In the summer of 1803, two Russian sloops "Nadezhda" and "Neva" set sail under the command of Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern and Yuri Fedorovich Lisyansky. Their route boggled the imagination - it was laid, as it was customary to say at that time, "a circle of light". The sailing of these two Russian ships was recognized as a geographical and scientific feat. In his honor, a medal was struck with the inscription: "For the journey around the world 1803-1806". The results of the expedition were summarized in the extensive geographical works of Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky, as well as natural scientists who were members of this expedition. The first voyage of the Russians went beyond the "long voyage". It brought glory to the Russian fleet. Almost everyone knows about this voyage now. But few people know that attempts to organize a round-the-world expedition were made in Russia more than once in the 18th century.
The need for such an expedition was caused by the activities of Russian "industrialists" on the shores of the Pacific Ocean and the formation in 1799 of the Russian-American company. The company, which was mainly engaged in the fishing of sea and fur animals off the northwestern coast of America, exported furs, whalebone, and walrus tusk from Alaska. At the same time, it was required to constantly supply Russian possessions on the American continent with food and other basic necessities. These goods were transported from St. Petersburg through Siberia to Okhotsk, and from there they were sent on small (local) ships to Alaska or the Aleutian Islands. The poor condition of roads, mountain crossings, crossings over fast rivers and swamps led to the fact that the goods deteriorated, broke, and lost. The difficulty of overland transportation increased the cost of goods for the company and absorbed a significant portion of the profits.
The sea communications between the northeastern coasts of Asia and America were also poorly organized. Weather conditions only allowed swimming for a few months of the year. Local sailors often had no idea about navigation. For several months ships were carried by sea, smashed against rocks. It took two or three years for goods to travel from St. Petersburg to Alaska.
The Russian-American company was also worried about the smuggling of the British and Americans off the coast of Alaska. All these circumstances led to the decision to send goods from St. Petersburg to Alaska around Africa and Asia or around South America on warships, which, prior to their departure on the return journey with a cargo of furs, could protect the northwestern shores of America from foreign smugglers.
However, the idea of the possibility and profitability of round-the-world sea communications with Northeast Asia and America arose long before the formation of the Russian-American company. In 1732, when the plans of Bering's Second Kamchatka Expedition were being developed, the President of the Admiralty Collegiums, Admiral N. Golovin and Admiral Sanders, proposed sending the expedition by sea around Cape Horn. The use of the sea route could result in great time savings. According to Golovin and Sanders, the voyage from St. Petersburg to the western shores of North America would take about a year, while the journey to Kamchatka through the whole of Siberia would take about two years, and at least two more years would be required to build ships. The correctness of this reasoning was proved by the first expedition of Bering. Departing from St. Petersburg at the beginning of 1725, Bering's detachment set sail on the St. Gabriel only in July 1728.
In addition, long voyages were to become a good school of maritime art for Russian sailors and contribute to the development of Russian trade. The Sanders project also spoke about the need to create a fleet to protect Kamchatka and Russian settlements on the shores and islands of the Pacific Ocean.
Golovin and other members of the Admiralty Collegiums apparently had no doubt that their proposal would be approved. For the planned circumnavigation of the world, the "Instruction on the sending of two frigates to Kamchatka" was drawn up. Golovin intended to lead the expedition himself. In case of successful completion of the voyage, he considered it necessary to annually send two frigates to Kamchatka "to find new lands, islands and passages, sea harbors, bays and other things, and more for sea practice."
But Golovin's proposals were not accepted. The detachments of the expedition departed from St. Petersburg by dry route in March 1733. For four years they moved with huge carts across the vast expanses of Siberia. For another two years, they built two small ships - the St. Peter "and" St. Paul". They were able to sail only in 1741. The correctness of the reasoning of Golovin and Sanders was confirmed once again.
In 1764, when the expedition of P. K. Krenitsyn and M. D. Levashov for an inventory of the Aleutian Islands, the idea arose to send two ships from Kronstadt to the northwestern shores of America. However, a war with Turkey was brewing, and the dispatch of ships did not take place. In March 1764, Krenitsyn, as usual, moved east through Siberia. This expedition reached Okhotsk in a year and a half. Another year and a half was spent preparing for the voyage from Okhotsk to Kamchatka. The voyage from Kamchatka to the shores of Alaska began only in the summer of 1768, four years after leaving Petersburg. So one expedition after another confirmed the complexity of the route through Siberia and the need for round-the-world voyages.
Vice-President of the Admiralty Collegiums I. G. Chernyshev in 1781, on his own initiative and at his own expense, built a ship designed for circumnavigation of the world at a state-owned shipyard. Chernyshev intended to send him with goods to the northwestern American shores to the Russian people living there. But this expedition did not take place either. The following year, the Austrian Guillaume Boltz, in a letter to Vice-Chancellor Osterman, suggested sending an expedition to the same shores around Cape Horn. Boltz emphasized that such voyages would not only bring glory to sailors, but would also create for Russia "branches of a new huge and profitable trade." Three years later, the merchant G. Shelekhov's clerk F. Shemelin submitted a project to send ships from Arkhangelsk or the Baltic Sea to China and the shores of America.
In 1786-1793, an expedition of Captain I. Billings worked in the northern part of the Pacific and the Arctic Ocean. As usual, the expeditionary party set off from St. Petersburg to the east by land. A few years later, ships were manufactured in Okhotsk, on which the expedition explored the northern shores of the Pacific Ocean. Even at the beginning of the expedition, Billings appealed to the Admiralty-Tev-Collegium with a request to allow him to return from the Far East to Kronstadt by sea at the end of the research. He intended to go to Kronstadt on ships made in Okhotsk.
