The catastrophe of the steamer "Indigirka": a terrible maritime tragedy in the USSR. Rescued from the "Indigirka". The passengers were mostly convicts

During this maritime disaster, which occurred in the La Perouse Strait in December 1939, according to official figures, 745 people died, including 4 crew members. The Dalstroy-owned cargo steamer Indigirka sailed from Nagaev to Vladivostok, and carried over a thousand passengers on board (although the Indigirka was an exclusive cargo ship).
The disaster occurred due to the fact that the "Indigirka" stumbled at night on pitfalls. Having received three strong blows the ship turned over on its side.

The passengers were mostly convicts

According to the indictment and the testimony of the captain of the ship N. L. Lapshin, the Indigirka was carrying a large number of prisoners - it was the convicts (over 800 people) and their escorts who were mostly passengers on the ship. According to the indictment, the carriage of passengers on cargo ship was a gross violation.
Based official version, the captain showed criminal negligence and disoriented the steamer's course, as a result of which, under the conditions of a 9-point storm and snowstorm, a catastrophe occurred - the steamer received several hits on the starboard side of the pitfalls, the ship tilted and went under water by 9 meters. Storm waves washed dozens of people overboard. All this happened in the La Perouse Strait near Cape Soya.
According to the testimony of the captain of the Indigirka, N. L. Lapshin, who was subsequently arrested, a panic began on the ship - from life-saving appliances just a few boats. The convicts slaughtered the guards (several people were killed), in turn, the NKVD riflemen opened fire on the rebellious convicts (according to various sources, about 20 people were shot dead).
One of the boats was launched and 8 people (mostly crew members) got into it, of which 4 were unauthorized. Only five made it to the shore, the rest perished.

How they were rescued

Only on December 13, closer to noon, did the Japanese steamer Karafuto-Maru approach the accident site. Some of the passengers and crew members of the Indigirka were removed from wrecked steamer. But there were still about 200 people in the holds, including women and children. Help came to them from the Japanese only after 3 days. The sides of the ship were cut with autogenous, but not all the holds were opened, as a result of which only 27 people were saved.
Many of the passengers, without waiting for rescue, committed suicide - drowned themselves or opened their veins. According to some survivors, all the rescued children (their exact number is unknown) subsequently died.

On Japanese territory

The Japanese were formally at war with the USSR (relatively recently, the life at Khalkhin Gol died down). The NKVD officers ordered the passengers who escaped and delivered to the port of Wakkanai to destroy all documents, and the convicts were ordered to call themselves workers of Dalstroy. 428 passengers and crew members of the ship were saved. As one of the surviving passengers, a fish factory worker Nikolai Tarabanko, recalled, the Japanese treated them well and provided the necessary medical assistance. However, the Chekists and the Soviet consul Tikhonov kept a close eye on the fact that passengers did not come into contact with their rescuers and did not take anything from them.

Homecoming

At the end of December, the rescued passengers and crew members were taken to the USSR on the Ilyich steamer. Even on the way, the guards began to beat the convicts, who, in their opinion, "gave up weakness" in communicating with the Japanese. Two prisoners who allegedly participated in the murder of Chekists on the Indigirka were shot and the corpses were thrown overboard.
For a long time former passengers of the sunken ship from among the freemen, upon arrival at home, they could not restore the documents destroyed in Japan, many of them were suspected of spying for the Japanese.
For criminal negligence, which caused mass death of people, four officials were tried - the captain of the ship N. L. Lapshin (he was shot as a saboteur and a Japanese spy), two of his assistants, V. L. Peskovsky and T. M. Krishchenko (they received 5 to 8 year camps). In addition, P. I. Kopichinsky, the head of the convoy convoy, served 4 years out of the measured 10 years. Kopichinskiy then even continued to serve in the Gulag system.
... "Indigirka" lies on seabed off the coast of Japan. In the village of Sarafutsu (Japanese village of the governorate of Hokkaido) a monument to the victims of the disaster was erected. Full list The dead are still unknown.

In 1939, one of the most major disasters the Soviet fleet; it manifested the distinctive qualities of political, NKVD officers, criminals and bosses

The death of the motor ship "Indigirka" in December 1939 was one of the largest disasters in the Soviet fleet. The technical details of the shipwreck are well described, but something else is striking in this story: the behavior of people, most of whom were prisoners from the Kolyma Gulag camps, as well as bosses and NKVD officers.

Motor ship for the transportation of "cargo"

The Indigirka left the Kolyma port of Nagaevo on December 8, 1939. Were last days navigation, sea ​​route at that time it was the only way to communicate with the "mainland", and the Magadan authorities - and the NKVD was the actual ruler there - were in a hurry to deliver hundreds of prisoners to Vladivostok for a gossip. Navigation would be closed, and they had to be kept in Kolyma until May 1940. This is precisely what explains why cargo ship, not intended for the transport of people, was crammed with them to the eyeballs.

The Indigirka was the smallest ship in Dalstroy, the camp trust that ruled the Far East. Its displacement was 2.7 thousand tons, length - 77 meters, cargo compartment- 4.7 thousand cubic meters. Cabins were designed for only 12 passengers. The ship was considered relatively new and fully serviceable; it was built in the USA in 1919, underwent a major overhaul in 1937, and a year later was sold by the Americans to the USSR.

On board were 39 crew members and 1134 passengers. From total number 820 passengers were sent to Vladivostok for a gossip. In fact, this meant that those who served time in Kolyma were added a new one - usually from 5 years and more (for political people on a standard charge under the 58th, anti-Soviet article). However, political, according to eyewitnesses, accounted for only about 20% of the prisoners transported by the Indigirka. The rest were inveterate criminals - the fact that they were taken to Vladivostok for judgment, and not tried on the spot, in Magadan, meant that they had committed serious crimes (from banditry and murders in the camp to stealing gold from the mines).

