya Kosa farm in the Donetsk region. He was born on May 5, 1877. The Sedovs lived in extreme poverty, the cause of which was their father’s frequent drinking bouts. The situation was not helped by the fact that the brothers, and there were five of them, were hired as day laborers to the rich villagers - they paid the boys pitiful pennies.

Georgy started studying late. Only when he was fourteen years old did his parents send him to a parochial school, where he showed extraordinary abilities. The teenager completed the three-year course of study in two years, receiving a certificate of merit. However, no bright changes came in his life. I also had to work as a laborer from morning until late at night.

Daring Dream

Having mastered literacy, Georgy became interested in reading, and his dream was born of becoming a sea captain - an absurd and unattainable desire for a village boy. Even the parents, having learned about this, were categorically against such an idea. And here one of the main traits of his character clearly manifested itself - extraordinary perseverance in achieving his goal.

Secretly from everyone, the young man began to prepare for a trip to Rostov-on-Don, where nautical courses were open at that time. When, after long ordeals, he finally reached the goal of his first journey in his life, the inspector treated him very kindly, but as a test, he sent him for several months as a sailor on the steamer Trud, which made voyages along the Azov and Black Seas. Having thus received baptism at sea, George began his studies.

Merchant captain

Three years later, a certified coastal navigation navigator, Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov, graduated from the school. This was no longer the old village boy, oppressed by poverty, but a specialist who knew his worth and had reason to be proud. Over the next few years, he underwent additional training and soon became a captain on the Sultan ship. But I wanted more. Standing on the captain's bridge, Georgy Sedov thought about marine science and expeditionary activities. The goal is achievable, but for this it was necessary to transfer to the navy.

From the civilian fleet to the cartography department

Having parted with his cargo ship, the young captain went to Sevastopol, where he joined the training team as a volunteer. Soon he is awarded the rank of lieutenant, and with a letter of recommendation from the inspector of naval courses, Rear Admiral A.K. Drizhenko, Georgy goes to St. Petersburg to work in the Main Cartographic Directorate of the Admiralty. Here a wide scope has opened up for him research activities. In 1902, an expedition was formed to study the Arctic Ocean. Together with other participants, Georgy Sedov also goes to the mouth.

From now on, his biography reaches a completely different level. Georgy Sedov is no longer just a sailor, of which there are many in the Russian fleet, he is a passionate researcher, a man obsessed with a thirst for discovery. The next year, as an assistant to the head of the expedition, he studied the Kara Sea and, having met there the captain of the ship "America" ​​Anthony Fiala, he became infected with the idea of ​​​​conquering the North Pole. But soon the Russo-Japanese War begins, and such ambitious plans have to be postponed.

Military service and marriage

Instead of long journeys, life prepared for him during the war years to serve in the Siberian military flotilla, and at the end of hostilities - work as an assistant pilot master of the Nikolaev-on-Amur fortress. Here, for his services to improving navigation conditions on the Amur, Senior Lieutenant Georgy Sedov was awarded the third degree.

In 1909, things happened in his personal life happy event. Returning to St. Petersburg, he soon met his future wife Vera Valeryanovna May-Maevskaya, who was the niece of the prominent military leader of those years, General V.Z. May-Maevsky. The following year, the sacrament of wedding took place in the Admiralty Cathedral of the capital, which became not only the beginning of a happy married life, but also opened the doors to high society for him.

Painful pride that requires satisfaction

The traveler's biographers disagree about whether during this period a trait began to appear in him with particular clarity, which later served as one of the reasons for his tragic death. Having risen from the very bottom of society and found himself among the capital's aristocracy, Sedov was constantly inclined to see some disdain in the attitude of those around him as an upstart and a person not of their circle. Whether there were real prerequisites for this, or whether such a judgment was the fruit of sick pride is difficult to say, but everyone who knew him personally noted excessive vulnerability and ambition in his character. They said that for the sake of self-affirmation he was capable of the most rash actions, of which there were many.

She became one of the links in this chain. Work on its preparation began in 1912. By that time, two Americans had already announced the conquest of the pole, and Sedov could not lay claim to the laurels of the discoverer, but he considered such a journey, made precisely in that year, necessary for himself. The fact is that in 1913, celebrations related to the tercentenary of the House of Romanov were to take place, and the Russian flag at the extreme northern point of the globe could have been a wonderful gift to the sovereign, and the traveler himself would have earned unquestioned authority and fame.

Reasonable opinion of hydrograph scientists

In order to meet the upcoming anniversary, it was necessary to hurry, since there was very little time left. First of all, preparing the expedition required money, and a lot of it. Having submitted an application to the Main Hydrographic Directorate, Sedov received a polite but categorical refusal. Pundits tactfully pointed out to him how adventurous the plan was, citing the fact that in the absence of sufficient technical means, academic knowledge and specialists in this field, enthusiasm alone is not enough.

The refusal was regarded as a manifestation of arrogant arrogance towards a person from the people and even more aroused in him the desire to prove to everyone “who is who” at all costs. The frivolity of his plan is evidenced by his article published in one of the capital’s magazines. In it, Sedov writes that, without setting himself any “special scientific tasks,” he simply wants to reach the pole, as if we were talking about a sports achievement.

Hasty and stupid fees

But if nature denied him prudence, she more than endowed him with energy. By appealing to the general public through the press, Sedov managed to quickly raise the required funds among voluntary donors. The idea was so exciting that even the sovereign made a private contribution of ten thousand rubles, which amounted to twenty percent of the required amount.

