Everyone who happened to live in the Soviet period remembers the enthusiastic epithets addressed to the first Russian traveler who set as his goal the conquest of the North Pole - G. Ya. Sedov. Coming from the poorest strata of society, he was credited with the energy and determination that allowed the country boy to gain worldwide fame. They tried not to talk about the results of his expedition, as it ended tragically, demonstrating an example of a thoughtless and frivolous approach to solving the most difficult scientific problem.
The son of a fisherman from a poor family
The future lieutenant of the navy, Georgy Sedov, was the youngest son in a large family of Yakov Evteevich, a fisherman from the Krivaya Kosa farm in the Donetsk region. He was born on May 5, 1877. The Sedovs lived in extreme poverty, the cause of which was the frequent binges of their father. The situation was not saved by the fact that the brothers, and there were five of them, were hired for daily work for the rural rich - they paid the boys miserable pennies.
Georgy started studying late. Only when he was fourteen years old, his parents sent him to a parochial school, where he showed outstanding abilities. A teenager completed a three-year course of studyfor two years, while receiving a certificate of commendation. However, there were no bright changes in his life. I also had to work hard from morning until late at night.
Daring dream
Having mastered the letter, George became interested in reading, and he had a dream of becoming a sea captain - an absurd desire and unattainable for a village boy. Even the parents, having learned about this, were categorically against such an undertaking. And here one of the main features of his character was clearly manifested - extraordinary perseverance in achieving the goal.
Secretly from everyone, the young man began to prepare for a trip to Rostov-on-Don, where nautical courses were opened at that time. When, after long ordeals, he finally reached the goal of his first trip in his life, the inspector treated him very kindly, but as a test he sent a sailor for several months to the steamer Trud, which sailed along the Azov and Black Seas. Having thus received sea baptism, George began his studies.
Merchant ship captain
Three years later, a certified coastal navigation navigator Sedov Georgy Yakovlevich left the school. This was no longer the old village boy crushed by need, but a specialist who knew his own worth and had reason to be proud. In the near future, he underwent additional training and soon became a captain on the Sultan ship. But I wanted more. Standing on the captain's bridge, Georgy Sedov thought about marine science and expeditionary activities. The goal is achievable, but for thisrequired to transfer to the navy.
From the civilian fleet to the Cartography Department
Having parted with his cargo ship, the young captain went to Sevastopol, where he entered the training team as a volunteer. Soon he was awarded the rank of lieutenant, and with a letter of recommendation from the inspector of seafaring courses, Rear Admiral A. K. Drizhenko, Georgy went to St. Petersburg to work in the Main Cartographic Department of the Admir alty. Here opened wide scope for his research activities. In 1902, an expedition was formed to study the Arctic Ocean. Together with its other participants, Georgy Sedov also sets off for the Vaigach Islands and the mouth of the Kolyma River.
His biography has since gone to a completely different level. Georgy Sedov is no longer just a sailor, of which there are many in the Russian fleet, he is a passionate explorer, a man obsessed with a thirst for discovery. The following year, as an assistant to the head of the expedition, he studies the Kara Sea and, having met the captain of the ship "America" Anthony Fiala, is infected by him with the idea of conquering the North Pole. But soon the Russo-Japanese war begins, and such ambitious plans have to be postponed.
Military service and marriage
Instead of long-distance travels, life prepared for him to serve in the Siberian military flotilla during the war years, and after the end of hostilities - to work as an assistant pilot of the Nikolaev-on-Amur fortress. Here, for merits in the work to improve the conditions of navigation on the Amur, Senior LieutenantGeorgy Sedov was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus of the third degree.
In 1909, a joyful event occurs in his personal life. Returning to St. Petersburg, he soon met his future wife, Vera Valerianovna Mai-Maevskaya, who was the niece of a prominent military leader of those years, General V. Z. Mai-Maevsky. The following year, the sacrament of the wedding took place in the Admir alty Cathedral of the capital, which became not only the beginning of a happy married life, but also opened the door to high society for him.
Painful egotism that needs to be satisfied
The traveler's biographers disagree about the fact that during this period a trait began to appear with particular clarity in him, which later served as one of the reasons for his tragic death. Having risen from the very bottom of society and found himself among the metropolitan aristocracy, Sedov was constantly inclined to see some disregard for himself from those around him as an upstart and a person not of their circle. Whether there were real prerequisites for this, or whether such a judgment was the fruit of sick pride is hard to say, but everyone who knew him personally noted excessive vulnerability and ambition in his character. It was said that for the sake of self-affirmation, he was capable of the most rash actions, of which there were many.
