Historical relics of Russia rich in wars and revolutions resulted in the loss of dozens of thousands of memorials of National history. Is this the time to gather stones? We`ll see. Anyway, our investigations have shown that up to now at the bottom of Ladoga Lake and the Gulf of Finland the rare objects related to the remarkable events of Russian life have been stored. They are not so many but there are all the more reasons to consider them as the monuments of the state importance. We may argue about which wrecks deserve such status but here are some objectives for a choice:
In course of expeditions we managed to detect and explore three warships of the 19th century which may be referred to the memorials.
The first is the 20-cannon military survey sloop “Svir” which was the exact sister-ship of the “Mirniy” sloop, the Antarctic discoverer, as it was built right after the latter had been launched on the same shipyard according to the same project by the same shipbuilder, the shipwright P.V.Kupriyanov`s assistant. The sloop “Svir” was lost on October 20, 1824. Returning from the voyage devoted to the survey of the seabed of the Gulf of Finland it collided with the rocks of Nerva Island. Due to this reason the body has a number of damages and losses.
However, two other ships have been perfectly preserved. The wooden bodies of the steam clippers “Dzhigit” and “Horseman” reinforced with metal junctions and lined with copper sheets stand at the bottom on even keel practically undamaged. Built in 1856 on Archangelogorodsky shipyard the clippers commemorated the revival of the Russian Fleet after the Crimean (Eastern) War and became famous for their contribution to the study and development of the territories in the Far East that were joined to Russia. Many mountains, bays, gulfs and the coast of Japanese Sea were called by their names and they themselves became the heroes of Russian literature.