Nikolai Nikolaevich Kolomeitsev
Encyclopedia
Nikolai Nikolaevich Kolomeitsev, also spelt Kolomeytsev (16 July 1867 (near Kherson
, Ukraine
) - 1944 in Paris
) was a Ukrainian
Russia
n naval officer and explorer of the Arctic
.
near Kherson
in Ukraine
(then part of the Russian Empire
) in 1867. He entered military service in 1884 and graduated as an officer of the Imperial Russian Navy
in 1887. He was promoted to lieutenant in December 1893. In 1894-1895, he was assigned to the Russian Pacific Fleet, and after graduating from mine warfare
school, served on several vessels operating in Siberia
.
Kolomeitsev became a member of the Chief Hydrographic
Administration’s Survey Expedition to the White Sea
. He also took part in an expedition to the Yenisei Gulf
led by L. Dobrotvorskiy, which gave him expertise on sailing in arctic waters.
led an expedition on behalf of the Russian Academy of Sciences
on ship Zarya
. Kolomeitsev was named commander of the ship during the expedition. His second-in-command was Fyodor Andreyevich Matisen
, who had taken part in an expedition to Svalbard
. Alexander Kolchak also accompanied the expedition as third naval officer and hydrographer. All these officers were from military backgrounds. The expedition was known as The Russian Polar Expedition. Its aim was to explore well the area north of the New Siberian Islands
and eventually sail towards the North Pole
in order to find the elusive Sannikov Land
.
Kolomeitsev supervised the fitting out of the Zarya in Larvik
, Norway
. The expedition sailed from Saint Petersburg
on 7 July 1900. Soon there was friction between Toll and Kolomeitsev concerning the treatment of the crew. Kolomeitsev, as a classic naval officer of the Russian Imperial Navy tried to keep a distance with the men and to impose harsh punishments for unruly behavior. But Toll (more in line with the spirit of the times in Russia) longed for comradeship, and treated the common sailors as equals. Therefore both men were getting into each other's nerves. Kolomeitsev interpreted Toll's attitude as an undermining of his authority as commander of the ship. The situation became worse during the first wintering in a bay just southwest of Taymyr Island
. (Toll named the bay "Bukhta Kolin Archera", after Colin Archer
Shipyard where Zarya had been fitted). Owing to the claustrophobic conditions of the wintering period, the relationship between captain Kolomeitsev and expedition leader Eduard Toll reached the breaking point.
Toll finally resorted to an unusual procedure; he sent Kolomeitsev on a long sledge trip along with Cossack
officer Rastorguyev
with the mission of organizing coal depots for the Zarya on Kotelny Island and Dikson
, as well as to bring the mail of the expedition to Dudinka
. After Kolomeitsev had been relieved of his duties, Fyodor Matisen was promoted as commander of Zarya. Toll could not hide his relief at seeing Kolomeitsev depart.
Years later, Baroness Emmy von Toll, Eduard Toll's widow, played down the fact that there were strong disagreements between "old school" Captain Kolomeitsev and her egalitarian-minded husband. When editing her husband's journal she stated: "Further, I have omitted as non-essential the details of the mutual relations between expedition members."
Apparently, Kolomeitsev was one of the few supporters of Imperial Russia in the expedition. During the last part of the journey, in the New Siberian Islands, Captain Matisen hoisted the flag of the Neva Yacht Club
(Nevskiy Flot), instead of the Russian flag, on Zaryas mast. That flag flew over Zarya until it was sunk.
Kolomeitsev wrote two books about his journey with the Russian Polar Expedition; one of them was published in 1901 by the Imperial Naval Academy (Izvestiya Imperatorskoy Akademii Nauk) and the other in 1902 by the Imperial Geographical Society (Izvestiya Imperatorskago Russkago Geographicheskago Obschestva).
