The fate of Rusanov's Gerkules expedition in the Kara Sea, 1913; Some Further details and recent developments

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Barr, William
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1984
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; Svalbard; Kara Sea; Primetnyy; Northeast Passage; Novaya Zemlya; Polar Record
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400005416; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400005416

Abstract The Russian explorer V. A. Rusanov's geological expeditions to Novaya Zemlya (1908–11) gained him the experience that, in 1912, secured his appointment as leader of a government expedition to Svalbard. In the sealing ship Gerkules Rusanov and 14 others left Aleksandrovsk on 26 June, spending most of July and August staking claims, collecting specimens and inspecting coalmining operation around the islands. In late August Gerkules headed east for Novaya Zemlya and an attempt at the Northeast Passage. Neither ship nor crew were seen again, but relics of the expedition have since been found on islands in the Kara Sea; in 1978 a plaque commemorating the expedition was erected on Mys Primetnyy, where a campsite and many relics were identified.