Russky (Bolshoy Oleniy) Lighthouse

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

Installed on the northwestern tip of Bolshoi Oleniy Island in the Barents Sea, 40 miles east of Kildin Island. Provides entry into the Bolshoi Oleniy Strait and navigation in the sea adjacent to the island.

The island was first described and mapped in 1779 by officers of the frigate "Eustathius" from the squadron of Rear Admiral Khmetevsky, sailing off the coast of the Barents and Norwegian seas.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the island was also called Russian, or Dalniy, in contrast to Nemetsky, or Nizhny Island (now Maly Oleniy), lying between the island of Kildin and Teriberskaya Bay. Hence the name of the lighthouse.

The island, which is about two miles long in the WNW-ESE direction and about half a mile wide, is quite noticeable. It is high and its banks are steep, except for the southeastern end, which slopes down to the sea with a sharp, sloping cape. Lapps have long lived on the island in the summer, herding deer and fishing. They swam only during daylight hours and successfully navigated without lights.

When, at the end of the 19th century, steamships began to ply along the Murmansk coast around the clock, the need arose for a reliable navigational fence against dangers. In 1909, at the request of shipowners on the mainland, a line of wooden signs was built opposite Bolshoi Oleniy Island, which led in the middle of the narrowness between the southern shore of the island and the drainage stones.

In 1915, the Main Hydrographic Directorate planned to install a light beacon on the island, but the outbreak of the First World War broke these plans.

The issue of fencing off dangers on the Arkhangelsk-Murmansk sea route was returned to after the Civil War. In 1922, Ubekosever reported to the Main Hydrographic Directorate: “The Northern Seas are becoming increasingly important for the country’s economy, fisheries are developing, new ports and settlements are being developed, the Northern Sea Route will soon begin to operate, and the navigation fencing of the fairways remains at an extremely low level... along the 60-kilometer stretch of the coast of the Russian Murman there are only 25 lights and two foggy warning stations, that is, for 30 miles there is only one lighthouse light and one fog signal station for 325 miles. But if we take into account that 11 lighthouse lights are concentrated in one Kola Bay and two warning lights on the Iokangsky roadstead, then only 9 lights fall on the rest of Murman, that is, one lighthouse light for 60 miles of the coastline. no more than 10 miles... A developed network of lighthouses, signs, etc. will reduce the number of accidents, lower freight rates and insurance premiums, and will most significantly contribute to the growth of local cabotage and the development of fish and animal industries.”

The Soviet government made big plans for the Northern Sea Route. already in 1921, annual Kara trade expeditions were organized for export-import transportation between the ports of Western Europe and the rivers of Western Siberia. By the end of the 1920s, they had become regular large-scale transport operations involving a dozen ships.

Their success depended not only on reliable ice reconnaissance, weather reports and weather forecasts, but also on navigational protection of dangers along the route.

Ubekosever was allocated substantial funds for the restoration of previously built lighthouses and lighthouse lights and for the construction of new ones. Among the first lighthouses built in Soviet times in the North was Bolshoi Oleniy, erected in 1925 on the western tip of the island. Due to the insufficient light intensity and, as a result, the short visibility range, it was classified as a lighthouse light. Its tower looked like a tetrahedral pyramid, the sides of which

were covered with boards with gaps and painted with white and black horizontal stripes. At the bottom of the pyramid there was a white hut for watch and storage of kerosene. The lighthouse marked the entrance to the strait and

indicated an anchor place at the camp of Zakhrebetnoye.

In 1953, a new yellow reinforced concrete monolithic tower 24 m high with a red steel lantern structure was built on the island. The source of red light was an electric rotating light-optical apparatus EMV-930 with a group-flash characteristic of fire, installed at an altitude of 49 m from sea level. Fire visibility range 19 miles. The lighthouse is equipped with a circular radio beacon KRM-300. A great contribution to the development of new technical means of the lighthouse and maintaining them in constant readiness for action was made by the heads of the lighthouse V. Popov, V. N. Peshin and other specialists.

In 1998, the lighthouse was transferred to the category of automatic light equipment powered by ASA-500 light equipment from two sets of radioisotope power plants REU-3-2K, which was a consequence of the difficulties associated with hiring service personnel and ensuring their life in the Arctic.