SVYATOY MUCHENIK FOKA

[aukepalmhof]

Built as a wooden hulled cargo vessel by a yard in Nøtterrøy, Norway for A.B. Bull a.o. The real owner was supposed to be C.A. Larsen.
Launched as GEYSIR.
Tonnage 374 gross, 243 nrt, dim. 133,3 x 30.2 x 15,6ft.
Barque rigged and fitted out with a 1-cyl auxiliary steam-engine, manufactured by Nylands Mekaniske Verksted, Oslo, 45 nhp.
1870 completed.
1873 Sold to investors in Tønsberg, Norway.
1887 She was not more in the Norway registry most probably sold foreign.
1895 Sold to A/S Geyser (G. Knapp, managers), Tønsberg.
1896 Manager Thv. Brun, Tønsberg.
1897 Sold to A.F. Klaveness a.o. (Miramar gives that C.A. Larsen was the owner).
1898 Sold to V. Jurioff (V. Yurev.), Archangel, Rusland and renamed SVYATOY MUCHENIK FOKA what means Saint Martyr Foka (the web-site gives SVETI MEUCENICH FOKA.) A new engine fitted in.
1905 Sold to Committee for the Assistance of Seamen in Archangel.
Early 1909 sold to the Murmansk Scientific Industrial Expedition in Murmansk
Late 1909 was she sold to V.E. Dikin in Archangel
She was used for the Georgy Sedov expedition to the Arctic (1912-1914) (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgy_Sedov ) and at that time Sedov was the owner of the ship.
August 1912 the SVYATOY MUCHENIK FOKA sailed from Murmansk and returned in Archangel late August 1914.
August 1914 was she reported at Aleksandrovsk, and not more any trace of the vessel after 1917.
Russia 1977 4k sg4611, scott4541. 1952
Russia 2011 prestamped postcard (with thanks to Mr Sitnikov for the image.)

As given by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgy_Sedov
Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov (Russian: Гео́ргий Я́ковлевич Седо́в) (5 May [O.S. 23 April] 1877 – 5 March [O.S. 20 February] 1914) was a Russian Arctic explorer.
Born in the village of Krivaya Kosa of Taganrog district (now Novoazovskyi Raion, Donetsk Oblast) in a fisherman's family. In 1898, Sedov finished navigation courses in Rostov-on-Don and acquired the rank of long voyage navigator. In 1901, he took an external degree in Naval College, passed all the exams and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant.
In 1902—1903, Sedov participated in a hydrographic expedition in the Arctic Ocean. During the Russo-Japanese War, he was in charge of a torpedo boat (1905). In 1909, he led the expedition that would later describe the mouth of the Kolyma River. A year later Sedov explored the Krestovaya Bay on Novaya Zemlya.
In 1912, he suggested a sleigh expedition for reaching the North Pole. The Tsarist government refused to finance this project, and the expedition was organized with help from independent sources. On August 14(27), 1912, Sedov's ship SVYATOY MUCHENIK FOKA (Saint Martyr Foka) left Arkhangelsk and had to stay for the winter near Novaya Zemlya because of impassable ice. The expedition reached Franz Josef Land only in August 1913; however, it had to stay for the second winter in Tikhaya Bay due to lack of coal.
On February 2(15), 1914, Sedov (already sick with scurvy) and his accompanying seamen G.Linnik and A.Pustotniy set off for the North Pole with their draft dogs. Before reaching Rudolf Island, Sedov died at sea and was buried at Cape Auk on this island. On the way back, at Franz Josef Land, the SVYATOV MUCHENIK FOKA rescued two survivors of the Brusilov expedition, including Valerian Albanov.

By order of the expedition on February 24, 1913, Sedov renamed the ship in MIKHAIL SUVORIN.
The ship returned to Arkhangelsk on 08.24.1914, delivering two rescued members of the expedition of G. L. Brusilov.

At the city pier, it stood in a semi-submerged state until the spring drift of ice in 1917. During the flood, the schooner was thrown by ice onto a sandbank near. Shilov where she was covered with sand.

As part of the search for the Sedov expedition, Jan Nagórski made the first airplane flights over the Arctic, gaining valuable experience for later aeronautical expeditions to the region.

Two gulfs and a peak on Novaya Zemlya, a glacier and a cape on Franz Josef Land, an island in the Barents Sea, and a cape in Antarctica bear Sedov's name. There was also a steam icebreaker GEORGY SEDOV.

2016 Djibouti Illegal stamp

[Anatol]

S.M.Foka
Chad 2010;350f;600f;SG? Russia1962;4,0k;