LETNE-ORLOVSKY LIGHTHOUSE

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

Installed on the north-eastern entrance cape of the Onega Bay Letniy Orlov (White Sea). Provides navigation in the bay and on the approaches to the ports of Kem, Belomorsk, Onega and the Solovetsky Islands.

The cape is very noticeable from the sea and has long been the main landmark in this area where sea roads intersect. For ships coming from Onega and heading to it, it is a turning point.

On the site of the port of Onega there was once the Ustlynskaya volost, founded long ago by immigrants from Novgorod. In 1621, during a Lithuanian raid, it was almost completely exterminated, but by the end of the 17th century it was revived again and in 1784 it was declared a county town. Empress Catherine II allocated 3,000 rubles. for the construction of houses in the city and 8,000 rubles. for the construction of a church. The city began to grow quickly. Sawmills appeared at the mouth of Onega, and by the end of the 18th century the city became a center of timber trade in the southern part of the White Sea. Timber was mainly shipped abroad by sea. In the 1780s, between 20 and 70 foreign ships came to Onega annually. To ensure the safety of their navigation, milestones and barrels were placed in Onega Bay, and crosses and houris were placed on the coast of the bay (see essay “Abramovsky”).

In 1806 Admiralteysky

The th department decided to build an identification tower on Cape Letniy Orlov at the entrance to Onega Bay. However, by the beginning of the 20th century, trade in Onega began to decline: logging, due to thoughtless and predatory logging by foreign concessionaires, became expensive and unprofitable, sawmills and shipyards began to close. If in 1801-1821 Onega was visited on average by 204 ships per year, then in 1821-1830s only 74. The construction of the lighthouse was abandoned.

Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · image35.jpeg

Cape Letniy Orlov

This issue was returned to only at the end of the 1890s. By this time, logging in Onega began to be controlled by the state, or the treasury, as they said then, and trade revived again.

In 1891, the English insurance company Lloyd turned to the Main Hydrographic Directorate with a request to improve the fencing of dangers in the southern part of the White Sea and, in particular, to install a lighthouse and fog signal at Cape Letniy Orlov: “... this would be of great benefit when sailing to the Onega and Kem ports visited by foreign ships.”

The Main Hydrographic Directorate included the construction of the lighthouse in the 6-year (1892-1897) plan for the construction and re-equipment of coastal and floating lighthouses on the seas of Russia.

On July 31, 1900, it began to operate. The lighthouse was installed on the southern tip of the cape and looked like a yellow openwork iron tower 6.6 m high in the form of a truncated pyramid with a black vertical stripe in the middle on each face. The pyramid was crowned by a white iron lantern with a 5th class diopter light-optical apparatus. At the lighthouse there was a boat rescue station and a private pilotage team for guiding ships to the Onega and Soroki (now Belomorsk) ports and back. For fog signals, a bell was installed, which sounded a two-stroke ringing with three-minute breaks. The ringing increased in frequency and became non-stop if the ship's fog signal was heard. Along with the bell, a hand-horn was also used.

The lighthouse tower stood on a bare granite patch, lying 10 m from the tip of the cape and connected to it by a dry rocky isthmus. In fresh weather, it was filled with water, and the lighthouses reached the tower at the risk of their lives until the handrails were built. The lighthouse was serviced by 5 people, led by a keeper.

The lighthouse turned out to be ineffective. Due to the low height and miniature nature of the tower itself, it was poorly visible; often the barracks in which the lighthousemen lived opened before the tower

Nya.

It was hard for the lighthouse workers during the Civil War and foreign intervention. People found themselves forgotten and abandoned. The White Sea Lighthouse Directorate could not help them in any way - there was not enough food, clothing and nothing to transport them to the lighthouse.

Lighthouse keeper Polikarp Serebryanikov complained in 1920 that there were no populated areas nearby, the personnel ate whatever they could, no matter what, there was no textiles, nothing to wear, nothing to walk in - one pair of boots for six people. The keeper also reported that the lighthouse was often visited by “unknown persons” and on behalf of the new government they requisitioned the already meager property. In response to these complaints, the directorate demanded the normal operation of the lighthouse and added: “All government property and products available at the lighthouse entrusted to you as the property of the republic are not subject to any revision by anyone, of which you must notify any person who may arrive at the lighthouse for this purpose.”

The caretaker, of course, could have informed the arriving persons, but this helped little.

On September 30, 1920, disaster struck: a strong storm broke out, the likes of which had not been seen in these parts for many years, and salty White Sea water entered the lake in large quantities,

where did they get drinking water from? The lighthouses were left without fresh water. They drank salted water, and illnesses immediately appeared. Nevertheless, even under these conditions, the lighthouse continued to operate, and the lighthouse workers not only maintained the lighting apparatus, but also carried out meteorological observations.

The situation improved in 1922, when Vneshtorg of the Russian Republic, trying to revive trade in the White Sea, decided to satisfy all the priority needs of lighthouse workers and allocated the necessary funds for this. This contributed to the rapid establishment of normal work at the lighthouses and the assignment of a permanent staff to them.

In 1927, the tower was overhauled, and the lighting apparatus was switched to kerosene-heat lighting.

Currently, the lighthouse is a tetrahedral tower in the form of a truncated pyramid 12 m high from the base with a black vertical stripe on each side and a lantern structure in which a modern light-optical apparatus is installed, shining white and red flashes at a distance of up to 12 miles. For fog signals, the lighthouse has a nautofon.