About 50 people were already former convicts - released under the first Beria amnesty. Another 60 passengers went to "sharashki" on European part USSR: Beria, heading the NKVD at the end of 1938, created a system of closed institutes in which scientists and engineers from among the prisoners worked for the military-industrial complex. Looking ahead, let's say that the inventor and future creator of the Soviet space program Sergei Korolev was supposed to get on this Indigirka flight, but he stayed in the Kolyma hospital and left for the mainland on another ship. About 200 passengers were civilians, that is, free people. All passengers were stuffed into the holds of the ship (one compartment for convicts, another for amnestied and free ones). Zekov accompanied an armed NKVD convoy of 28 men led by Kopichinskiy, who had a reputation as a sadist in Kolyma.

Since the ship was considered a cargo ship, there were only two lifeboats with a capacity of 40 people each and 55 lifebuoys. The floating craft complied with the instructions and documents of the ship, according to which the crew members and passengers on the Indigirka cannot be more than 50 people. Everything that was in the hold was officially considered "cargo".

Lost the course

On the afternoon of December 11, when the Indigirka approached the La Perouse Strait, a storm and heavy snow began to fall. In the evening, the ship passed Cape Aniva in the very south of Sakhalin ( southern half The islands then belonged to the Japanese). A lighthouse was erected on this cape. Since there was no cargo on the ship, it had a large windage, and therefore at night it began to be demolished to the south, to the island of Hokkaido.

Workers of Dalstroy

At midnight on December 12, Peskovsky, the second assistant to the captain, took over the watch, but Captain Lapshin remained on the bridge with him. For Lapshin, this was the thirteenth hour of work in a day, but, as he later explained during the investigation, he could not leave his assistant alone, since he was still an inexperienced navigator. At 01:30 at night, they noticed two lights in the sea, mistaking them for the lights of an oncoming ship. The captain ordered to deviate from the course. Since the weather was bad and the ship rocked heavily, the captain refused to measure the depths. At about 02:15 "Indigirka" flew into the underwater rocks.

The propeller jammed from hitting the stones, and the machine was out of order. A terrible roar was heard in the bottom of the ship, the lights on board went out. "Indigirka" strongly heeled.

The ship ran into the Sea Lion rock, located 1400 meters from the coast near the village of Sarufutsu in the Soya district on the island of Hokkaido. As it turned out, Captain Lapshin not only did not order to measure the depths, but also did not pay attention to navigational instruments - he passed this route dozens of times and was sure that he would pass it even with his eyes closed.

Twenty minutes after the accident, "Indigirka" had a roll of 70 degrees. The steering, navigational and radio room fell off and went to sea. The waves washed away a group of passengers who were on the upper deck.

The largest hole was formed in the bow of the ship, just where the convicts were. Captain Lapshin gave the order to withdraw all the people from the holds, but the guards from the NKVD at the hold opened fire from revolvers and rifles at the people leaving. According to various sources, they killed from 10 to 30 prisoners.

However, the convicts, or rather, those very inveterate criminals, simply crushed the chain of NKVD officers and rushed to freedom - no, not to escape from the ship, but to rob and rape passengers from the free. As eyewitnesses later recalled, about a dozen amnestied people were stabbed to death - the criminals felt the greatest hatred towards them.

Rescue of chiefs and guards

A "double" panic formed on the ship - caused by both the crash and the lawlessness of the criminals that had begun. The radio operator transmitted SOS signals, but no one responded to them.

It was only at that moment that Lapshin, having reached the maps, realized that the ship had been wrecked near Hokkaido. The captain decided to launch the boats and save people, and leave the "cargo" to fate. The first boat was filled with NKVD officers led by their chief Kopichinskiy. They could be understood: the rebellious convicts demanded their blood. Moreover, the convoy occupied only half of the boat, arguing that "they are carrying documents of great importance and there should not be strangers with them." The boat with twenty NKVD officers set sail and went to the Japanese coast.

The second boat was filled with members of the ship's crew - eight people, as well as two passengers from the free, who introduced themselves as bosses. The boat, capable of accommodating 40 people, departed with ten people and also headed for the coast of Hokkaido.

ship "Indigirka"

The NKVD officers, crew members and chiefs, who were the first to escape, landed on the shore and knocked on the houses of the Japanese. Here it is necessary to briefly recall that the Soviet-Japanese battles near Khalkhin Gol ended quite recently, and relations between the two countries were, to put it mildly, strained.

One can imagine the reaction of ordinary Japanese people when they entered their houses Soviet people in the form of sailors and NKVD officers. None of them knew Japanese.

Someone mistook those who escaped the Indigirka for the Soviet landing and informed the police.

The first Japanese to find out about the catastrophe of the Soviet ship was Takeishi Isamu, head of the police station in the town of Wakkanai. He became the first organizer of the rescue of people from the Indigirka.

Several small ships tried to make their way to the Indigirka, but the storm and heavy snow prevented rescue work. It was decided to wait for good weather.

ship "Indigirka"

Will be counted at the hearing

First aid to those locked on the ship came only at 6 am on December 13 - a day after the disaster. At first, because of the storm, people were rescued from the water - they jumped from the Indigirka and grabbed the ropes dropped from Japanese ships.

In the afternoon that day, a large Japanese ship, the Karafuto-maru, approached, and the rescue took on a more organized character. In addition, the storm began to subside.