However, Billings was not allowed to return to Kronstadt by sea around Asia and Africa. At the end of the expedition, the constructed ship "Glory to Russia" was transferred to the disposal of the Petropavlovsk port, and the "Black Eagle" was sent to Okhotsk. Billings returned to Petersburg via Siberia. Secretary of Catherine II P. P. Soimonov in 1786 sent to the Commerce Collegium "Notes on the bargaining and animal trades in the Eastern Ocean", which, among other things, spoke about the need to send three or four frigates to the Pacific Ocean to develop trade and protect Russian possessions.
The project of a large scientific commercial-military round-the-world expedition was developed jointly by the naval department and the Academy of Sciences. Admiral L. I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov compiled instructions for the participants in the swimming. Captain I rank G. I. Mulovsky. It was decided that not two, but four ships were needed to protect the Russian possessions in America. The ships "Kholmogor", "Solovki", "Sokol", "Turukhan" and a transport ship to deliver more cargo were to go around the world. The objectives of the forthcoming round-the-world expedition were extensive. Russian sailors had to deliver cargo to Okhotsk, establish sea trade with China and Japan, get acquainted with the Japanese islands, study and protect Russian possessions in America and discover new lands. According to the instructions, the ships were to pass along the West Coast of Africa, round the Cape of Good Hope and cross the Indian Ocean. In the Pacific Ocean, it was ordered to separate. One detachment of two ships under the command of Mulovsky himself was planned to be sent to the shores of North America to study Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and hydrographic research of the Pacific Ocean. Another detachment, also consisting of two ships, was sent to survey the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin and survey the mouth of the Amur. The fifth ship was proposed to be sent to Kamchatka. A naturalist, astronomer, doctor and four artists were invited to the expedition. We acquired astronomical instruments, prepared provisions and clothing for three years of sailing, and compiled detailed maps of the Pacific coast, taking into account the latest discoveries. Irkutsk Governor I. V. Jacobi received an order for the arrival of the squadron to prepare provisions and rigging in Kamchatka and provide the expedition with any assistance and assistance. In a word, ambitious tasks were set. Serious preparations were underway. The departure of the ships was scheduled for the autumn of 1787. But the war with Turkey began, and the expedition had to be canceled, and the ships and crews were ordered by Catherine II to send to the Mediterranean.
In June 1788, the Russian-Swedish war began, and the squadron, scheduled to be sent to the Mediterranean, remained in the Baltic. Mulovsky was appointed commander of the battleship Mstislav, which soon received 20-year-old I. F., who had just graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps. Kruzenshtern. Mulovsky was still fascinated by the thoughts of circumnavigation and often talked about this with his subordinates. Warrant officer Kruzenshtern also listened to him. In 1793, Lieutenant Kruzenshtern, one of the best young naval officers, was sent to England for several years to acquire naval practice on British ships. He visited the West Indies, East Indies, Malacca, China. During the voyages, Krusenstern finally matured the idea of the need for a round-the-world voyage for the development of Russian crafts and trade in the Pacific Ocean. In 1799, on the way from China to England, he developed a detailed project for a round-the-world expedition, and from England sent it to the Minister of the Russian Naval Forces, Count Kushelev.
Kruzenshtern proposed to send two ships from Kronstadt to the northwestern shores of America. On them to deliver to the Russian possessions in America tools and materials for shipbuilding and experienced shipbuilders. This would enable Russian settlers in Alaska to build good ships and carry furs on them by sea to China, instead of the dangerous and unprofitable delivery through Okhotsk and Kyakhta. In 1799, Kruzenshtern's project was not accepted. But three years passed before the new naval minister, N. S. Mordvinov approved his plans.
At the same time, the project for round-the-world voyages was gradually taking shape in trade and fishing circles that exploited the natural resources of Alaska and the eastern shores of Siberia. Back in 1792, Shelekhov's clerk Shemelin tried to negotiate in St. Petersburg and Moscow with the British merchants Mackintosh and Bonner about sending a ship with food and supplies to Okhotsk. Then N. N. Demidov advised Shemelin to buy a ship in Denmark at his own expense and send it to the colonies. Shemelin informed Shelekhov about this proposal.
At that time, the Russian-American Company did not have a single large ship in the Pacific, so in 1802 it was finally decided to buy a ship in Hamburg and, under the command of the Englishman McMeister, who had arrived in Russia, send it to the shores of Alaska. McMeister had to stay on the Kuril Islands, so another experienced sailor was required to bring the ship back to Russia. Lieutenant Commander Yu. F. Lisyansky.
Admiral Mordvinov approved the company's plans, but advised to send two ships. He recommended the author of the project of the Russian round-the-world voyage, Lieutenant-Commander Kruzenshtern, as the head of the expedition. This is how the Kruzenshtern project and the plans of the leaders of the Russian-American company were combined.
July 26 (August 7) 1803 sloops "Nadezhda" and "Neva" under the command of I. F. Kruzenshtern and Yu. F. Lisyansky set off on the first Russian round-the-world voyage, which lasted three years and ended successfully. Such was the protracted beginning of the era of Russian circumnavigation of the XIX century, when from 1803-1866 there were 25 of them. But that's another story …