With the money raised, an old sailing and steam schooner “Holy Great Martyr Foka” was purchased, which had to be repaired and brought into proper shape. Haste is a bad help, and from the very beginning this affected the preparation of the expedition. Not only were they unable to assemble a professional crew of sailors, but they couldn’t even find real sled dogs, and already in Arkhangelsk they were catching stray mongrels on the streets. It helped that they were sent from Tobolsk at the last moment. The merchants, taking advantage of the opportunity, slipped in the most unsuitable products, most of which had to be thrown away. To top all the troubles, it turned out that the vessel’s carrying capacity did not allow it to take on board all the provisions, some of which remained on the pier.

Two years among the polar ice

One way or another, on August 14, 1912, the ship left Arkhangelsk and headed for the open sea. Their journey lasted two years. Twice, reckless daredevils wintered among ice hummocks, immersed in the darkness of the polar night. But even in such conditions they did not waste time and made geographic Maps and descriptions of all the sections of the coast where they visited. During the second wintering, a group of sailors was sent to Arkhangelsk with papers to be sent to the Geographical Society of St. Petersburg. They contained the results of research and a request to send a ship with a supply of food and other supplies, which was never fulfilled.

The tragic end of the expedition

The decisive assault on the North Pole began on February 2, 1914. On this day, Russian explorer Georgy Sedov and two sailors from his team left Tikhaya Bay and headed north on a dog sled. Even before the start of the journey, they all suffered from scurvy, and a few days later Georgy Yakovlevich’s condition worsened sharply. He was unable to walk, ordered himself to be tied to the sledge, and died on February 20, 1914. Of the two thousand kilometers of sledding ahead of them, only two hundred had been completed by this point.

According to the official version, the sailors, before turning back, buried him by making a grave in the snow and putting a cross on it made of skis. But there is another version of what happened, based on completely reliable information. It was once outlined by the director of the Museum of History of the Arctic Maritime Institute G. Popov. In order for the sailors to get to the shore alive, they needed efficient sled dogs, which by that time were already dying of hunger. On the verge of death, the sailors dismembered the corpse of their commander, and fed his remains to the dogs. No matter how blasphemous it may seem, this is how they managed to survive.

Memory left for posterity

Traveler Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov entered the history of science as a tireless hydrographer and explorer of the Arctic Ocean. The son of a poor fisherman, he became a naval officer, a member of the Russian Geographical and Astronomical Society, and was awarded several orders. During the Soviet period, Georgy Sedov, whose discoveries became part of the national science, was a symbol of the development of the North. His memory is immortalized in the names of streets in many cities. On the map you can see geographical objects named in honor of Georgy Sedov. The famous icebreaker bore his name. Once upon a time, the drift of the Georgiy Sedov, lost in the ice of the ocean, became the center of attention not only of the public in our country, but also of the whole world.

Today, many heroes of yesteryear have faded into the background, giving way to the trends of new times. However, Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov will remain in our history as a selfless traveler, a man of unyielding will and unbending character. He always set himself great goals, and it was not his fault that the latter cost him his life.

Russian hydrographer and polar explorer. In 1912 he organized an expedition to the North Pole on the ship "Saint Foka". Wintered on Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land. Tried to reach the Pole by dog ​​sled. Died near Rudolf Island.

Georgy Sedov was born into the family of an Azov fisherman from Krivaya Kosa. The family had nine children. The father went to work and disappeared for years. From the age of seven, Yerka had to fish and do day labor in the fields.

Until the age of fourteen he was illiterate, and then, when his father returned, he graduated from a three-year parochial school in two years and... ran away from home.

At twenty-one, Sedov received a diploma as a long-distance navigator, at twenty-four he passed the exam as an external student and was promoted to lieutenant in the Admiralty and sent to the hydrographic expedition of the Arctic Ocean.

In expeditionary voyages, Sedov proved himself brilliant. Georgy Yakovlevich becomes assistant to the head of the expedition. Biographers claim that back in 1903, he first thought about reaching the pole, when he met in Arkhangelsk the participants of the American polar expedition of Ziegler - Fiala. This is quite likely. But the Russian-Japanese War begins, and he submits a report on his secondment to the Far East. Sedov commands destroyer No. 48, which is on guard duty in the Amur Bay. And in 1906 he was appointed assistant to the pilot master of the Nikolaev-on-Amur fortress.

In the newspaper "Ussuriyskaya Zhizn" a young hydrographer writes articles in which he emphasizes "the importance of the Northern Ocean Route for Russia" and calls for its development.

In 1908-1910, Sedov worked on an expedition to the Caspian Sea, then conducted a survey of the river mouth in Kolyma, and on Novaya Zemlya mapped Krestovaya Guba, where the Olginsky settlement was founded.

In the summer of 1910, just before the expedition to Novaya Zemlya, Sedov married Vera Valeryanovna May-Mayevskaya.

According to her recollections, upon returning from Novaya Zemlya, Sedov began constantly talking about the polar expedition. But he is sent to the Caspian again. Only on March 9 (22), 1912, he submitted a memorandum to the head of the Main Hydrographic Directorate, Lieutenant General A.I. Vilkitsky: “The Russian people’s ardent impulses for the discovery of the North Pole manifested themselves back in the days of Lomonosov and have not faded to this day. Amundsen wishes for no matter what, leave the honor of discovery to Norway and the North Pole. He wants to go in 1913, and we will go this year and prove to the whole world that the Russians are capable of this feat..."

Newspapers enthusiastically accepted the idea of ​​the First Russian expedition to the North Pole. Sedov was supported by A. I. Vilkitsky and the Minister of Naval Affairs of Russia I. K. Grigorovich. Nicholas II treated the expedition plan with understanding. Sedov was given a two-year leave with pay; from a captain in the Admiralty, he was transferred to the navy with the rank of senior lieutenant. Having exchanged the hydrograph's silver shoulder straps for gold ones, the son of an Azov fisherman was, one might say, introduced into high society.

