ZHIZHGINSKY LIGHTHOUSE

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

Zhizhginsky Island, on which the lighthouse is installed, lies 2.5 miles from the northwestern tip of the Summer Coast of the White Sea. The island is 2 miles long from northeast to southwest and about a mile wide.

According to the 1913 edition of the White Sea Pilot, "The coast of the island is a rocky, steep ravine with an admixture of large stones, up to 15 m above sea level. In the middle of the island there is a mountain, sloping to the south, steep to the north, up to 90 feet above the high water level. The slopes of the mountain and the low-lying surface of the island are covered on top of the sand with a layer of earth strewn with stones; above this soil, the entire surface of the island is completely covered with cloudberry bushes and occasionally with willow bushes. On the southern half of the island there are many freshwater lakes of various sizes... The coastline of the island is shallow and dotted with a mass of drainage stones, reefs and corgis.”

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Zhizhginsky Island

The island was known to the Pomors back in the 14th century. They fished in its vicinity and took refuge from storms along its shores. It was first described and mapped in 1777 by Lieutenant Pustorzhevsky, who led a hydrographic expedition sent from Arkhangelsk on the ship “Bar” to inventory the islands and rivers in the western part of the White Sea.

Northern explorer S. Maksimov, who published several works on the White Sea in the last century, suggested that the name of the island comes from the male name Zhozhga. In his travel notes, he cites the following conversation with one of the Pomors, with whom he had to wait out a storm near the island: “Do you know about Kalga and Zhozhga? - I asked. - I heard that there are islands in the sea Kalguev and Zhozhginsk... Opposite the last island there is a small toe - it’s called Konchakov’s navolok... Three brothers lived in all these places, so the islands are now known by their names... They live in friendship and harmony. Everyone has one ax: one needs it - he threw it across the sea to his brother, he picked it up, did his job, and handed it to the third. And so they threw it - that’s right! With the boiler again, it’s the same thing: and they all had the same boiler for a year, another, a third, but they didn’t live long.

It's a good thing: whatever they take from someone, that's what they're fed with. There is no passage for either the wise or the runaway... and there is no passage for the daring fellow... The guys play pranks every day, as if each had a hundred heads screwed into their shoulders... Solovetsky pilgrims have already begun to rob, so as to make the mischief seem even worse. But one day an old man came with a stick: a gray-haired, flabby one, and went to Solovki with the pilgrims, and they landed on Zhozhgin Island, where the middle brother lived, and Zhozhga came out and give him all the money that was and everything that they were bringing with them. The old man hit him with a stick and killed him, killed him on the spot. And in the spring he was sentenced to the lard trade and killed Kalga... Well, and Konchak, it turns out, was like soaked bast after the bath. She chased him along the shore of the little woman that he stole from the priest, dragged him along the sea all the way to Konchakov, and then he lost his spirit, got tired and died. There you and the grave will be shown to you, if you want" [111Whether such a robber lived on the island or not and whether the island was named after him remains a mystery, but free pilots actually lived on the island back in the 17th-18th centuries. This is known reliably. They conducted ships to Onega, to the Solovetsky Monastery, to Kem and to Arkhangelsk. In the middle of the last century, at the direction of the Arkhangelsk authorities, they

were transferred to Cape Letniy Orlov.

In 1760, the Englishman Gom, who received a concession to cut timber on Onega, built a seven-meter tower on Zhizhginsky Island in order to ensure the safety of the navigation of his ships, in each of the six windows of which two lamps burned at night (according to some sources - fat lamps). The lighthouse existed until 1769.

M.F. Reinecke in his book “Hydrographic Description of the Northern Coast of Russia” [12] reports that in the 1820s there was a small “unlit log tower” on the island. He does not mention by whom or when it was built.

In July 1840, on the proposal of the chief commander of the Arkhangelsk port and the Hydrographic Department, the Admiralty Council decided: “to eliminate the dangers to which commercial shipping is exposed” in the White Sea, to build 9 stone lighthouses, 7 of them on the approaches to Arkhangelsk, Onega, the Solovetsky Islands and Mezen. One of the installation sites was Zhizhginsky Island as an important point on the routes of commercial ships.

Preparatory work for the construction of the lighthouse began long before this decision was made. Back in 1835, the Arkhangelsk industrialist Palkin developed a lighthouse project, which was reviewed and approved by the Marine Technical

committee. In 1836-1837, hydrographers Lieutenant Korsakov and Lieutenant Tikhonov, while exploring the island, chose a site for the tower. In 1838, without waiting for the decision of the Admiralty Council, the commander of the Arkhangelsk port ordered construction to begin. Lieutenant Colonel Vlasov of the Corps of Engineers was appointed chief builder.

The Hydrographic Department decided to install a catoptric lighting apparatus consisting of 16 lamps with 16 reflectors at the lighthouse. The lamps were made in the lighthouse workshop of the Baltic Sea Lighthouse Directorate, and the reflectors were made by private craftsman Wolf. The lighting apparatus was installed and configured by craftsmen from the Revel lighthouse workshop.