In 1902 Kolomeitsev commanded the icebreaker
Yermak
, one of the world's first true icebreakers. He was promoted to the rank of junior captain on December 6, 1904
, Kolomeitsev was captain of the torpedo boat destroyer Buinyi (Буйный) with the 2nd Pacific Squadron, which saw action during the Battle of Tsushima
. He became a hero during the battle when he brought his boat alongside the burning flagship Knyaz Suvorov
. He rescued Admiral Zinovi Petrovich Rozhestvenski
, wounded in the head by a shell from his burning and sinking battleship, as well as part of the crew. Admiral Rozhestvenski was transferred to torpedo boat Bedoviy (Бедовый). Kolomeitsev's boat Buinyi returned to Vladivostok
and was sunk by artillery fire of cruiser Dmitri Donskoi
. Kolomeitsev, also severely wounded, was captured by the Japanese with the crews of Dmitri Donskoy, Buinyi and Oslabya on Dajelet island. Almaz, Braviy and Grozniy were the only three vessels that returned to Vladivostok after the Tsushima battle.
on the battleship Andrei Pervozvanny
in late 1906.
After graduating from the Naval Maritime Academy of Sciences in 1908, he was assigned command of the cruiser Almaz
and was promoted to full captain on December 6, 1909. In 1910 Nikolai Kolomeitsev, already in his early forties, married Nina Dmitrievna Nabokov. From November 1910 to December 1913 he commanded the battleship Slava
. On December 6, 1913 Kolomeitsev was promoted to the rank of rear admiral.
With the start of World War I
in 1914 Kolomeitsev commandeded the cruiser squadron of the Russian Baltic Fleet. He retired from active duty on October 6, 1917 with the rank of vice admiral. During the Russian Revolution, he was arrested by the Bolshevik
government in 1917 and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress
in Petrograd. He escaped in 1918 and fled over the ice to Finland
. In 1918, he joined the White movement
Volunteer Army
and the Armed Forces of South Russia
and assigned command of the anti-Bolshevik naval forces in the Baltic Sea
. However, after the collapse of the White movement in the Russian Civil War
, Kolomeitsev went into exile with his wife in France
. He served as Vice-Chairman of the Union Knights of St. George in France.
Kolomeitsev died in Paris
in 1944 after he was run over by an United States Army
truck. He is buried in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery
, a bay
in the Kara Sea
, a mountain (Gora Kolomeitseva) 73.990°N 84.258°E, a river (Reka Kolomeitseva) 75.840°N 95.820°E, as well as a Russian vessel (coastal survey ship Nikolay Kolomeytsev) built in 1972, bear Captain Kolomeitsev's name.
Kherson
Kherson is a city in southern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kherson Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. Kherson is an important port on the Black Sea and Dnieper River, and the home of a major ship-building industry...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
) - 1944 in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) was a Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n naval officer and explorer of the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
.
Biography
Nikolai Kolomeitsev was born in the village of PokrovkaPokrovka
Pokrovka may refer to:*Pokrovka, a former name of the town of Kuybyshev, Armenia*Pokrovka, Jalilabad, Azerbaijan*Pokrovka, Sabirabad, Azerbaijan*Pokrovka, Kazakhstan, a village in the Almaty Province, Kazakhstan...
near Kherson
Kherson
Kherson is a city in southern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kherson Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. Kherson is an important port on the Black Sea and Dnieper River, and the home of a major ship-building industry...
in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
(then part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
) in 1867. He entered military service in 1884 and graduated as an officer of the Imperial Russian Navy
Imperial Russian Navy
The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein...
in 1887. He was promoted to lieutenant in December 1893. In 1894-1895, he was assigned to the Russian Pacific Fleet, and after graduating from mine warfare
Mine warfare
Mine warfare refers to the use of different types of explosive devices:*Land mine, a weight-triggered explosive device intended to maim or kill people or to destroy vehicles...
school, served on several vessels operating in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
.