However, soon bitter disappointment awaited Georgy Yakovlevich. A commission specially created under the Hydrographic Directorate sharply and in many ways rightly criticized the expedition plan. By 1912, Georgy Yakovlevich had worked a lot and successfully in the North, but he did not know the winter Arctic and had no experience of moving on drifting ice. This is where all the mistakes in the plan he developed stemmed from. Kanya, for example, had a hundred dogs and two auxiliary units. Piri has two hundred and fifty dogs and four auxiliary units. According to Sedov's plan, the transition to the Pole was to be carried out by only three people with thirty-nine dogs.

In addition, trying to “get ahead” of Amundsen, Georgy Yakovlevich scheduled the expedition’s departure date for July 1st. There was clearly not enough time for preparation.

At the end of May, Sedov prepared a new, updated plan for the expedition. The number of dogs was now increased to sixty, and the load was reduced from 3.25 to 2.18 pounds per dog (about 38 kilograms). But daily ration the dogs had to be reduced from 1 to 0.6 pounds (approximately 250 grams). So the new plan also contained clearly unrealistic numbers. The entire trip to the Pole and back was now supposed to last 172 days - almost six months! However, Sedov believed in his own strength, in the strength of the Russian people. “Who, if not us, accustomed to working in the cold, who populated the North, will reach the Pole? And I say: the Pole will be conquered by the Russians...”

The commission rejected Sedov's plans. The emperor granted 10 thousand rubles, but the government refused to allocate money for the expedition.

Maybe announce a subscription? Advertisements are published in newspapers. Some donate a hundred rubles, others a few kopecks. A committee has been created to prepare the expedition, headed by publishers.

Sedov had to overcome an infinite number of the most unexpected, most absurd obstacles during the preparation of the expedition. For example, the ship "Holy Martyr Phocas" was chartered only on July 10.

On August 26, "Saint Foka" was transferred from Solombala harbor to the Cathedral pier of Arkhangelsk, and the very next day - a ceremonial farewell, a prayer service, champagne flowing...

According to the plan, Foka was supposed to deliver Sedov’s detachment to Franz Josef Land and return to Arkhangelsk. However, due to the late exit, the plan could not be fulfilled. The ship was covered in ice off the northwestern coast of Novaya Zemlya.

This winter was not easy: there was not enough warm clothing (only the polar detachment was provided with it), and many essential “little things” were missing. Due to the rush to pack, no one even knew what was taken and what they never got.

It turned out that the suppliers had cruelly deceived Sedov. The corned beef was rotten, as was the cod.

Despite everything, Georgy Yakovlevich did not lose courage and even thought about going to the Pole from Novaya Zemlya. The expedition members carried out various observations and made several sleigh rides, significantly clarifying the map of Novaya Zemlya. Sedov himself, together with boatswain A.I. Inyutin, traveled about seven hundred kilometers with surveys and mapped the northern coast of the archipelago for the first time. This journey was very difficult - Georgy Yakovlevich suffered frostbite on several toes and lost 15 kilograms.

“On the way back, our life was difficult, more painful, terrible,” he wrote to his wife. “Near one large glacier... the ice was torn off by a strong wind and carried into the sea. An opening 200 fathoms wide was formed. Thanks to the great frost, this opening was covered a thin layer of ice (1.5 inches). Since we had nowhere to go - either to go back, or to live on the other side of the ice hole, it is impossible to go around, or to cross, I decided on the latter myself, breaking through the ice with a stick and thus choosing for myself. road, and ordered the sailor to follow exactly in my footsteps with the sledge. I was already safely crossing to the other side and in my heart I was glad that we were able to cross, when suddenly I heard a cry. I looked around: I saw the sledge, dogs and a man dangling in the water. as soon as possible, to help, but before reaching the man 10 steps, he himself fell up to his chest. The sailor asks for help, but I myself need it.

There was no hope of salvation. The ice was breaking off and there was nothing to grab onto. A sharp cold wind was blowing with snow, frost - 12.5°. Members went numb. But the Lord, apparently, was merciful to us. We crawled out onto the ice again, approached the dogs with great caution, grabbed the lines with both hands, and I shouted at the dogs as loud as I could: “Prrrr...” (forward). The dogs rushed, and the sled jumped out onto the ice, and then with great caution they reached the shore..."

At the beginning of summer, five people, led by Captain N.P. Zakharov, went south to get to the nearest camp, and from there to Arkhangelsk. The ship was running out of coal. Sedov hoped that in the summer of 1913 the committee would be able to ensure the delivery of coal and other supplies to Franz Josef Land.

When the Foka did not return in 1912, voices were heard in Russia calling for the organization of a rescue expedition. After all, there was no radio station on the Fox, and its fate remained unknown. They assumed the worst.

Sedov was determined to continue sailing to the shores of Franz Josef Land at all costs and from there to the Pole. But the summer passed, and the ice still held the Foku captive, or rather, not the Foku, but the Mikhail Suvorin: during the winter, Sedov renamed the Saint Foku in honor of the editor of the newspaper Novoye Vremya.

The expedition officers considered reaching Franz Josef Land very unlikely and urged Sedov to turn back. It was an ultimatum, almost a mutiny on the ship.

But Sedov led the ship forward! For several days the head of the expedition practically did not leave the bridge. Maneuvered in heavy ice, they burned logs, boards, and old boxes in the firebox. And yet they made it through! “It took a lot of work for the old, decrepit ship to reach these latitudes, especially since on the way we encountered so much ice that no other expedition, it seems, had ever encountered...” For the second winter, the ship stopped in Tikhaya Bay on Hooker Island. The polar night was approaching. Living conditions this time were extremely difficult. The premises were barely heated, there was ice in the cabins, and blankets often froze to the bulkheads in the morning. Many products have already run out.

