MUDYUG LIGHTHOUSE

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

Installed on Mudyugsky Island, located at the mouth of the Northern Dvina River. This is one of the largest islands in the White Sea, it closes a vast shallow lagoon called the Dry Sea. The island is about 8.5 miles long and ranges in width from 2 miles in the middle to 0.5 miles at the northern and southern ends. The island is sandy and low. The middle part of the island is covered with shrubs and coniferous forest. The eastern and southern shores are devoid of forest and are completely covered with dunes overgrown with moss and grass. To the west of the island lies the shallow Berezovy bar, through which the Entrance fairway to the Northern Dvina passes. The island was first described by navigator Belyaev, who led an expedition to inventory the White Sea in 1756 and 1757.

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The mouth of the Northern Dvina is considered one of the birthplaces of navigation on the White Sea. In the 9th century, the Normans appeared here on their ships, engaged in robbery and violence. At the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th centuries, these places were settled by Novgorodians, who soon became the complete masters of this region (see essay “Abramovsky”). The mouth of the Northern Dvina was the busiest place on the White Sea coast. Trade and exchange of goods have been carried out here since ancient times. From the first half of the 16th century during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, foreign trade began with the arrival of an English ship at the mouth. Its main point was first the city of Kholmogory, and then Arkhangelsk, founded in 1584.

From that time on, for almost two and a half centuries, Arkhangelsk was the only Russian port through which foreign trade was carried out. Goods were brought here from Moscow in the winter to Vologda, from where they were floated on ships along the Sukhona and Dvina. In July, foreign ships arrived in Arkhangelsk, and trade continued until September. This time was called the fair. They exported mainly pressed caviar (delivered from Astrakhan), furs and animal skins, hemp, flax, linen, potash, resin, tar, lard, soap, and bristles. Foreign imported goods consisted of

gold, silver, precious stones, dishes, furniture, cloth, pharmaceutical materials, sugar, overseas wines.

The developing sea route to Arkhangelsk required a navigation fence, and in 1705, by order of the Admiralty Order, the ship fairway of the Northern Dvina River from Mudyug Island to Arkhangelsk was fenced with pilot barrels purchased in Holland, and fire beacons were built at the mouth of the river - tar barrels that were lit only when waiting for ships to arrive from the sea. In the same year, the first unlit wooden identification tower on the White Sea was built on Mudyug Island (there is evidence that the first tower on Mudyug Island was built by the Swedes in 1701 during the attack on Arkhangelsk, but we were unable to confirm this with documents). It served to orient sailors and to monitor enemy ships. In the summer, pilots lived in the tower, guiding ships to the berths of Arkhangelsk.

Despite the development of navigation, there were no light beacons on the White Sea at the beginning of the 18th century. This is explained by the fact that ships and vessels sailed mainly during long white nights, and when approaching ports and in difficult navigation areas they used pilots

new In addition, with the founding of St. Petersburg, all the attention of Peter I was turned to the Baltic Sea, and the importance of the White Sea for foreign trade decreased.

At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries, there was a revival of navigation again and systematic hydrographic work began on the White and Barents Seas. In 1798, on the initiative of the manager of the drafting board of the Admiralty College, Major General JI. I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov formed an expedition, which within three years completed the first general survey of the White Sea, the result of which was a general map of the sea in the Mercator projection. These works were continued in 1816-1832. The research of the expeditions of F. P. Litke and M. F. Reinecke was especially important. Reineke compiled a sailing guide for the White Sea, which he called “Hydrographic description of the northern coast of Russia. Part I. The White Sea.” In the navigation guide, Mikhail Frantsevich identified places that were especially dangerous in terms of navigation and recommended installing beacons to protect them.

In 1829, Reinecke, in a report addressed to the hydrograph general, especially emphasized the need to install a lighthouse on Mudyug Island. “This area near Birch Bar is difficult to navigate even in the daytime,” he wrote. G. A. Sarychev

forwarded Reineke’s proposal to the commander of the Arkhangelsk port with a request to express his thoughts. Vice Admiral S.I. Mininsky himself examined the island and came to the conclusion that the coast of the island was low-lying, and, therefore, it was necessary to build a high lighthouse, and this would be expensive, so instead of a coastal one, he decided, it would be more useful to install a floating lighthouse near the bar.

