4
at Ascension and a longer one at Faial in the Azores, the frigate called at Portsmouth and
returned to Kronshtadt on 5 September 1819.
9
Soon afterwards Litke submitted a request to be transferred to the naval detachment
based at Arkhangel’sk. This request was approved and he travelled north to that city in the
spring of 1820. There he was posted Fourth Leytenant on board the ship Tri Svyatiteliya,
Kapitan Rudnev. On 20 July, along with the frigates Patrikii and Merkurius, Litke’s ship set
sail for Kronstadt. After a brief stop at Helsingør, Denmark, they reached Kronshtadt on 5
September.
10
Following a less-than-successful attempt in 1820 the Navy Department was planning to
dispatch another expedition to survey the coasts of Novaya Zemlya in 1821. Golovnin, who
had been greatly impressed by Litke’s performance during the round-the-world cruise on board
Kamchatka, submitted his name to the Minister for the Navy as a suitable candidate to
command the planned expedition. His recommendation was accepted.
Earlier expeditions to Novaya Zemlya
When one considers that almost the entire mainland arctic coast of Russia had been mapped in
considerable detail during the Great Northern Expedition of 1833–43,
11
it appears strange, at
first sight, that the relatively accessible coasts of Novaya Zemlya still remained largely
unsurveyed as late as 1819. While there had been numerous visits by hunters and trappers from
Pomor’ye [the White Sea area] earlier than this, the first maps of the islands had to wait until
the late 16
th
century and the voyages of Dutch seafarers such as Willem Barents in 1594 and
especially in 1896–7,
12
which resulted in Gerard de Veer’s remarkable map of the entire west
coast. Hunters and trappers from Pomor’ye continued to visit the islands, men such as Savva
Loshkin who in 1760–62 circumnavigated the entire island,
13
or Jakov Chirakin who in 1766
discovered and sailed through
Matochkin Shar and back, and roughly mapped that strait.
14
On the basis of Chirakin’s report and map in 1768 the Admiratly dispatched Poruchik
Fedor Rozmyslov in a
koch. He sailed through Matochkin Shar and he and his men wintered in
two groups at the eastern end of the strait before returning. Rozmyslov produced a more
detailed map of the strait.
15
Then in 1807 a mineral prospecting expedition under Shturman
Grigoriy Pospelov and mining expert Ludlov examined parts of the west coast of the south
island, especially the area around the western entrance to Matochkin Shar.
16
Pospelov produced
a somewhat rough map of the west coast, especially of the section from Kostin Shar to
Matochkin Shar.
17
Finally in 1819 the Navy Department dispatched an expedition under Leytenant Andrei
Petrovich Lazarev in a brig named
Novaya Zemlya to produce an accurate map of the whole
island.
18
Starting from Arkhangel’sk on 10 June he initially found the entire west coast of
Novaya Zemlya solidly icebound; he then ran west to Ostrov Kolguyev before returning to
9
ibid, p. 37.
10
ibid, p. 46.
11
Belov, Arkticheskoye moreplavaniye, pp. 264-340.
12
De Veer, A true description.
13
Pasetskiy, Pervootkryvateli Novoy Zemli, pp. 40-42.
14
Belov, Arkticheskoye moreplavaniye, p. 382.
15
ibid, p. 389.
16
ibid, p.467; Litke, Chetyrekhkratnoye puteshestviye, p. 82.
17
Belov, Arkticheskoye moreplavaniye, p. 468.
18
ibid, p. 469; Litke, Chetyrekhkratnoye puteshestviye, p. 86.
5
Novaya Zemlya. He sighted the coast of the south island on 19 July and took bearings on two
conspicuous headlands. Heading north in search of Matochkin Shar he ran into close ice at 73°
15′N. His ship was damaged in the ice and scurvy broke out among his crew. Cutting his losses
on 9 August Lazarev headed back south.
In light of Lazarev’s less-than-successful attempt, the Naval Ministry decided to
dispatch another expedition, led by Litke, in 1821.
Litke’s first expedition 1821
He received his orders on 21 April.
19
They specified:
The goal of the orders which I am giving you is not a detailed survey of Novaya
Zemlya, but simply an initial overview of its coasts and identification of the size of this
island by determining the geographical locations of its main capes and the length of the
strait known as Matochkin Shar, unless the latter is blocked by ice or other obstacles.
20
In St Petersburg the State Admiralty Department provided him with charts, books and
instruments – two chronometers, three sextants, a marine barometer and three thermometers.
He set off from the city just before the winter sledge route became impassable and reached
Arkhangel’sk in early April. The city lies on the Severnaya Dvina, at the head of its delta, some
19
Alekseev, Fedor Petrovich Litke, p. 20.
20
Litke, Chetyrekhkratnoye puteshestviye, p. 93.
6
35 km from the White Sea. The ice on the Dvina did not start to break up until 30 April and
therefore Litke had plenty of time to make his preparations.
The vessel which had been earmarked for the expedition was lying at nearby
Lapominskaya Gavan’. This, his first command at the age of only 23, was a new brig – i.e. a
vessel with two masts, square-rigged on both masts – named Novaya Zemlya. Built by master
shipwright Andrey Mikhailovich Kurochkin, it was 24.4 m long with a beam of 7.6 m and a
depth of hold of 2.7 m. It was very solidly built and fastened with copper. The brig’s total
complement was 43; the officers included First Officer Leytenant Mikhail Andranovich
Lavrov, Midshipman Nikolai Alekseyevich Chizhov and Litke’s younger brother Mishman
Aleksandr Petrovich. Other members of the ship’s complement were surgeon Isaak
Tikhomirov, two navigators and 33 seamen, including three gunners, a caulker, a sailmaker a
carpenter and a smith.