The
Svyataya Anna or
St. Anna, named after
Saint AnneSaint Anne of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. Her name Anne is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew name Hannah...
, was a
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n ship built in England. It was the ship commanded by
Georgy BrusilovGeorgy Lvovich Brusilov or Hryhoriy Brusylov was a Russian naval officer of the Imperial Russian Navy and an Arctic explorer...
during his ill-fated 1912 Arctic expedition to explore the
Northern Sea RouteThe Northern Sea Route is a shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean along the Russian coast of the Far East and Siberia. The vast majority of the route lies in Arctic waters and parts are only free of ice for two months per year...
.
The expedition was ill-planned and ill-executed by Captain Brusilov. He set out from
AlexandrovskAlexandrovsk may refer to:*Alexandrovsk, Russia, a town in Perm Krai, Russia*Alexandrovsk, name of the town of Polyarny in Murmansk Oblast in 1896–1939*Alexandrovsk, former name of the town of Zaporizhzhia, in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine...
on August 28, 1912, so late in the summer that it was almost sure that his ship would be trapped by the ice.
Thus the
Saint Anna became locked in the polar ice of the
Kara SeaThe 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....
off the
Yamal PeninsulaThe Yamal Peninsula , located in Yamal-Nenets autonomous district of northwest Siberia, Russia, extends roughly 700 km and is bordered principally by the Kara Sea, Baydaratskaya Bay on the west, and by the Gulf of Ob on the east...
in October 1912.
The
Svyataya Anna or
St. Anna, named after
Saint AnneSaint Anne of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. Her name Anne is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew name Hannah...
, was a
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n ship built in England. It was the ship commanded by
Georgy BrusilovGeorgy Lvovich Brusilov or Hryhoriy Brusylov was a Russian naval officer of the Imperial Russian Navy and an Arctic explorer...
during his ill-fated 1912 Arctic expedition to explore the
Northern Sea RouteThe Northern Sea Route is a shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean along the Russian coast of the Far East and Siberia. The vast majority of the route lies in Arctic waters and parts are only free of ice for two months per year...
.
1912 Arctic expedition
The expedition was ill-planned and ill-executed by Captain Brusilov. He set out from
AlexandrovskAlexandrovsk may refer to:*Alexandrovsk, Russia, a town in Perm Krai, Russia*Alexandrovsk, name of the town of Polyarny in Murmansk Oblast in 1896–1939*Alexandrovsk, former name of the town of Zaporizhzhia, in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine...
on August 28, 1912, so late in the summer that it was almost sure that his ship would be trapped by the ice.
Thus the
Saint Anna became locked in the polar ice of the
Kara SeaThe 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....
off the
Yamal PeninsulaThe Yamal Peninsula , located in Yamal-Nenets autonomous district of northwest Siberia, Russia, extends roughly 700 km and is bordered principally by the Kara Sea, Baydaratskaya Bay on the west, and by the Gulf of Ob on the east...
in October 1912. Supplies were abundant, so officers and crew prepared themselves for wintering, hoping to be freed in the following year's thaw.
However, during 1913 the sea remained completely frozen. By early 1914 the
Svyataya Anna had drifted far north in lazy zigzags with the Arctic ice. In the summer that year she ended up at 83° of latitude, NW of
Franz Josef LandFranz Josef Land, Franz Joseph Land, or Francis Joseph's Land is an archipelago located in the far north of Russia. It is found in the Arctic Ocean north of Novaya Zemlya and east of Svalbard, and is administered by Arkhangelsk Oblast...
, and had no chance to be freed in 1914 either. To make matters worse, captain and crew had succumbed to
scurvyScurvy 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. Scurvy leads to the formation of spots on the skin, spongy gums, and bleeding...
.
Navigator and second-in-command
Valerian AlbanovValerian Ivanovich Albanov was a Russian navigator, best known for being one of only two survivors of the ill-fated Brusilov expedition of 1912.-Biography:...
, believing that their position was hopeless, requested permission from Captain Brusilov to be relieved from his duties as second-in-command in order to leave the ship and attempt to return to civilization on foot. Albanov's aim was to reach
Eva IslandEva Island or Eva-Liv Island is the northeasternmost island in Franz Josef Land, Russian Arctic.Eva Island is roughly rabbit-shaped and its surface is 288 km². The highest point of the island is 381 m....
in
HvidtenlandBelaya Zemlya is a group of three cold, glacierized islands. It is a geographical subgroup of Franz Josef Land, Russian Federation....
, the northeastermost island of Franz Josef Land. He used
Fridtjof NansenFridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist and diplomat. Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his work as a League of Nations High Commissioner....
's inaccurate map, full of dotted lines where the archipelago was still unexplored. After a gruesome ordeal, Albanov and
Alexander KonradAlexander Konrad, born died 1940 in Leningrad was a Russian sailor. Along with Valerian Albanov, he was one of the only two survivors, and the only surviving sailor of the ill-fated Brusilov expedition.-Biography:...
, one of the crewmen of the
Svyataya Anna, finally made it back to Russia. They were the only two survivors.
The
Svyataya Anna was never seen again and not a trace was ever found. Perhaps it sank crushed by the polar ice. However, there is the possibility that being carried by the polar ice drift it broke free on the other side of the Arctic, like the
FramFram is a ship that was used in expeditions of the Arctic and Antarctic regions by the Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Oscar Wisting, and Roald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912. Fram was probably the strongest wooden ship ever built...
had done previously and that, its captain and crew unknowing that the First World War had begun, she was subsequently sunk by a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
submarine.
In 1914-15
Otto SverdrupOtto Neumann Sverdrup was a native of Bindal, Nordland county, Norway, known for his achievements within the areas of Arctic science and exploration.-Early life:...
led a search-and-rescue expedition aboard ship
Eklips in the
Kara SeaThe 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....
on behalf of the
Russian Imperial NavyThe Russian Navy or VMF is the naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces. The international designation of Russian naval vessels is RFS—"Russian Federation Ship"....
. His aim was to search for two missing arctic expeditions, that of Captain
BrusilovBrusilov , or Brusilova , is a Russian last name and may refer to:People:* Aleksei Brusilov , a Russian cavalry general* Georgy Brusilov , a Russian naval officer and Arctic explorer...
on the
Svyataya Anna and that of
Vladimir RusanovVladimir Alexandrovich Rusanov was an experienced Russian geologist who specialized in the Arctic.In 1909-1911 V. A. Rusanov carried out explorations in Novaya Zemlya...
on the
Gerkules. However, regarding the
St. Anna, Sverdrup was not successful.
Valerian Albanov made repeated requests to Arctic explorer and Admiral Alexander Kolchak to launch a search expedition for the
Svyataya Anna. In December 1919 Albanov traveled to
OmskOmsk is a Russian city located in southwestern Siberia and the administrative center of Omsk Oblast. It is Russia's second-largest city east of the Ural Mountains. The distance from Omsk to Moscow is ....
to confer with Kolchak, but the political turmoil in Russia at the time didn't make such a relief mission possible.
A geological feature in the
Arctic OceanThe Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest, and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions.
The International Hydrographic Organization recognizes it as an ocean, although some...
basin, the St. Anna Trough, or
Svyataya Anna Trough located east of Franz Josef Land, with a depth of 620 m, has been named in memory of this ill-fated ship.