SETNAVOLOKSKY LIGHTHOUSE

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

Cape Setnavolok, whose name is given by the lighthouse installed on it, is the northwestern entrance cape to the Kola Bay. The lighthouse provides navigation when approaching the Kola Bay from the Barents Sea and further to Murmansk.

The cape is formed by the gentle slopes of a hill of reddish granite near a sharp bend in the high rocky shore. It is easily distinguishable ten miles away, especially if a ship approaches it from the north

or northwest.

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Navigation in the Kola Bay, which stretches 30 miles SSW inland, began a very long time ago. According to available historical data, Kola existed back in 1264 as a colony, and it was mentioned in the agreement between the Norwegians and Prince Yaroslav of Tver.

In 1582, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, Kola was renamed the Kola prison and served as a place of exile for state criminals. The name Kola prison inspired such fear at that time that this is probably why the saying “from Kola is three miles to hell” appeared.

Foreign ships visited Kola already in the 16th century. It had piers and even customs. In 1556, an English navigator

Stefan Borro met thirty sailing ships in Kola, which indicates that navigation was well developed in this area at that time. However, there was no navigation fence in the bay or at the approaches to it at that time.

The first detailed description of the Kola Bay was made in 1741-1742 by Lieutenant Vasily Vinkov, who examined it from Kildin Island to Kola. The first maps of the Kola Bay appeared.

The results of Vinkov’s work were reported to Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Apparently, the report was constructed very competently and intelligently - the northern shores of Russia interested Elizabeth, and she ordered to send a detachment of ships led by officer V.F. Luwes from Arkhangelsk to the Kola Bay.

The beginning of active development of the Murmansk coast dates back to the 1860s, when the government established some benefits for those who wanted to settle on the Kola Peninsula and engage in fishing and cattle breeding. Villages and encampments began to appear along the Murmansk coast and the shores of the Kola Bay. Since 1893, the Maritime Ministry began sending our warships to the Murmansk coast to protect fisheries.

Kola as a trading port suited sailors while they were sailing on small ships. From the second half of the 19th century, due to restrictions on navigation (the freezing of the top of the bay and shallow depths), Kola began to lose its importance, and to the north of it, in the Catherine Harbor, a new one was founded in 1899

commercial port of Aleksandrovsky (since 1939 Polyarny).

The emergence of a new administrative center and an equipped ice-free harbor significantly contributed to the development of trade and shipping in Murman. Along with the construction of berths, storage facilities and repair bases, navigation fencing of the fairways approaching the harbor was carried out. In 1896 alone, 5 lighthouses and a number of lighthouse lights were built on the Murmansk coast.

Such a high pace of lighthouse construction, unprecedented for the North, was also caused by the severe consequences of the extremely stormy autumn of 1894, when about 30 Pomeranian ships perished in one of the most severe storms on the Murmansk coast. The disaster might not have happened if the entrances to harbors and encampments had been equipped with beacons and warning lights. Then the ships could take refuge in them.

In 1900, after the official opening of the Alexandrovsky port on June 24, 1899, at the request of the Arkhangelsk governor, to fencing the fairway along the Kola Bay, the White Sea Lighthouse Directorate installed three more lighthouse lights: on Cape Setnavolok, on Sedlovaty Island and on Cape Palagubsky.

Cape Setnavolok was chosen to install the fire not

by chance: with a northeast wind and swell, the tidal current strongly presses ships towards the Pogannavolok and Setnavolok capes, a strong crowd is formed here, dangerous for ships, so these capes should be recognized by seafarers as early as possible, including at night.

All structures and buildings of the built lighthouse were wooden. Due to the high altitude of the cape, the tower was not built as the main lighthouse structure. The lighthouse looked like a small one-story yellow house with a lighthouse lantern over a red roof. The height of the fire from the base of the building was 6.6 m, and from sea level 60.6 m. The visibility range of the fire reached 12 miles.

With the founding of the port of Murmansk in 1916 and the connection of the railway to it, the Kola Bay turned into one of the most important sea routes in northern Russia, which required improvement of the navigation fencing of the fairways. In 1915-1916, 8 automatic acetylene lights and two pairs of illuminated direction signs were installed on the approaches to Murmansk. The navigation equipment of the Setnavolok lighthouse was also improved.

In 1936, a sound signaling installation - a pneumatic siren and the first radio beacon RMS-3 in the North - were installed in a separate building of the lighthouse town.

During

During the Great Patriotic War, the lighthouse played a very important role in ensuring the navigation of ships of the Northern Fleet based in the Kola Bay, as well as transports and convoys traveling to and from Murmansk. Finding themselves in the Kola Bay, the sailors felt out of danger and nicknamed it “the bay of salvation.”

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Lighthouse Setnavoloksky

The war left severe wounds on the lighthouse, and it had to be rebuilt. In 1961-1964, a tetrahedral stone tower 12 m high was erected, combined with a technical building. A light-optical rotating electric apparatus with variable flashing lights of red and green colors is installed in the lantern structure. The height of the fire from sea level is 73.2 m. The visibility range is up to 22 miles. The lighthouse technical building contains equipment for the LIEZH-300 nautofon and a circular radio beacon.

During this and subsequent periods, the head of the lighthouse, A. I. Lisitsa, made a great contribution to the development of new technical means and to maintaining them in constant readiness for action, together with engineers and technicians.

The lighthouse continues to reliably ensure the safe navigation of ships and transport in an important area of ​​the Barents Sea.