Geographical opening of offices in silence (Part 2)

During the study materials created by the pioneers of the study “ice bag”, special attention Academician VY Wiese, a prominent geographer, drew the ship’s log of the ship “Saint Anna”, which became the sole, but the most important document that has survived after the expedition GL Brusilov. Unfortunately, all the members of the expedition disappeared in the vast expanses of the Arctic Ocean. Those who have ever read a famous novel “Two Captains”, belonging to the pen VA Kaverin, obviously, will be interested to know that Gregory L. Brusilov became the prototype of one of the heroes of the book – Captain Ivan L. Tatarinov. Fortunately, the ship’s log “St. Anna” is preserved thanks to the navigator of the expedition VI Albanova (in the book named Klimov), which, according to the instructions of the captain left with a part of the expedition ship ice clenched and was able to get to the Great Land.

As VY has been found Wiese, the expedition led by GL Brusilov, was able to cross the Kara Sea just in those latitudes, which has never conquered any ship. Trying to set the speed and direction of movement of the ice, the scientist pointed out on the map the direction of vessel drift, every day checking the marked in the ship’s log coordinates. Enough, he soon noticed that the ice captured schooner, first moved to the north between 78 gr.30 ‘and 80 c. N, and then, for whatever reason, moved to the side. Obviously, in the way Drift appeared an obstacle, preventing the movement of the ice even though the tailwind. “Obviously, there is an island”, – the scientist decided. Thus, on a map of the Kara Sea, and there was an island that was discovered not by ordinary expedition, and theoretically, in the quiet rooms. To tell the truth, then very few people believed in the existence of the island, which was discovered “blind”.

But the facts – the most stubborn thing in the world: after only 6 years old, during the 1930 expedition, at which Wiese went to the icebreaker “G. Sedov,” he and his colleagues were personally convinced that open theoretically island really exists. August 14, 1930 members of the expedition made a landing on the ground, on the right to get the name of its discoverer, and named the island Wiese.

The book Wiese “Sea Soviet Arctic” on the island Wiese was described as a bleak island, producing depressing. Vise Island is quite small – with an area of only 200 square meters

However, the island Wiese – this is not the first “discovery desk.” Leave a short while our twentieth century and the turn to the previous century, when in the same way it was done much more massive discovery – it was “found” a whole archipelago of 190 islands. The first assumption of the possibility of its existence belonged to Russian officer NG Schilling. In an article that appeared in “Sea collection” in May 1865, it was noted that the researchers succeed relatively easily reach the northern coast of Spitsbergen, for the reason that between the Novaya Zemlya archipelago and this, apparently, is another unknown land holding for the failure of the ice, and located to the north of Spitsbergen.

Sharing this view and the famous Russian geographer Pyotr Kropotkin, who offered to equip the expedition? According to him, in the north of the land, the presence of which indicates the movement and composition lady Ann blocks should be. Kropotkin even noted on the map the land, found and named by theoretical Barrier Kropotkin.

However, the government at that time simply was not able to find funds for the organization of the expedition to the area. And only 20 years after the release of that article NG Schilling, thanks to sheer luck in the Austrian expedition came across an archipelago Yu Payer and Karl Weyprecht. At some point the members of the group opened suddenly comes up from the thick ground fog. It was the Austrians, to some extent, “assigning” the discovery of Russian scientists, and actually called open Russian archipelago in honor of the emperor – Franz Joseph Land. That’s the way it is and there on the map Russian Arctic territory. Archipelago islands occupy 19 sq. m. km, and the whole territory is covered by 87% ice.

Naturally, it would be much more true to the archipelago is named after Schilling or Kropotkin, as the Austrian Emperor had absolutely nothing to do with geography, the Arctic in particular.

Known to all the geographical map of the island of Wrangel Island also belongs to the “absentee” discoveries of Russian scientists. It was opened back in 1787 thanks to A. Sarychev, which is based on the observations of the ice moving in the area of Long Strait, suggested that in those places there is a certain land. He confirmed his theory after nearly a hundred years – in 1876 it was there, where he was supposed to open the island, named in honor of the great explorer and geographer, one of the first founder of the Russian Geographical Society Ferdinand Wrangel.