It was rare to get fresh meat. I had to eat half-rotten corned beef. The selection of food rations was also affected by the haste during preparation and Georgy Yakovlevich’s lack of experience.

The first winter went relatively well, but in Tikhaya Bay almost everyone was sick, only three remained healthy. Their gums were bleeding, many complained of shortness of breath, strange “rheumatic” pains, some could barely move on their swollen, crooked legs. Georgy Yakovlevich was also ill; sometimes he did not leave the cabin for whole days. “His legs were completely broken with rheumatism,” we read day after day in his diary. “I’m still weak, I’m coughing desperately... I’m experiencing some kind of painful condition... I’ve caught a cold in my legs again, again. My shins hurt..."

Despite the illness, despite the fact that most of the sled dogs died in the first winter, Sedov continued to prepare for the polar campaign. Perhaps no one, except Georgy Yakovlevich himself, believed that there was the slightest chance of success. The exit was scheduled for February 2 (15), 1914. Two sailors walked with Sedov - Grigory Vasilyevich Linnik and Alexander Matveevich Pustoshny.

At 12 o'clock, at a temperature of -20°, under cannon shots, they left the ship for the Pole. The entire healthy crew and officers saw us off for about five miles. At first the road was bad, but a team helped the dogs, and then the road improved, and at the end Hooker was met by huge ropacas, through which he had to cross, thanks to the onset of darkness, with a large obstacle; the sledges overturned and people fell. I flew with sore legs several times...

February 3rd. At 9 we left camp. The road is bad. A lot of snow has fallen, and the sleds crash into it. The dogs can barely drag. We move quietly, the brake is also the third sledge, which is without a person. It's as cold as -35°, with a breeze right in the forehead... My legs are getting better, thank God.

February 4. We left at 9. At noon, a wonderful red, welcome dawn. The road is somewhat better, the snow has been compacted. The dogs are doing well, although they haven’t eaten anything for three days, they refused to eat bear lard, today they gave them biscuits and they ate them!.. Today it was very cold. I walked in my shirt and was very chilled. We save ourselves by accepting catfish, burning kerosene about two pounds a day...

February 5th. ...In general, today the road was disgusting, there was a lot of loose snow and ropaks. By the evening... it was hellishly cold, and I managed to walk today in a shirt, because it’s hard in a sheepskin coat. I was chilled again, especially my withers, back, and shoulders were frozen. I cough, it’s very difficult to breathe while walking in the extreme cold, I have to draw cold air deeply into my chest; I'm afraid I'll catch a cold...

February 7. ...Today the thermometer showed a minimum of 40°. The road was terribly painful, ropaki and loose deep snow. It was terribly difficult to walk, and especially for me. to the patient. The dogs, poor things, did not know where to hide their muzzles... From two to four there was a blizzard. This completely killed us; we barely moved forward. I kept scrubbing my face and still didn’t notice how I had frostbitten my nose a little...

February 10. At 9 we moved on. I was so weak thanks to bronchitis that I could not walk forward ten steps. I sat on the sled again. I was freezing like hell, as I was dressed to go. It seems that the cold has worsened even more, because my chest began to hurt and lower and lower on the right side, I have a terrible fever. The road was bad, but I was still forced to drive my sleigh, I was a real martyr. Now I feel very ill in a tent with a fire. I'm terribly afraid of getting pneumonia. Pustoshny was bleeding from his mouth and nose. Linnik's feet were very cold. Today was a particularly cold day.

February 13, the 13th is unlucky, as in general. We took off at 9 and went in the fog (it was snowing). The road is difficult, the dogs can barely carry us, we can’t see anything... At 5 o’clock we stopped for the night. In the evening a bear came to the tent, a huge one, and the dogs chased it. Despite my illness, I went with Linnik to see the dog barking. Having somehow walked about two miles, we found a bear sitting in a hole, surrounded by dogs. I shot at him several times from a yard away, but the gun was so frozen that it did not fire a single shot. When we went back, disappointed, I could no longer move, I felt so bad. I had to stay with the dogs to guard the bear, and Linnik went to fetch the sled. Soon the bear jumped out of the hole and ran... the dog followed him. About two hours later a sled found me and brought me like a corpse to the tent. My health has deteriorated, and now I still have to climb into a frozen, icy bag.

The 14th of February. Today at 9 o'clock we trudged on. Snow, fog, you can’t see anything, the dogs are not carrying you - there’s a guard. We trudged about three or four miles and set up camp... My health is very bad, yesterday’s bear worsened it...

February 16... I'm sick as hell and I'm no good. Today they will rub my feet with alcohol again. I eat only compote and water, my soul doesn’t take anything else.

Above the mountains we saw the sweet, dear sun for the first time. Oh, how beautiful and good it is! When we saw him, our whole world turned upside down. Hello, most wonderful miracle of nature! Shine on your loved ones in your homeland, as we huddle in a tent, sick, dejected, at 82° north latitude!”

The sailors buried Sedov on Rudolf Island, the northernmost island of our northernmost archipelago. Instead of a coffin there are two canvas bags, at the head there is a cross made of skis. The flag that Sedov dreamed of hoisting at the Pole was placed in the grave.

On February 24 (March 9), Linnik and Pustoshny set off on their return journey. There were 14 dogs left in the sled. Kerosene - for 5 cooking times. To save fuel, they ate frozen lard and drank cold water instead of tea, melting the snow with their breath. Five days later the kerosene ran out.

