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Russian Sailors in South Africa

The first visit to South Africa by our sailors took place in 1808, when the sloop “Diana”, under the command of a well-known Russian navigator and scientist, Vice Admiral Vasiliy Mikhaylovich Golovnin (1776 – 1831), anchored close to the Cape of Good Hope in the port of Simonstown. Under his command, “Diana” set sail from Kronstadt in July 1807 to the coast of Kamchatka. Severe storms in the Drake straits did not permit passage around Cape Horn and stranded “Diana” on the coast of South America. V.M. Golovnin decided to travel to the Cape of Good Hope with the intention of restocking his fresh water supply and provisions in Simonstown. The captain of the sloop did not know that, by that time, relations between Russia and Britain had abruptly deteriorated.

Sloop “Diana” docked in Simonstown on 3 May 1808 and was immediately detained. The fate of the ship and the crew depended upon the decision that would be made in London. Time passed but there were still no direct orders from the British admiralty. “Diana” still stood docked at Simonstown heavily surrounded by British battle ships. Having thoroughly studied the prevailing winds and weather conditions in Simons Bay, V.M. Golovnin made a brave decision to escape. On the 28 May 1809, using the bad visibility and a fair wind, the sloop undocked, bypassed the British squadron and left the bay. “Diana’s” inauspicious pursuit by the British ended in failure. This event acquired the title of an “audacious escape” in naval history and became sensational news, widely commented on during that time throughout the world.

Scientific works and reports about the expeditions of V.M. Golovnin are translated into various different languages. His book “Journey of the Russian Emperor’s sloop “Diana” from Kronstadt to Kamchatka” contains detailed descriptions of the Cape colony at the beginning of the XIX century, which represents great interest for today’s historians. A part of this book is translated into English and was published in Cape Town in 1964 (V.M. Golovnin. “Detained in Simons Bay. The Story of the Detention of the Imperial Russian Sloop Diana”. Cape Town. Friends of the South African Library. 1964).

In 1853 the famous frigate “Pallada” under the command of Captain I.S. Unkovskiy docked in Simonstown. The ship carried the diplomatic mission of Vice Admiral E.V. Putyatin, directed by the Russian emperor to the Far East. His exploits became legendary when he discovered the islands of Rimsky-Korsakov, signed the Russian-Japanese treaty in 1855, and the Tientsin treaty in 1858. During the expedition a college assessor Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov accompanied the admiral in his secretarial capacity, - he was a future famous Russian author - the author of “Oblomov”. In his series of travel notes “Frigate Pallada”, there are also detailed descriptions of the old Cape Colony.

Apart from the books of V.M. Golovnin, K.V. Putyatin, I.A. Goncharov, the arrival of Russian sailors in Simonstown is further supported by burials in the old military cemetery “Seaforth Old Burying Ground”. Here, the corps conductor of naval navigators Nikoli Petrov and sailor Peter Rashev from the “Dmitriy Donskoy” frigate were buried in 1865. According to the Baltic Naval museum documents, the “Dmitriy Donskoy” frigate departed on a study trip with naval cadets and conductors in autumn 1864 carrying a crew of 673 people. The ship completed the voyage from Kronstadt, docking at several islands of the Green Cape, Rio de Janeiro, Simons Bay, the island of St. Helen’s and then back to Kronstadt. On the morning of 11 January 1865 the frigate docked at Simons Bay (Simonstown). According to the ship’s journals, corps conductor of naval navigators Nikoli Petrov was in good spirits throughout the length of the journey, but suddenly became ill. The treatment did not show any positive results and after 8 days he passed away. His body was buried in the cemetery in Simonstown. The mourning procession consisted of Russian and English sailors and officers. On his grave they erected a tombstone for 682 roubles, donated by the officers of the frigate and by his friends.

During the night of January 22 to 23 in 1865, sailor Peter Rashev fell ill and within 18 hours of entering the infirmary, he passed away. The autopsy later revealed that the death was caused by a blow to the stomach. The “Dmitriy Donskoy” frigate safely returned to Kronstadt on 17 May 1865.

With the help of RSA naval museum employees and the city museum of Simonstown it was possible to establish, that directly next to the graves of N. Petrov and II Rashev in the cemetery of Seaforth Old Burying Ground there were much earlier burials of Russian sailors. Sadly, the epitaphs were not preserved till this day (they were probably wooden crosses) and it is impossible to ascertain the exact placement of their graves.

According to data obtained from the general Russian Federation consulate in Cape Town, ten Russian sailors were buried on the military burial grounds in Simonstown during 1809 – 1860, and the epitaphs are missing.

