Khersones Lighthouse

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

Star of the sailor of Chersonesos (25 44) 151005 !! from First Sevastopol channel on Vimeo.

The lighthouse was founded in 1816 and throughout its long service, it has played and continues to play a significant role in the history and life of the Black Sea Fleet. The lighthouse was the first to greet the ships of the squadron of Admiral F. F. Ushakov and Vice Admiral P. S. Nakhimov, returning to the port of Sevastopol after brilliant victories.

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Frigate Vesoul

A properly burning lighthouse light, as life shows, is not yet a guarantee of safe navigation. If the captain does not have enough seamanship or experience of sailing in stormy seas, and the crew is not efficient or poorly trained, then the light of the lighthouse will not help sailors in trouble. And then the lighthouse servants have to go to the aid of those in distress.

On the night of October 1, 1817, a tragedy unfolded abeam the Khersones lighthouse. At sunset, in a calm sea, the frigate Vesul, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank I. I. Stozhevsky, left Sevastopol for Odessa. We walked by dead reckoning. Soon the weather began to deteriorate. The sky was clouded with low thunderclouds. The wind, quickly increasing, turned into a fierce storm. The instruction for mariners in this case gives clear advice: “Keep a good distance from the coastline.” But the error in the calculation of the place was about 6 nautical miles (about 12 km). The frigate, strongly dodging towards the shore, rushed straight to the Chersonesos reef. Seeing the approaching lighthouse light, the commander tried to tack out to sea, but the turn failed. Then they urgently released the anchor, but it “did not pick up.” The helpless frigate was carried onto the rocks. Soon the hull was heard hitting the granite bottom. At the lighthouse, having seen this tragedy, they immediately reported to the squadron in Sevastopol. So far there was nothing more they could do to help those in distress. The sea was raging with such fury that launching the boat was out of the question.

By dawn, the storm began to subside and a whaleboat with lighthouses approached the Vesulu lying on board, which the waves continued to methodically pound against the rocks. The team led by the commander was saved, but the frigate was crushed to pieces. The quartermaster and cabin boy, who had rushed into the sea in fear before the rescuers arrived, died.

Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, who was in Sevastopol at that time, wrote to the Tsar: “Many of the officers who were on the squadron, free from duty, hastened to help their unfortunate colleagues... hired riding horses - longboats could not be sent to the open sea in such a wind - and galloped headlong to the Chersonesos lighthouse. The frigate was destroyed, and its loss was estimated at 270,630 rubles.”

The sea has tested the lighthouse itself more than once. The thousand-ton colossus of the lighthouse tower easily withstood the onslaught of hurricanes and fierce storms, but the sea did not spare the town and the buildings located on its territory. Particularly cruel trials befell the inhabitants of the Khersones lighthouse on the night of December 18, 1887. The lighthouse keeper A. Fedotov urgently telegraphed to Sevastopol: “The storm has flooded the yard and buildings, I ask you to save the employees from death.” The commander of the Sevastopol port, Rear Admiral M. N. Kumani, immediately sent people and rescue equipment to the lighthouse. Later, Fedotov testified: “During the storm on December 17, 1887, the swell from the sea was thrown over the stone elevations of the embankment, and at 11 o’clock there was a strong storm. A lake had already formed around the lighthouse... In some places the water reached 6 feet (almost 2 meters)... The stables, barns, storerooms, cellar were flooded... The water rose to the windows of the buildings. Women and children were forced to wade waist-deep into the nearest village. .. The servants, having collected bread and petroleum in reserve, took refuge in the tower to ensure proper lighting. Before that, they saved the crew of a Turkish brig from

a bond that was broken to the ground. 10 people drowned, and 4 were saved. A small flat-bottomed rowing boat is needed for rescue.”

After the storm, the tower and all residential and outbuildings had to be overhauled. On the sea side, to protect against the violence of the elements, a powerful stone rampart (breakwater) was erected, and at the lighthouse, the previously abolished rescue team was revived, equipping it with oared whaleboats and special equipment.

Then more than once the sea tested the inhabitants of the lighthouse. During the earthquake of September 12, 1927, one of the strongest in Crimea in history, the mighty tower of the Chersonesus lighthouse survived. The attendants noted that during the tremors they swayed like the trunks of mighty oak trees. At the same time, from the lantern structure of the lighthouse, a huge strip of fire was observed far into the sea between Sevastopol and Cape Lucullus. It seemed as if the sea was on fire there. The true reason for such an unusual phenomenon remains a mystery to this day...