Kolomeitsev became a member of the Chief Hydrographic
Hydrography
Hydrography is the measurement of the depths, the tides and currents of a body of water and establishment of the sea, river or lake bed topography and morphology. Normally and historically for the purpose of charting a body of water for the safe navigation of shipping...
Administration’s Survey Expedition to the White Sea
White Sea
The White Sea is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast. The whole of the White Sea is under Russian sovereignty and considered to be part of...
. He also took part in an expedition to the Yenisei Gulf
Yenisei Gulf
The Yenisei Gulf is a large and long estuary through which the lower Yenisei River flows into the Kara Sea.The Yenisei Gulf is formed by the river widening to an average of 50 km for up to 250 km in a roughly north-south direction, between a latitude of 70° 30' N in the area around...
led by L. Dobrotvorskiy, which gave him expertise on sailing in arctic waters.
The 1900 Russian Polar Expedition
In 1900, Baron Eduard TollEduard Toll
Eduard Gustav von Toll was a Baltic German geologist and Arctic explorer in Russian service. Often referred to as Baron von Toll or as Eduard v. Toll, in Russia he is known as Eduard Vasiliyevich Toll . Eduard Toll was born on and he died in 1902 in an unknown location in the Arctic Ocean)...
led an expedition on behalf of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
on ship Zarya
Zarya (polar ship)
Zarya was a steam- and sail-powered brig used by the Russian Academy of Sciences for a polar exploration during 1900–1903.Toward the end of the 19th century, the Russian Academy of Sciences sought to build a general-purpose research vessel for long-term expeditions. The first such Russian...
. Kolomeitsev was named commander of the ship during the expedition. His second-in-command was Fyodor Andreyevich Matisen
Fyodor Andreyevich Matisen
Fyodor Andreyevich Matisen was a lieutenant of the Russian Imperial Navy, hydrographer, and explorer.-The Russian Polar Expedition :...
, who had taken part in an expedition to Svalbard
Svalbard
Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...
. Alexander Kolchak also accompanied the expedition as third naval officer and hydrographer. All these officers were from military backgrounds. The expedition was known as The Russian Polar Expedition. Its aim was to explore well the area north of the New Siberian Islands
New Siberian Islands
The New Siberian Islands are an archipelago, located to the North of the East Siberian coast between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea north of the Sakha Republic....
and eventually sail towards the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
in order to find the elusive Sannikov Land
Sannikov Land
Sannikov Land was a phantom island in the Arctic Ocean. Its supposed existence became something of a myth in 19th-century Russia.Yakov Sannikov and Matvei Gedenschtrom claimed to have seen it during their 1809-1810 cartographic expedition to the New Siberian Islands...
.
Larvik
is a city and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. Larvik kommune - has about 41 364 inhabitants and covers 530 km2....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. The expedition sailed from Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
on 7 July 1900. Soon there was friction between Toll and Kolomeitsev concerning the treatment of the crew. Kolomeitsev, as a classic naval officer of the Russian Imperial Navy tried to keep a distance with the men and to impose harsh punishments for unruly behavior. But Toll (more in line with the spirit of the times in Russia) longed for comradeship, and treated the common sailors as equals. Therefore both men were getting into each other's nerves. Kolomeitsev interpreted Toll's attitude as an undermining of his authority as commander of the ship. The situation became worse during the first wintering in a bay just southwest of Taymyr Island
Taymyr Island
Taymyr Island, Russian: Остров Таймыр , is a large island in the coast of the Kara Sea. Its length is and its average width about . This island is located west of the Taymyr Gulf in an area of skerries right off the western coast of the Taymyr Peninsula...
. (Toll named the bay "Bukhta Kolin Archera", after Colin Archer
Colin Archer
Colin Archer was a Norwegian naval architect and shipbuilder from Larvik, Norway. His parents emigrated from Scotland to Norway in 1825....
