The mystery hasn't been resolved yet but its solution certainly is not impossible.įinally, I have found out the end of the text on page 129 of Transactions of the Oceanographical Institute (Moscow, 1960). In 1958 Slava carried a helicopter (Mi-1MG) which could takeoff and land even on a deck of a whale catcher. One can imagine that the rowing boat couldn't sail back to the ship against ice or wind and her crew was rescued by the motorboat.Īnother solution to the riddle of the empty lifeboat is air evacuation. Her cruise report mentioned that she noticed ice just before Bouvet Island. Slava-9 had two lifeboats, first was a rowing one, second was a motorboat. Why the boat was abandoned? Most likely, the men on the shore couldn't sail from the island because of waves, ice or weather and were evacuated another way. Let us suppose there was a landing party. We couldn't exclude that that the ship we sought for was not a research vessel but a typical Slava whale catcher. Of course, she was able to visit Bouvet Island in the season of 1958-1959.Īnother research ship in the Slava whaling fleet was Komsomolets-23. Slava-15 could abandon a boat before Solyanik's bird observations. The whaling season of the Slava fleet commenced in autumn and ended in spring so 1958 in the article means late 1957 - early 1958. Hydrometeorological observations on board the whaling vessel "Slava-15" of the Antarctic Whaling Flotilla in 1955-1958 and deep-water hydrological observations in 1950-58 ( = Trudy Gosudarstvennogo okeanologiceskogo instituta - Transactions of the State Oceanological Institute,58) : 252-267. i glubokovodnye gidrologiceskie nabljudenija v 1950-51 i 1953-58 gg. Sirotov, Gidrometeorologiceskie nabljudenija na kitobojnom sudne "Slava-15" Antarkticeskoj kitobojnoj flotilii v 1955-1958 gg. 1960 Wind waves in the Antarctic in the region of Bouvetøya - Vetrovye volny v Antarktike v rajone o. It is another scientific paper mentioned in a bibliography. We have some evidence that Slava-15 could sail near Bouvet Island in 1958. The story cuts short at this intriguing point.īesides, there were another Soviet research vessels. "The scientific reconnaissance vessel "Slava-9" began his regular 13th cruise with the "Slava" Antarctic whaling fleet on 22 October 1958. Here are the pics of Google Books search results which represent the beginning and the end of page 129 of the book. Goggle Books don't display the text of the book but some phrases can be revealed through the search (in Russian). I have found it mentioned in Transactions of the Oceanographical Institute (Moscow, 1960). She visited Bouvet Island on 27 November 1958 and landed a shore party. It was the whale catcher / research vessel Slava-9. One of them explored Bouvet Island in 1958. The Soviet whaling fleet included at least one whale catcher equipped for the role of scientific research vessel. According to the Soviet sources, the relatives used to sail together. Solyanik (Gennadiy Alekseevich Solyanik) was a son of Captain Aleksey Nikolayevich Solyanik, a leader of the Slava whaling fleet. The factory ship Slava was a fllagship and several smaller vessels, the whale catchers mostly called Slava-1, Slava-2 etc., accompanied her. In those days the Soviet Union sent a whaling fleet to Antarctic waters every year. The Cold Regions Bibliography Project contains a description of the paper: " Visit by Soviet whale catcher, November 1958". His contribution was called "Some bird observations on Bouvet Island". So we have an interval.ĭash mentioned an article written by a Soviet scientist G. Previous recorded visit to the island was made by the the American icebreaker Westwind on 1 January 1958. The mysterious abandoned lifeboat was found on Bouvet Island by the South African expedition on 2 April 1964. Everybody interested in the story must read his work.Īs for me, I will begin where he ended the narrative. Historian Mike Dash wrote a brilliant article on the subject. Was it an aftermath of some maritime disaster? Or was it a legacy of a landing party from an unknown ship? Was it left by an Antarctic research vessel, a Soviet whale catcher, a Nazi auxiliary cruiser, etc.? That's why a discovery of an abandoned lifeboat on it in 1964 was a quite weird event. Bouvet Island is described as one of the most isolated place in the world.
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