page_title: First Russian Antarctic Expedition
section_title: Discovery of Antarctica
hierarchical_section_title: First Russian Antarctic Expedition / Expedition / First season (December 1819 – March 1820) / Discovery of Antarctica
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Михайлов Павел Николаевич - Южное сияние
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: On December 31, 1819, the expedition reached Bristol Island, and survived the heaviest squall, followed with wet snow that decreased the visibility to 50 fathoms. At 10 pm the expedition ran into an impassable ice field and changed its course. Only the topsail was to be remained, even though it was also covered in snow that the crew had to put the sloops directly under the wind and calm sails. Watch guards had to put snow out of decks constantly. Officers celebrated the new year of 1820 at 6 am, and Bellingshausen wished everyone in the mess get out of a dangerous situation and safely return to the fatherland. It was an organized celebration for sailors – morning formation was in uniform; for breakfast, they received a rum for tea, after lunch, they got pork cabbage with sour cabbage, a glass of hot punch; for dinner – rice porridge and grog. The same day "Vostok" lost "Mirny" out of sight, and cannon signals were not heard due to the direction of the winds. By noon, the ships reunited. On January 2, 1820, the expedition passed Thule Island at 59° south latitude. The name was given by James Cook in 1775 because of the abundance of ice heading more to the south did not seem possible. Between January 5 and 7, the vessels slowly moved to the south between ice fields and dry cold weather allowed to vent and dry the clothes and beds. On January 7 the crew hunted penguins which were later cooked for both privates and the officers; more than 50 harvested carcasses were transferred to "Mirny". Penguin meat was usually soaked in vinegar and added to corned beef when cooking porridge or cabbage. According to Bellingshausen, sailors willingly ate penguin meat seeing that "officers also praised the food." On January 8, the vessels reached iceberg where they caught with seine fishing around 38 penguins and cut some ice. Alive penguins were locked in a chicken coop. Besides, lieutenant Ignatieff and Demidov got the first seal on the expedition, that they found looking like ringed seal living in Arkhangelsk Governorate.
  On January 9, "Mirny" collided with an ice field and knocked out four-pound ship gref. Strength of the construction and skills of lieutenant Nikolay Obernisov minimized damage, so the leak did not even open. On January 12 the expedition passed 8 icebergs and crossed 61 south latitude, the weather all that time was cloudy, and it was raining with snow. On January 15 the expedition crossed the Antarctic Circle at 66° south latitude and 3° west longitude. The next day Bellingshausen described his observations as "ices that we imagined as white clouds through the coming snow" that lasted from horizon to horizon. This was the first observation of ice shelfs. The observation point was 69°21'28" south latitude and 2°14'50" west longitude – area of modern Bellingshausen's ice shelf near with Princess Martha Coast at Lazarev Sea. On January 17, for a short time the sun appeared, which made it possible to get closer to "Mirny", but then the weather worsened again. On January 21, participants of the expedition secondly observed "ice masses", the limits of which were not visible. One hundred four days passed from the departure from Rio, and living conditions were close to extreme. In the living deck and officer cabins, the stoves were heated daily (instead of heating pads, they used forcefully heated in fire cannonballs. However, the crew still had to clean condensation three times per day, which constantly accumulated. Due to constant wet snow and fog, the crew had difficulties with drying clothes and beds.
  Since Arctic summer had not ended, it was decided to try once again to reach southern latitudes. On January 25, taking advantage of good weather and the lack of ice fields, Bellingshausen visited "Mirny" where he discussed with Lazarev further plans. Medical surgeon Galkin demonstrated stuffed by him seabirds that, following Bellinghausen's definition, "were quite good". On January 26, vessels moored to a giant table-shaped iceberg up to 200 feet height (around 60 meters), and saw large herds of sperm whales. The report from Fe
caption: Southern lights, from the P. Mikhailov's album
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