Shipyard where Zarya had been fitted). Owing to the claustrophobic conditions of the wintering period, the relationship between captain Kolomeitsev and expedition leader Eduard Toll reached the breaking point.
Toll finally resorted to an unusual procedure; he sent Kolomeitsev on a long sledge trip along with Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
officer Rastorguyev
Stepan Rastorguyev
Stepan Innokentyevich Rastorguyev was an officer of the Yakut Cossack Regiment and an explorer.As Rastorguyev's parents died early, he was reared by his kindred. Then he was sent to the Okhotsk Sea coast, Kamchatka and Chukotka...
with the mission of organizing coal depots for the Zarya on Kotelny Island and Dikson
Dikson
Dikson Island , initially Dickson, is the name of an island in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, situated in the Kara Sea near the mouth of the Yenisei River. A nearby urban-type settlement of Dikson, which functions as a port and hydrometeorological centre is located at...
, as well as to bring the mail of the expedition to Dudinka
Dudinka
Dudinka is a town and the administrative center of Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It was the administrative center of Taymyr Autonomous Okrug, which was merged into Krasnoyarsk Krai on January 1, 2007. It is a port in the lower reaches of the Yenisei River,...
. After Kolomeitsev had been relieved of his duties, Fyodor Matisen was promoted as commander of Zarya. Toll could not hide his relief at seeing Kolomeitsev depart.
Years later, Baroness Emmy von Toll, Eduard Toll's widow, played down the fact that there were strong disagreements between "old school" Captain Kolomeitsev and her egalitarian-minded husband. When editing her husband's journal she stated: "Further, I have omitted as non-essential the details of the mutual relations between expedition members."
Apparently, Kolomeitsev was one of the few supporters of Imperial Russia in the expedition. During the last part of the journey, in the New Siberian Islands, Captain Matisen hoisted the flag of the Neva Yacht Club
Neva Yacht Club
The Neva Yacht Club, is a sailing club located in Saint Petersburg, close to the Neva River, originally founded in 1718...
(Nevskiy Flot), instead of the Russian flag, on Zaryas mast. That flag flew over Zarya until it was sunk.
Kolomeitsev wrote two books about his journey with the Russian Polar Expedition; one of them was published in 1901 by the Imperial Naval Academy (Izvestiya Imperatorskoy Akademii Nauk) and the other in 1902 by the Imperial Geographical Society (Izvestiya Imperatorskago Russkago Geographicheskago Obschestva).
In 1902 Kolomeitsev commanded the icebreaker
Icebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels .For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most...
Yermak
Icebreaker Yermak
Yermak was a Russian and later Soviet icebreaker, the first polar icebreaker in the world, having a strengthened hull shaped to ride over and crush pack ice....
, one of the world's first true icebreakers. He was promoted to the rank of junior captain on December 6, 1904
Russo-Japanese War
During the Russo-Japanese WarRusso-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
, Kolomeitsev was captain of the torpedo boat destroyer Buinyi (Буйный) with the 2nd Pacific Squadron, which saw action during the Battle of Tsushima
Battle of Tsushima
The Battle of Tsushima , commonly known as the “Sea of Japan Naval Battle” in Japan and the “Battle of Tsushima Strait”, was the major naval battle fought between Russia and Japan during the Russo-Japanese War...
. He became a hero during the battle when he brought his boat alongside the burning flagship Knyaz Suvorov
Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov
The Knyaz Suvorov was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Russian Imperial Navy, built by Baltic Works, St Petersburg. Laid down in July 1901, she was launched in September 1902 and completed in September 1904. This ship was named after the 18th-century Russian general Alexander Suvorov. Her...
. He rescued Admiral Zinovi Petrovich Rozhestvenski
Zinovy Rozhestvensky
Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky was an admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy. He was in command of the Second Pacific Squadron in the Battle of Tsushima, during the Russo-Japanese War....
