March 30 we leave on the return route. Temperature -28C, wind south 3 m / s. Confident movement is hampered by numerous faults in the ice. We pass Tolya Bay in the Kara Sea, on the north-western coast of the Taimyr Peninsula. The length is 24 km, the width of the entrance is about 60 km. In the bay area in 1914 the vessels of the Russian hydrographic expedition “Taimyr” and “Vaigach” wintered. Opened in 1741-42 by the detachment of H. Laptev, later named in honor of the famous explorer of the north, Baron E. V. Toll
We reach the island of Rastorgueva. In 1899, Toll invited Kolchak a hydrologist to the expedition, whose goal was to study the marine currents of the Arctic Ocean, and in case of luck – the discovery of the “big continent” – the Land of Sannikov, in the existence of which Toll strictly believed. In May 1901, during the wintering of the schooner “Zarya”, Toll and Kolchak made a 500-kilometer trail on dog sleds for 41 days. Restrained Toll then called Kolchak “the best officer of the expedition,” and one of the islands discovered in the Taimyr Bay of the Kara Sea was named after Kolchak. Later in the Soviet era, this island was renamed the island of Rastorgueva.
A photo. Members of the Toll expedition aboard the schooner “Dawn”.
In the upper row: the third from the left above Tollem – Kolchak
After a two-year expedition to the wooden whaler Zarya, two wintering in the ice, a return and a new journey following the traces of the lost baron Tolya, Kolchak will go to the Russo-Japanese War. In Port Arthur he commanded a destroyer, the wounded and seriously ill fell into Japanese captivity. And at the end of April 1905, together with a group of officers across America, went to Russia. Since then, Kolchak has done a lot for the restoration of the fleet, working at the Maritime Academy and the Naval General Staff. At the same time, he published works based on the results of polar expeditions, in which he foresaw a global picture of the ice drift in the Arctic Ocean. Half a century later, his hypothesis was confirmed by the trajectories of the movement of Soviet and American drifting stations. A century later, Kolchak’s Arctic research will become particularly relevant due to the fact that the international arena will be actively fighting for the Arctic Ocean.
For a day you can drive about 300 km. We spend the night near the island of Rastorgueva.