- Icebreaker Vaygach
Icebreaker "Vaygach" was an icebreaking steamer of moderate size built for the
Russian Imperial Navy atSt. Petersburg in 1908. It was named afterVaygach Island in the Russian Arctic.Icebraker "Vaygach" and her sister ship "Taymyr" were built for the purpose of thoroughly exploring the uncharted areas of the
Northern Sea Route . This venture became known as the Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition.The first of a series of surveys began in the autumn of 1909, when the "Vaygach" and the "Taymyr" left
Vladivostok . They entered theChukchi Sea with scientists on board and began their exploration. For the next five years, these icebreakers went on sounding and carrying on vital surveys during the thaw. Before every winter, when ice conditions became too bad, they returned to Vladivostok and waited for the spring.In 1911 the scientists and crew aboard the "Vaygach" and the "Taymyr" made the first Russian landing onWrangel Island .In 1913, led by Colonel I. Sergeev, the "Vaygach" sailed together with the "Taymyr", whose Captain was
Boris Vilkitsky . Togethere, they tried to force the whole Northern Passage in order to reachArchangelsk . Severe weather and ice conditions, however, didn't allow them to cross theKara Sea and they were forced to winter at Bukhta Dika, close to theFirnley Islands . Thus they were able to complete the passage only in 1914.Some of the biggest successes of the expedition were the accurate charting of the Northern Sea Route and the discovery of
Severnaya Zemlya in 1912. Icebreakers "Taymyr" and "Vaygach" were considered the best icebreakers in the world in their time."Vaigach" struck an underwater rock and sank in 1917 in the Yenisei Bay of the
Kara Sea . [Great Soviet Encyclopedia , [http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/bse/article/00011/54800.htm entry on "Вайгач"] ] A nuclear river-icebreaker of the Soviet Navy, was named "Vaygach" in 1988.References
*
William Barr , "Otto Sverdrup to the Rescue of the Russian Imperial Navy".
* J. Niven, "The Ice Master, The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk".
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