Ushakovskoye
Encyclopedia
Ushakovskoye was a rural locality (a selo) on the south east coast of Wrangel Island
, Shmidtovsky District
in the Russian Arctic that was deserted in 2003. Ushakovskoye was named after the explorer and founder of the polar station in Rogers Bay, Georgy Ushakov
, who discovered a number of new islands in the Russian arctic. The settlement was founded as part of an attempt by Russia to assert sovereignty over the island following attempts by British and Canadian parties to claim the island and in 1935 was the scene of a grisly murder by the local Governor. The whole area experiences a severe, almost year-round arctic climate, with temperatures rarely above freezing.
and the United States
were interested in Wrangel Island, and both attempted to claim the island, despite the fact that Russia had claimed it in 1911. During the Russian Civil War, the countries intensified their efforts.
In 1921, and expedition financed by Vilhjalmur Stefansson
and led by Canadian Allan Crawford attempted to settle a small party to claim the island for Canada, on behalf of Great Britain, with Stefansson stating that, "We want to have Wrangel Island for the development of [British] air routes, so that it will be the home base for airships and airplanes in the same way as the Falkland Islands provide a base for our ships and cruisers". However, conditions were not favourable, with a lack of hunting available once the expedition members ran out of rations forcing the majority of the party to flee across the Chukchi Sea
, leaving party member Ada Blackjack
as a castaway on the island for two years.
In 1922, the Canadian Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King
officially announced the Canadian claim that Wrangel Island was British territory. In 1923, in the Bay of Rogers, an American expedition landed to claim the island.
sent the gunboat Red October and the crew stopped the activities of American firms Stefensson, and declared the island to be Soviet territory. The Soviet Government, in 1926, declared its sovereignty over the island; and, to confirm this, Ushakovskoye was founded by Georgy Ushakov's expedition on August 14, 1926. Ushakov had stopped off in Provideniya Bay and had brought with him several inuit families from the village of Ureliki
The initial population of the settlement included Chukchi
and Russia
n families, totalling about 60 people In 1928, the first child, PI Pavlov, was born in the village. During the first three years, a hydrometeorological station was established on the island. The settlers established themselves on the island and few chose to return to the mainland after their first posting ended in 1929. Indeed, so successful was the initial settlement that resulted in the founding of Ushakovskoye, that a second village, Zvyozdny, literally, Star, was founded some 30 km west of Ushakovskoye on the shores of Somnitelnaya Bay. Zvyozdny would later become linked with Russian airbase at Cape Hawaii and would become the landing point for supplies delivered to the island from Mys Shmidta
as well as mail, which would be delivered to Ushakovskoye along the dirt track which links the two settlements
Due to the isolated nature of the settlement, it was only in the winter of 1935, over a year after Semenchuk's arrival, that suspicions were first aroused when Otto Schmidt
received a communication from Semenchuk requesting additional medical assistance to deal with an outbreak of typhoid and scurvy
, despite there having been no previous outbreaks of typhoid being reported in the arctic. This radio message, swiftly followed by the news that hitherto loyal party member Mrs Wolfson, the doctor's wife, was being returned to the mainland as a result of counter-revolutionary activities, resulted in dispatching of a GPU agent to investigate.
The agent amassed a large quantity of evidence against Semenchuk including the murder of the doctor, rape of local inuit women and assault against the local inuit men and charges of banditry, a more serious charge simply than murder, were brought against Semenchuk. The case was deemed so important as an example to dissuade other rural governors from lapsing into autocracy that Chief Public Prosecutor André Vishinsky took personal charge of the trial and, despite allegedly presenting signs of insanity during the trial, Semenchuk was convicted and sentenced to death by firing squad.
for storing meat, a temporary corral (for the slaughter of reindeer), the polar station "Rogers Bay" airport for AN-2, MI-2, MI-6 and MI-8 aircraft, fuel storage and bulk storage of coal, library and a communal bath.
In 1984, a monument to Georgy Ushakov was erected in the settlement by the Geographical Society of the USSR, and the population of the settlement had grown to around 180 people.
