KHARLOVSKY (SEMIOSTROVSKY) LIGHTHOUSE

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

The lighthouse is installed on Kharlov Island, the western and highest of the Seven Islands, located close to each other along the middle part of the Murmansk coast, 72 miles east of Kildin Island.

The strait between the mainland and the first five islands is called the Semiostrovsky roadstead; the rather large river Kharlovka flows into it, named after Ya. P. Kharlov, who described the islands and the mouth of the river in 1826.

In the old days, at the mouth of the Kharlovka River there was a fishing camp where industrialists gathered for the summer to catch fish. A permanent settlement appeared here in the second half of the 19th century.

The shores of Kharlov Island are high and steep, sometimes steep. The highest elevation above sea level reaches 114 m. The island was first described in 1779 by officers of Rear Admiral Khmetevsky’s squadron, sailing along the Lapland coast. A more detailed study and description of the islands was carried out in 1822 by the expedition of F. P. Litke. In 1832, M. F. Reinecke took measurements of the Semiostrovsky Strait and clarified the coordinates of individual points.

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The first Pomors who appeared here were guided when sailing, as in other places of the White and Barents Seas, by handwritten directions. A. Sidensner reports [9] that until the end of the 19th century, the sailors of the Seven Islands maintained the custom of addressing the helmsman to the crew before starting fishing: “Bless and note, brothers.” To which the team replied: “The holy fathers blessed, the righteous prayed to God for the helmsman to take his place.”

This unique short prayer suggests that before the start of fishing, the helmsman pinpointed the location of his longboat or boat using coastal landmarks and communicated them to the entire crew, which then helped them collectively choose the right course home.

The first lighthouse on Kharlov Island was built in 1897 in accordance with the government decree on the construction of lighthouses on the coast of Murman (see essay “Teribersky”).

The lighthouse building looked like a small yellow wooden house, on the side of which rose a gray boarded turret with a lantern. A spiral staircase led to the turret from the house. The height of the fire from the base of the building was 6.6 m, and from sea level - 114 m. The lighthouse shone with a white constant light, illuminating the sector of the sea from 290 to 202 ° for a distance of up to 9 miles. Lighting was carried out with

March 10 to April 2 and from July 20 to December 1.

The lantern installed on the lighthouse was removed from the luminous cormorant, and therefore its light turned out to be very weak. The Society of Sailors of the Merchant Fleet of the Russian North already in 1907 turned to the head of the Main Hydrographic Directorate, Lieutenant General A.I. Vilkitsky, with a request to build a “real” lighthouse on Kharlov Island on a concrete base with a strong acetylene fire. The construction of such a lighthouse was included by the management in the long-term 20-year plan for the construction of lighthouses on the seas of Russia, but the First World War did not allow the plan to be realized.

Only in 1917, instead of a lantern with a kerosene lamp, it was possible to install an acetylene apparatus at the lighthouse. Since it was also removed from a luminous buoy and had a weak luminous intensity, the visibility range of the fire

did not increase, but fire maintenance was greatly facilitated, which was very important for wartime conditions.

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Lighthouse Kharlovsky

In the 1930s, the Navy Hydrographic Office decided to install a new lantern at the lighthouse with a stronger lighting apparatus driven by the weight of a weight. The old house with a turret was not suitable for such a design, and a new tower had to be built - paving stones on concrete pillars in the form of a tetrahedral truncated pyramid of red color. This tower stands on the island to this day.

Its height from the base is 11 m, and from sea level - 121 m.

The fate of the lighthouse during the Great Patriotic War was the same as that of many other lighthouses in our North - provision in mani- Mayak Kharlovsky

the pooled mode of navigation of our ships and convoys. And all this in conditions of frequent bombing and artillery shelling from the enemy.

The supply of lighthouses during the war was carried out by the hydrographic vessel “Meridian”. On July 22, 1941, it left the Kola Bay to deliver food to the lighthouse workers and evacuate women and children. Following from lighthouse to lighthouse, the ship safely arrived at the Semiostrovsky roadstead and began unloading food for the Kharlovsky lighthouse. Nochyu 24 iyulya “Meridian” snyalsya s yakorya i napravilsya v gubu Vostochnaya Litsa. Half an hour later, through the whitish haze, the hydrographers saw the silhouettes of the enemy.

female destroyers. The Meridian sailors fought desperately, but the battle was unequal. A fire broke out on the ship - barrels of gasoline fixed on the upper deck caught fire, which flowed from the deck and burned on the water. The dead and wounded appeared. Engulfed in flames, the Meridian, with a flag fluttering on its gaff, plunged into the abyss of the Barents Sea. 46 people died, among whom were women and children - family members of lighthouse workers. The Kharlovsky lighthouse was the last one that Meridian helped to survive the war.

In the post-war years, the lighthouse's technical equipment was constantly improved. In the 1960s, the domestic light-optical apparatus EMV-3 was installed at the lighthouse, and a new lighthouse technical building was built, equipped with modern diesel-electric units, a KRM-100 radio beacon, and a LIEZH-300 nautofon. Living conditions for lighthouse employees have been significantly improved.

Currently, the lighthouse continues to reliably ensure the safety of navigation in the area of ​​​​the Seven Islands, illuminating the space with a white flashing light for 26 miles.