In the evening everyone gathered together. We read Sedov's diary, then Linnik talked about last days Georgy Yakovlevich.

An archipelago and an island, a cape and a peak, a strait, two bays, two bays are named after Sedov... The village of Sedov (formerly Crooked Spit), where he was born and where the Museum of Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov was opened, is named after him. There is Sedov Street in Moscow and in many other cities and towns. Ships were and are still named after Sedov. For example, the heroic, 812-day drift of the icebreaking steamship Georgy Sedov, which crossed the Arctic Ocean, entered the history of polar travel.

Family history
Kostya 02.09.2007 08:06:40

My paternal grandmother Anna Aleksandrovna Sedova said that Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov was her uncle. I don’t know how true this is, but I would like to know more about the relatives of the great explorer. Perhaps I’ll find at least someone on the line of Sergei Vasilyevich Kruglov’s father. If the creators of the site can help me with this, I will be sincerely grateful. Preserving the history of your family is probably a pleasure for everyone, especially if there were great people in the family. Thank you in advance! Kruglov Konstantin Sergeevich.

Born in the village of Krivaya Kosa (Don Army Region, now the village of Sedovo in the Novoazovsky district of the Donetsk region). The family had four sons: Mikhail, Ivan, Vasily and Georgy (Egor), as well as five daughters: Melanya, Avdotya, Ekaterina, Maria and Anna. Father, Yakov Evteevich Sedov, was from the Poltava province and was engaged in fishing and sawing timber. When he went on a binge, he drank away his property and the Sedov family lived from hand to mouth; when he came out of the binge, he worked actively and the family began to live tolerably.

From the age of eight, Georgy was engaged in fishing with his father, went to day labor, and worked in the fields. After the father left the family for three years, the mother, Natalya Stepanovna, was hired as a day laborer, as the family began to starve. The elder brother Mikhail was already working at this time, but was earning little; the younger brothers, Vasily and Georgy, helped their mother. Soon after his father left, Vasily died of pneumonia, after which George was given as a farm laborer to a wealthy Cossack, for whom he worked for food. A Cossack boy herded oxen, winnowed grain, and carried loads. The family's affairs improved slightly after the father's return.

After three years After studying in nautical classes, in 1899 Sedov received a diploma as a navigator of coastal navigation and got a job as a skipper on a small dry cargo ship. On March 14, 1899, in Poti, he passed the exam and received a diploma as a long-distance navigator, after which he was assigned to the steamer Sultan. On one of the voyages, the owner of the ship made him captain and offered to steer the ship onto the rocks in order to receive an insurance premium for it. Georgy Yakovlevich refused and brought the ship entrusted to him intact to the Novorossiysk port. After this, the young captain received his pay and was left without work. He did not find work, in addition, he wanted to engage in marine science and expeditionary activities, for which it was necessary to transfer to the navy.

Service

The scientist received Sedov kindly and even forced him to live with him until he could enter the service. Drizhenko and his friend hydrograph Varnek helped overcome the obstacles that arose during the efforts to allow the peasant son to take the exam for the Naval Corps course. Sedov said that his friends and patrons first achieved some kind of preliminary test... He passed the official exam brilliantly and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the Admiralty... On the advice of Drizhenko, Sedov entered service in the Main Hydrographic Directorate.

Sedov’s activities were highly appreciated by the head of the expedition, hydrographer A.I. Varnek:

Always, when it was necessary to find someone to carry out a difficult and responsible task, sometimes associated with considerable danger, my choice fell on him, and he carried out these assignments with full energy, the necessary caution and knowledge of the matter.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Sedov commanded the destroyer No. 48 of the Siberian Military Flotilla, which carried out a guard watch in the Amur Bay.

With his marriage, Sedov believed, he was as close as possible to the “high society.”

In scientific societies

Georgy Yakovlevich donated the materials collected during expeditionary work to scientific institutions and museums.

Reason and goals of the expedition

For some reason, Sedov considered the fundamental condition of the expedition to be the need to get ahead of Amundsen at the Pole, although the latter’s unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole was undertaken only in 1918 in an expedition on the ship “Maud”.

Sedov himself made “mischievous” statements during the preparation of the expedition and described the goals of the expedition as purely sports and political:

“In an essay published in the Blue Journal and without false modesty entitled “How I will discover the North Pole,” he allowed himself to casually speak condescendingly about the famous expedition on the Fram (without mentioning Nansen’s name). Sedov also wrote there, which does not pursue “special scientific goals”, but wants “first of all to discover the North Pole”

In one of the feuilletons of that time there was even the following remark:

“Like America, the North Pole can only be discovered once. So it’s unclear what Sedov is fussing about, since Piri was already at the Pole.”

Despite serious criticism, the goal was initially supported by the government.

Expedition plan and financing

Initially, the expedition involved government funding.

Having examined the plan presented by Sedov to reach the North Pole, the commission of the Main Hydrographic Directorate rejected it because of its absolute fantasy and unreality, and refused to allocate funds, although the commission included many specialists who were very favorably disposed towards G. Ya. Sedov (for example, A.I. Varnek) and even F.K. Drizhenko, who openly patronized him.

A request for the allocation of 50 thousand rubles, sent to the State Duma on the initiative of the Russian National Party, was also refused.

With the support of F.K. Drizhenko, Sedov was granted a two-year leave from service maintaining content .

Sedov, with the active support of the newspaper “Novoye Vremya” and its co-owner M.A. Suvorin, organized the collection of voluntary donations for the needs of the expedition. Numerous publications in Novoye Vremya caused a great public outcry in Russia. Emperor Nicholas II also made a private contribution - in the amount of 10 thousand rubles. Suvorin gave the expedition money on credit.

