The purpose of the expedition

To make the first round-the-world voyage in the history of the Russian fleet. Deliver-pick up goods from Russian America. Establish diplomatic contacts with Japan. Show the profitability of direct trade in furs from Russian America to China. Prove the benefits of the sea route from Russian America to St. Petersburg in comparison with the land route. Conduct various geographical observations and scientific research along the route of the expedition.

The composition of the expedition

Ships:

Three-masted sloop "Nadezhda", with a displacement of 450 tons, a length of 35 meters. Acquired in England specifically for the expedition. The ship was not new, but endured all the difficulties of circumnavigating the world.

Three-masted sloop "Neva", displacement 370 tons. Bought there specifically for the expedition. He endured all the difficulties of circumnavigating the world, after which he was the first Russian ship to visit Australia in 1807.

Emperor Alexander I personally examined both sloops and allowed them to raise the military flags of the Russian Empire. The emperor took over the maintenance of one of the ships at his own expense, and the Russian-American Company and one of the main inspirers of the expedition, Count N.P. Rumyantsev, took over the costs of operating the other. Which ship was taken by whom is not specified.

Personnel

Head of the expedition Kruzenshtern Ivan Fedorovich.

Age at the start - 32 years.

He is also the captain of the flagship of the expedition, the sloop Nadezhda.

On board the Nadezhda were:

midshipmen Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Otto Kotzebue, who later glorified the Russian fleet with their expeditions

Ambassador Rezanov Nikolai Petrovich (to establish diplomatic relations with Japan) and his retinue

scientists Horner, Tilesius and Langsdorf, artist Kurlyantsev

in a mysterious way, the famous brawler and duellist Count Fyodor Tolstoy, who went down in history as Tolstoy the American, also got on the expedition.

The sailors were all Russians to one - such was the condition of Kruzenshtern.

The total team size is 65 people.

Sloop "Neva":

Commander - Yury Fedorovich Lisyansky.

Age at the start is 30 years old.

The total number of the ship's crew is 54 people.

In the holds of both ships there were iron products, alcohol, weapons, gunpowder, and many other things for delivery to Russian America and Kamchatka.

Start of the first Russian round-the-world expedition

The expedition left Kronstadt on July 26 (August 7), 1803. On the way we went to Copenhagen, then to the small English port of Falmouth, where the ships were once again caulked.

Canary Islands

The expedition approached the archipelago on October 19, 1803. They stayed in the harbor of Santa Cruz for a week and on October 26 headed south.

Equator

November 26, 1803 ships under Russian flag"Nadezhda" and "Neva" crossed the equator for the first time and ended up in the Southern Hemisphere. According to the maritime tradition, the feast of Neptune was arranged.

South America

The shores of Brazil appeared on December 18, 1803. They stopped in the harbor of the city of Destero, where they stood for a month and a half to repair the main mast of the Neva. Only on February 4, 1804 did both ships move further south along the South American coast.

Cape Horn

Before going around Cape Horn, Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky agreed on a meeting place, since both understood that in this place the ships were easily swept away by bad weather. The first version of the meeting was Easter Island, the spare - Nukagiva Island. The Nadezhda successfully rounded Cape Horn and on March 3, 1804 entered the Pacific Ocean.

Nukagiva

Easter Island slipped at strong winds, so Kruzenshtern went straight to the alternate meeting point, Nukagiva Island, where he arrived on May 7, 1804. On the way, the islands of Fetuga and Uaguga from the Marquesas group were mapped. On May 10, the Neva also approached Nukagiva. A week later, both ships set sail in the direction of the Hawaiian Islands.

Equator

Hawaiian Islands

The ships approached them on June 7, 1804. Here they were to part. "Neva" with a cargo of goods for the Russian-American company went towards Alaska, to the island of Kodiak. "Nadezhda" headed for Kamchatka, from where it was necessary to go with the embassy to Japan and explore the island of Sakhalin. The meeting of both ships was now to be held only in Macau in September 1805, where the Nadezhda would approach upon completion of the diplomatic mission, and the Neva with a load of furs from Russian America.

Journey of Hope

Kamchatka

Nadezhda entered the Avacha Bay on July 14, 1804. The population of Petropavlovsk then was about 200 people. Governor General Koshelev arrived here from Nizhnekamchatsk (then the capital of the peninsula), who in every possible way contributed to the repair of the ship and preparations for a visit to Japan. The expedition was left by a doctor and an artist, and the brawler Tolstoy was forcibly "written ashore". August 30, 1804 "Hope" headed for Japan.

