Background

Valerian Albanov was born on May 26, 1881, in Voronezh, Russia.

Education

Because of the profession of Valerian Albanov's father - a veterinarian in a Cossack regiment, Valerian and his family constantly moved, so he did not stay in numerous gymnasiums for a long time.

At the age of 17, the young man enters the long-distance Naval College in St. Petersburg.

Career

After graduating from the Naval College, Valerian Albanov first sailed on various ships on the Baltic Sea, and then entered the steamer called "Ob" in Krasnoyarsk as an assistant captain. Together with the ship’s team, he is engaged in rafting the sleepers from Europe along the Yenisei River.

In 1908, Albanov gained experience for the possibility of long-distance navigation.

In 1912, Valerian Albanov met Georgy Lvovich Brusilov, a Russian Arctic explorer. He offers Valerian to become a navigator on his vessel "Svyataya Anna," which went to a large-scale expedition along the Northern Sea Route. This corridor connects the East European part of Russia with the Far East, passing through the seas of the Arctic Ocean. An additional purpose of the trip was hunting.

The vessel got bogged down in the ice in the Kara Sea, as a result of which the schooner began to drift, moving off course and two years later coming close Franz Josef Land. These events will be reflected in the book “To the South, to the Land of Franz Joseph,” which Albanov himself would later write.

The difficult situation on board was aggravated by the threat of starvation and numerous crew illnesses. At the same time, a serious conflict between Albanov and Brusilov was brewing on the schooner. In the spring of 1914, Valerian Albanov left the "Svyataya Anna" and went towards the archipelago with 11 crew members.

The transition turned into a tragedy for the group: force Albanov had to force the rest to move on drifting ice without stopping. On the way, 9 people died; only Albanov and the sailor Conrad survived. They miraculously came across the traces of the Sedov expedition, where they found a box of supplies and food, which allowed Albanov and his companion to survive. Sedov’s expedition discovered two days later and transported travelers to land.

Since November 1914, Albanov served as the second assistant at the "Kanada" cutwater, and since mid-1916, he was captain of the port icebreaker in Arkhangelsk. The lack of news of "Svyataya Anna" in September 1917 brought Albanov to a nervous breakdown, he was sent to a hospital and then dismissed from military service.

Valerian Albanov worked on port ships in Reval. In 1918, he went to Krasnoyarsk and entered the post of hydrograph of the Yenisei Party of the Hydrographic Expedition of the Arctic Ocean. In 1919, Albanov turned to the “Supreme Ruler of Russia” Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak with a request to organize a new expedition to search for "Svyataya Anna," but this appeal had no consequences.

Achievements

• Valerian Albanov managed to save the records of the Brusilov expedition. Thanks to him, the trench of "Svyataya Anna" was opened, which lies underwater, myths about the existence of the Lands of Peterman and Oscar were debunked; data on the boundaries of continents and currents are obtained. In addition, the discovery of the island of Vise, predicted by Albanov, will subsequently be committed.

Works

More photos

• book

  • In the Land of White Death: An Epic Story of Survival in the Siberian Arctic

    (In 1912, the vessel "Svyataya Anna," a Russian exploratio...)

    1917

  • To the South, to the Land of Franz Joseph

    (This book is the diary of Valerian Albanov, written by hi...)

    1917

Connections

Father:

Ivan Albanov