The captain of the Indigirka, Lapshin, also boarded the Karafuto-maru, despite the fact that there were still people in the half-flooded holds. Lapshin on Japanese coast I “remembered” them only after four days.

The Japanese military sent a ship to rescue the people who remained in the holds, "Indigirka" had to be cut with an autogenous. But during this time, out of more than four hundred people, 28 people remained alive there - all men, mostly convicts.

As a result, 428 people were saved during the entire operation, including 35 team members (there were 39 crew members in total) and 22 NKVD officers (six guards were torn to pieces by convicts at the very beginning of the crash). 745 people died.

Monument to those who died on the ship "Indigirka" in the village of Sarufutsu, Japan.

Already on December 13, the Soviet consul Tikhonov arrived in Wakkanai. He bypassed the Russians and gave the command to destroy all documents, party and Komsomol tickets, so that during the search they would not fall into the hands of the Japanese. He ordered the prisoners to introduce themselves as workers of Dalryboprodukt: they say, in case of gossip, this will be credited to them. From the robes in which the convicts were, they were ordered to tear off the stripes, and the prison clothes themselves were declared to be the uniform of fishermen.

No one wants freedom

All over Hokkaido, a collection of clothes and personal belongings for the victims began. However, Consul Tikhonov warned Soviet citizens not to accept anything from the Japanese. He insisted that they be placed in the same building ( former school), and not disassembled separately into the homes of the compassionate Japanese, as suggested by the local authorities.

After the head of the NKVD for the Far East, Genrikh Lyushkov, fled to Japan in 1938, there, in his words, they already had a good idea of ​​the scale of repression in the USSR and what life in the Gulag looked like. The Red Cross invited everyone from Indigirka to stay in Japan.

The proposal concerned primarily those who were convicted under the infamous Article 58. To do this, two women from the Japanese Red Cross tried to conduct a survey of the survivors in order to identify political prisoners. But their idea ended in nothing - none of the Soviet citizens admitted that he was a political prisoner. Although it is reliably known that more than 30 people were convicted under Article 58 among the survivors.

Moreover, as later, in the late 1950s, one of those people, a certain Bolotin, confessed, the former Trotskyists strangled one of their comrades at night, who confessed that he wanted to exchange the Gulag for freedom in Japan.

The situation of distrust towards Japan was also fueled by Consul Tikhonov. One of the survivors of the Indigirka later said:

“Once Tikhonov showed us to the policemen playing cards and warned: “You don’t use your tongue, they understand everything, but they speak Russian better than you.” After that, we were paralyzed. People even stopped coming to the door that led to the street. Once Tikhonov told us: "Soon they will call you for interrogations, say that you don't know anything. If they offer you a cigarette, don't take it. Fingerprints will remain, then there will be trouble." And he said that we got off happily. A month ago, in connection with the Khasan events, the Japanese arrested our ship, along with workers from the fields, so they were kept in prison for a whole month.

And then one afternoon I was called in for questioning. I entered the room. There were two people there. The Japanese, who was sitting at the table, rose amiably, bowed, and offered to sit down. He spoke fluent Russian, without an accent. He gave me a box of cigarettes. I remembered our consul and I say: "I don't smoke." The Japanese asks me what our newspapers wrote about the events on the border near Hassan. I answer that all this time I was at the fish factory, but they didn’t bring newspapers for fishing. They asked me if I knew the letter, whether I served in the army, they were interested in how deep the Taui River was, whether there were piers on it. He answered everything: he was illiterate, he did not serve, he had never been on the river.

Finally, almost two weeks later, for those who had escaped from the Indigirka, soviet ship"Ilyich". People were put into buses and taken to the port. “We looked around with all our eyes: only now we saw Japan. Meat carcasses, hams, sausages, different fruits. Then on the "Ilyich" one of the employees of the trade mission said that the Japanese had specially arranged such an exhibition. They themselves lived from hand to mouth, divided the grains of rice, and brought food from Tokyo to mislead the Russians about the true state of affairs in the country, ”recalled one of the women from Indigirka.

Meeting at home

On the Ilyich, the rescued were taken to their homeland. On December 26, 1939, the ship passed Askold Island, where it was met by the small icebreaker Kazak Poyarkov. From it, several NKVD commanders and about fifty soldiers went on board the Ilyich.

The passengers of the Indigirka were herded into the hold, sentries were placed. Political and criminals, who showed particular cruelty towards the NKVD officers, as well as "showed weakness during their stay in Japanese captivity" (this was the official wording in relation to those who escaped from Indigirka), the escorts began to brutally beat right on Ilyich. “The butt knocked out my front teeth. It was then that I regretted for the first time that I had not stayed in Japan, ”the same Bolotin recalled.

In order to stop the brutal beating, the NKVD officers suggested that the criminals extradite those who killed their colleagues at the Indigirka. The convicts chose some two goners and those, after being shot in the back of the head, the escorts threw them into the sea.

The ship got to the pier of Vladivostok at midnight. Those who went ashore had no documents - they were ordered to be destroyed by Consul Tikhonov. The NKVD did not trust all the “prisoners”: they suspected that the Japanese could recruit some of the rescued as spies.

There were more than 15 "freemen" who wrote denunciations of their comrades that they "behaved suspiciously in Japan." The 10 people who were denounced received from 5 to 15 years under Article 58 for "spying for Japan." Almost all politicians were also given sentences from 5 to 15 years (although they would probably have extended their stay in the Gulag anyway).