	№ Name Frigate name Post Date of death 1 Egor Ilyin Sloop Diana Assistant purser 1809 2 Pankratov Frigate Diana Sailor 1856 3 Sila Balushkin Corvette Olivutsa Sailor 1857 4 Pavel Tokarev Clipper Dzhigit Civilian engineer 1858 5 N. Khristakov Transport Nikolay I 1858 6 Yuri Yarov Clipper Oprichnik Sailor 1859 7 Efim Petukhov Clipper Oprichnik Sailor 1859 8 Iosif Sidoblaz Clipper Oprichnik Mechanic 1859 9 Danila Fadeev Corvette Posadnik Sailor 1860 10 Afanasy Matveev Corvette Posadnik Seaman gunner 1860

It is known that Pavel Tokarev served as a civilian volunteer machinist on the spiral clipper “Dzhigit”, assigned to the Amur force of spiral corvettes and clippers. Transport “Nikolai I” on which N. Khristakov who was buried next to P. Tokarev served, was not part of the navy fleet, but belonged to a Russian - American company. Sailor Pancratov from the frigate “Diana” was held in Simonstown as a prisoner of war. The circumstances surrounding his capture and imprisonment are still unknown. The circumstances of the death of the assistant of the ship’s treasurer Yegor Ilyin from the sloop “Diana”, who died in Simonstown on the 9 May 1809, are detailed in the book of V.M. Golovnin “Journey of the Russian Emperor’s sloop “Diana” from Kronstadt to Kamchatka”.

Sailors Y. Yarov, E. Petukhov and mechanic I. Sidoblaz, who served on the clipper “Opritchnik”, had drowned in the Simonstown harbour. In the report of the commander of the corvette “Posadnik”, Captain-Lieutenant N. Birileva, from the 10 of March 1860 it is indicated: While docked at Simons Bay I endured the unfortunate loss of two sailors: -Daniel Fadeyev, who, on the 16 of February, fell off a cliff and died, and gunner Afanasy Matveyev, who was thrown overboard by a stray shot during the salute and immediately sank to the bottom, - we were unable to find his body, only a week later his body was washed ashore. Both bodies were given proper church burial in the English cemetery (Navy diary. 1860 No. 6 Official articles and proceedings, p.28-29).

In 1904 the largest squadron ever to pass the African continent sailed by Cape Town. Among the ships were battleships “Suvorov”, “Borodino”, ”Oslyabya”, “Aleksandr III”, “Orel”, cruisers “Aurora”, “Dmitriy Donskoy”, “Admiral Nakhimov”, transports “Anadyr”, “Meteor”, “Korea” and “Malaya”, floating workshop “Kamchatka” and a second vessel under the name of “Orel” – a floating naval hospital, and others. Thousands of Russian sailors with Admiral I.S. Rozhestvenski were en route to the Far East, to Tsushima, the battle of which became one of the most tragic pages in the history of the Russian navy. On account of the tense diplomatic relations with Britain, only the navy hospital ship “Orel” entered the Cape Town harbour.

After the passing of the squadron, the Cape Town newspaper “Cape Argus” published a note found on the beach of the Cape of Good Hope. A copy of this message, written in Russian, is kept in Cape Town’s military-historical museum. The message, thrown in a sealed bottle off one of the vessels of the squadron of Admiral Rozhestvenski reads: “We are facing certain death and ask for your prayers”. The appearance of the Russian squadron impressed the inhabitants of Cape Town, so much so that a South African author, Lawrence Green, dedicated a chapter in his “Unwritten legends about ships and people in South African waters and some forgotten incidents and secrets of those boundless oceans which wash the shores of Africa” to the “Russian Armada”.

In 1997, during the visit of the destroyer “Nastoichevii” to Simonstown to mark the 75th anniversary of the RSA navy, Russian sailors ceremonially marched along the main street and laid garlands on the graves of their compatriots. This ceremony cast an indelible impression on the local community. In May 2005 in the military cemetery in Simon’s Town, the construction and blessing of a monument to the Russian sailors who were buried in South Africa in the period from 1809 to 1912 took place.

The construction and blessing of the monument, built by the hard work of the embassy of the Russian Federation in South Africa, was conducted in conjunction with the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany during WWII.
With permission from the Chairman of the Department for External Church relations of Moscow Patriarchal, Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill, the blessing of the monument was performed by the Rector of the St. Sergius of Radonezh Church in Johannesburg, Rev. Ioann Lapidus.