DIAMOND OVER RUBY

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · 1_2.jpg Towers of leading signs are placed on hills, at different heights and at such a distance from each other that they are clearly distinguishable during the day, and at night the lights are clearly visible from a great distance from a great distance.

Ships enter Sevastopol Bay along the Inkerman alignment - two white lighthouse towers. One of the first Black Sea Pilots (1867) says: “The Western one is located on a covered rock in Inkerman in the upper reaches of Sevastopol Bay, 60 fathoms from the shore. Eastern on Mekenzieva Mountain. The lighthouses are stone, two stories high, quadrangular, about 1 3/3 miles apart from each other, uniform in appearance, and 43.5 feet high from the base. The upper floor of each lighthouse - much smaller in size than the lower one - is nothing more than a blind lantern with a wide window facing the Sevastopol roadstead. Each lighthouse is illuminated by one lamp with a reflector. Height of fire above the sea surface: western 305 feet (1 foot = 0.3048 m), illumination horizon 20 etc. miles (1 Italian nautical mile = 1831.83 m); eastern - 629 feet, illumination horizon 28.8 etc. miles. On the approach to Sevastopol from the NW, the lights of the lighthouses beyond the shore are not visible, and therefore you should stay at the Khersones lighthouse until you arrive at the target. Then, leaving the Chersonesos lighthouse to the right, you should go straight along the channel by which ships enter and leave the Sevastopol Bay even in stormy times. Established in 1821; resumed July 1 1

859."

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In 1902 the lighthouses were renamed. The Western one began to be called the Front, and the Eastern - the Rear Inkerman beacon. Now, from sunset until dawn, a constant ruby-red light burns at the Front Lighthouse, and a diamond-white light at the Back Lighthouse. Modern Pilot Orders: “To enter the bay, you must hold the rudder so that the white light is exactly above the red one.” This means walking along the Inkerman alignment.

The Russian-Turkish War (1768-1774) was still going on, but in September 1773, the first “description party” under the leadership of navigator Ivan Baturin set off from Balaklava to Akhtiar. Having collected “detailed information,” he drew up a map indicating the size of the surveyed bay, mapped the medieval Inkerman fortress with the remains of a village and the small Tatar village of Ak-Yar (White Cliff) on the northern shore. After the name of this village, the name Akhtiarskaya was assigned to the bay.

Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · 3_4_ikerm1.jpgBy the Manifesto of April 8 (19), 1783, Crimea, Taman and the Kuban side became part of Russia, and on May 2, 1783, a detachment of Russian warships under the flag of Vice Admiral entered Akhtiar Bay for permanent deployment F.A. Klokacheva. June 10, 1873 - the day of laying the first four stone buildings on the bank of Akhtiar - is considered the birthday of the city of Russian glory, Sevastopol. In honor of its foundation, even a special medal “Benefit of Russia” was minted.

At that time, the mountainous shores of Akhtiar Bay were deserted. The ships went to sea and returned to port only during the day, guided by noticeable capes and several landmarks. As local historians testify, at the end of the 18th century. over the cliff of the rocky coast of Ancient Chersonesus, a multi-pound bell was installed on stone pylons (and is still standing). With its melodic sound, it helped ships navigate through fog, heavy rain and whirlwind snow. With the announcement of Sevastopol in 1808 as the main military port of the Black Sea Fleet, the local admiralty began building warships. The fleet grew rapidly, and the combat missions facing it became more complex. Navigational signs were required to allow ships to pass safely and enter the main base.

Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · 3_4_ikerm2.jpgFrom the highest point of the Inkerman plateau, called Mekenzieva Mountain, the entire Akhti Ar Bay is clearly visible. And the separate rock below, which is often called Mayachnaya, is an excellent natural reference point for laying out the target line. In the pre-sunset time, looking at the daylight slowly sinking into the sea, you involuntarily notice that it sets in the water almost exactly along the alignment line, and to the left, near the horizon, the lantern of the white stone tower of the Chersonesos lighthouse (built in 1816) sparkles in the last rays of the sun. Together with it, the Inkerman towers form a system of navigation signs, allowing ships to enter the bay around the clock and safely in any weather. This feature was immediately noticed by hydrographers who were choosing the locations of future wing towers, and in 1820, on the initiative of the fleet commander, Admiral Alexei Samuilovich Greig, their construction began. They built it quickly. Already on November 5, 1821, the Inkerman packs began to act. White fourteen-meter stone towers stood out clearly against the gray background of the dominant heights in the northern part of the bay during the day, and at night the reflective reflective lamps

or the steady light of two lights visible for many miles. Admiral A.S. Greig reported about this to the Fleet Education Committee: “...Two Akhtiar (Inkerman) lighthouses are illuminated, along the alignment of which you can enter the roadstead at night.”