The ship's captain Lapshin, his second mate Peskovsky and third mate Krishchenko were also judged. The captain was charged with sabotage and espionage in favor of Japan and was sentenced to death. Peskovsky was given 10 years for criminal negligence, but during the cassation, the term was reduced to 8 years. Krishchenko received five years.

The head of the convoy, the NKVD officer Kopichinsky, was also tried. He was also charged with criminal negligence and failure to comply with official orders, according to which he had to shoot the prisoners on the ship, preventing them from being rescued and delivered to Japan. Kopychinsky was given 10 years, but he served only four years - in 1944, due to a shortage of NKVD personnel, he was forgiven and again sent to serve in the Gulag as a petty boss.

There were no official reports about the Indigirka disaster either in the USSR or in Japan. The Japanese handed over to the Soviet authorities the ashes of all the dead, and he was buried in some mass grave in Vladivostok. The authorities wrote to the relatives of the victims that they died at the place of work or imprisonment.

The death of the motor ship "Indigirka" in December 1939 was one of the largest disasters in the Soviet fleet. The technical details of the shipwreck are well described, but something else is striking in this story: the behavior of people, most of whom were prisoners from the Kolyma Gulag camps, as well as bosses and NKVD officers.

Motor ship for the transportation of "cargo"

The Indigirka left the Kolyma port of Nagaevo on December 8, 1939. These were the last days of navigation, the sea route at that time was the only way to communicate with the "Great Land", and the Magadan authorities - and the NKVD was the actual ruler there - were in a hurry to deliver hundreds of convicts to Vladivostok for gossip. Navigation would be closed, and they had to be kept in Kolyma until May 1940. This explains why the cargo ship, which was not designed to carry people, was packed to capacity with them.

The Indigirka was the smallest ship in Dalstroy, the camp trust that ruled the Far East. Its displacement was 2.7 thousand tons, length - 77 meters, cargo compartment - 4.7 thousand cubic meters. Cabins were designed for only 12 passengers. The ship was considered relatively new and fully serviceable; it was built in the USA in 1919, underwent a major overhaul in 1937, and a year later was sold by the Americans to the USSR.

On board were 39 crew members and 1134 passengers. Of the total number of passengers, 820 people went to Vladivostok for a chat. In fact, this meant that those who served time in Kolyma were added a new one - usually from 5 years and more (for political people on a standard charge under the 58th, anti-Soviet article). However, political, according to eyewitnesses, accounted for only about 20% of the prisoners transported by the Indigirka. The rest were inveterate criminals - the fact that they were taken to Vladivostok for judgment, and not tried on the spot, in Magadan, meant that they had committed serious crimes (from banditry and murders in the camp to theft of gold from the mines).

About 50 people were already former convicts - released under the first Beria amnesty. Another 60 passengers went to "sharashki" to the European part of the USSR: Beria, heading the NKVD at the end of 1938, created a system of closed institutes in which scientists and engineers from among the prisoners worked for the military-industrial complex. Looking ahead, let's say that the inventor and future creator of the Soviet space program Sergei Korolev was supposed to get on this Indigirka flight, but he stayed in the Kolyma hospital and left for the mainland on another ship. About 200 passengers were civilians, that is, free people. All the passengers were stuffed into the holds of the ship (one compartment for the convicts, another for the amnestied and free). Zekov accompanied an armed NKVD convoy of 28 men led by Kopichinskiy, who had a reputation as a sadist in Kolyma.

Since the ship was considered a cargo ship, there were only two lifeboats with a capacity of 40 people each and 55 lifebuoys. The floating craft complied with the instructions and documents of the ship, according to which the crew members and passengers on the Indigirka cannot be more than 50 people. Everything that was in the hold was officially considered "cargo".

Lost the course

On the afternoon of December 11, when the Indigirka approached the La Perouse Strait, a storm and heavy snow began to fall. In the evening, the ship passed Cape Aniva in the very south of Sakhalin (the southern half of the island then belonged to the Japanese). A lighthouse was erected on this cape. Since there was no cargo on the ship, it had a large windage, and therefore at night it began to be demolished to the south, to the island of Hokkaido.

At midnight on December 12, Peskovsky, the second assistant to the captain, took over the watch, but Captain Lapshin remained on the bridge with him. For Lapshin, this was the thirteenth hour of work in a day, but, as he later explained during the investigation, he could not leave his assistant alone, since he was still an inexperienced navigator. At 01:30 at night, they noticed two lights in the sea, mistaking them for the lights of an oncoming ship. The captain ordered to deviate from the course. Since the weather was bad and the ship rocked heavily, the captain refused to measure the depths. At about 02:15 "Indigirka" flew into the underwater rocks.

The propeller jammed from hitting the stones, and the machine was out of order. A terrible roar was heard in the bottom of the ship, the lights on board went out. "Indigirka" strongly heeled.

The ship ran into the Sea Lion rock, located 1400 meters from the coast near the village of Sarufutsu in the Soya district on the island of Hokkaido. As it turned out, Captain Lapshin not only did not order to measure the depths, but also did not pay attention to navigational instruments - he passed this route dozens of times and was sure that he would pass it even with his eyes closed.

Twenty minutes after the accident, "Indigirka" had a roll of 70 degrees. The steering, navigational and radio room fell off and went to sea. The waves washed away a group of passengers who were on the upper deck.

The largest hole was formed in the bow of the ship, just where the convicts were. Captain Lapshin gave the order to withdraw all the people from the holds, but the guards from the NKVD at the hold opened fire from revolvers and rifles at the people leaving. According to various sources, they killed from 10 to 30 prisoners.

