Tracing the history of the world with Andrey Sidorchik
For residents of the European part of Russia Baikal & nbsp; & mdash; it is a natural pearl, a tourist attraction, that you really want to visit, but & nbsp; not & nbsp; anyone can afford it. & Nbsp; those who live on the & nbsp; shores of the lake have a completely different attitude towards & nbsp;
Severe and & nbsp; sacred
Baikal is generous, but & nbsp; and & nbsp; extremely hard. The famous & # 39; Glorious Sea & nbsp; & mdash; sacred Baikal & # 39; & # 39; did not appear & nbsp; in & nbsp; an empty space. In the & nbsp; other years, up to & nbsp; 150 stormy days are recorded on the & nbsp; lake, and & nbsp; woe to those who find the wrath of Baikal far from the & nbsp; shores. Nobody & nbsp; will not tell you exactly how many fishermen, workers, travelers perished in & nbsp; these waters during & nbsp; centuries.
Au & nbsp; XIX & nbsp; century, when navigation on & nbsp; Baikal became more regulated, wrecks occurred regularly. In December 1869 the liner Innokenty entered & nbsp; a terrible storm that lasted for several days. The wreckage of the ship was found in the area of the Ouchany Islands, with 30 people on board, no one survived; a load of bread. In & nbsp; 1900, the steamboat Swan was lost with & nbsp; a sip of tea.
Locals treated tragedies with humility, perceiving Baikal almost as a living being. If he was angry, that means the people themselves somehow angered this item.
From & nbsp; Bargouzine in & nbsp; Irkutsk
In the fall of 1901, a disaster occurred on Lake & nbsp;, later called the Baikal Titanic. The real wreckage of the liner will take place a decade after the drama in Russia, which few people remember today. But & nbsp; for the Baikal, the sinking of the vessel Potapov has become a case that has no analogues.
10 & nbsp; October 1901 of & nbsp; Bargouzine in & nbsp; Irkutsk steamer “ Jacob '' left, which was to lead three ships behind & nbsp; & nbsp; & mdash; Potapov with & nbsp; 549 barrels of fish, 161 workers and & nbsp; 15 & nbsp; crew members, Mogilev's ship with & nbsp; 250 barrels of fish and & nbsp; workers, and & nbsp; also Shipunov's ship with & nbsp; 240 barrels of fish and workers.
It is difficult to establish exactly how many people were on the ships, as they often carried passengers who were not checked in. Most often these were workers and peasants who did not have the opportunity to use the equipped liners.
The journey has started well & nbsp; & mdash; the caravan reached the village of Kocherikov, where the sailors replenished stocks of firewood for the ship's boiler. The other route went through the Maloye More, circling the island of Olkhon.
Olkhon Island. Photo: pixabay.com
Hostages of Sarma
When Jacob led the ships to & nbsp; Cap Kobylya Golova, they & nbsp; have overtaken Sarma & nbsp; & mdash; gust of wind escaping from the valley of the Sarma river, which empties into the Maloye More. It & nbsp; can reach speeds of & nbsp; 60 & nbsp; meters per & nbsp; second, and & nbsp; for him it is not & nbsp; hard to pull perennial trees from & nbsp; of the earth and & nbsp; tear off the roofs of houses. To enter & nbsp; Sarma during & nbsp; passage time at & nbsp; ship on & nbsp; Baikal & nbsp; & mdash; it's an ordeal you won't wish on anyone.
Old Jacob; I couldn't face the strongest wind, the steamboat was falling to one side. Captain Kazimirov , an experienced sailor, realized he wouldn't be able to get the whole trailer out. At around four in the afternoon, at his command, the rope that tied Jacob was cut. with & nbsp; ship Shipunov. A little later, the ship Mogilev was delivered to its own fate. Potapov's rope was cut last. Only after Jacob was left in solitude, the team managed to send a steamboat to the nearest bay.
For two 'Jacob' days awaited the elements at the gates of Olkhonskiye. After Sarma's extinction, the steamer set out in search of abandoned ships.
& # 39; There were children & nbsp; and probably stowaways'
The courts of Mogilev and & nbsp; Shipunov are incredibly lucky & nbsp; & mdash; they avoided encountering coastal cliffs. On the Jacob ice schooners we met scared people, but & nbsp; living.
Potapov The last to be seen were people from the schooner Shipunov. The ship was transported relentlessly over rocks, and after it disappeared out of sight, there was a terrible crack in a shattering hull.
When we got to the crash site, there was no one to save & nbsp; & mdash; only the wreckage of the ship and the bodies of the dead were removed from the water.
A day later, the Feodosiy liner arrived with journalists on board. The opening photo made a very strong impression on them.
Journalist for the newspaper “ Eastern Review '' wrote: 'On the broken barge around 200 people are believed to have died: 161 ticket passengers, 16 crew members, there were children & nbsp; and probably stowaways. With & nbsp; he died, as already reported, the cargo of Mogilev & nbsp; and, in addition, the cargo of Vlasov and & nbsp; Suvorov and & nbsp; their & nbsp; number of purse seine more than one hundred pieces. The cargo, of course, was not was not insured, and & nbsp; the fishermen, having lost their booty, their workers and & nbsp; production tools, went bankrupt. ''
The body of the deceased passenger was etched in the memory of reporters in particular: “The woman pressed a piece of a quilted baby blanket so tightly against her chest that the contours of the arm muscles were raised. Of course, not the & nbsp; cover, but & nbsp; the child she pressed against her breast within & nbsp; at the time of death … & raquo;
Entire families have died
11 & nbsp; November 1901 to & nbsp; Irkutsk The Archbishop of Irkutsk and & nbsp; Verkholensk Tikhon served a requiem for all victims of the tragedy. The bodies of many of them Baikal never have given.
During the investigation into the causes of the incident, experts came to the conclusion that the steamboat 'Jacob' & # 39; in & nbsp; due to its technical characteristics and & nbsp; wear at all was not & nbsp; suitable for piloting ships on & nbsp; Baikal in & nbsp; October, when the vagaries of the weather on the & nbsp; lake are extremely unpredictable.
On & nbsp; & laquo; Potapov & raquo; entire families have died: Vlas , Andrey and & nbsp; Evgenia Chuiko , Vavila and & nbsp; Martha Trofimovs and & nbsp; their & nbsp; children Alexey , Konstantin and & nbsp; Avvakuum , Ivan and & nbsp; Lukerya Kishkiny with & nbsp; 2 year old girl Ekaterina , Mikhail and & nbsp; Anna Nefediev with & nbsp; son Vasily (2 & nbsp; years) and & nbsp; Alexey (4 & nbsp; months) …
In the & nbsp; place where Potapov died, the crash was not & nbsp; the first. The neighboring cape even received the explicit name & nbsp; & mdash; The dead.
Yes & nbsp; and & nbsp; the Potapov tragedy has fundamentally changed nothing: a year later, in a similar situation, the crew of the liner Alexander Nevsky; in & nbsp; volume & nbsp; the same area cut the ropes connecting the ship to the & nbsp; towed by him & nbsp; barges. As a result, those who ended up on the abandoned barges perished.
It was only in Soviet times that navigation on Lake Baikal was made safer. A & nbsp; the Potapov crash and & nbsp; remains today the largest of & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; history of the largest freshwater lake in the & nbsp; planet.