Life in lighthouses

Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · 3_4_ikerm3.jpgLife on the Inkerman lighthouses is not all sugar even now, but one can only guess what it was like at the time of their foundation. However, judge for yourself.

The tiny town (a tower, a diesel engine, a residential building and two outbuildings) of the forward collapsible lighthouse was located at the top of a ninety-meter cliff on an area the size of a football field. The rock faces the sea with a steep slope, on the land side - a serpentine road, like an umbilical cord connecting the hermits to the pier where small ships mooring from Inkerman to Sevastopol.

A dirt road leads to the Rear Lighthouse from the mouth of the Chernaya River, which flows into Akhtiarskaya Bay. Winding through the oak and pistachio thickets of the abandoned Gypsy beam, in the past the favorite habitat of gypsy camps, the road stubbornly climbs up. Somewhere in the middle of the path, stone paving stones carefully laid by the builders appear, overgrown with mosses and lichens. Local historians claim that the road was paved by order of Count G.A. Potemkin for the arrival of Mother Catherine II in Sevastopol. And, we must pay tribute, the ancestors-craftsmen worked conscientiously: the road surface, only damaged in some places by rain and melt water, retains an almost original appearance. The climb is steep and unsafe in icy conditions. And now, in bad weather, only powerful all-wheel drive SUVs can do it, and there’s no need to talk about the ancient times. Almost at a height of two hundred meters, on a rocky plateau, surrounded by low-growing Crimean forest, there is a lighthouse town with a white stone lighthouse tower. Here, in any weather, the air temperature is 2-3 degrees lower than on the coast. There was no drinking water then, and there is none now - they bring it from Inkerman. For livestock and watering the garden in a stone storage tank in the old-fashioned way

m collect rain and melt water. The unafraid animals that live in the surrounding forests often drop in to visit the lighthouses, especially during the hungry winter months. Boars, roe deer, foxes, hares reach out to people for help, and they do not leave their smaller brothers in trouble: they feed, water and even treat...

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The way of life that has been developed for centuries is simple. The first concern is about the fire, which should always be lit at sunset and shine brightly until dawn. Then care for the lighthouse farm: diesel generators, buildings, territory, livestock, vegetable garden. Daily entries in the logbook are the main document of the life of lighthouse workers, drawing up requests for repairs and receiving equipment, family chores. The lighthouse keeper, currently the boss, is the head of everything here. He is a mechanic, a meteorologist, a doctor (an ambulance cannot always get to this top), a farmer, the head of a family, and the “supreme judge” in a dispute or disagreement. With the first rays of the sun he is already on his feet, and goes to rest only after making sure that the fire is burning properly, the watch is being vigilant, and there is order, peace and quiet in the small but troublesome household. The staff is small, only three people. There are no random people among lighthouses. Not many people can live a reclusive life, full of hardships and daily hassles, separated from the benefits of civilization. “Aliens” do not take root in lighthouses. Lighthouse service is traditionally a family affair: sons take over from their fathers, carefully preserve the age-old foundations, and tend the family nest.

People

Information about the people who served the Inkerman beacons in the 19th and until the mid-20th centuries is practically absent, and much in the glorious history of the oldest Crimean lighthouses remains unknown. An enthusiastic historian and caretaker of the Ai-Todor lighthouse, Yuri Ivanovich Tyurin, who worked a lot at the Central State Administration of the Russian Navy, managed to establish that in 1898, the lower Inkerman lighthouse was commanded by a free-hire retired provincial secretary Nikifor Ivanovich Tropyanov, and the upper one was commanded by army reserve gunner Vasily Andreevich Artsyuk. The lighthouse keeper's salary at that time was 400 rubles per annum, and he had two civilian assistants under his command. In 1901, Tropyanov was replaced by Georgy Semenovich Morozov, who had no rank, and the deceased Artsyuk was replaced first by his widow Ekaterina Spiridonovna, and then by the Odessa tradesman Artseulov.