However, the convicts, or rather, those same inveterate criminals, simply crushed the chain of NKVD officers and rushed to freedom - no, not to escape from the ship, but to rob and rape passengers from the free. As eyewitnesses later recalled, about a dozen amnestied people were stabbed to death - the criminals felt the greatest hatred towards them.

Built in 1919 as "Lake Galva", served under the names "Ripon", "Malsach" and "Commercial Quaker" from 1920 to 1938.

Alexander Kozlov, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of History and Archeology of the North-Eastern Complex Research Institute of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Magadan), says:

The steamship "Indigirka", which was making its next voyage from Nagaev Bay (Magadan) to Vladivostok, got into a severe storm, went off course, lost orientation and crashed off the coast of Japan. Japanese fishermen reported the tragedy to the authorities, buried the dead on the shore, near the village of Sarafutsu, and later, on October 12, 1971, opened a monument here, built with the money of ordinary Japanese.

In the USSR, this became widely known only 50 years later.

"Indigirka" rests on the seabed. The names of the dead are still unknown. Monument near the Japanese village of Sarufutsu - nameless victims.

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Notes

An excerpt characterizing the Indigirka (steamboat)

August 18th, 2014 09:45 am

And then I started looking for "Tsinanfu"...
The search led me to the site http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1805476, where the handsome TSINAN is captured on the Sydney roadstead.

"Indigirka" - "Ripon"...

The further history of the Indigirka, and not one, but two, which I found on the site of Vladivostok divers http://vladskuba.rf/tourism/rustourism/93-wreck-indigirka.html, shocked me. I highly recommend reading...

Wrecks of Karamzin Island: history and myths

"Oh, the steamship Indigirka!
This happened in mid-December 1939.
A snowstorm broke out in the North Sea, suddenly huge waves appeared, and big steamer, which ran into an underwater rock, because of the pitching, was flooded with water and in an instant turned over on its side.
The wife is looking for a husband, and the children are looking for their mother. They hug each other.
But in the end, the forces leave them.
Japanese residents, having learned about this catastrophe, risking their lives, do their best to carry out rescue work, despite the fact that people from a foreign country are in trouble. Is it possible to evaluate these deeds coming from all the heart?!
But what a disaster! Still, more than 700 people died at sea.
And only the mournful sound of the waves is heard. The souls of the dead remain here forever.
Ah, the steamship Indigirka! The steamer "Indigirka"!
The clouds float low, low, you can hear the waves on the coast of Onishibetsu, where we remember the past tragedy.
Many years have already passed, now on a coastal hill by the sea, from where their homeland is visible in the distance at sunset, a monument has been erected with the souls of the dead.
The wind blows very sadly on the coast. "
Ishikawa Kikyo