, wounded in the head by a shell from his burning and sinking battleship, as well as part of the crew. Admiral Rozhestvenski was transferred to torpedo boat Bedoviy (Бедовый). Kolomeitsev's boat Buinyi returned to Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
and was sunk by artillery fire of cruiser Dmitri Donskoi
Russian armoured cruiser Dmitrii Donskoi
Dmitrii Donskoi was an armoured cruiser built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the early 1880s. She was designed as a commerce raider and equipped with a full suite of sails to economize on coal consumption. The ship spent the bulk of her career abroad, either in the Far East or in the Mediterranean...
. Kolomeitsev, also severely wounded, was captured by the Japanese with the crews of Dmitri Donskoy, Buinyi and Oslabya on Dajelet island. Almaz, Braviy and Grozniy were the only three vessels that returned to Vladivostok after the Tsushima battle.
Later life
After the end of the war, Kolomeitsev served as executive officerExecutive officer
An executive officer is generally a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization.-Administrative law:...
on the battleship Andrei Pervozvanny
Russian battleship Andrei Pervozvanny
Andrei Pervozvanny was a predreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy during the mid-1900s. The ship's construction was seriously extended by design changes as a result of the Russo-Japanese War and labor unrest after the 1905 Revolution, and she took nearly six years to build...
in late 1906.
After graduating from the Naval Maritime Academy of Sciences in 1908, he was assigned command of the cruiser Almaz
Russian cruiser Almaz
Almaz was a 2nd-class cruiser in the Imperial Russian Navy, built by Baltic Shipyard in Saint Petersburg, Russia, as a yacht for Viceroy Alexeev, the naval minister of the Russian Empire. - Service history:...
and was promoted to full captain on December 6, 1909. In 1910 Nikolai Kolomeitsev, already in his early forties, married Nina Dmitrievna Nabokov. From November 1910 to December 1913 he commanded the battleship Slava
Russian battleship Slava
Slava was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy, the last of the five s. Commissioned too late to participate in the Battle of Tsushima during the Russo-Japanese War, she survived while all of her sister ships were either sunk during the battle or surrendered to the Imperial...
. On December 6, 1913 Kolomeitsev was promoted to the rank of rear admiral.
With the start of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1914 Kolomeitsev commandeded the cruiser squadron of the Russian Baltic Fleet. He retired from active duty on October 6, 1917 with the rank of vice admiral. During the Russian Revolution, he was arrested by the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
government in 1917 and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress
Peter and Paul Fortress
The Peter and Paul Fortress is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706-1740.-History:...
in Petrograd. He escaped in 1918 and fled over the ice to Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. In 1918, he joined the White movement
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
Volunteer Army
Volunteer Army
The Volunteer Army was an anti-Bolshevik army in South Russia during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1920....
and the Armed Forces of South Russia
Armed Forces of South Russia
The Armed Forces of South Russia was formed on the 8th of January 1919, it incorporated many of the smaller formations of the White army in that area under them, including the Volunteer Army ....
and assigned command of the anti-Bolshevik naval forces in the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. However, after the collapse of the White movement in the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
, Kolomeitsev went into exile with his wife in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He served as Vice-Chairman of the Union Knights of St. George in France.
Kolomeitsev died in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1944 after he was run over by an United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
truck. He is buried in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery
Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery
Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Cemetery, specifically the one known as Cimetière de Liers, as there are two cemeteries in the city, is a Russian Orthodox cemetery, located on Rue Léo Lagrange in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, département Essonne, France....
Honors
- Silver medal for lifesaving (1890) with bow (1893)
- Officer of the Royal Order of CambodiaRoyal Order of CambodiaThe Royal Order of Cambodia was a French colonial chivalric order of knighthood in Colonial Cambodia, still in use in the kingdom of Cambodia.-Colonial:...
, French colonial (1895) - Order of St. Anne
Order of St. AnnaThe Order of St. Anna ) is a Holstein and then Russian Imperial order of chivalry established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp on 14 February 1735, in honour of his wife Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great of Russia...
