The sailors of pre-revolutionary Russia pursued the goal - to find the Great Way in the northern waters, allowing them to freely sail from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. They reached places where the human foot had not set foot. They managed to discover new lands and make incredible discoveries in sea waters.
In September 1913, a research expedition made a great discovery. It turned out that the waters washing Cape Chelyuskin from the north are not a vast sea, but a narrow channel. Subsequently, this part was given the name - Wilkitsky Strait.
Strait location
The Severnaya Zemlya archipelago is separated from the Taimyr Peninsula not by wide ocean waters, but by a narrow water area. Its length does not exceed 130 meters. The narrowest part of the strait is located near the Bolshevik island, where two capes converge - Chelyuskin and Taimyr. The width of this part of the water area is only 56 meters.
If you look at the map, it can be seen that where there is the Vilkitsky Strait, another small water area stretches to the northeast of the Bolshevik island. This is the Evgenov Strait. It isolates two tiny islets (Starokadomsky and Maly Taimyr) located in the southeast of the archipelago from a rather large Bolshevik.
In the west are 4 small islands of Geberg. At this point, the depth of the water ranges from 100-150 meters. The eastern part of the strait sinks to a depth of more than 200 meters.
The map clearly shows which seas are connected by the Vilkitsky Strait. Due to the small channel, the waters of two seas are interconnected - the Kara and Laptev.
Strait Discovery History
Attempts to explore the northern parts of the Great Sea Route began at the end of the 19th century. In 1881, the ship "Jeannette", commanded by D. De Long, cruised in the waters washing Taimyr. The campaign was unsuccessful: the ship was crushed by powerful northern ice.
An expedition led by the Swedish navigator Adolf Eric Nordensheldom plowed the ocean near Severnaya Zemlya in 1878. However, they were not able to detect a narrow duct. Then who discovered the Vilkitsky Strait?
In 1913, a Russian expedition set out to explore the expanses of the Arctic Ocean . Mariners equipped two ships - “Vaigach” and “Taimyr”. B. Vilkitsky was appointed captain of the second icebreaker. Researchers had to photograph the coasts and islands scattered across the Arctic Ocean. In addition, they should have found in the ocean an area suitable for laying the Northern Waterway. Mariners cruising on the Taimyr icebreaker were fortunate enough to open a large archipelago that occupied 38,000 m 2 of land. Initially, on the initiative of Boris Vilkitsky, he was given the name Land of Emperor Nicholas II. Now his name is Northern Earth.
On the same expedition, several more small islands will be discovered and described. The world learns about Maly Taimyr, the islands of Starokadomsky and Vilkitsky. The most important discovery of the XX century will be the Vilkitsky Strait. Boris Andreevich will name the water area the Tsesarevich Alexey Strait.
Expeditionary voyages
The expedition, begun in 1913, lasted more than two years. At the end of the navigation period 11/25/13, the ships moored in the Golden Horn of Vladivostok Bay to survive the winter in tolerable safe conditions. In 1914, with the start of navigation, icebreakers, leaving Vladivostok, moved westward. Having sailed to Taimyr, the ships stood for the winter in Toll Bay. As soon as navigation became possible, they again entered the ocean, paving the Northern Route for through sea passages. Boris Andreevich managed to prove that shipping in the Arctic seas is not a myth, but a reality.
The meaning of the strait
Mariners passed on the icebreaker through the Vilkitsky Strait, which became the main part of the Great Sea Route, which allowed free movement from the Far East to Arkhangelsk. The first unhindered passage across the Arctic Ocean, completed by Boris Andreevich, ended in September 1915 in the port of Arkhangelsk.
Whose name is the strait?
Officially, the name of the strait, given by the discoverer in honor of Tsesarevich, lasted only two years - from 1916 to 1918. After the October Revolution, it will be renamed. The debate over whom Vilkitsky Strait is named after will not subside. Whose name is the water area - the explorer A. Vilkitsky or his son, Boris Andreevich?
There is evidence that in 1913-1916 he bore the name of Andrei Vilkitsky, a prominent Russian cartographer. They also claim that with the advent of Soviet power he was called the "Boris Vilkitsky Strait." The name in honor of the one who discovered the water area lasted until 1954.
Once again, the duct was renamed solely for the convenience of reading on the cards. The name of the man who led the great expedition was cut off from the name. They began to write simply on maps - the Vilkitsky Strait. And this is despite the fact that the spelling of the name in the title was considered a fundamentally important aspect.
In the Arctic, a considerable number of toponyms bears the name of father Boris Andreevich. Islands, a glacier, several capes are named after him. However, there is an opinion that the name of the water area, most likely, was distorted intentionally, being guided by a political background.
Boris Vilkitsky: facts from a biography
Without knowledge of the biography of the hydrograph-surveyor, a researcher of the Arctic, it is difficult to explain the changes in the name of the strait. The birthplace of Boris Andreevich, who was born on 03.03.1885, is Pulkovo. His father, Andrei Vilkitsky, is a legendary navigator.
A graduate of the Naval Cadet Corps, having accepted the rank of midshipman in 1904, he became a member of the Russo-Japanese War. For bravery in bayonet attacks, the brave sailor was awarded four military orders. In the last battle, he was severely wounded, captured and repatriated.
After the war, the hereditary officer graduated from the Naval Academy of St. Petersburg. Having received his education, he became an employee in the General Hydrographic Directorate of Russia. He was engaged in research of the Baltic and the Far East.
In World War I, the destroyer "Letun" took command. For the daring outing into the camp of the enemy received an award for courage - St. George's weapon. Three years after the October Revolution, in 1920, a GESLO officer, having decided on emigration, left Soviet Russia.
Punishment for the traitor of the motherland
Apparently, the unseemly act caused the reinsurers to remove his name from the name of the strait. It is surprising that the hereditary officer who served in the Tsarist fleet was not branded an enemy of the people and did not bother to include him on the lists of sworn counterrevolutionaries. In addition, the name of the white emigrant was not erased from the map of the Arctic, although with the advent of Soviet power, the names of toponyms open and named by the sailor were removed from it. The Vilkitsky Strait acquired its former name in 2004.
His name was added to the seafarer's name again, restoring justice. The discovery of the strait, which provided for through navigation in northern waters, is still considered to be the largest discovery of the 20th century in world history.