Japan

It is known from the history of Japan that any foreign ships were prohibited from entering Japanese ports. And the inhabitants of the islands of the rising sun were strictly forbidden to contact with foreigners. Such forced self-isolation saved Japan from possible colonization and trade expansion by Europeans, and also contributed to the preservation of its identity. Only to Dutch merchants East India Company was allowed to trade in the port of Nagasaki - the southernmost point of the country. The Dutch had a monopoly on trade with Japan and did not let competitors into their possessions, hid sea charts with coordinates, etc. Therefore, Kruzenshtern had to drive Nadezhda to Nagasaki almost at random, simultaneously shooting Japanese coasts.

To Nagasaki

Kruzenshtern's ship with Ambassador Rezanov entered the harbor of Nagasaki on October 8, 1804. On board the Russians had several Japanese who had once fallen to the Russians as a result of the crash, and whom the expedition carried with them as translators.

A Japanese representative entered the ship and asked hu-is-hu, they say, where and why they arrived. Then the Japanese pilot helped the Nadezhda enter the harbor, where they dropped anchor. Only Japanese, Chinese and Dutch ships were in the harbor.

Negotiations with the Japanese

This topic deserves a separate story and a separate article. Let's just say that the Japanese "purged" the Russian "diplomatic mission" in the port of Nagasaki until April 18, 1805 - five and a half months! And Kruzenshtern and Rezanov had to go home without salty slurping.

The Japanese emperor “paused” for a long time, then answered through his officials that there would be no agreements with the Russians, and he could not accept the gifts of the Russian emperor - several huge mirrors in an expensive frame. Say, Japan is not able to equally thank the emperor of the Russians because of their poverty. Laughter, and more! Either the Dutch did a good job here, or the Japanese themselves did not want any contacts with Russia.

True, the Japanese administration supplied the ship with food all the time the ship was in the port. And loaded the road with food, water and large quantity salt is completely free. At the same time, Kruzenshtern was categorically forbidden to return along the western coast of Japan.

Return of Nadezhda to Kamchatka

Coming out of the Japanese "captivity", Kruzenshtern decided not to give a damn about the Japanese ban and went precisely along the western coast, putting it on the map. At sea, he was his own master and was not afraid of anyone - past combat experience gave him every reason to do so. He landed several times on the shore and got to know this girl as closely as he could. mysterious country. It was possible to establish contacts with the Ainu - the inhabitants of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Sakhalin

Nadezhda entered the Aniva Bay in the south of Sakhalin on May 14, 1805. The Ainu also lived here and the Japanese administration commanded. Kruzenshtern was determined to explore Sakhalin in more detail, but Rezanov insisted on returning to Kamchatka as soon as possible in order to report to St. Petersburg on the results of his "embassy".

Kamchatka

On June 5, Nadezhda returned to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Rezanov went ashore, sent a report to the capital, and left on a merchant ship for Russian America in Alaska. July 5, 1805 "Nadezhda" again went to sea and headed for Sakhalin. But Kruzenshtern failed to go around Sakhalin "around" and determine whether it was an island or a peninsula. On August 30, the Nadezhda team entered the Avacha Bay of Petropavlovsk for the third time. Kruzenshtern began to prepare for a campaign in Macau.

Macau

This is the name of the Portuguese colony-fortress-port on the Chinese coast. Leaving Petropavlovsk on October 9, 1805, Nadezhda was in Macau on November 20. The Neva was nowhere to be seen.

Travel "Neva"

Russian travelers and pioneers

Again travelers of the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries

Yuri Lisyansky Ivan Kruzenshtern

In July 1803, the sloops Nadezhda and Neva left Kronstadt for the first circumnavigation in the history of the Russian navy. These ships were commanded by young, but already experienced navigators, captain-lieutenants Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern and Yuri Fedorovich Lisyansky. Both of them were educated in the Naval gentry corps, the only naval one in Russia at that time. educational institution who trained naval officers. Both were released ahead of schedule in connection with the outbreak of hostilities with Sweden and received a baptism of fire in naval battle on the island of Gotland.

Then both were sent to England and served on English ships. Returning from England, Kruzenshtern presented Paul I with two memorandums in which he persistently sought permission to organize a round-the-world voyage. In one of them, Kruzenshtern wrote that the possession of Kamchatka and the Aleutian Islands would be a means "to awaken Russian trade and there would be no need to pay great sums to the British, Danes and Swedes for East Indian and Chinese goods."