From the early 1990s, subsidies were reduced and in 1994 the last supply ship brought provisions and fuel to the settlement. Afterwards, cargo and mail were carried by helicopter. The airbase at Cape Hawaii had closed in the 1970s with the settlement of Zvyozdny being abandoned, bar a handful of Chukchi hunters, in the 1980s as well. However, a helipad had been constructed in Ushakovskoye in 1966, so the village could continue to be supplied. Despite this, people began to leave Ushakovskoye. In 1997, it was decided to resettle the inhabitants at Mys Shmidta
. The last resident of Ushakovskoye, Vasilina Alpaun, was killed by a polar bear
on October 13, 2003 not far from her home.
Wrangel Island
Wrangel Island is an island in the Arctic Ocean, between the Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea. Wrangel Island lies astride the 180° meridian. The International Date Line is displaced eastwards at this latitude to avoid the island as well as the Chukchi Peninsula on the Russian mainland...
, Shmidtovsky District
Shmidtovsky District
Shmidtovsky District was an administrative district of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, which existed in 1973–2011. Municipally, together with Iultinsky Administrative District, it was incorporated as Iultinsky Municipal District...
in the Russian Arctic that was deserted in 2003. Ushakovskoye was named after the explorer and founder of the polar station in Rogers Bay, Georgy Ushakov
Georgy Ushakov
Georgy Alexeyevich Ushakov was a Soviet explorer of the Arctic, Doctor of Geographic Sciences ....
, who discovered a number of new islands in the Russian arctic. The settlement was founded as part of an attempt by Russia to assert sovereignty over the island following attempts by British and Canadian parties to claim the island and in 1935 was the scene of a grisly murder by the local Governor. The whole area experiences a severe, almost year-round arctic climate, with temperatures rarely above freezing.
Early settlement
Although Ushakovskoye was to become the main settlement on the island, it was not the first time that attempts had been made to settle the island. From the late 19th century, CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
were interested in Wrangel Island, and both attempted to claim the island, despite the fact that Russia had claimed it in 1911. During the Russian Civil War, the countries intensified their efforts.
In 1921, and expedition financed by Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Vilhjalmur Stefansson was a Canadian Arctic explorer and ethnologist.-Early life:Stefansson, born William Stephenson, was born at Gimli, Manitoba, Canada, in 1879. His parents had emigrated from Iceland to Manitoba two years earlier...
and led by Canadian Allan Crawford attempted to settle a small party to claim the island for Canada, on behalf of Great Britain, with Stefansson stating that, "We want to have Wrangel Island for the development of [British] air routes, so that it will be the home base for airships and airplanes in the same way as the Falkland Islands provide a base for our ships and cruisers". However, conditions were not favourable, with a lack of hunting available once the expedition members ran out of rations forcing the majority of the party to flee across the Chukchi Sea
Chukchi Sea
Chukchi Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the De Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, and in the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, beyond which lies the Beaufort Sea. The Bering Strait forms its southernmost limit and connects it to the Bering Sea and the Pacific...
, leaving party member Ada Blackjack
Ada Blackjack
Ada Blackjack, was an Inuit woman who lived for two years as a castaway on uninhabited Wrangel Island in northern Siberia.- Biography :...
as a castaway on the island for two years.
In 1922, the Canadian Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...
officially announced the Canadian claim that Wrangel Island was British territory. In 1923, in the Bay of Rogers, an American expedition landed to claim the island.
Russian settlement
In response, in 1924, the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
sent the gunboat Red October and the crew stopped the activities of American firms Stefensson, and declared the island to be Soviet territory. The Soviet Government, in 1926, declared its sovereignty over the island; and, to confirm this, Ushakovskoye was founded by Georgy Ushakov's expedition on August 14, 1926. Ushakov had stopped off in Provideniya Bay and had brought with him several inuit families from the village of Ureliki
The initial population of the settlement included Chukchi
Chukchi people
The Chukchi, or Chukchee , ) are an indigenous people inhabiting the Chukchi Peninsula and the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean within the Russian Federation. They speak the Chukchi language...