Sarychev did not agree with the commander of the Arkhangelsk port and, when considering this issue in the Marine Technical Committee, insisted on the construction of a modern capital lighthouse on Mudyuga “like the Tolbukhinsky or Seskarsky (Baltic Sea - Author) with a height of at least 75 feet.” The Marine Technical Committee approved the project developed by the Office of the Hydrographer General. It provided for the construction of a stone tower, a guard house for five people and a wooden barracks for 25 pilots. According to the estimate, construction costs should have amounted to 60,642 rubles. The Navy Ministry did not have that kind of money.

The hydrograph general approached the Minister of Finance with a proposal to find funds for construction by establishing a lighthouse tax on merchant ships, but the minister replied that “the establishment of some kind of tax on merchant ships coming to Arkhan

Gelsk, burdensome for customs trade, the money should be allocated from the budget of the foreign trade department” [20].

The calculation turned out to be correct: given that the Arkhangelsk port at that time was one of the largest ports in Russia in terms of trade turnover and played an important role in foreign trade, the department agreed to allocate the necessary funds.

In 1834, on a sandy ridge almost in the middle of the island, military engineer Vlasov erected a conical brick tower with a steel lantern structure. On October 15, 1834, the lighthouse was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Arkhangelsk port.

The lighting apparatus was installed on it only in 1838. The delay occurred due to the unavailability of the reflectors, which were to be manufactured by the Aleksandrovsky Iron Plant in St. Petersburg.

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Lighthouse Mudyugsky

The layout of the reflectors was developed by the director of the Baltic Sea lighthouses L.V. Spafariev. He also suggested that the eastern part of the lantern structure be tightly sheathed with sheets of iron in order to concentrate the light in the desired direction. The lighting apparatus was installed and adjusted by masters from the Baltic Sea Lighthouse Directorate under the guidance of Spafariev’s assistant, Colonel Fon-Dezin.

On October 7, 1838, the lighthouse began operating. The “Descriptions of Lighthouses and Towers of the Russian Empire” for 1850 and 1879 provide the following data about it: “The lighthouse is stone, round, light yellow; an iron lantern of dark gray color with a dark roof; installed on the sandy coast, almost in the middle of the island, covered with a sparse pine forest, at a distance of about 100 fathoms from the edge of the shore. The constant light of the lighthouse, the height of which 130 feet FROM sea level and Mudyugsky Lighthouse

120 feet from base, illuminates

horizon with 14 lamps with reflectors from NNW through W to SOtS on 13 ital. miles. But because of the forest, the fire is visible only as far as StO... The light of the lighthouse serves to determine the position of incoming ships, which, in view of the fire, can safely hold their place until dawn or until the arrival of the pilot. At the lighthouse there is a watch of pilots who must

are able to meet ships coming from the sea at a distance of 4 ital. miles from the shallow waters of the bar and escorted to the port... Near the lighthouse there is a telegraph mast with two gaffs facing north and south; signals are raised on it to notify incoming ships about the depth and current of the water on the bar and about the departure of pilots to meet the ship. This telegraph also serves for negotiations with foreign ships on the set of international commercial signals. The lighthouse keeper and five watchmen live in two wooden houses, 20 fathoms to the south. Both buildings with the necessary extensions are painted light yellow; The roofs of all the buildings are red.”

The connection between the lighthouse and the Arkhangelsk port (about 40 km) was carried out in summer by boats, and in winter across the ice on horseback; in the mud in spring and autumn - across the Dry Sea to the mainland, and from there along the coast to the city.

The first keeper of the lighthouse was Lieutenant of the Corps of Naval Navigators Alexey Vasilyevich Kozobin. Many years later, in 1857, already with the rank of lieutenant colonel, he was appointed director of the White Sea lighthouses. Kozobin was known among White Sea sailors not only as a lighthouse maker, but also as the author of a number of useful inventions, such as a “tide gauge for descriptive determination of

tides", "wind recorder" and other devices and instruments. A small island in the Kara Gate Strait is named after Kozobin.