I first heard about Indigirka when I was still a primary school student, when my father took me to the FESCO museum. I was shocked by the guide's story about how the guards shot the prisoners who tried to get out of the flooded holds.
History of tragedy.
From the indictment in case No. 156 on charges of N. L. Lapshin under Art. 59-3 p. “c” part II of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, PESKOVSKY V. L., KRISHCHENKO T. M. under Art. 59-3 p. “c” part I of the Criminal Code and KOPICHINSKY I. P. under Art. 193-17 p. “b” of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR.
“Steamboat “Indigirka” ... On December 8, 1939, at 10 o’clock, it left Nagaevo with an appointment to follow to Vladivostok without cargo, with passengers on board 1134 people. and crew - 39 people.
On December 12, 1939, at 02:20 local time, the steamer Indigirka, en route from Nagaevo to Vladivostok, crashed in the La Perouse Strait, running into the Toddo pitfalls (latitude 45o 21" north; longitude 142o 11" east) . As a result of the accident, the ship died, 741 people. passengers and four crew members.
The number of life-saving equipment on the ship was limited to two boats with a capacity of 40 people. each, with life belts according to the number of crew members and 12 life buoys, while there were 1173 people on board. (passengers and crew).
Under unfavorable meteorological conditions for navigation and the possibility of errors in dead reckoning, Captain LAPSHIN and the 2nd officer on duty PESKOVSKY never took measures to determine the location of the ship by sounding the depths. Assuming that the opened fire refers to the “Stone of Danger” lighthouse, Captain LAPSHIN and the captain’s assistant on duty PESKOVSKY at 01:30 lay down on the compass heading 192o (-12o West) and, having covered 3.3 miles in 20 minutes at 1 hour 50 minutes , lay down on the compass course 282o (-12o west). At about 2:15 a.m., the shore opened ahead, along the bow, the ship was moving at full speed, and LAPSHIN, seeing the danger, did not turn back at full speed, but taking a criminal risk, decided to avoid the danger by making a turn to the right, without slowing down, when the turn to the wind failed, LAPSHIN gave the command “port to side”, but the vessel, about five minutes after the signs of the coast opened, received a blow from the underwater part of the port side on the bank, after which the command “stop” was given to the machine. From that moment on, the machine was out of order, because. the propeller from hitting the stones wedged on the rudar-piss.
The death of Indigirka Having received a hole, the ship was afloat for up to 2 hours and 40 minutes, then drifting about one mile to the southwest, received a number of blows on the right side of the pitfalls and began to roll to the starboard side. At 2 hours 50 minutes the ship finally lay down on the ground with its starboard side, deepening into the water by 9 meters, and rising above sea level by 4 meters.
At the time of the first impact on the pitfalls, the “SOS” signal for help was transmitted on the radio, but help from the outside was not immediately provided, due to the absence of any ships nearby.
Panic-stricken passengers, in the absence of any life-saving equipment, rushed from the holds to the deck, rushed around the deck and fell overboard when a list appeared. Among the passengers were 50 people under investigation and 835 people. former prisoners who have served their sentences, who were accompanied by an escort. In a panic, one of the escorts subjected the passengers leaving the hold to gunfire. Eight members of the ship's crew and two passengers got into the starboard boat launched into the water, while four of the crew got into the boat without permission. The phalinas were cut by the indicated persons and the boat moved away from the side. Of the persons who left the ship, four members of the crew and one passenger remained alive in the boat and did not go to the shore.
On December 13, at noon, the steamer Karafuto-Maru, sailing under the Japanese flag, arrived at the scene of the accident, and the surviving passengers and crew members on board the Indigirka ship were removed. There were still passengers in the holds of the deceased p / v “Indigirka”, who could not get upstairs, because. the ship lay on board and the hatches were filled with water. Captain LAPSHIN left the ship and went on board the Karafuto-Maru steamer, despite the fact that there were still living people (up to 200 people) in the holds of the ship he commanded.
The people in the holds were removed by the Japanese authorities only on December 16, 1939, by means of cuts in the sides of the ship, and this was not done in the fourth hold either.
In this way, only 27 people were saved, who were still able to grab onto the ends lowered by the Japanese, and the weak and sick, due to their weakness, were unable to hold on to the ends, were doomed to death. The management, leaving the injured ship, did not even warn the people remaining in the holds that they were aware of their existence above and that they would be provided with any assistance in rescuing, as a result of which the passengers, after sitting in a helpless state for four days, concluded for themselves that nothing is known about their existence upstairs, they committed suicide by cutting their veins and drowning in water. Of the total number of people on board the steamer "Indigirka", 428 people were saved. (including 35 team members) and 745 people died. (including 4 crew members).”
The second time information about the ship caught my eye in the late 90s. I just started scuba diving and searched the internet for a description interesting places for diving in the Sea of ​​Japan. On the site of a diver from the Khasansky district, I found information that there are two sunken ships near Karamzin Island: the Indigirka and the Japanese destroyer Hibiki. And since then, I, and other divers in Vladivostok, called these vessels “Indigirka” and “Khibiki”. On that site, underwater photographs of sunken ships taken by the author were posted, and a drawing (side and top view) of “Hibiki” was taken from another source. I note right away that this drawing has nothing to do with Hibiki. But more on that in the second part of the article.
And for the third time I ran into the Indigirka in February 2013 - when I found an article on the Internet that divers from Tomsk in 2012 found the steamer Indigirka near Karamzin Island near Vladivostok and installed a memorial plaque on the ship's hull in memory of the dead. Here is what is written on the resource tomsk.bezformata.ru about the Siberian expedition: "In 1923, this ship served as a transport on the same trade lines as the Tomsk steamer. It is connected with the Indigirka political history: in 1939, when the ship was transporting about a thousand prisoners, the ship sank off Cape Soya Japanese island Hokkaido. More than 700 people died. In Soviet times, this story was not made public, and the ship was raised and reflooded in Soviet waters. Few people know about this, but it was one of the largest maritime disasters in human history. In official reports, the history of the Indigirka, for obvious reasons, is practically not mentioned, while it is also said there that the steamer was scrapped for metal in the forties. After our examination of the remains of the ship, we can safely say that this is not true - the Indigirka lies, torn in half by an aerial bomb, off the coast of Karamzin Island.
