Lighthouses of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Samarin I.A.

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · samarin.jpg Samarin I.A. Lighthouses of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Historical essay - Yu. Sakhalinsk: Sakhalin Book Publishing House, 2005. - 108 p. ISBN 5-88453-118-4

The author is a leading researcher in the department for the protection of historical and cultural monuments of the museum I.A. Samarin. The historical essay by historian and local historian Igor Samarin tells about the almost century-and-a-half history of the construction of lighthouses on the shores of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.

The origin of the lighthouse business in Russia is associated with the name of Peter the Great, under whom they began to install “fire beacons” along the banks of the Dvina and “cut signs” on the shores of the Gulf of Finland. On Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, lighthouses began to be built much later. The first Russian lighthouse on Sakhalin was installed at the Douai post in 1860. The history of lighthouse construction on our islands is unique due to the fact that lighthouses in the only place in Russia were erected by representatives of various schools - pre-revolutionary Russian, Japanese and Soviet. Therefore, the farology of Sakhalin and Kuril navigational signs and structures is an original combination of different styles and trends in lighthouse construction, reflecting the main trends in ensuring the safety of navigation over a century and a half. Today, our lighthouses have another feature. Most developed countries with lighthouse facilities have long ago switched light beacons to automatic mode. And the Sakhalin and Kuril lighthouses are mostly inhabited and serviced by permanent staff. Therefore, a special place in the publication is given to people whose destinies are directly connected with the lighthouse life of the islands.

This book is written on the basis of rare printed publications and original archival documents stored in the Central State Archive of the Navy (St. Petersburg). The unique photographs used in the book were collected over many years in archives and libraries in Russia and Japan.

Published in an edition of 1000 copies, the book is addressed to a wide range of readers.

Sources: http://www.museum.ru/N25122

Considering the circulation, the book is rare. One of the places where I saw about the sale

Read in electronic form.

Through the years, across the distances...

A person can do the most simple thing, systematizing papers and facts that few people are interested in. But there comes a moment when quantity turns into quality. And this happens provided that the person is driven by passion. And when impressions and reflections begin to overwhelm the soul, I want to share my knowledge, findings, and thoughts.

Secrets of lighthouses

One January evening, people flocked to the building of the regional museum of local lore: they learned about the presentation of a new book by the head of the department for the protection of historical and cultural monuments, Igor Samarin, “Lighthouses of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.” The hall was filled to capacity, which indicated the interest of fellow countrymen in the research topic. Although the cover is colorfully laminated and the text is accompanied by striking photographs, this publication is a work of history, not a work of fiction. But it’s interesting to read the book, because few of us have been able to visit lighthouses. This is not an easy matter. And now, thanks to the skill of the specialists of the Sakhalin Book Publishing House, the regional printing house, who published this book, such a journey has become possible for us. Igor Anatolyevich talks about the secrets of the construction of Russian and Japanese lighthouses, the secrets of their bells and the fates of the keepers - Igor Anatolyevich talks about this and much more, sharing interesting facts with us.

Do we know that by the beginning of our era there were only 27 lighthouses in the world? And if during the day the sailors were guided by coastal rocks, capes and ledges, then at night the ships sailed blindly or by the light of fires lit on the shore. It would be good if these were the fires that promised them landing in the right place. But often the lights were a trap, and after a shipwreck, coastal robbers hurried to the ship to profit from the goods.

Isn’t it interesting to know that in the Middle Ages dynasties of lighthouse builders began to appear, that the Stevenson family gave us not only the author of Treasure Island, but also the famous craftsmen Robert and Alan, who built the rock lighthouses of Belle Rock and Skerryvore? Really, I have no idea yet where these lighthouses are located, but my curiosity has already been aroused, so someday I’ll open the encyclopedia and look for information there...

I think that the book by Igor Samarin, placed by parents on the table for their son (or maybe even their daughter?) will awaken, if not a craving for travel, then creative imagination. And how much information it contains for young local historians! After all, when writing the book, the author used rare printed publications and original archival documents, which are stored in St. Petersburg in the Central State Archives of the Navy.

