UDC

94(47).081+94(481):910(4)

Authors

Ruslan A. Davydov
Laverov Federal Research Centre for Integrated Studies of the Arctic, Russian Academy of Sciences; nab. Severnoy Dviny 109, Arkhangelsk, 163000, Russian Federation; e-mail: nordhistory@mail.ru

Abstract

This paper presents little known information about Fyodor Voronin, the owner and skipper of the schooner St. Nicholas (Svyatoy Nikolay), who in 1874 rescued the members of the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition headed by Julius von Payer and Karl Weyprecht, which had discovered the archipelago of Franz Josef Land. The author expands the circumstances of the Russians’ meeting the expedition members, their stay on board the Russian schooner on the way from Novaya Zemlya to Norway and their parting. In addition, the paper provides some information on St. Nicholas’ crew and rewards received by them. Further, the article dwells on Voronin’s letter to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting to prohibit Norwegian fishing and hunting on Novaya Zemlya, i.e. de facto and de jure to establish Russian sovereignty over the archipelago, which the Russian Ministry in those years was opposed to. Moreover, the content of interdepartmental correspondence on this issue is outlined and the documents are cited showing the incompetence of Russian officials and their unwillingness to take action in order to protect Russian interests in the Arctic. The paper also provides information on the fishing and trading activities of Fyodor Voronin in the 1870s, his conflicts with Norwegian owners of fishing and hunting businesses and his litigations with a Norwegian merchant. Further, Voronin’s social activity in Russia is studied, in particular the report he presented in 1876 in the St. Petersburg Branch of the Imperial Russian Society for Promotion of Russian Merchant Shipping about the fishing and hunting of Pomors and Norwegians on Novaya Zemlya. This article is based on documents from the State Archives of the Arkhangelsk Region and, partly, from the Foreign Policy Archives of the Russian Empire as well as on publications of the last quarter of the 19th century.

Keywords

Arctic, Franz Josef Land, Norway, Fyodor Voronin, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sea fishing аnd hunting, Julius von Payer, Karl Weyprecht

References

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