3rd degree (1895) - Silver medal to commemorate the reign of Emperor Alexander III (1896)
- Gold Medal for lifesaving (1896)
- Silver medal in memory of the Sacred Coronation of Their Imperial Majesties (1898)
- Bronze Medal in memory of the war in China (1902)
- Order of St. Stanislaus 3rd degree with sword, (1904)
- Order of St Vladimir, 4th degree with swords and bow, (1904)
- Light bronze medal in memory of the war with Japan in 1904-1905 (1906)
- Golden Sword of St George "for bravery"Gold Sword for BraveryThe Gold Sword for Bravery was a Russian Empire award for bravery. It was set up with two grades on 27 July 1720 by Peter the Great, reclassified as a public order in 1807 and abolished in 1917. From 1913 to 1917 it was renamed the St George Sword and considered as one of the grades of the Order...
(01/08/1906) - Order of St. GeorgeOrder of St. GeorgeThe Military Order of the Holy Great-Martyr and the Triumphant George The Military Order of the Holy Great-Martyr and the Triumphant George The Military Order of the Holy Great-Martyr and the Triumphant George (also known as Order of St. George the Triumphant, Russian: Военный орден Св...
, 4th class, (1907) - Commander of the Royal Victorian OrderRoyal Victorian OrderThe Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
, UK (1908) - Gold mark in the memory after the full course Sciences Marine Corps (1910)
- Light bronze medal in memory of 300 years of the reign of the Romanovs (1913)
- Order of St Vladimir, 3rd degree, (1913)
- Legion of Honour, Commander's Croix, France (1914)
- Light bronze medal in memory of the 200th anniversary of the victory of Gangutskaya
- Order of St. Stanislaus 1st degree, (1916)
Posthumous honours
Since he was a war hero, and despite his support of the White movement, Nikolai Kolomeitsev was also honored by the USSR regime. A small group of islandsKolomeitsev Islands
The Kolomeytseva Islands is a group of two small islands, part of the Nordenskjold Archipelago in the Kara Sea coastal region, off the coast of Siberia...
, a bay
Middendorff Bay
The Middendorff Bay, is a deeply indented bay in the shores of the Taymyr Peninsula. It is located southwest of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago in the Kara Sea and it is open towards the west. This bay is limited on its eastern side by the Zarya Peninsula, named after Baron Eduard von Toll's ship Zarya...
in the Kara Sea
Kara Sea
The Kara Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia. It is separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya....
, a mountain (Gora Kolomeitseva) 73.990°N 84.258°E, a river (Reka Kolomeitseva) 75.840°N 95.820°E, as well as a Russian vessel (coastal survey ship Nikolay Kolomeytsev) built in 1972, bear Captain Kolomeitsev's name.
Works
- Otchet plavanii yachty "Zarya" s iyunya po sentyabr' 1900g. Izvestiya Imperatorskoy Akademii Nauk. St. Petersburg 1901.
- Russkaya polyarnaya expeditsia pod nachal'stvom barona Tollya. Izvestiya Imperatorskago Russkago Geographicheskago Obschestva. St. Petersburg 1901.
- Chernoviki zaveschaniia. Paris 1924.
See also
- Zarya (polar ship)Zarya (polar ship)Zarya was a steam- and sail-powered brig used by the Russian Academy of Sciences for a polar exploration during 1900–1903.Toward the end of the 19th century, the Russian Academy of Sciences sought to build a general-purpose research vessel for long-term expeditions. The first such Russian...
- Vladimir NabokovVladimir NabokovVladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
& Nabokov HouseNabokov HouseNabokov House is the house in Saint Petersburg with the modern street number of 47 Great Morskaya Street , 190000. It was in this mansion that Vladimir Nabokov was born in 1899...
- N.N. Kolomeitsev was related to the Nabokov family by his marriage to Nina Dmitrievna Nabokov