To early XIX centuries, Russian sailors discovered and described the Bering Strait, Sakhalin, the Commander, Pribylov, Kuril and Shantar Islands, the Aleutian Ridge - the Near, Krys'i, Andreyanovsky and Fox Islands, the islands adjacent to Alaska (Kodiak and Shumaginsky). The Russians were the first Europeans to pave the way to the northwestern coast of America, to Japan, China and the Hawaiian (Sandwich) Islands.

The Russians were the first Europeans to establish settlements on the northwest coast of America, near which, as in other areas of the North Pacific, they hunted sea animals. continued vigorous activity A Russian-American company that has created its trading posts on the Pacific coast. On the part of the government, the company was granted the monopoly right to exploit the wealth of the Pacific Northwest, trade with neighboring countries, build fortifications, maintain military forces, and build a fleet. The government entrusted the company with the task of further expanding Russian possessions in the Pacific.

The development of trade, sea and hunting trades in the Far Eastern waters required a detailed study of these areas of the Pacific Ocean. The Russian-American company could not perform such a task on its own: it did not have either qualified sailors or ships adapted for research for this. It was possible to send such ships only from St. Petersburg.

There was another very important reason for organizing a circumnavigation. Trade connections Russian-American companies expanded and developed. Among the main Pacific countries, only Japan did not buy the goods of company merchants, despite the fact that Russia more than once offered Japan to establish trade relations with her. In 1782, the Japanese government agreed to enter into negotiations, indicating that a Russian ship could visit the port of Nagasaki for this purpose.

Kruzenshtern repeatedly addressed the tsar with memorandums on the organization of a circumnavigation. In 1802, his next memorandum interested maritime minister Admiral N. S. Mordvinov.

The head of the Russian-American company, N.P. Rezanov, also became interested in the Kruzenshtern project. He understood that a round-the-world voyage could be of great benefit to the company, such a trip would not only solve the problem of supplying trading posts in Russian America with the necessary goods, but would also raise the company's authority and popularity in Russia and abroad.

The tsar granted Rezanov's petition, supported by Mordvinov and the head of the Commerce Collegium N. P. Rumyantsev. In July 1802, it was decided to send two ships around the world. The official purpose of the expedition was to deliver to Tokyo the Russian embassy headed by N.P. Rezanov, who was appointed Russian ambassador to Japan.

The circumnavigation was co-financed by the Russian American Company and the Russian government. The leadership of the expedition was entrusted to Kruzenshtern.

The preparation of the first round-the-world expedition of the Russians was known not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders.

“Our expedition,” wrote Kruzenshtern, “it seemed to me that aroused the attention of Europe. Success in the first of this kind of experience was necessary: ​​otherwise my compatriots would, perhaps, be turned away from such an enterprise for a long time; the envious of Russia, in all likelihood, rejoiced at such a failure.

Kruzenshtern's assistant and commander of the second ship was appointed on the recommendation of Krusenstern himself, his friend Yuri Fedorovich Lisyansky, whom Kruzenshtern described as:

“... an impartial, obedient, zealous person for the common good ... who had sufficient knowledge both about the seas on which we were supposed to sail, and about marine astronomy in its current improved state.”

Despite the fact that good-quality warships had been built in Russia for a hundred years, it was decided to purchase ships for circumnavigation abroad, in England, where they already had experience in building ships for long journeys. Lisyansky and Rozumov left for England. With great difficulty, they managed to buy two suitable sloops with a displacement of one 450, the other 370 tons. They were very expensive, because in addition to the 17 thousand pounds sterling that the shipowners took for them, they had to pay another 5 thousand pounds sterling for repairs.

In June 1803, Lisyansky brought the sloops to Russia. The larger of them was named "Hope", and the smaller one - "Neva".

Not without friction between the leaders of the expedition and the maritime department and on the issue of staffing teams.

“I was advised,” wrote Kruzenshtern, “to accept several foreign sailors, but I, knowing the predominant properties of Russian ones, whom I even prefer to English, did not agree to follow this advice.”

In those days, serfs were taken into the army and navy, and usually no one took into account the desire of these people. But Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky believed that such a method of manning the crews of ships leaving on a long voyage was unacceptable, and obtained permission to recruit teams from those who wished.

There were a lot of hunters to go around the world:

“... If I could accept all the hunters who came with requests for their appointment on this journey,” wrote Kruzenshtern, “then I could equip many and large ships with selected sailors of the Russian fleet.”

carefully selected and officers. They really went on a campaign with Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky the best officers Russian military fleet. Among the officers of Nadezhda were such experienced sailors as Senior Lieutenant M. I. Ratmanov, a participant in many military campaigns in the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Seas, Lieutenant Pyotr Golovachev, midshipman Thaddeus Bellingshausen, who later discovered Antarctica together with M. P. Lazarev; Lieutenants Pavel Arbuzov and Pyotr Povalishin, midshipman Fedor Kovedyaev and Vasily Verkh, later a prominent fleet historian, and others served on the Neva.

