''Vostok'' was a 28-gun

sloop-of-war During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all u ...

of the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until being dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution and the declaration of ...

, the lead ship of the First Russian Antarctic Expedition in 1819–1821, during which

Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen Faddey Faddeyevich Bellingshausen or Fabian Gottlieb Benjamin von Bellingshausen ( – ) was a Russian cartographer, explorer, and naval officer of Baltic German descent, who attained the rank of admiral. He participated in the first Russi ...

(commander of the ship) and Mikhail Lazarev (commanding '' Mirny'', the second ship) circumnavigated the globe, discovered the continent of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

and twice circumnavigated it, and discovered a number of islands and archipelagos in the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

and the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

.Шлюп "Восток"
(''tr. "Sloop "Vostok""'') at sailhistory.ru

History

''Vostok'' was launched in 1818 at Okhta Admiralty shipyard,

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. On ''Vostok'' under the command of

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, the leader of the expedition, alongside ''Mirny'' under the command of Lieutenant Commander Mikhail Lazarev left

Kronstadt Kronstadt (, ) is a Russian administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Saint Petersburg, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg, near the head ...

and on reached the shore of

, which was sighted for the first time in history. After repair in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, the expedition explored the tropical parts of the Pacific, and on again turned to Antarctica. On the sloops reached the southernmost point of their voyage at 69° 53' S and 92° 19' W. On they returned to Kronstadt. In 751 days they covered 49,723 miles (approx. 92,300 km). Apart from the discovery of the world's sixth continent,

, 29 islands were mapped and complex oceanographic works carried out. A medal was issued by the Russian Admiralty to commemorate the expedition. In 1828 sloop ''Vostok'' was excluded from navy lists and scrapped.

Named in honor

* Vostok Island in the

Line Islands The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands () are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons, except Vostok and Jarvis) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawa ...

group (

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

), discovered by Bellingshausen during the First Russian Antarctic Expedition in 1820. * Cape Vostok, the western extremity of the Havre Mountains and the northwestern extremity of

Alexander Island Alexander Island, which is also known as Alexander I Island, Alexander I Land, Alexander Land, Alexander I Archipelago, and Zemlja Alexandra I, is the largest island of Antarctica. It lies in the Bellingshausen Sea west of Palmer Land, Antarcti ...

in Antarctic, discovered by Bellingshausen in 1821. * Vostok Rupes, a mountain chain on planet Mercury. * Vostok Station, a Russian Antarctic research station located on the

Pole of Cold Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

amid the

East Antarctic Ice Sheet The East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) lies between 45th meridian west, 45° west and 168th meridian east, 168° east longitudinally. It was first formed around 34 million years ago, and it is the largest ice sheet on the entire planet, with far gre ...

, established on 16 December 1957 (during the

International Geophysical Year The International Geophysical Year (IGY; ), also referred to as the third International Polar Year, was an international scientific project that lasted from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War w ...

) by the 2nd Soviet Antarctic Expedition.Deep drilling at Vostok station, Antarctica: history and recent events
/ref> * Vostok Subglacial Highlands, an east extension of Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains in Antarctica.Vostok Subglacial Highlands: Antarctica
''geographic.org'', accessed 23 September 2022 * Vostok Lake, the largest

subglacial lake A subglacial lake is a lake that is found under a glacier, typically beneath an ice cap or ice sheet. Subglacial lakes form at the boundary between ice and the underlying bedrock, where liquid water can exist above the lower melting point of ic ...

in the world is named after Vostok Station.Полвека в глубине Антарктиды
(''tr. "Half a century in the depths of Antarctica"'') Vokrug Sveta , accessed 23 September 2022 The existence of a subglacial lake in the Vostok region was first suggested by Russian geographer Andrey Kapitsa based on seismic soundings made during the

Soviet Antarctic Expedition The Soviet Antarctic Expedition (SAE or SovAE) (, ''Sovetskaya antarkticheskaya ekspeditsiya'') was part of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute of the Soviet Committee on Antarctic Research of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. It was ...

s.Скончался первооткрыватель озера Восток в Антарктиде
(''tr. "Discoverer of Lake Vostok in Antarctica dies"'') Lenta.ru , accessed 23 September 2022 *

Vostok 1 Vostok 1 (, ) was the first spaceflight of the Vostok programme and the first human spaceflight, human orbital spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA space capsule was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 12 April 1961, with Soviet astronaut, c ...

, the Soviet

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...

which carried the first man into space,

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful Human spaceflight, crewed sp ...

, on 12 April 1961.

References

Sources

* Морской энциклопедический словарь. Л.: Судостроение, 1991.
Vostok, with model scheme
at hobbyport.ru

External links

{{Authority control Ships of the Imperial Russian Navy Exploration ships Sloops 1818 ships 19th century in Antarctica