After the October Revolution, Vasily Dmitrievich Zolotukhin was listed as the caretaker of the Front Inkerman lighthouse. His fate is amazing. In the famous battle in the Korean Strait between Russian ships and the Japanese squadron of Admiral Togo (May 14-15, 1905), he was captured by the Japanese. The road home turned out to be several years long. Having finally crossed Persia to the south of Russia, Zolotukhin settled in Nikolaev, and in 1913 he went to Sevastopol, where he became a keeper of the Chersonesos lighthouse. The wounds and illnesses received in captivity made him almost immobile, but the healing mud of a small salt lake next to the lighthouse, the Crimean sun and sea air brought the sailor to his feet. When in 1917 the time came to send his eldest son to the gymnasium, Vasily Dmitrievich moved to the Inkerman lighthouse. Presumably in the late twenties, after the death of his wife, Zolotukhin left the service and settled with his children in Yalta, where traces of him were lost...

Then, in the destinies of the lighthouses, an almost thirty-year failure ensues. It is only known that from October 31, 1941, the Front Inkerman lighthouse was commanded by a certain I. Khibrikov. Together with him, all the hardships of lighthouse service were shared by V.D. Zolotukhin’s daughter Antonina Vasilyevna Sviridenko, who was born at this lighthouse. On June 24, 1942, caretaker Khibrikov received an order from the command to leave the Front Lighthouse and evacuate the personnel from Sevastopol. Having carefully packed and hidden the lighting equipment, the servants left their comfortable nest. The rear lighthouse at that time was commanded by A.M. Pavlov. Coming from workers, in 1916 he joined the Bolsheviks. During the October Revolution of 1917, he was in rebellion-ridden Petrograd. Carrying out instructions from the Revolutionary Committee, he met with Lenin more than once. In the 20s, on instructions from the party, he arrived in Sevastopol to fight the interventionists. After the Civil War, he worked as a lathe at a shipbuilding plant, and just before the Great Patriotic War he became the caretaker of the rear Inkerman lighthouse. Despite his advanced age and poor health, Afanasy Mitrofanovich categorically refused to leave the lighthouse, declaring: “My place is here, even if I’m dead.” After the enemy destroyed the tower,

Pavlov installed a searchlight directly on the stones, and the lighthouse continued to shine at night. But during a fascist air raid on June 26, 1942, a large-caliber bomb hit the shelter where the lighthouse men and 28 sailors of the manipulator detachment were hiding. Everyone died. In 1956, the remains of the heroes were reburied with honors at the Fraternal Memorial Cemetery of the Defenders of Sevastopol.

Anatoly Mikhailovich Makukh and Nikolai Ivanovich Barykin put a lot of work and effort into restoring the destroyed Inkerman lighthouses. Today, lighthouse towns, thanks to the efforts of the dynasty of lighthouse keepers Nikolai Antonovich Perepechko (died at a combat post in November 2010) and his son Roman Nikolaevich, are buried in flowers and greenery of fruit trees, revealing a special world of comfort and kindness, which is so lacking in the inhabitants of urban stone boxes...

Natural disasters

Open to all winds, Inkerman lighthouses are the first to meet the violence of nature. The main scourge is squally evil winds, often reaching hurricane force, and... earthquakes. Crimea is a tectonically dangerous zone, and the all-powerful Poseidon has repeatedly tested the strength of the lighthouse towers. The years 1854, 1875 and 1927 were especially difficult.

In the memorable autumn storm of November 14, 1854, when about a hundred ships and interventionist ships sank off the coast of Balaklava and Yevpatoria, the lighthouses also suffered. A fierce hurricane, the likes of which had never happened in these places, destroyed lighthouse lanterns, tore off roofs from houses, and torrents of rain, hail and sleet rendered the entire simple economy unusable. According to an eyewitness, the sea became so furious that it seemed ready to swallow Crimea. After this storm, which caused irreparable damage to the Allied forces, Emperor Napoleon III ordered the creation of a meteorological service in France, renamed in 1871 the International Meteorological Organization.

In July 1875, due to an earthquake, the tower of the lower lighthouse cracked, the glass of the lantern burst, and the plaster in the keeper's house collapsed. In September, a hurricane tore the roofs off the tower and buildings at the upper lighthouse and destroyed the lantern. The tower itself was also badly damaged. After the disaster, the Directorate of Lighthouses of the Black and Azov Seas turned to the Main Hydrographic Directorate with a proposal to rebuild both lighthouses, justifying this not only by the poor condition of the towers, but also by the fact that in the fall and spring the lighthouses are often covered by fog for a long time and the entry of ships into the main base becomes unsafe. The head of the Naval Ministry, Grand Duke Admiral General Konstantin Nikolaevich, while in Sevastopol, got acquainted with the complaints and proposed two options. Move the upper lighthouse closer to the sea, and the lower one, leaving it in place, rebuild it and make it the Upper Lighthouse. Or, keeping both lighthouses in their places, build a third one between them.