Russian navigators subsequently named the islands, straits, seas, bays and other geographical points discovered by them by the names of these people.

July 27, 1803 the sloops put to sea. After a ten-day voyage, the Nadezhda and the Neva arrived in Copenhagen.

From the moment the ships set sail, Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky regularly conducted meteorological and hydrological observations. They soon noticed that as they moved south, the glow of the water increased.

The voyage to the coast of Brazil, which lasted almost two months, turned out to be very exhausting. The ships sailed in tropical and equatorial latitudes. Weak variable winds gave way to squalls, storms to calms, hot and stuffy days to nights that did not bring coolness.

On November 14, 1803, Russian ships crossed the equator for the first time in the history of the Russian fleet. Climbing on the shrouds, the sailors of both ships congratulated each other on this with a triple rolling “hurray”. significant event in the history of domestic navigation.

Near the Brazilian island of St. Catherine, the sloops were met by the natives, who offered to lead the Nadezhda and the Neva through the strait between the islands of Alvarado and Gal to the parking lot. According to the description of La Perouse, this strait was considered very dangerous for navigation, so Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky willingly used the services of local residents. Imagine their surprise when this information was not confirmed.

Like all of Brazil, the island of St. Catherine belonged at that time to Portugal, which made extensive use of the labor of slave slaves. The slave trade flourished on the island. Transports with blacks came here from Angola, Benguela and Mozambique (Africa).

“The content of these poor slaves in the discussion of their food and clothing,” wrote in his “Notes”, one of the participants in the first Russian circumnavigation of the world, the clerk of the Russian-American company N.I. the hardest jobs. And they are treated almost inhumanly. The sale of these poor slaves is the same as any other animals. They are driven out during the day in the square, who had almost no clothes, who all day from the only hot heat of the sun do not have any cover and until the evening they are almost completely without food, and in the evening they are taken away from the square and locked in empty chambers, similar to prison, where they are released until the morning.

The navigators intended to stay at the island of St. Catherine no more than ten days, but an emergency forced them to stay here for almost five weeks. "Neva" could not withstand long storms. The foremast and mainmast were cracked and needed to be replaced urgently. To do this, it was necessary to cut down two suitable trees in the forest, make masts from them and install them. Subsequently, assessing the quality of the ships that made the first Russian circumnavigation, the famous Russian navigator V. M. Golovnin wrote in his Notes on the State of the Russian-American Company in 1818:

“They fully justified the Company’s trust in the English ships: at the very beginning of the journey, it was found that one of them had two masts rotten, and in the other, at Cape Horn, a leak began to spoil part of the company’s cargo, while after two Russian military the sloop (“Diana” and “Kamchatka”), built in St. Petersburg by Russians and from everything Russian, made a similar journey and did not flow to the end, and there was not a single rotten tree in them.

On January 24, the sloops put to sea. Now they had to go around Cape Horn, enter the Pacific Ocean and head to the Hawaiian Islands, where their paths were to part: the Neva was to go to the Kodiak Island for a load of furs, and the Nadezhda to Japan to deliver the Russian embassy there, and then to Kamchatka, also for furs.

By the evening of February 14, when the ships were in the area of ​​Tierra del Fuego, the weather deteriorated sharply. A fierce storm broke out. A cold southeast wind tore the rigging fiercely. Heavy waves crushed superstructures. Wet to the skin, people worked tirelessly, despite neither the freezing cold nor the storm wind that fell from their feet. Only by the evening of February 17 did the raging ocean begin to calm down.

Russian sailors passed the ordeal with honor. With a ten-knot course, the sloops circled the island of the States on February 19 and by eight o'clock in the morning on February 20 left Cape Horn behind the stern.

Soon the weather deteriorated sharply. Cool ocean wave hindered the navigation of the sloops. On February 21, the ships fell into a thick fog and lost sight of each other. And just at this time, Kruzenshtern was forced to change the route a little.

"Nadezhda" headed for Kamchatka in order to deliver cargo there as soon as possible, and then follow to Japan. Lisyansky, not knowing about this decision of the head of the expedition, continued, according to the agreement, the path to Easter Island, where a meeting was scheduled for both ships in case they lose each other at sea.