In the holds of the ship, you can still find things from that time - for example, clothes and dishes. The propeller and some other non-ferrous metal products were not removed from the vessel before the flood, which suggests that they tried to flood it as soon as possible. The history of the ship is full of mysteries and controversial points, which are currently being clarified in the SCAT club.
The SKAT team installed a memorial plaque “In memory of maritime disasters»
It turns out that this is the same “Ingrika”, the tragedy of which so impressed me in my childhood! The ship lies, one might say, at your side, but I have never been to it! I often dived on the Hibiki, but somehow I didn’t have to dive on the Indigirka.
While navigation is closed, there is time to brush up on the ship's history.
First of all, I started by looking for information about the ship. And it immediately became clear that in those years on Far East at least two Indigirkas were operated.
The first "Indigirka". In order not to get confused, I will call it “Indigirka-Tsinanfu”.
From the Register of FESCO "Indigirka"
Type and purpose: Cargo-passenger steamer.
Year built: 1886.
Place of construction: England.
Cargo capacity GT(gross tonnage): 2336.
In Dobroflot: 1914-1924
The ship was purchased in 1914. Worked on the Primorsky coast and Northern lines.
In 1920, it was captured by the Dobroflot émigré board during repairs in Shanghai.
Returned to Vladivostok in 1923.
In 1924 it became part of the FESCO.
In 1933, it was transferred to the Special Purpose Underwater Expedition, then to the Pacific Fleet.
Specifications:
Capacity (GRT): 2336
Length (in meters): 96
Width (in meters): 11.6
Board height (in meters): 6.7
Machine power (in horsepower): 1500
Speed ​​(in knots): 10
This is the last of four steamships of the same type (“Changsha 1”, “Chingtu”, “Taiyuan 1”, “Tsinan 1”) built by Scott & Co., CD, Greenock, Scotland in the late 19th century. The first name was "Tsinan", in 1909 it was renamed "Tsinanfu", on 17.4.1914 it was acquired by Dobroflot and renamed "Indigirka". The ship had a steel hull, two decks, two masts, one chimney. The Indigirka-Tsinanfu could carry 15 first class passengers, 28 second class passengers, 28 third class passengers plus 150 deck passengers (in Chinese waters).
06/23/1941 "Indigirka-Tsinanfu" was included in the Pacific Fleet as an artillery unit. In the late 1940s disassembled into metal.
The second "Indigirka". I will call it “Indigirka-Ripon”.
Steamship “Indigirka”, type “Lake”, was built by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, USA. Launched on December 29, 1919 under the name "Lake Galva" and delivered in May 1920 under the name "Ripon". In 1926, the ship was renamed "Malsah", in 1928 "Commercial Quaker", in 1938 the ship was purchased by the USSR, renamed "Indigirka" and transferred to Dalstroy.
"Indigirka"
Type and purpose: Cargo steamer.
Specifications:
Capacity (GRT): 2336
Dlian (in meters): 77.24
Width (in meters): 13.38
Depth (in meters): 7.89
Machine power (in horsepower): 1500
Speed ​​(in knots): 10
Capacity (GRT): 2869
Team: 41 people
Steel hull.
Which of these two "Indigirok" died in 1939? The FESCO museum has a stand dedicated to the tragedy, but there is no information to help identify the ship. In the Museum of Moscow State University. adm. GI Nevelskoy the same picture. I would also like to thank the museum staff for their attentive and friendly attitude!
Continued searching on the internet. As you know, the Internet knows everything. The main thing is to ask the right question - and then with a high degree of probability you can get the right answer. And I got this answer. More precisely, two correct answers:
1. Died "Indigirka-Tsinanfu" 2. Died "Indigirka-Ripon"
Steamer "Indigirka" (formerly "Tsinan" / "Tsinanfu").
This photo is cited by P. Osadchiy and V. Shcherbak in their books, as well as by many other authors on English and Russian sites - even if the article describes a completely different vessel.
Steamboat "Indigirka" (former "Lake Galva"/ "Ripon"/ "Malsah"/ "Commercial Quaker").
And both answers were justified.
Below is a partial list of arguments.
We are sure that in 1939 the cargo-passenger steamer “Indigrka-Tsinanfu” was transporting prisoners and fishermen and died:
1. Peter Osadchy. In the book “Save us on land” in the chapter about “Indigirka” he cited a photograph of “Indigirka-Tsinanfu”.
2. Vladimir Shcherbak. In the book " famous ships Vladivostok” gives the same photograph of “Indigrka-Tsinanfu”, brings it specifications and writes that "Indigirka" was acquired at the beginning of the 20th century by the Volunteer Fleet.
3. In the Lloyd's Register list, the Indigirka-Ripon is listed as active both in 1939 and 1940, and at least until 1946 (that is, seven years after the crash off the coast of Japan).
4. Lloyd also believes that the Indigrka-Tsinanfu sank off the coast of Hokkaido in 1939.
Lloyd Lloyd Lloyd
5. Museum. V. Arsenyev in 1998 acquired the model of "Indigirka". Here is what the Vladivostok newspaper wrote in its issue dated 12/18/1998: "The V. Arsenyev Museum has replenished with a unique exhibit - a model of the Indigirka with stunning interior detailing. The fate of this bowsprit vessel, one of the first representatives Volunteer Fleet, is truly legendary in its tragedy. It is called the second "Titanic". On the night of December 12-13, 1939, the Indigirka ran aground off the island of Hokkaido. 745 people died."
6. The fact that the Indigirka-Ripon was afloat and operated until 1942 was also assured in the US naval intelligence. In "Naval Intelligence Reports (ONI-208R), 1942" "Indigirka-Ripon" is listed as a ship belonging to the Soviet fleet. Although in subsequent editions of the report this information is no longer available.
We are sure that the Indigirka-Ripon died:
1. Captain Yuri Alexandrovich Pudovkin. In an interview, he said the following: “As for the Indigirka, we had at least four of them in the Far East.
The first one, built in the early 20th century, had a bowsprit. My father worked on it.
The second “Indigirka” is a watering can. These are two-cargo cargo ships built in the 1920s in the United States for the Great Lakes. Their length was 76.5 meters, width - 13.5 meters, capacity - 2700 registered tons, power of the coal-fired steam engine - 1500 horsepower, speed - 10 knots. Soviet Union Bought about 20 of them. They went north, although they had no ice reinforcements. In December 1939, on the way from Magadan to Primorye, during a storm and heavy snowfall, the Lake-type Indigirka ran aground on the northern tip of Hokkaido, at Cape Soya, and sank. About 700 people died. This tragedy formed the basis of L. Knyazev's story "At the Gates of Bliss".