Survey work and calculations showed that the costs in both cases would be very significant, so they decided to leave the lighthouses in their places and, after repairs, equip them with more powerful lighting equipment. But a chronic lack of funds in the meager treasury of the hydrographic service extended this work for almost twenty years. During this time, a sundial was installed on the lower lighthouse, and in 1897 the oil lighting was replaced with kerosene. On the top one, in 1870, an additional window was cut into the tower, which opened up a view of the fire of the Evpatoria lighthouse. From it, regular observations were made of the transparency of the lower atmospheric layer at night. Only on November 11, 1897, both lighthouses began to be illuminated with new light-optical devices from the French company Sauter.

... “The glass jumped out with a ringing sound, and an umbrella with the inscription “I want Podkolesin,” caught in a whirlwind, flew out the window to the sea. Ostap was lying on the floor, easily crushed by plywood panels. It was twelve o'clock and fourteen minutes. This was the first blow of the great Crimean earthquake of 1927. A nine-point blow, which caused untold misfortune to the entire peninsula, snatched the treasure from the hands of the concessionaires.” This is how Ilf and Petrov described the catastrophic Crimean earthquake in their novel “12 Chairs”. Since the evening of September 11, lighthouse workers have noticed an unusual sunset: a fire was burning on the horizon, visible through the smoke screen. Shortly after sunset a thunderstorm broke out, then the sky cleared and the full moon bathed the sea in silvery light. At midnight, dogs howled all along the coast. Then came a loud crash. The earth shook. The frightened lighthouse attendants saw a fantastic picture: to the west of Sevastopol, ten miles from the coast, pillars and curtains of fire were burning in the sea. In the east, in the area of ​​Cape Lucullus, the water was illuminated by monstrous fiery flashes at least two kilometers wide. Cracks appeared along the walls of the towers, glass burst, lights went out...

Wars

Lighthouses and wars have not escaped. With the beginning of the Crimean campaign of 1854-1855. for the purpose of camouflage, the lights were extinguished when enemy ships approached. Order No. 1286 of the commander of the Sevastopol port of December 5, 1853. demanded “...to oblige the keepers of the Chersonesos and main lighthouses to extinguish the lights in the event of a general alarm at night, and to cut down the milestones to the commander of the fire guard...”. During the fighting, the lighthouse towers were badly damaged. The lower one was almost completely destroyed. Subsequently, it had to be rebuilt. The restored sections began to operate only after the end of the Crimean War in 1859.

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Having recovered from the devastation, Sevastopol grew rapidly, Inkerman lights from the sea became increasingly difficult to distinguish among the colorful street lamps and illuminated windows of buildings. The annual report of the Main Hydrographic Directorate of 1913 expressed concern: “Due to the insufficient luminous intensity of the entrance beacons in Sevastopol, which, with the currently significantly increased number of bright city lights, can be confused with them, there is a need to re-illuminate these beacons with stronger 2nd category lighting devices with variable lights, and in connection with this, also to rebuild the towers themselves.” The Directorate of Lighthouses of the Black and Azov Seas developed drawings and estimates for the reconstruction of lighthouse towers and developed proposals for the purchase of the latest lighting equipment abroad. However, the First World War did not allow the plan to be realized. All that was possible to do at that time was to replace the constant white light of the Forward Lighthouse with an alternating red-white light.

The Second World War did not spare lighthouses. Sevastopol was one of the first to be raided by fascist aircraft. From the first days of the war, the enemy rained down a barrage of fire on the lighthouses, trying to disrupt the exit of ships from Sevastopol Bay at night. Hydrographers covered the lighthouse lights with infrared filters, making them invisible to the enemy. The enemy, in response, increased fire on the squares and destroyed the lighthouse towers. On piles of stones, sailors deployed handling stations equipped with searchlights, and the lights were lit again and again. Immediately after the liberation of Sevastopol on May 9, 1944, the restoration of both lighthouses began. The work was completely completed by November 17, 1946. And before that, mobile searchlight installations were operating on the Inkerman Heights.

Now fixed power lines are connected to both lighthouses. Special lamps in the center of the parabolic reflectors produce a powerful sheaf of fire and, like many years ago, with the onset of evening twilight, sailors returning to their home base from the Inkerman heights are warmly greeted by the lights of familiar sights: diamond-white over ruby-red...

Sergey Aksentiev

CAPTAIN CLUB No. 5(70)'2011