Having set a course for Easter Island, Lisyansky decided to go to him a few west of the way French navigator Marchand, to explore the place where, according to Marchand, the island should have been located. No signs of land were found in the place indicated by the French navigator (39 ° 20 south latitude and 98 ° 42 west longitude).

April 3 "Neva" approached Easter Island. Not finding "Hope" here, Lisyansky decided to wait for her for several days, while at that time he was busy describing the coast of the island. Not limited to studying the outlines of the coast and coastal depths, he described the nature of the island, the life and customs of its inhabitants. It should be noted that since the discovery of Easter Island in 1722, the Frenchman J. Laperouse, the Englishman J. Cook and other foreign sailors have visited it. However, none of them made such full description, as Lisyansky did.

On April 9, the Neva headed for the Marquesas Islands and on April 29 met at the island of Nuka Khiva with the Nadezhda, which had arrived here three days earlier.

During his stay near the island of Nuka Hiva, Kruzenshtern collected the most interesting geographical and ethnographic information about the Washington Islands, which make up the northern group of the Marquesas Islands archipelago, and mapped them.

Studying the works of various navigators, Ivan Fedorovich discovered that the Washington Islands were discovered five times. In 1791 they were discovered twice: first by the American Ingram, and then by the Frenchman Marchand. In March 1792, they were "discovered" again by the Englishman Gergest, and a few months later by the Englishman Brown. Finally, in 1793, the American Roberts "discovered" them. The Frenchman called them the Islands of the Revolution, the Englishman called them the Hergest Islands, the Americans called them the Washington Islands. In addition, navigators from different countries gave each of the eight islands of the group their own names, and, thus, they did not have a single designation on the maps. Having visited each of these islands, Kruzenshtern came to the conclusion that they should be given such names, "by which they are known among natural inhabitants." These names have survived to this day.

May 6 "Nadezhda" and "Neva" left the island of Nuka Khiva. Kruzenshtern led the ships to Kamchatka. The chosen course lay somewhat to the west of the ship's usual route in this area, since Kruzenshtern decided to make sure of the existence of the island of Ogivo Potto, the discovery of which was announced by the same French navigator Marchand. Soon the ships reached the point indicated by Marchand and did not find any island.

At noon on May 13, Russian ships crossed the equator again, only now from south to north. The further way to Kamchatka lay past the Hawaiian Islands. Kruzenshtern had to hurry in order to have time to unload in Kamchatka, reach Japan and enter Nagasaki with a favorable monsoon, but he was extremely worried that there was no fresh meat on the ships. An attempt to exchange meat from the inhabitants of the island of Nuku Hiva did not produce results, and the expedition leader feared that a lack of fresh meat would lead to an outbreak of scurvy.

A two-day stop at the Sandwich Islands also turned out to be fruitless. The natives, who sailed up to the ships in their boats, offered no meat. After making sure that the sailors of his ship were quite healthy, Kruzenshtern decided to continue sailing without stopping to replenish meat supplies. Lisyansky, on the other hand, could not rush to leave, since further way The Neva to Kodiak Island, and then to Canton, was much shorter than the path of Nadezhda, which was to follow from Kamchatka to Japan. So he decided to stay off the Hawaiian Islands.

But the most difficult tests awaited the crew of the "Nadezhda" off the Japanese coast. The ship was caught in a terrible storm.

“The wind,” Kruzenshtern recalled about this storm, “gradually intensifying, strengthened at one o’clock in the afternoon to such an extent that we, with great difficulty and danger, could secure the topsails and lower sails, which had sheets and braces, although for the most part new, were suddenly interrupted. The fearlessness of our sailors, who despised all dangers, acted at that time so much that the storm could not blow away a single sail. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon she became furious, finally, to the point that she tore all our storm staysails, under which alone we remained. Nothing could withstand the brutality of the storm. How much I have not heard about typhons that occur off the coast of China and Japan, but I could not imagine anything like this. One must have the gift of poetry in order to vividly describe the fury of it.

The wind tore all the sails. The storm carried the ship straight to the coastal rocks. Only the direction of the wind that changed at the last moment saved the ship from destruction. September 27, 1804 "Hope" anchored in the roadstead of Nagasaki.

Rezanov had to fulfill here the most important assignment of the Russian government - to establish diplomatic relations with Japan. However, Rezanov's negotiations ended in vain. The Japanese refused even to accept gifts from the Russian government to the Japanese emperor, referring to the fact that:

“... in this case, the Japanese emperor should have done Russian emperor mutual gifts that should have been sent to St. Petersburg with a courier embassy. But this is impossible, because state laws forbid a Japanese to leave his fatherland.

