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Northern Fleet’s expedition locates historical food depot on Novaya Zemlya

The depot was presumably laid down on August 15, 1872 by the expedition that discovered the Franz Josef Land Archipelago

MURMANSK, June 25. /TASS/. Crew of the Northern Fleet’s Elbrus vessel found a place where Arctic researchers could have left a food depot on Novaya Zemlya back in the 19th century, the Fleet’s press service said on Thursday.

"The crew of the Northern Fleet’s Elbrus support vessel must have found a place where a food depot was left during the expedition of Carl Weyprecht and Julius Payer in 1872-1874," the press service said. "That expedition discovered the Franz Josef Land Archipelago."

The Russian sailors were delivering cargo to remote localities in the Arctic Ocean. Along with the deliveries, the crew led by Captain Vyacheslav Gubarev had to make reconnaissance ahead of the Northern Fleet’s complex expedition near Novaya Zemlya, since the area near the archipelago’s Severny Island had remained understudied, the press service added.

"The crew studied most closely shores of the Barents Islands. The weather and ice conditions were favorable and they took pictures and video of the islands’ eastern and western parts, as well as of the Litke Peninsula. The photo and video materials show that the sailors might have found a place where one of the first Arctic expeditions had a food depot," the Northern Fleet said.

The food depot on Novaya Zemlya was presumably laid down on August 15, 1872 by the expedition’s sponsor Count Johann Wilczek. The contributor’s investments in the depot made a third part of the expedition’s total cost. The expedition by Carl Weyprecht and Julius Payer, however, did not use the depot. There is no further information about it. The Northern Fleet began complex studies of the Arctic archipelagoes back in 2018, at the initiative of Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, who at that time was the Northern Fleet’s Commander-in-Chief. The initiative is supported by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and by the Russian Geographical Society.

According to the press service, in August, one of the teams of the Northern Fleet’s complex expedition will land on the Barents Islands, where jointly with scientists from the Russian Geographic Society they will search for historical artefacts, confirming the depot’s discovery. In 2020, the complex expedition will explore islands of Novaya Zemlya and some continental shores of the northern seas, including on the Taimyr Peninsula.