SOSNOVETSKY (SOSNOVSKY, SOSNOVETS) LIGHTHOUSE

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

The name of the lighthouse was given by the island of Sosnovets - the only significant island in the Throat of the White Sea near the Tersky Coast (see figure on p. 20). It lies almost on the Arctic Circle and is about a kilometer long in the NNE-SSW direction, and from 180 to 580 m wide. The surface of the island is flat, covered with tundra vegetation. In numerous crevices and depressions there are lakes with fresh water.

Navigation in the area of ​​the island was developed a very long time ago. Here the paths of ships crossing from the west along the Murmansk coast to the southern bays of the White Sea and back to the west and into the Arctic Ocean intersect.

The island is very noticeable from the sea and therefore has long served as an excellent reference point for sailors: they used it to clarify their place before setting course for the Winter Coast or the Solovetsky Islands, and they also used it to determine when leaving the White Sea.

The western coast of the island and the opposite Tersky coast of the Kola Peninsula are separated by a wide strait called Sosnovskaya Salma, in the eastern part of which there is the only safe anchorage for large ships on the entire coast of the White Sea Throat. Sailors flocked here, caught in bad weather and

rmami.

In the handwritten navigational guide “The Nautical Book...” the following recommendations are given for sailing on the approaches to the island: “It has a passageway, under it there are boats, opposite Sosnovets in the old camp of Kachalov, go into it at half-water and before full water, when entering there is a middle course, the passage is on both sides only on the lower canopy; it is better to stand against the crosses on both sides above Kachalov...”

Traveler along the White Sea S. Maksimov wrote in the last century:

"This island, a bare stone cut by quartz, rises 10 fathoms above the surface of the sea, not far (two miles) from the shore... From a distance a red tower can be seen on it, and on the western shore there are several crosses. The same crosses in some places cover the entire coast; these crosses and camp huts still manage to support the belief that you are not going through completely empty, deserted places, that if you can’t see life now, then in any case it was before, it will be later. Only near rare, poor villages do you manage to meet a living person: this is either a fisherman who has gone out with his comrades to inspect the net... or sometimes a bunch of girls, singing and laughing, sail in the same carbass to the nearest island to mow grass or pick berries" [17].

Identification card

The tower mentioned by Maksimov was built in 1822 by order of the Arkhangelsk naval authorities, Lieutenant Commander Dlotovsky. It was wooden and had a height of 13.8 m.

In 1827, M. F. Reinecke and his companions described the island and determined its exact position. This was very important for navigation, since in those days hundreds of ships accumulated near the Tersky coast during salmon fishing, which needed accurate maps and protection of navigational hazards.

During the Crimean War of 1853-1856, the island was a stopping place for English and French ships. The British called the island Krestovy because of the many crosses on its shore. The French, in memory of the site here, left a huge inscription on the Dlotovsky tower:

**ESCADRE FRANCAIS

****COMMANDANT GUILBERT

1854-1855

PSYCHE CLEOPATRE

BAUMANOIR PETREL

DWINA COCYTE**

In 1857, the manager of the White Sea lighthouses, Lieutenant Colonel of the Corps of Navigators A.V. Kozobin, visited the island and chose a place for a light beacon. Based on his report, the Hydrographic Department decided to build a wooden lighthouse with services on the island. The tower and houses were cut down in Arkhangelsk and, disassembled, delivered to the construction site in September 1862. Construction work on the island was carried out by the Arkhangelsk merchant Toropov.

In December 1862, the Hydrographic Department published a notice to seafarers in the Marine Collection, in which it said: "... in the White Sea, the construction of a lighthouse in the middle of Sosnowiec Island has been completed... a wooden octagonal one, sheathed with boards, painted with light yellow paint, and a metal roof with gray paint. A metal lantern is installed on the lighthouse, equipped with a lighting apparatus of a reflective system. The lighting apparatus consists of 13 lamps and 13 reflectors. The height of the light is 76 feet, and from the level of the sea 139 feet. Will be put into operation on August 1, 1863. Will illuminate the entire horizon 13.5 miles."