Despite the prohibition of the Japanese authorities, Kruzenshtern decided to go along the western coast of Japan in order to compile a detailed description of the area.

“La Perouse alone was our predecessor in this voyage,” Krusenstern explained the meaning of his route. - ... Knowing that neither he nor any other European navigator determined the exact position of the entire western coast of Japan, most of the coast of Korea, the entire western island of Iesso, the southeastern and northwestern shores of Sakhalin, as well as many of the Kuril Islands, intended I will know from these countries those that it will be more convenient to choose in the present case.

Krusenstern succeeded in carrying out this entire extensive research plan. He mapped the western and northwestern coasts of the Japanese islands, corrected the mistakes made by La Perouse in describing this region, discovered and mapped many capes and bays. Kruzenshtern spent a lot of time studying and describing the coast of Sakhalin.

Difficult ice conditions did not allow to continue sailing to the north and complete the description of Sakhalin. Krusenstern decided to change the route and return to the area later, when the ice was gone. He took the ship to the Kuril Islands, where four small rocky islands were discovered, almost not protruding from the water.

The strong current found near them made navigation in this area in the conditions of stormy weather and fogs common in this part of the Pacific Ocean, very dangerous. Without knowing about the existence of the islands, it was possible to fly into one of them and crash. Kruzenshtern called these islands Stone Traps and put them on the map.

Soon "Nadezhda" arrived in Kamchatka, where Kruzenshtern left Rezanov and his entourage.

Two weeks later, which was required to unload cargo delivered from Japan, Nadezhda again went to the ocean. Her path lay to Sakhalin, the description of the coast of which Kruzenshtern sought to complete.

Having passed through the hitherto unknown strait in the Kuril ridge, called the Strait of Hope, Kruzenshtern approached Cape Patience. Having finished describing the eastern coast of Sakhalin, he headed for the southern part of the Sakhalin Bay.

Observations of the specific gravity and color of the water in the bay led Kruzenshtern to the conclusion that somewhere in the southernmost part of the bay it flows into big river. This was also confirmed by the fact that the water in the depths of the bay was fresh. In search of the mouth of the river, Kruzenshtern sent the ship to the shore, but the depth sharply decreased, and, fearing to put the Nadezhda aground, Kruzenshtern was forced to turn the ship back to the open sea. The honor of discovering the Amur, as well as the honor of discovering the Tatar Strait, fell to another famous Russian navigator, Gennady Ivanovich Nevelsky, who corrected the mistake of Kruzenshtern, who considered Sakhalin a peninsula.

In mid-August 1805, the Nadezhda returned to Kamchatka, from where, after repairs and replenishment of supplies, it left for Canton to meet with the Neva.

While Nadezhda was in Japan and sailed around the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin, the Neva continued to follow its route.

Remaining near the Hawaiian Islands in May 1804, Lisyansky collected information about the life, customs and crafts of the islanders. Observations and descriptions made by Lisyansky significantly supplemented the meager ethnographic knowledge about these islands.

“The local people,” wrote Lisyansky, “seem to have a great ability and taste for needlework; all the things they do are excellent, but the art in fabrics surpasses even the imagination. The first time I saw them, I could not believe that a wild man had such exquisite taste. Mixing colors and excellent art in drawing with the strictest observation of proportionality would glorify every manufacturer ... and especially if we take into account that wild, so rare amazing products are produced with the simplest tools.

Leaving the Hawaiian Islands, the Neva headed for Kodiak Island, where it arrived on July 1, 1804.

On Kodiak, the arrival of the Neva had been expected for a long time. Her help here was absolutely necessary. From the note left to Lisyansky by the manager of the company, Baranov, and the stories of the inhabitants of the island, the commander of the Neva learned that the Russian fortified trading post on the island of Sitka - the Arkhangelsk fortress - was defeated by the Indians.

To repel the attack of the Americans, Baranov with a group of colonists headed for the island of Sitka. In his note, he asked Lisyansky to rush to his aid. The latter immediately went to Sitka. As a result, thanks to the diligence of Lisyansky and the excellent military training of the crew of the Neva, the hostilities were completed successfully and in a short time The sailors and officers of the ship, supported by well-aimed fire from the ship's artillery, defeated the enemy. The island was laid new fortress, called Novo-Arkhangelsk.

In the Pacific possessions of the Russian-American company "Neva" stayed for more than a year. During this time, Lisyansky compiled a description of the islands of Kodiak and Sitka and discovered two small islands in this area, which he named after Chichagov and Cruz (an officer who participated in the Battle of Chesme).