Expedition preparation

Much of the ordered equipment was not ready on time... The team was hastily recruited, there were few professional sailors in it. Food was purchased hastily, and Arkhangelsk merchants took advantage of the haste and slipped in low-quality products. Dogs were hastily purchased in Arkhangelsk at a greatly inflated price - simple mongrels. Fortunately, a pack of beautiful sled dogs arrived in time, purchased in advance in Western Siberia.

Before the expedition left, some of its participants pointed out to Sedov that it was inappropriate to include corned beef in the list of the expedition’s main food products. But Sedov was a stubborn man and did not refuse corned beef, citing the fact that corned beef was always consumed in the navy and hydrographic expeditions.

Expedition composition

7 people of Sedov's expedition

The final officer composition of the expedition was as follows:

First navigation and wintering

Schematic representation of the route of the schooner "Mikhail Suvorin" ("Holy Great Martyr Foka") in 1912-1914

After leaving Arkhangelsk, G. Ya. Sedov renamed “Holy Great Martyr Phokas” to “Mikhail Suvorin”.

Doctor P. G. Kushakov, already during the expedition, described the situation with supplies in his diary:

We searched all the time for lanterns and lamps, but found nothing. Neither a single kettle nor a single camping pot were found. Sedov says that all this was ordered, but, in all likelihood, was not sent... The corned beef turns out to be rotten, it is absolutely impossible to eat. When you cook it, there is such a corpse-like smell in the cabins that we all have to run away. The cod also turned out to be rotten.

On the way, the ship encountered a storm and lost two boats and part of the cargo placed on the deck. During a stop at the Olginskoye settlement in Krestovaya Bay on Novaya Zemlya, 5 more crew members left the ship and remained to wait for the scheduled steamer, which approached the camp twice a year.

Wintering "St. Foki" near Novaya Zemlya

Second navigation and wintering

The expedition of Lieutenant G. Ya. Sedov that set off to the North Pole last year was considered lost and they were already preparing to equip a new expedition to search for it, when suddenly five people from its composition recently returned sick, along with assistant. captain P.N. Zakharov, who brought from Sedov his report to the Geographical Society with photographs. P. N. Zakharov stated that all members of the expedition were alive and well. He left Sedov's expedition on June 9 near the Pankratiev Islands. The famous explorer of the polar countries, Nansen, recently expressed his opinion that Russian society is obliged to take care of the fate of the expedition and, with the opening of navigation, send Sedov an auxiliary ship with a supply of provisions.

Zakharov's group reached Arkhangelsk in in full force, but the health of the sailor Katarina was already undermined, and he soon died during treatment in Yalta. Due to the late arrival of Zakharov’s group and the lack of money in the committee’s coffers, assistance to the expedition was not sent.

In 1913, Cape Drizhenko (in honor of F.K. Drizhenko) was discovered and named by G. Ya. Sedov at the northern tip of Novaya Zemlya, in the Barents Sea.

Hike to the Pole

Alternative version of the death and burial of G. Ya. Sedov

Gennady Popov, head of the Museum of History of the Arctic Maritime Institute named after. V.I. Voronin, in 2010, proposed an alternative version of the burial of the body of Georgy Sedov, citing the words of Ksenia Petrovna Gemp, whose father, Pyotr Gerardovich Mineiko, was familiar with Sedov and provided all possible assistance in preparing the last expedition.

The essence of the version: shortly after the schooner “Holy Great Martyr Foka” returned to Arkhangelsk, sailors G. Linnik and A. Pustoshny, accompanying G. Ya. Sedov, came to their apartment. Linnik and Pustoshny said that they were forced to take extreme measures - after dismembering the body of the late leader of the expedition, they began to feed it to dogs, who were able to drag the funeral team to Cape Auk on Rudolf Island. In order to somehow justify themselves to people for what they had done, the sailors built a kind of burial place from the collected stones, but some of them were scattered nearby - in the hope that all this would later give rise to those who discovered the “burial place” of G. Ya. Sedova, put all the blame on the polar bears. Time has shown that this is exactly what happened in the late 1920s.

Return of the expedition

On its way south, the Mikhail Suvorin experienced a severe shortage of fuel for its steam engine. The crew had to chop up furniture, deck superstructures and even the bulkheads of the ship for firewood. The ship reached the fishing camp of Rynda on Murman on August 15, 1914 in a dilapidated state. Members of the expedition made their further journey to Arkhangelsk on the regular passenger steamer "Emperor Nicholas II" - at the expense of the ship's captain, since none of the polar explorers had money. Upon returning to Arkhangelsk, sailors Linnik and Pustoshny were suspected of murdering Sedov, but after an investigation they were released.

On August 23, 1914, at the Spaso-Preobrazhensky All Guards Cathedral, a memorial service was served for the deceased G. Ya. Sedov, which was attended by his widow V. V. Sedova and Lieutenant General F. K. Drizhenko.

Search for Sedov's expedition

By 1914, three Russian Arctic expeditions at once: G. Ya. Sedova, G. L. Brusilova and V. A. Rusanova were considered missing. On January 18, 1914, the Council of Ministers ordered the Naval Ministry to undertake a search for them. The Main Hydrographic Directorate organized several search expeditions.

"Andromeda" under the command of G.I. Pospelov explored the place of the first wintering of "Saint Phocas", which was known from the report of N.P. Zakharov, but found there only a cairn with a note from Sedov dated August 22, 1913 about the intention to continue moving north.

To search for Sedov's expedition, polar aviation was used for the first time in world history: pilot Yan Nagursky, on a Farman MF-11 seaplane, explored from the air the ice and coast of Novaya Zemlya for about 1060 km.