The third Indigirka was a reinforced ice ship built in Europe.
The fourth “Indigirka” is a refrigerator; she worked at Vostokrybkholodflot”.
2. The FESCO is sure that the Indigirka-Ripon died. In the book “FESCO: A Voyage of 125 Years” in the chapter devoted to the death of the “Indigirka”, there is a photograph of the steamer “Buryat” indicating that this is the same type of vessel as the “Indigirka-Ripon” (i.e. type “Lake”).
3. Martin J. Bollinger, author of Stalin's Slave Ships. Kolyma, the Gulag Fleet, and the Role of the West.”
The list of ships that have ever been operated by Dobroflot-FESCO is given in the Register of the Shipping Company. In Dobroflot-FESCO worked: "Indigrka-Tsinanfu", "Buryat" (formerly "Lake Farley"), as well as six more vessels of the "Lake" type: "Kamchatneft" (formerly "Commercial Alabama"), "Kamchadal" ( ex. “Lake Fensdel”), “Moskalvo” (ex. “Commercial Orlinian”), “Mongol” (ex. “Lake Fablus”), “Turkmen” (ex. “Lake Ferron”) and “Chukcha” (ex. "Lake Fandom"). The shipping company never owned Indigirka-Ripon.
What department (shipowner) did Indigirka-Ripon belong to? And is the information that the “Indigirka” sunken off the coast of Japan belongs to the “Lake” type?
The answer is on the website of the professor of Moscow State University. adm. G.I.Nevelsky Bolotov Valery Pavlovich, organizer and inspirer of conferences dedicated to maritime disasters.
“INCUDICATION in case No. 156 on charges of N. L. Lapshin under Art. 59-3 p. “c” part II of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, PESKOVSKY V. L., KRISHCHENKO T. M. under Art. 59-3 p. “c” part I of the Criminal Code and KOPICHINSKY I. P. under Art. 193-17 p. “b” of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR.
The steamer “Indigirka”, owned by Dalstroy of the GUSDS of the NKVD of the USSR, left Nagaevo on December 8, 1939 at 10 o’clock with an appointment to follow to Vladivostok without cargo, with passengers on board 1134 people. and crew - 39 people….”
So, based on the information collected, the following conclusions can be drawn:
1. In Dobroflot / Sovtorgflot / FESCO, from 1914 to 1933, the Indigirka-Tsinanfu was operated. At that time, FESCO did not have other Indigirok.
2. The lost Indigirka was a Lake-type steamer.
3. The lost Indigirka belonged to Dalstroy.
4. Dalstroy owned Indigirka-Ripon.
With a greater degree of probability, we can assume that the Indigirka-Ripon died.
Why has there been such confusion? Perhaps the answer to this question was given by Martin J. Bollinger in the book “Stalin’s slave ship. Kolyma, the Gulag Fleet, and rhe Role of the West.”
We figured out the first question: off the coast of Hokkaido, the Indigirka-Ripon was shipwrecked. The second question remains: was that “Ingrika” flooded off the coast of Karamzin Island?
Oleg Matveev in the article “Unknown Tragedy in the La Perouse Strait” writes:
“To decide the fate of the sunken Indigirka on the ship Sverdlovsk, a special government commission of 7 people went to Japan, which arrived in the port of Otaru on January 5, 1940. With the help of EPRON divers (Expedition of underwater ships, the vessel was carefully examined, and the corpses of passengers remaining there were removed from the holds. And for all the services rendered Japanese side Soviet commission in the form of transport, diving equipment and other equipment, the Japanese charged a fairly high fee in cash. According to the results of the work of the commission, taking into account the damage received by Indigirka, it was recognized as economically inexpedient to raise and restore it.
And at the very beginning of February, the same “Sverdlovsk” delivered its terrible cargo to Vladivostok - urns with the ashes of 396 dead. Approximately the same number of bodies have not been found.”
Employees of the Museum of Moscow State University. adm. G.I. Nevelskoy and Professor Bolotov V.P. they are also sure that the Indigirka-Ripon is still resting off the coast of Hokkaido.
It should be noted that not only Japanese rescuers, but also ordinary fishermen from the village of Sarufutsu, off the coast of which the ship was in distress, took part in rescuing the passengers of the Indigirka. On December 19, 1939, Jin Genzo, Sato Koichiro and others rescued several passengers. Having tied a bundle of towels (hachimaki) around their heads and in only loincloths (fundoshi), they reached the Indigirka in boats across the icy and stormy sea. They smashed the porthole of the steamer and, penetrating through it, rescued three people. They were nursed by Hosoi Jinshiro, who was the chairman of the fishing cooperative.
The tragedy of 1939 is still remembered in the village today. On October 12, 1971, a monument was erected on a hill near the village of Sarufutsu, at the burial place of those who died on the steamer Indigirka. The sculptor from Otaru I. Kenji created a five-meter sculptural group in the form of three oval figures holding hands, symbolizing the protection of human life, figuratively made in the form of a ball located inside the group.
On the day of commemoration of those who died at sea, a boat leaves the port of Sarufutsu, goes around the remains of the ship, visible from the shore, people throw flowers into the sea, commemorate those who have a monument erected on a high hill.
Let's return to the interview of Captain Yu.A. Pudovkin: “The third Indigirka was a reinforced ice ship built in Europe.” Most likely it is a dry cargo ship, diesel-electric ship "Indigirka", type "Lena" reinforced ice class, built in Holland. The ship was launched on 8 September 1956 and put into service in March 1957.
Specifications:
Maximum length: 130.19 m.
Maximum width: 18.88 m.
Board height: 11.2 m.
Draft: 8.07 m.
Speed: 13.2 knots
Number of holds: 6
Gross tonnage: 7761 reg.t.
Net tonnage: 4285 reg.t.
Deadweight: 6450 tons
The ship was decommissioned in 1982.
Could this “Indigirka” be flooded near Karamzin Island? Given that the ship's home port was Murmansk, and the ship belonged to MMP, I think this is unlikely.
And “the fourth Indigirka is a refrigerator; she worked at Vostokrybkholodflot.” This is a receiving-transport refrigerator motor ship "Indigirka", type "Yana". The ship was built in Germany in 1956. Port of registry Vladivostok.
Specifications:
Maximum length: 111.37 m.
Maximum width: 14.54 m.
Board height: 8.30 m.
Draft: 6.24 m.
Speed: 14.0 knots
Gross tonnage: 3782 reg.t.
Net tonnage: 1800 reg.t.
Deadweight: 3616 tons
The ship was decommissioned in 1985.
So what kind of ship lies near about. Karamzin? In order to identify the vessel and get an answer to this question, the Vladskuba Diving Center, together with the Scqualus Diving Center and the regional branch of the Russian Geographic Society in the summer of 2013 he plans to conduct an expedition to Karamzin Island ... "(c)