In August 1805, the Neva, having taken on board a cargo of furs, left Sitka and headed for Canton. This time, Lisyansky decided to go to the tropics in an unknown way: to a point lying at 45 ° 30 north latitude and 145 ° west longitude, then west to 42 ° north latitude and 165 ° west longitude, and then descend to the parallel 36 ° 30, walk along it to the meridian 180 ° and from it lay a course for the Mariana Islands. Lisyansky intended to make new geographical discoveries in this area.

For more than a month, the Neva sailed across the Pacific Ocean without encountering any signs of land. And late in the evening of October 3, 1805, when Lisyansky, having given the last order to the officer on duty, was about to go down to the cabin, the hull of the Neva trembled: the ship ran ashore a previously unknown coral strand. With great difficulty, the sloop was refloated, not far from it at 26 ° 02 48 ″ north latitude and 173 ° 35 45 ″ east longitude, a small uninhabited island was discovered.

The island and the coral shoal were mapped. At the unanimous request of the team, the island was named after the glorious commander of the Neva, Yuri Lisyansky, and the coral shoal was named after the Neva sloop. On October 11, it was opened coral reef, which was named the Krusenstern reef.

From the Kruzenshtern reef, Lisyansky headed for Taiwan past the Mariana Islands. On November 10, when the highest island of this group, Saipan, was left far behind, a storm began, which, according to Lisyansky's description:

“... at first she began to tear the tackle, and then she laid the ship on its side, so that the leeward side was in the water to the very masts, it smashed the yawl hanging behind the stern into chips, and a little later it tore off the waist and carried many things that were above into the sea ... ".

Water began to quickly penetrate into the hold. People worked knee-deep in water. Through the incredible efforts of the crew, the ship was saved, but some of the furs were damaged.

On November 22, 1805, the Neva arrived at the Macau roadstead, where the Nadezhda was at that time. Both ships crossed into Whampoa Bay near Canton, and there Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky successfully completed the instructions of the Russian-American Company, selling furs profitably and purchasing Chinese goods.

During the two months of their stay in China, Russian navigators collected a lot of valuable information about this country, about its state structure, economy, life and customs of the Chinese people.

“Welfare,” wrote Kruzenshtern, “and the peace of the Chinese is a false brilliance that deceives us. It is already fairly well known that the number of the discontented has now spread throughout all of China. When I was in Canton in 1798, three provinces were in revolt ... but now many regions are in revolt, almost all southern part China armed itself against the government. A spark smolders to universal indignation.”

In February 1806, the Nadezhda and the Neva set off on a further journey through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean around the Cape of Good Hope to Europe.

Having passed the complex labyrinth of the Malay Archipelago, the sloops entered the Sunda Strait, which connects the South China Sea with the Indian Ocean. Here they fell into a zone of severe storms, but thanks to the skill of their commanders, they safely passed the strait and entered the ocean.

In early April, Russian sailors saw the outlines of land in the distance - it was the coast of Africa. In mid-April, at the Cape of Good Hope, the ships lost sight of each other in the fog.

Having circled the southern tip of Africa on April 7, the Nadezhda headed for the island of St. Helena, where the meeting of the ships was scheduled. Here Kruzenshtern learned about the outbreak of war between Russia and France. This event obliged the commander of Nadezhda to take measures in case of a meeting with French ships, especially since he left some of the ship's guns in Kamchatka, where they were necessary to protect Russian villages from the natives. Since it was not possible to get guns on St. Helena, Kruzenshtern decided to change the route somewhat and return to his homeland not by the English Channel, near which French ships usually cruised, but by circling England from the north.

“This path,” Kruzenshtern wrote in his diary, “should have been longer, as it was actually confirmed, but I recognized it as the most reliable under the circumstances.”

This decision should be considered correct also because Kruzenshtern did not meet the Neva near St. Helena. Before reaching the island a little, Lisyansky decided to change the route and, without entering any harbor, go straight to England.

“Having examined the amount of food supplies,” wrote Lisyansky, “I saw that for household use there were quite enough of them for three months, I decided to leave my previous intention to go to St. Helena, and directed my path straight to England, being sure that such a daring undertaking will give us great honor, for no navigator like us has ever ventured on such a long journey without going somewhere to rest.

Lisyansky brilliantly fulfilled his plan. April 12 "Neva" was released in Atlantic Ocean, on April 28 crossed the Greenwich meridian, and on June 16 entered the Portsmouth raid. Thus, for the first time in the history of world navigation, a non-stop passage from South China to England.

After a two-week stay, the Neva headed for its native shores. On July 22, 1806, she dropped anchor in the Kronstadt roadstead. Two weeks later, Nadezhda also came here. The historic voyage around the world is over.