"Hertha" under the command of Islyamov, on its way to Northbrook Island, missed the "Saint Foka" returning to Arkhangelsk at the same time, but discovered a note left at the Jackson base. Islyamov declared that Franz Josef Land belonged to Russia.

"Eclipse", in turn, needed help during the winter of 1914-1915 off the northwestern coast of the Taimyr Peninsula. The evacuation of some of the sailors from the Eclipse was carried out by a land expedition on reindeer under the leadership of N. A. Begichev.

Freed from the ice, the Eclipse reached Solitude Island and in the fall of 1915 raised the Russian flag on it.

Memory

Named after Sedov

Streets in cities: Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Murmansk, Kazan, Kiev, Lipetsk, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, St. Petersburg, Sevastopol, Severodvinsk, Taganrog, Tula, Tyumen, Kamyshin, Sedovo, Novoazovskoye, prospect in Yekaterinburg, embankment in Arkhangelsk.

In average secondary school No. 336 (St. Petersburg, Sedova St., 66) the Museum of the Arctic is located. The beginning of the Museum is considered to be a school exhibition opened in 1969 and dedicated to the expedition of G. Ya. Sedov. On the facade of the school building hangs a memorial plaque erected in honor of Sedov.

In fiction

He died clutching his faithful compass.
Nature is dead, encased in ice,
She lay around him, and the face of the sun was like a cave
It was difficult to see through the fog.

N. Zabolotsky. Sedov

The character has similar appearance, character and views to Georgy Sedov. Part of the biography also coincides: childhood in the Azov region, the beginning of a naval career and the facts of the voyage of “Saint Phocas”, the publication of the brochure “Woman at Sea”. While working on the novel, Veniamin Kaverin consulted Nikolai Pinegin on issues of geography and learned from him a lot of information from Sedov’s biography, which was included in the novel.

By the way, Nikolai Antonich not only talked to me about his cousin. This was his favorite topic. He claimed that he took care of him all his life, starting from his childhood in Genichesk, on the shores of the Azov Sea. The cousin was from a poor fishing family and, if not for Nikolai Antonich, he would have remained a fisherman, like his father, grandfather and all his ancestors up to the seventh generation. Nikolai Antonich, “noticing remarkable abilities and a passion for reading in the boy,” dragged him from Genichesk to Rostov-on-Don and began to work for his brother to be accepted into nautical classes. In winter, he paid him a “monthly allowance”, and in the summer he got him a job as a sailor on ships sailing between Batum and Novorossiysk. With his direct participation, his brother entered the navy as a hunter and passed the exam to become a naval ensign. With great difficulty, Nikolai Antonich obtained permission for him to take a course at the naval school, and then helped with money when, after graduating from school, his brother needed to order a new uniform for himself.

V. Kaverin. Two captains

I talked about him with an incomprehensible feeling! It was as if not he, but I, was this boy, born into a poor fishing family on the shores of the Azov Sea. As if not he, but I, in my youth, went as a sailor on oil tankers between Batum and Novorossiysk. It was as if it was not he, but I, who passed the exam to become a “naval ensign” and then served in the Hydrographic Directorate, enduring the arrogant non-recognition of the officers with proud indifference. It was as if it was not he, but I, who was taking notes in the margins of Nansen’s books, and the brilliant thought: “Ice will solve the problem itself” was written down in my hand. As if his story ended not in defeat and unknown death, but in victory and happiness. Friends, enemies, and love repeated themselves again, but life became different, and it was not the enemies who won, but friends and love.

V. Kaverin. Two captains

In the description of the expedition of Captain Tatarinov, facts from the expedition of Georgy Sedov were used: the supply of unusable dogs and supplies, the removal of the crew by the shipowner before sailing, the inability to find a radio operator with a radiotelegraph obtained with difficulty, the discovery of cuts in the ship's hull. Sedov's report to the Hydrographic Department is quoted. At the same time, the novel contains a mention of Sedov’s real expedition - it picked up a navigator from Tatarinov’s expedition.

In the folklore of polar explorers

Feature Film

Film crew

Sedov Museum

The museum contains original exhibits from the “Saint Phocas” - parts of the ship’s skin, a shovel found at the site of the death of G. Ya. Sedov on Rudolf Island, parts of a camera and a razor that belonged to the expedition member, artist N.V. Pinegin, as well as copies of invoices for voluntary donations from citizens to buy food and dogs, photographs, a map of the polar expedition.

Sculptures and memorials

The cross installed by Sedov on Novaya Zemlya in Tikhaya Bay

The astronomical signs of Sedov’s expedition have been preserved, which during the wintering of 1912-1913 were installed on Cape Observatory (Pankratev Peninsula), Cape Zhelaniya (with the inscription “L-t Sadov 1913 April 20 E...”), on the shore of Sedov Bay and represent are wooden crosses with a crossbar.

In 1938, winter workers at the polar station on Rudolf Island found a flagpole and a flag at Cape Auk, which Georgy Yakovlevich dreamed of installing at the North Pole. On the copper ring of the shaft there was an inscription in Latin “Sedov Pol. Exped. 1914". This pole was installed at the North Pole in 1977 by participants in the voyage of the nuclear icebreaker "Arktika".

In 1955, Honored Artist of Russia Valentin Andreevich Mikhalev painted a portrait of Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov in white marble. The portrait embodies the idea of ​​confrontation between Arctic nature and human courage and will.

The newspaper “Soviet Culture” wrote about this sculpture:

A beautiful portrait of Georgy Sedov was created by sculptor V. Mikhalev. This is great, real art. The portrait exudes the romance of northern campaigns, as if you hear the sound of ice and the splash of cold northern waters... This is a living, fighting man, with a warm and hard heart, rebellious, strong-willed, persistent, a great traveler and romantic.