Witnesses of bygone eras

At the presentation of the book, Igor Samarin accompanied his story by showing photographs that he took while traveling to lighthouses.

• I was lucky with my colleagues. With Valery Golubev, I, a graduate of the history department, went to Cape Aniva for the first time. The roads are untrodden, difficult, sometimes by the sea, sometimes by hills... We are tired. We went to the lighthouse for the night. But it turned out that the lighthouse was erected on a separate rock. They couldn’t walk through the sea as if it were dry land... We admired the view of the lighthouse and slept on the rocks opposite. It was then that interest in lighthouse structures arose. Thanks to Alexander Vasilevsky, I became interested in archaeological excavations and helped him. It was '92. And then the opportunity arose to go on a business trip to St. Petersburg and work in the naval archive. There I got my first information about lighthouses, and then published my first book. And the American professor Garry Liddle convinced me to seriously study lighthouse structures. His idea is to turn old lighthouses that are no longer used in navigation into tourism objects. He also supported my new passion - collecting glass floats. There are already one and a half thousand of them. After all, each was not blown by a machine, each is a poem of the sea and the fisherman.

There is a lighthouse veterans' society in Tokyo, and friends from the Tokyo Institute of Technology told me about it. I was shocked to see the drawings of the Crillon lighthouse on thin rice paper, which they gave me to copy. And Fujioka, a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, found information about a veteran of the lighthouse service and his family, who previously served the Signalny lighthouse near Malokurilsky.

Rare profession

Today, modern satellite and radio navigation systems eliminate the problem of ensuring navigation safety. That’s why there is a touch of nostalgia and romanticism when you see a beacon of light. The world's maritime powers have switched light beacons to autonomous operation, and the oldest of them have been turned into architectural monuments. So these lighthouses have become tourist attractions. But Russia is one of the few countries that have preserved inhabited lighthouses.

“And remember, reader, that when you read these lines,” the author writes, “somewhere on Cape Castricum or Van der Linda, blown by the ocean winds, there live people of a rare and endangered profession - lighthouses.”

Presentation participants speak

Igor RULEVSKY, head of the lighthouse service of the Sakhalin region:

• Our lighthouses ensure the safety of ships’ approaches to ports, and also help navigators navigate the chosen course. Recently, light beacons have been switched to automatic mode. But 16 of our lighthouses are inhabited, that is, caretakers and their families live there, these people look after the equipment and maintain it in the required condition. You yourself know what the weather is like on the islands, how important it is to fix problems that arise in a timely manner. People work in remote places, real bear regions. These are courageous people, and the author knows many of them personally and talks about them in his book.

Alexander KOSTANOV, head of the department for archives of the Sakhalin region:

• Igor Anatolyevich Samarin is not only a researcher, but also a traveler. And he did a lot of work. Where have you been? Many kilometers of untrodden paths, sea coasts and rocks have been covered! And with this book, Samarin confirms that there are no small topics in science.

Valentina MALYSHEVA, deputy director of the regional universal library:

• People are shown wonderfully here. First of all, these are those who worked and continue to work on the Sakhalin and Kuril lighthouses, for example, Komarov, Kudryashov, Gudkov. It’s interesting to look at photographs from the mid-19th century... But in the picture I see young Sergei Michenko, Vladislav Latyshev, Mikhail Finnov. There will also be a historical snapshot over time. In general, the book in our libraries (I mean the entire region) will be in demand. And the author gives a quarter of a thousand copies to libraries!

Kira CHERPAKOVA, chief curator of the regional museum of local lore:

Igor Anatolyevich also replenished the museum’s collection with exhibits brought from lighthouses and personal belongings of the keepers. You could say he failed me! He collects these exhibits with love for both people and lighthouses.

Lyudmila GORBUNOVA, Photo by Igor SAMARINA, Newspaper “Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Today”.