The glory of the first Russian round-the-world expedition, which spread throughout Russia and far beyond its borders, was well deserved. The results of this remarkable voyage enriched Russian science. New islands, straits, reefs, bays and capes were plotted on the world map, inaccuracies in the maps of the Pacific Ocean were corrected. Russian sailors made a description of the coast of Japan, Sakhalin, the Kuril ridge and many other areas along which their path lay.

But Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky did not confine themselves to discoveries of a purely geographical order. They have done extensive research ocean waters. Russian navigators managed to study various currents and discover trade wind countercurrents in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The expedition collected the richest information about transparency, specific gravity, density and temperature sea ​​water at various depths, about climate, atmospheric pressure, tides in various regions of the oceans, and other data that laid the foundation for a new marine science - oceanography, which studies phenomena in the World Ocean and its parts.

The richest collections collected by Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky, provided with detailed descriptions, significantly supplemented ethnography with information about the countries visited by Russian ships.

Upon returning to Russia, Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky began to prepare works for publication, in which they summarized all their observations during a three-year voyage. But in order to publish these works, they had to expend a lot of effort to overcome the bureaucracy of the Admiralty officials, to overcome the enmity towards Russian navigators of the Anglomanian nobles who served in the maritime department.

Despite all the difficulties, Kruzenshtern managed in 1809-1812 to publish his work at public expense. Lisyansky, who completed the preparation of the work for publication almost simultaneously with Kruzenshtern, had to endure many insults and troubles until his book was published. Admiralty officials twice refused to publish it, allegedly "due to a multitude of errors against Russian language and syllable."

Offended by such a dismissive attitude towards his work for the benefit of Russian science and the fleet, Lisyansky decided not to return to naval service.

The tsarist officials failed to appreciate the work of Russian sailors-researchers. However, the scientific significance of the discoveries of the first Russian round-the-world expedition was so great that, despite the complexity of the political situation of that time due to Patriotic War 1812, the work of I.F. Kruzenshtern was published in almost all European countries. It was translated into French, German, English, Dutch, Italian, Danish and Swedish, and Lisyansky's work was translated by the author himself into English language. The entire civilized world was interested in the works of Russian scientists.

Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern stayed on military service and devoted himself to scientific work. In 1811 he was appointed inspector of classes Marine Corps.

In 1815, having received a sick leave, Kruzenshtern began compiling the "Atlas of the South Sea" necessary for navigators. He devoted many years to this work.

Significance of the South Sea Atlas for Development geographical science and seafaring is huge.

“Kruzenshtern,” stated in his biography published by the Russian Academy of Sciences, “with his usual patience and insight, began to analyze the entire vast mass of information that had accumulated over the course of a whole century. Strictly sorting the collected materials according to their degree of reliability, he restored orderly order in this chaos step by step.

"Atlas" Krusenstern was recognized by scientists around the world. Since its publication, not a single ship has gone to sea without a complete set of maps from the Atlas of the Southern Seas.

Kruzenshtern rendered a huge impact on the further development Russian geographical science and navigation. With his direct participation, the travels of Baer-Middendorf, Kotzebue, Wrangel and Litke were organized. Kruzenshtern was the first to express the idea of ​​the need to organize an expedition to the Antarctic and wrote instructions for it. At the suggestion of Kruzenshtern, F.F. Bellingshausen was appointed head of this expedition.

During the fifteen years of leadership of the Marine Corps, Kruzenshtern achieved many changes in the system of education and training of cadets and midshipmen.

The great merits of the famous navigator were duly appreciated by the scientists of Russia and Europe. Russian Academy Sciences elected him an honorary member, Dorpat University awarded him degree Honorary Doctor of Philosophy of the Academy of Paris, London and Göttingen elected him as their corresponding member.

In 1842, the scientist and navigator retired and settled near Tallinn. Four years later, the first Russian "circumnavigator" died.

The famous Russian navigator was not forgotten by his compatriots. With the money collected by subscription, on November 6, 1869, a bronze monument was erected to him in front of the building of the Naval Corps on the Neva embankment in St. Petersburg. The name of Kruzenshtern is immortalized on the world map. Named in his honor: a mountain on the northern island of New Zealand, a cape in Coronation Bay (Canada), a bay on the western coast of the Yamal Peninsula, a strait between the islands of Matua and Traps in the Kuril chain, islands in the Tuamotu archipelago, in the Marshall Archipelago, in the Radak chain and in the Bering Strait, surface rocks southwest of the Hawaiian Islands.