On September 1, 1842, the lighthouse began operating. Reinecke described it as follows: “The lighthouse [is located] a third of the length of this island from the north, on the northern edge of a sandy-clay slope, covered with moss, grass and sometimes bushes... The appearance of the lighthouse: a round stone tower of light yellow color with an iron dark gray lantern and a dark red roof. The height of the tower from the ground to the fan is 58 feet.

The fire is constant and of ordinary color; reflective lighting apparatus of 16 lamps. Its height from the base is 50 and from sea level 90 feet. The horizon is 16.3 miles around... The keeper and the lighthouse servants live in two wooden houses, 40 fathoms south of the lighthouse. The storeroom and other services are also wooden, all buildings are painted with light yellow paint. There is no other housing on the island... At the lighthouse, except for a small karbas, there are no other life-saving equipment. Fresh water in a well is not good, but they take it from lakes. There is no forest, except for bushes at the foot of the lighthouse mountain, but on the opposite continent there is a good pine forest, suitable not only for firewood, but even for buildings... Communication with the Arkhangelsk port (203 versts) in the summer on karbas, in the winter across the strait (12.5 versts) along the ice on horseback to the village of Durakova and further along the coast...” [ibid.].

The lighthouse was illuminated from July 15, i.e., with the end of the white nights and until the end of navigation (usually until November 16). It was served by a team of a caretaker officer and 5 sailors from the Arkhangelsk fin crew. The first keeper of the lighthouse was Lieutenant Dementyev of the Corps of Naval Navigators. In 1864, “government servants” were replaced by civilian employees. In 1913

14 people lived at the lighthouse with their families. They kept a horse, a cow and small livestock.

The lighthouse keeper reported to the manager (director) of the White Sea lighthouses. This position was created in 1843. The first manager was Colonel of the Corps of Navigators G. Nikiforov - an honored sailor, a participant in the Battle of Navarino, who completed 6 long voyages. He was highly regarded by F. P. Litke,

V. M. Golovnin, P. S. Nakhimov. Under him, lighthouse construction on the White Sea intensified significantly. Every year on the schooner 'Polar Star" he went around the lighthouses and delved into the needs of the lighthouse workers. After one of these trips, he fell ill and died in 1853.

The sailors spoke enthusiastically about the lighthouse, which helped them keep the right course while passing the narrow 6 miles between the rocky corgis off the island and Cape Letniy Orlov.

In 1871, a three-pound cannon was installed next to the tower, which became the first signal cannon on the White Sea. During fog, shots were fired from it at intervals of 10 minutes. When signals were received from the ship, the frequency of shots doubled.

For more than 30 years since its commissioning, the lighthouse has not been repaired. By 1870 it was in a deplorable state: f

The onar looked sideways, the lamps were shaking, the reflectors were dim, the living quarters were so cold that all the residents were forced to move into one large room. And most importantly, the visibility range of the fire has noticeably decreased.

In 1882, a new building was built on the island for service personnel; a year later, a new diopter light-optical apparatus of the 2nd category was installed on the tower. The visibility range of the fire increased to 18 miles.

After the installation of a telephone at the lighthouse at the beginning of the 20th century, regular observations of the conditions of weather, sea and ice in the area of ​​the island began. Observation data was reported daily to the White Sea Lighthouse Directorate.

Lighthouse employees many times had to provide assistance to distressed sailors. Only in 1871 they managed to remove 11 people from the lost ships. One such incident occurred in August 1871. A Russian shnyava with a load of salted fish landed on the reefs near the island. The adults got to the shore, but a twelve-year-old boy remained on one of the stones in the middle of the raging sea. All attempts by fishermen to remove it were unsuccessful. The boy was on the verge of death.

They rushed to the lighthouses for help. The caretaker sent three employees on a longboat into the stormy sea, and they, risking their lives, saved the young fisherman. There have been many similar cases over the more than 150-year history of the lighthouse.

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Zhizhginsky Lighthouse

The lighthouse successfully survived all the wars and attacks of the elements and has survived to this day without major changes in appearance. Only the chapel, which had stood on the island since ancient times, and a very old cemetery were destroyed.

Among the lighthouses, the most famous is the Ratmanov dynasty, which served at this lighthouse for more than half a century - from 1883 to 1937. The founder of the dynasty, Efim Ivanovich Ratmanov, headed the lighthouse from 1883 to 1914. As reflected in the lighthouse inspection documents, “he performed his service regularly, was competent and hardworking.” He was one of the founders of scientific work on the White Sea islands. He independently carried out meteorological and hydrographic observations and was a member of the Imperial Physics and Meteorology Academy. After the death of Efim Ivanovich, his son Leonid took over the lighthouse, and in 1919 his eldest son Mikhail returned from service and replaced it.

Leonida. Efim Ivanovich’s youngest son, Georgy, who became a famous polar hydrologist, also worked at the lighthouse for several years. In 1937 he was repressed. After rehabilitation, Georgy Efimovich’s family never returned to Arkhangelsk.

Currently, the lighthouse, equipped with a modern light-optical apparatus, shines with a white flashing light, providing a visibility range

tee to 18 miles. The lighthouse has a radio beacon and a nautofon.