In the middle of the 19th century, mostly small sailing ships sailed on the White Sea, and, despite the appearance of the first classy lighthouses and navigational fencing of approaches to ports, the sea often treated them cruelly. From 1862 to 1869 alone, 144 ships and more than 200 people died in the White Sea. This prompted shipowners and sailors to establish the Arkhangelsk District Board of the Shipwreck Relief Society in 1872, the chairman of which was the director of the White Sea lighthouses. This society began to create rescue stations to help those in distress. One of the first such stations was equipped at the Mudyug lighthouse. It consisted of a shelter with a barracks for a team of 12 oarsmen and a whaleboat. In addition, the rescuers had at their disposal a raft of two cylinders connected by a wooden deck.

Almost from the first days of the lighthouse's existence, meteorological observations were carried out on it, then observations of bird migration were organized and, since 1897, sea level monitoring was carried out using a footpole installed on the shore.

At first, the lighthouse was serviced by sailors from Arkhangelsk

flipper crew. In 1866, the military team was replaced by free servants, hired, as a rule, from nearby villages. A retired officer was still appointed as the lighthouse keeper.

Despite the proximity to Arkhangelsk, due to the harsh climate, poor living conditions and poor nutrition, the lighthouse workers often fell ill and there was a high mortality rate among them. In order to somehow make life easier for these workers, in the second half of the 19th century, a small church was built at the lighthouse, in which on holidays the caretaker held interviews with employees and read sacred books, and in the summer, services were performed by a priest who came from Arkhangelsk.

The lighthouse was built so well that it stood for about 80 years without major repairs. When it was finally decided to do it in 1914, the First World War broke out. Artillery batteries were installed on the island, and the lighthouse became a military garrison. An observation post and a communications post were placed on its tower.

With the outbreak of the war, the flow of goods from abroad and from the east through the ports of the White Sea increased sharply. During the navigation of 1916, up to 600 ships arrived in Arkhangelsk, delivering about two million tons of cargo. The lighthouse was not operational during this period

smoothly and reliably.

In 1917, there was a fire at the lighthouse; the lighting apparatus was saved, but it was damaged and its light intensity decreased significantly.

In July 1918, there was a threat of interventionists landing in Arkhangelsk. On July 5, the director of the lighthouses of the Baltic Sea, Efimov, sent a telegram to the Main Hydrographic Directorate: “I inform you: on July 2, an order was received from the commander of the flotilla to prepare the Mudyug lighthouse for destruction by explosion, and it will also be necessary to burn all the lighthouse structures there. I have ordered the removal of the lighthouse apparatus.”

On August 2, the interventionists captured Arkhangelsk, but the lighthouse was not blown up. Either we didn’t have time, or for some other reason. And he continued to live - all that remained from preparations for the explosion was a mine in the tower, which the lighthouses themselves quickly removed, and an iron can with an explosive weighing about two pounds. Until the end of the intervention, she lay 180 m from the tower.

In addition to constant threats from the French commandant to “deal with it,” the lighthouse workers were constantly threatened with robbery by convicts who fled from the prison that was on the island.

In April 1920, Arkhangelsk became the main base of the Naval Forces of the North of Soviet Russia. In the same year Ubekosev was formed

er, who resolutely took up the task of establishing the normal operation of lighthouses and improving the navigation fence. One of his first tasks was the overhaul of the Mudyug lighthouse. Already in the mid-1920s, his work returned to normal.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the White Sea military flotilla was formed and Arkhangelsk became its main base. The lighthouse reliably ensured the navigation of flotilla ships in the area of ​​the main base throughout the war, as well as the passage of allied convoys to the mouth of the Northern Dvina.

Currently, the elder of the White Sea lighthouses, equipped with modern lighthouse technology (along with the light, there is a radio beacon and a nautofon), reliably shows the way to sailors on the approaches to one of the largest ports in the North of Russia. Shines with a white flashing light with a visibility range of 18 miles.

For more than 10 years, during the difficult years of the First World War and the Civil War, the lighthouse was headed by N. Chagin, and then for another 20 years, his son Andrei replaced him in this post. In Soviet times, Pyotr Leonidovich Kolesnichenko put a lot of work into organizing the normal operation of the lighthouse. Since 1964, the Malygin family - Raisa Prokopyevna and Arkady Stepanovich - has been working there continuously.