and 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 families, totalling about 60 people In 1928, the first child, PI Pavlov, was born in the village. During the first three years, a hydrometeorological station was established on the island. The settlers established themselves on the island and few chose to return to the mainland after their first posting ended in 1929. Indeed, so successful was the initial settlement that resulted in the founding of Ushakovskoye, that a second village, Zvyozdny, literally, Star, was founded some 30 km west of Ushakovskoye on the shores of Somnitelnaya Bay. Zvyozdny would later become linked with Russian airbase at Cape Hawaii and would become the landing point for supplies delivered to the island from Mys Shmidta
Mys Shmidta
Mys Shmidta is an urban-type settlement in Iultinsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The settlement is located about southeast of the cape of the same name. The cape, but not the settlement, was formerly known as North Cape or Cape North. Cape Billings is located to the west of...
as well as mail, which would be delivered to Ushakovskoye along the dirt track which links the two settlements
Murder
The establishment of the Russian claim and the settlement was also not without its troubles when, in September 1934, a new governor, Konstantin Semenchuk, previously posted to Iran, took office to supervise the attempts by the Russians to turn the tundra into a vegetable garden for all Russia, allegedly announcing the commencement of his time in office by gathering the people of Ushakovskoye together and informing them that, "Up here I am everything. I have all the rights, up to shooting people!"Due to the isolated nature of the settlement, it was only in the winter of 1935, over a year after Semenchuk's arrival, that suspicions were first aroused when Otto Schmidt
Otto Schmidt
Otto Yulyevich Schmidt was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesman, academician, Hero of the USSR , and member of the Communist Party.-Biography:He was born in Mogilev, Russian Empire...
received a communication from Semenchuk requesting additional medical assistance to deal with an outbreak of typhoid and scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
, despite there having been no previous outbreaks of typhoid being reported in the arctic. This radio message, swiftly followed by the news that hitherto loyal party member Mrs Wolfson, the doctor's wife, was being returned to the mainland as a result of counter-revolutionary activities, resulted in dispatching of a GPU agent to investigate.
The agent amassed a large quantity of evidence against Semenchuk including the murder of the doctor, rape of local inuit women and assault against the local inuit men and charges of banditry, a more serious charge simply than murder, were brought against Semenchuk. The case was deemed so important as an example to dissuade other rural governors from lapsing into autocracy that Chief Public Prosecutor André Vishinsky took personal charge of the trial and, despite allegedly presenting signs of insanity during the trial, Semenchuk was convicted and sentenced to death by firing squad.
Modern history
The settlement grew and developed, until at the end of 1970 it had a school, club, shop, post office, hospital and elecricity was supplied to the homes, as well as a modest museum of natural history, an underground repository in the permafrostPermafrost
In geology, permafrost, cryotic soil or permafrost soil is soil at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years. Ice is not always present, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts exceeding the potential hydraulic saturation of...
for storing meat, a temporary corral (for the slaughter of reindeer), the polar station "Rogers Bay" airport for AN-2, MI-2, MI-6 and MI-8 aircraft, fuel storage and bulk storage of coal, library and a communal bath.
In 1984, a monument to Georgy Ushakov was erected in the settlement by the Geographical Society of the USSR, and the population of the settlement had grown to around 180 people.
From the early 1990s, subsidies were reduced and in 1994 the last supply ship brought provisions and fuel to the settlement. Afterwards, cargo and mail were carried by helicopter. The airbase at Cape Hawaii had closed in the 1970s with the settlement of Zvyozdny being abandoned, bar a handful of Chukchi hunters, in the 1980s as well. However, a helipad had been constructed in Ushakovskoye in 1966, so the village could continue to be supplied. Despite this, people began to leave Ushakovskoye. In 1997, it was decided to resettle the inhabitants at Mys Shmidta
Mys Shmidta
Mys Shmidta is an urban-type settlement in Iultinsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The settlement is located about southeast of the cape of the same name. The cape, but not the settlement, was formerly known as North Cape or Cape North. Cape Billings is located to the west of...
. The last resident of Ushakovskoye, Vasilina Alpaun, was killed by a polar bear
Polar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
on October 13, 2003 not far from her home.
Weather
Ushakovskoye experiences harsh weather almost all year round, and with temperatures only struggling above freezing for a few brief summer months, with temperatures often below freezing from September all the way through to the following June.See also
- List of inhabited localities in Shmidtovsky District