page_title: First Russian Antarctic Expedition
section_title: Research organization
hierarchical_section_title: First Russian Antarctic Expedition / Results / Research organization
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Титульный лист издания Атлас к путешествию капитана Беллинсгаузена в Южном Ледовитом океане и вокруг света в продолжении 1819, 1829 и 1821 годов. — Санктпетербург&#160;: [б. и.], 1831. — [4], 64 с.
context_page_description: The First Russian Antarctic Expedition took place in 1819–1821 under the direction of Fabian Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. The expedition aimed to reach the Southern Ocean in order to prove or disprove the existence of a suspected sixth continent, Antarctica. The sloop Vostok was under the command of Bellingshausen, while Lazarev commanded the sloop Mirny. Overall, the crew consisted of 190 people.
  Due to extreme haste in equipping the voyage, it was impossible to assemble a science team. Thus, almost all scientific observations in the fields of geography, ethnography, and natural history were conducted by officers and the only scientist on board – associate professor Ivan Mikhailovich Simonov, who taught at the Imperial Kazan University. A novice painter, Pavel Mikhailov, was hired to depict the events, landscapes, and biological species encountered during the expedition. His paintings of the South Shetland Islands were used in English sailing directions until the 1940s.
  The Russian Antarctic expedition ended in complete success and became the second expedition to circumnavigate Antarctica after James Cook's expedition a half century earlier.
context_section_description: According to historians, the small number of scientific personnel undoubtedly influenced the results and outcomes of the expedition. Bulkeley emphasized a big contrast with the Kotzebue's circumnavigation that was conducted only four years before and was sponsored with private funds. The Kotzebue's crew included four scientists for whom an extended scientific program was prepared. If on "Rurik" oceanographic observations could be conducted for 318 days in a row, then Bellingshausen had to turn to oceanography and meteorology from case to case. Conducted data on magnetic declination was not processed and not included in the final report on the expedition; it was published only in 1840 by request of Carl Friedrich Gauss. Moreover, most of the time that was spent on scientific observations, Simonov dedicated to the time-consuming process of reconciling ship chronometers. 70 out of 155 pages of Simonov's scientific report were dedicated to these calculations, which constituted 40% out of the total volume. Chronometers reconciliation took place in Rio, during stays in Sydney and the Cook Strait. Only during the second staying in Rio, the crew was able to measure 2320 lunar distances; besides, these data should still be processed before calculating the magnitude of the correction and the daily movement of the chronometer. Simonov conducted observations in the open sea as well: on October 29 and 30, and on November 1, 1819, 410 lunar distances were measured. On March 18, 1820, instrumental observation of lunar eclipse was carried out.
  According to Lev Mitin, Simonov also engaged in meteorology. Defining diurnal course of Atmospheric pressure in tropical latitudes, he did 4316 hourly measurements. During the expedition, water samples were taken from the depths using a primitive bathometer made by ship means; experiments were performed with lowering the bottle to a depth; water clearance was defined with lowering a white plate to a depth; where the lead allowed, the crew measured depths (presumably, until 500 meters); there was an attempt to measure depth water temperature; scientists studied the structure of sea ice and the freezing of water of different salinity; there was a first attempt to define compass magnetic deviation at different directions. Magnetic measurements conducted by Simonov were published in 1830 by "Kazansky vestnik". Carl Gauss paid attention to this article and later translated it to German. Through Krusenstern, Gauss in 1840 requested from Bellingshausen all data on magnetic declination that the crew conducted during the expedition. These materials allowed Gauss calculating the exact position of the South Magnetic Pole, which was later confirmed by the Ross expedition.
  Simonov also conducted observations of Antarctic ice shields; however, V. Koryakin did not appreciate his expertise in this field. On the one hand, astronomer suggested that "the South Pole is covered with harsh and an impenetrable crust of ice, whose thickness, judging by the elevation above the surface of the ocean, can extend to 300 fathoms, counting from the lowest level at the sea depth, to the peak." Indeed, the marginal, peripheral part of the Antarctic ice sheet has an approximate height of 600 meters. However, judging by notes from January–February 1820, "research qualities refused Simonov to interpret what he saw, and a variety of ice, which differed both in form and origin, remained for him only ice." Koryakin even suggested that to a certain extent, the absence of sky luminaries during the midnight sun influenced Simonov's perception of the world. Simonov conclusions contracted with observations of officers Bellingshausen, Lazarev, Novosilsky and sailor Kiselev. Novosilsky and Bellingshausen even suggested their own classifications of Antarctic ice shields. On the report card of the expedition, each type of ice was indicated by conventional signs.
  Besides, Simonov conducted ethnographic observations. More than 37 items from Oceanian islands are stored in the ethnographic museum of the Kazan Federal University. The collection incl
caption: The title page of the “Atlas to the journey of captain Bellingshausen in the Southern Arctic Ocean and around the world in the continuation of 1819, 1820, and 1821”
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