The Chersonesos lighthouse witnessed unprecedented mass heroism of the defenders of Sevastopol in 1942 in battles in the area of the lighthouse.

"The number of wounded and killed in the first days of July, especially July 2 and 3, grew incredibly quickly due to numerous counterattacks, massive bombings, artillery, mortar, machine gun and small arms fire from the enemy. Moreover, in the small territory remaining with our troops measuring approximately 5 x 3 km, where tens of thousands of defenders of Sevastopol were located, almost every enemy shell, bomb or bullet found their victim.

The commander of the medical platoon of the 20th MAB, military paramedic S.V. Pukh, wrote that they were taken out of the battlefield and collected on the 1st floor of the Chersonesos lighthouse.

Then the second, third and even the top floor of the lighthouse were occupied. On July 3, during a massive raid by enemy aircraft, a ton bomb fell near the lighthouse. As a result of the explosion, part of the lighthouse wall collapsed, burying hundreds of wounded under its rubble."

Despite systematic shelling and air bombing, the wounded and heavily damaged lighthouse, until the very last days of the heroic defense of Sevastopol, provided the way for Soviet ships and vessels breaking through the minefields into the besieged city. Already on May 9, 1944, on the day of the liberation of Sevastopol, fire broke out again on the ruins of the lighthouse.

The lighthouse tower was rebuilt in 1950-1951. The architecturally designed beautiful white reinforced concrete lighthouse tower, 36 m high, lined with Inkerman stone with a huge glazed lantern structure, proudly rises above Cape Chersonese. The range of the white light of the beacon is 16 miles.

Previously, before the advent of electricity, the light signal from this, as well as the Tarkhankut lighthouse (they were built and went into operation at the same time) was supplied using a special kerosene installation - it was like a huge primus stove. Kerosene was supplied to the burner under pressure through a nozzle; the bright flame from the combustion was far visible. That lighthouse “kerosene stove,” like an ordinary primus stove, had to be frequently cleaned of carbon deposits by the lighthouse keeper. And to rotate the lens, which intensifies and concentrates the light flux, as well as to operate the fuel pump, a weight mechanism was used: a 200-kilogram load walked right in the lighthouse shaft.

The lamp and lens are, in fact, the main visible working elements of the lighthouse. The lamp is quartz-halogen, with a power of 1,000 watts. The lens around it was made in 1957 at one of the factories in the Kharkov region, according to a special order.

The technical characteristics of the beacon are quite complex, and it produces a signal in the form of light Morse code - dots and dashes. The Chersonesos lighthouse sends the code SV, which means “Sevastopol”. The full signal takes 18 seconds, it repeats cyclically. The lighthouse goes out “to work” an hour before sunset, and goes out an hour after sunrise.

It turns out that a light signal is sometimes given by a lighthouse even in the daytime - if visibility at sea is less than 10 kilometers. And in normal, good weather, the watch observer on the ship, from a height of 5 meters in the wheelhouse, surveys the space around 16 nautical miles.

The Chersonesos lighthouse is just one of the objects of the Hydrographic Service of the Black Sea Fleet (a structural unit of the Russian Defense Ministry). It is served by both military and civilian people. Next to the lighthouse there is a lighthouse technical building, where maintenance personnel are on duty around the clock. At Cape Khersones, the KRM-300 radio beacon is still in operation: it sends the same call sign SV on the radio at different frequencies. For what? For division, they explain to us, that is, to determine the coordinates of a ship at sea.

The Mars navigation system is also installed here, which allows the Khersones lighthouse to communicate on short waves in radio mode with lighthouses located on the Crimean capes Tarkhankut, Fiolent and Genichesk. Using signals from beacons, ships can configure and check their navigation equipment.

The equipment at the lighthouse is powered by the city network, but in case of problems, there are powerful diesel generators that can provide electricity to the entire village.

Also, the residents of the lighthouse are forced to endure a powerful sound, similar to the trumpet roar of an elephant. They say it can be heard 3 miles away. The sound is produced by a special Swedish-made device - the nautofon. During the period of fogs and storms (December - February), the residents of the village cannot be envied: sometimes this sharp, drawn-out roar has to be endured for days, day and night.

At night, the lighthouse tower is illuminated by powerful spotlights, which improves its visibility from the sea.

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