- “Soviet culture”

Mikhalev also dedicated a generalized allegorical image-symbol “Requiem” to Sedov.

In 1977, on a rocky island near Cape Stolbovaya, a memorial sign was erected in honor of the hydrographic expedition of G. Ya. Sedov, which is a metal structure about three meters high.

Monuments to Sedov have been erected in Moscow, Rostov-on-Don and Sedovo. The monument in Rostov-on-Don is located between Voroshilovsky Prospekt and Chekhov Lane and is a bronze bust on a high pedestal made of white marble. The author of the monument is sculptor Nikolai Vaganovich Avedikov. Sedov is depicted during a polar expedition; an angular, exhausted face with stern eyes, radiating faith in his work, peeks out from an oval cap.

In philately

The postal envelopes of the Committee for equipping expeditions to the North Pole and for the exploration of Russian polar countries, which in 1912 collected funds for equipping the expedition, have been preserved.

A 100th anniversary stamp was issued on January 25, 1977. Artist: P. Bendel. On May 3, 1977, in honor of Sedov's centenary, special cancellations were also carried out in Arkhangelsk and Sedovo.

The Post of the USSR and Ukraine issued artistic marked envelopes in honor of Sedov. On January 20, 1977, a postal envelope was issued dedicated to the centenary of Sedov’s birth. Artist: P. Bendel. In 1997, in the year of Sedov’s 120th anniversary, an envelope by the artist G. Zadnepryany was released.

On May 5, 2002, the Novoazovsky communications center held another special cancellation in Sedovo, which was dedicated to the 125th anniversary of Sedov’s birth.

Envelope “80 years of the first Russian expedition to the North Pole” with a special cancellation “G. Ya. Sedov’s Expedition to the North Pole”

Postal envelope in honor of the 120th anniversary of Sedov's birth

Single-sided postal card with special cancellation in honor of Sedov's 125th anniversary

Sedov’s portrait is depicted on the postal envelope “Hydrographic Expedition of the Arctic Ocean”

Postal envelope of the research drifting station "North Pole - 22"



Icebreaking steamer "G. Sedov"

Notes

1. Kanevsky Z. M. Do not make yourself an idol // Nature. - 1988. - No. 8. - P. 71-79.
2. Vasily is one year older than George
3. Lykoshin B. A. In his native Azov region // Georgy Sedov. - Rostov-on-Don: Rostov Book Publishing House, 1977. - 80 p. - 20,000 copies.
4. Alter M. S. Steps to a dream: An essay about our fellow Arctic pioneer G. Ya. Sedov. - Donetsk: Shilton, 2007. - 32 p.
5. In Alter’s book, the photo is signed as “Cadet Sedov while studying in the Rostov naval classes,” which corresponds to the years 1884-1889. In the book by Yu. A. Senkevich and A. V. Shumilov “The Horizon Called Them,” the photograph is dated December 16, 1909. Vladimir Lyakh believes that the photograph was probably taken after 1901.
6. Currently - Rostov-on-Don Maritime College named after. G. Ya. Sedova
7. Nagorny S. G. Sedov. - M.: Young Guard, 1939. - 232 p. - (Life of wonderful people).
8. Sergeev I. Northern Odyssey, or the Last Expedition of Lieutenant Sedov // Modeler-Constructor. - 1986. - V. 9.
9. Kolotilo L.G. Fyodor Kirillovich Drizhenko (1858-1922). - St. Petersburg: Nauka, 1997. - 128 p. - P. 86-93. - ISBN 5-02-024722-7.
10. Pinegin N. V. Polar explorer G. Ya. Sedov. - Rostov: Rostov regional book publishing house, 1940. - P. 84-85.
11. Lykoshin B. A. Sailor, officer, hydrograph // Georgy Sedov. - Rostov-on-Don: Rostov Book Publishing House, 1977. - 80 p. - 20,000 copies.
12. Vasily Shchepetnev An attempt at a feat. Computerra-Online (July 11, 2009). Retrieved December 20, 2009.
13. Kolotilo L.G. Fyodor Kirillovich Drizhenko (1858-1922). - St. Petersburg: Nauka, 1997. - 128 p. - ISBN 5-02-024722-7.
14. Grigoriev G.K. Roads lead to the Arctic. - M.: Mysl, 1969. - P. 46.
15. Here and below, dates are indicated according to the Julian calendar.
16. Kolotilo L.G. Fyodor Kirillovich Drizhenko (1858-1922). - St. Petersburg: Nauka, 1997. - 128 p. - P. 92. - ISBN 5-02-024722-7.
17. Sedov G. A. How I will discover the North Pole // Blue Magazine. - 1912. - No. 13. - P. 6-7.
18. Kanevsky Z. M. Mysteries and tragedies of the Arctic. - M.: Knowledge, 1991. - 192 p. - ISBN 5-07-001317-3.
19. Grechuk N. Ruble for Sedov's expedition // St. Petersburg Vedomosti. - August 26, 2000. - No. 158 (2308).
20. Lykoshin B. A. The Pole is calling // Georgy Sedov. - Rostov-on-Don: Rostov Book Publishing House, 1977. - 80 p. - 20,000 copies.
21. Orekhovsky V. Latvian footprint on the world map. Hour (08/27/2009). Archived from the original on January 26, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
22. Senkevich Yu. A., Shumilov A. V. The horizon called to them. - M.: Mysl, 1987. - 213 p.
23. Sedov's expedition to the North Pole. History of the Russian Navy and Soviet Union. Archived from the original on January 26, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
24. At the moment, it is not possible to find additional information about Zakharov’s biography, but it is known that Martins Zanders calls him “an elderly man” in his memoirs.