For the caretaker and seven staff, as well as for storing provisions and kerosene to the south

Five buildings were built near the tower. The first lighthouse keeper was a retired officer Chinov. In 1867, the Arkhangelsk Provincial Gazette newspaper wrote about his decisive actions to repeatedly rescue sailors in distress in the area of ​​the island.

In 1874, during a severe storm near the lighthouse, a Russian clipper was wrecked. The lighthouses saved the crew, but the ship and its cargo were lost. This hastened the installation of a steam fog siren at the lighthouse. In the same 1874, it began to operate.

In 1894, after severe autumn storms, when 53 ships were wrecked on the White Sea and the Arctic Ocean (twice as many as on any other sea in Russia), the lighthouse was rebuilt: instead of the old catoptric lighting apparatus, a dioptric light-optical apparatus of the 3rd category, shining with a white flashing light, was installed in a new metal lantern. The installation of the new lantern structure was carried out under the leadership of retired Major General Haeckel. The rebuilt and refurbished lighthouse began lighting on August 11, 1894.

When installing a new, heavier lantern, apparently, they did not take into account that the old tower, which had stood for more than 30 years, may not withstand the increased load. In 1905

year it tilted and the rotating apparatus jammed. I had to remove it and replace it with a weaker top-end flashlight.

In 1907, the Maritime Ministry announced a competition for the best design of a new iron tower for the Sosnowiec lighthouse. It was won by the Putilov plant in St. Petersburg. A new lighting apparatus was ordered from the French company Barbier, Benard and Turenne.

In 1909, the new lighthouse came into operation. It was a steel openwork tetrahedral tower 20 m high with a cylindrical pipe inside and a red lantern structure and platform at the top. The light source in the 3rd category diopter light-optical apparatus, which shone in the sector from 330 to 290°, was a kerosene burner. The tower was painted with horizontal white and black stripes.

Near the tower there was a chapel, two residential buildings, a flagpole for signaling passing ships, two cannons for fog signals and a meteorological booth. All the buildings were yellow with red roofs.

From the moment of its construction until the end of the Civil War, the lighthouse was never repaired. When Ubekosever specialists examined its condition in 1922, they discovered that “the iron tower was shaking very much, which felt

It occurs even when climbing to the device. Due to the swaying of the tower, the fire does not act properly, the metal parts are badly corroded by rust... the old cannons are unusable, there have been cases of burns of servants due to the ignition of the ignition holes... the telegraph masts are dilapidated, threatening to fall on the lighthouse.”

In 1922-1924, the lighthouse was overhauled. The tower was strengthened, unusable cannons were replaced with new ones, and new residential buildings were built for employees.

In 1925, the Northern Hydrographic Expedition under the leadership of N. N. Matusevich determined the exact coordinates of the tower and carried out a compass survey of the entire island.

Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · image49.jpeg

The lighthouse's iron tower stood until 1960, when it was replaced with a new one made of prefabricated cast-iron tubes 31 m high from the base.

As before, it was painted with white and black horizontal stripes, the lantern structure was painted red. A light-optical lighting apparatus with a white group flashing light is installed at an altitude of 44 m from sea level and provides a visibility range of 17 miles. The lighthouse is equipped with a circular radio beacon with a range of about 280 km and a nautofon.

Of the lighthousemen who served on Sosnovetsky, Vasily Ivanovich Chesnokov deserves especially kind words. He worked at the White Sea lighthouses for 40 years. He served at the Voronovsky, Nikodimsky and Sosnovetsky lighthouses. His son Nikolai was born at the Nikodim lighthouse in 1949. At the age of 16 he began working alongside his father. Having served in the army from 1968 to 1970, he returned to his favorite work, first at

Sosnovetsky, and then to his native Nikodim lighthouse. Since 1976, his wife Galina Nikolaevna has been working next to him, raising not only children but also grandchildren at the lighthouse.