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Zheleznikov Vasily Alexandrovich
(1877–1960)
 Sailor-helmsman,
member of the Russian Polar Expedition.
Born in the village of Patrakeevka, Primorsky District,
Arkhangelsk Governorate, he left the naval service, the Baltic. In
1899, Zheleznikov, consisting of 10 people, was selected by F.A. Mathisen of
200 volunteers in the RPE as a senior helmsman. During
the winterings on Taimyr and Kotelny Island he took part in a sledge
hike, proving himself to be an excellent musher and a great hunter.
In 1903, Zheleznikov took an active part in the expedition to
search and rescue the group E.V. Toll. He
was part of the naval detachment, headed by A.V. Kolchak and N.A. Begichev. This
detachment sailed and sailed under the sail and oars on the
whaleboat of the yacht Zarya from the Tiksi to the Lyakhovsky
Islands, Bunge Land, the Faddeevsky and New Siberian Islands to
Bennett Island. The
sailors found the parking places of the Toll group and made sure
that they died when they returned home on a polar night in a kayak. Zheleznikov's
courage, his endurance, unpretentiousness, adaptability to life in
arctic conditions, the hunter's luck largely contributed to the fact
that the rescue team was able to make an incredibly difficult trip
and not lose a single person.
After the search expedition was over, Zheleznikov was seconded
with a report and Toll documents to St. Petersburg found on Bennett
Island, where he handed them over to the chairman of the RPE
equipment commission Academician F.B. Schmidt.
"For three years of work and hardships", transferred during his
participation in RPE and the search and rescue expedition,
Zheleznikov was awarded the golden
medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the inscription "For
Diligence" for
wearing on the Stanislav ribbon. The
Academy gave him a pension of five rubles a month.
In 1912, Zheleznikov recruited G.Ya. Sedov. To
celebrate, he drank with friends, fell asleep on the watch and was
immediately dismissed by Sedov. This
was hardly useful for the expedition.
In the First World War, he sailed a sailor on a
sailboat, carried fish to Norway, then was seriously ill with
rheumatism, for a long time was bedridden.
After the liberation of the Arkhangelsk province from the
interventionists, he took up fishing, joined a fishing collective
farm, and was chairman of an artel. He
worked until 1947, after the death of his family, he went to the
invalid home. Apparently,
he was the last of all participants in the voyage of the "Zaria".
Island (Zheleznyakova)
in the Bay of Precious at the northwestern tip of Bunge Earth. Opened
and named in April 1902 by F.A. Mathisen.
Portrait
from
funds of the Russian Academy of
Sciences; fund
14, opis 2, delo 84 |