Georgy Sedov's expedition to the North Pole has become one of the links in this chain. Work on its preparation began in 1912. By that time, two Americans had already announced the conquest of the Pole, and Sedov could not claim laurelsthe discoverer, but such a journey, made in this particular year, he considered necessary for himself. The fact is that in 1913 the celebrations associated with the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty were to take place, and the Russian flag at the extreme northern point of the globe could be a wonderful gift to the sovereign, and the traveler himself would have earned indisputable authority and fame.
Reasonable opinion of hydrograph scientists
To meet the upcoming anniversary, it was necessary to hurry, as there was very little time left. First of all, money was needed to prepare the expedition, and a lot of it. Having submitted an application to the Main Hydrographic Directorate, Sedov received a polite but categorical refusal. Pundits tactfully pointed out to him the whole adventurism of the plan, referring to the fact that in the absence of sufficient technical means, academic knowledge and specialists in this field, enthusiasm alone is not enough.
The refusal was regarded as a manifestation of arrogant arrogance towards a native of the people and even more aroused in him a desire to prove to everyone "who is who" at all costs. The frivolity of the plan is evidenced by his article, published in one of the capital's magazines. In it, Sedov writes that, without setting himself any "special scientific tasks", he simply wants to reach the pole, as if it were a sporting achievement.
Hasty and stupid fees
But if nature denied him prudence, then it more than endowed him with energy. Turning to the general public through the press, Sedov managed toa short time to collect the required funds among voluntary donors. The idea was so exciting that even the sovereign made a private contribution of ten thousand rubles, which amounted to twenty percent of the required amount.
The money raised was used to buy an old sailing-steam schooner "Saint Great Martyr Foka", which had to be repaired and put into proper shape. Haste is a bad helper, and from the very beginning it affected the preparation of the expedition. Not only did they fail to assemble a professional crew of sailors, but they could not even find real sled dogs, and already in Arkhangelsk they were catching homeless mongrels on the streets. It helped that at the last moment they were sent from Tobolsk. Merchants, taking the opportunity, slipped the most worthless products, most of which had to be thrown away. On top of all the troubles, it turned out that the carrying capacity of the vessel does not allow taking on board all the supplies of provisions, some of which remained on the pier.
Two years on polar ice
One way or another, but on August 14, 1912, the ship left Arkhangelsk and headed for the open sea. Their journey lasted two years. Twice reckless daredevils wintered among the ice hummocks, immersed in the darkness of the polar night. But even in such conditions, they did not waste their time and made geographical maps and descriptions of all the coastal areas where they had a chance to visit. During the second wintering, a group of sailors was sent to Arkhangelsk with papers to be sent to the Geographical Society of St. Petersburg. They contained the results of research and a request to send a ship with a marginfood and other provisions, which was never done.
The tragic end of the expedition
The decisive assault on the North Pole began on February 2, 1914. On this day, the Russian explorer Georgy Sedov and two sailors from his team left Tikhaya Bay and headed north on a dog sled. Even before the start of the journey, they all suffered from scurvy, and a few days later the condition of Georgy Yakovlevich deteriorated sharply. He could not walk, ordered to tie himself to the sled, and died on February 20, 1914. Of the 2,000 kilometers of tobogganing ahead of them, only 200 had been covered so far.
According to the official version, the sailors, before turning back, buried him, making a grave in the snow and placing a cross of skis on it. But there is another version of what happened, based on quite reliable information. G. Popov, Director of the Museum of the History of the Arctic Maritime Institute, presented it at one time. In order for the sailors to get to the shore alive, they needed efficient sled dogs, which by that time were already falling from hunger. Being on the verge of death, the sailors dismembered the corpse of their commander, and his remains were fed to the dogs. As blasphemous as it may seem, this is how they managed to survive.
Memory left to descendants
The traveler Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov entered the history of science as a tireless hydrographer and explorer of the Arctic Ocean. The son of a poor fisherman, he became a naval officer, a member of the Russian Geographical and Astronomical Society, and was awarded several orders. In the Sovietperiod Georgy Sedov, whose discoveries formed the treasury of domestic science, was a symbol of the development of the North. His memory is immortalized in the names of the streets of many cities. On the map you can see geographical objects named after Georgy Sedov. The famous icebreaker bore his name. Once the drift of "Georgy Sedov", jammed in the ice of the ocean, was in the center of attention not only of the public of our country, but of the whole world.
Today, many heroes of past years have faded into the background, yielding to the trends of the new time. However, Sedov Georgy Yakovlevich will remain in our history as a selfless traveler, a man of unbending will and unbending character. He always set himself the ultimate goal, and it's not his fault that the latter cost him his life.
