Nikolai Kolomeitsev
Nikolai Kolomeitsev | |
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Order of St. Vladimir |
Nikolai Nikolaevich Kolomeitsev, also spelt Kolomeytsev (Russian: Николай Николаевич Коломейцев) (16 July 1867 – 6 October 1944) was a naval officer of the Russian Empire and Arctic explorer. During the Russian Civil War, he fought for the Whites.
Early life
Nikolai Kolomeitsev was born in the village of Pokrovka in the Kherson Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day part of Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine) in 1867. He entered military service in 1884 and graduated as an officer of the Imperial Russian Navy in 1887. He was promoted to lieutenant in December 1893.
In 1894–1895, he was assigned to the
Kolomeitsev became a member of the
Russian polar expedition of 1900–1902
In 1900, Baron
Kolomeitsev supervised the fitting out of the Zarya in Larvik, Norway, and the expedition sailed from Saint Petersburg on 7 July 1900. Soon there was friction between Toll and Kolomeitsev concerning treatment of the crew. Kolomeitsev, as a classic naval officer of the Russian Imperial Navy tried to keep a distance with the men and to impose harsh punishments for unruly behavior, but Toll (more in line with the spirit of the times in Russia) longed for comradeship, and treated the common sailors as equals. Therefore, both men were getting on each other's nerves, Kolomeitsev interpreted Toll's attitude as undermining his authority as commander.[1] The situation became worse during the first wintering in a bay just southwest of Taymyr Island. (Toll named the bay "Bukhta Kolin Archera", after Colin Archer Shipyard where Zarya had been fitted). Owing to the claustrophobic conditions of the wintering period, the relationship between captain Kolomeitsev and expedition leader Eduard Toll reached breaking point.
Toll sent Kolomeitsev along with
Years later, Baroness Emmy von Toll, Eduard Toll's widow, played down the fact that there were strong disagreements between "old school" Captain Kolomeitsev and her egalitarian husband. When editing her husband's journal she stated: "Further, I have omitted as non-essential the details of the mutual relations between expedition members."[3]
Apparently, Kolomeitsev was one of the few supporters of Imperial Russia in the expedition. During the last part of the journey, in the New Siberian Islands, Captain Matisen hoisted the flag of the Neva Yacht Club (Nevskiy Flot), instead of the Russian flag, on Zarya's mast. That flag flew over Zarya until it was sunk.[5]
Kolomeitsev wrote two books about his journey with the Russian Polar Expedition; one of them was published in 1901 by the Imperial Naval Academy (Izvestiya Imperatorskoy Akademii Nauk) and the other in 1902 by the Imperial Geographical Society (Izvestiya Imperatorskago Russkago Geographicheskago Obschestva).
In 1902 Kolomeitsev commanded the
Russo-Japanese War
During the
Following the Russian defeat against Japan, Kolomeitsev served as executive officer on the battleship Andrei Pervozvanny in late 1906. He graduated from the Naval Maritime Academy of Sciences in 1908, he was assigned command of the cruiser Almaz and was promoted to full captain on 6 December 1909. From November 1910 to December 1913 he commanded the battleship Slava. On 6 December 1913 Kolomeitsev was promoted to the rank of Rear admiral.
First World War and Russian Revolution
With the start of
Family
In 1910 Nikolai Kolomeitsev, already in his early forties, married Nina Dmitrievna Nabokov, a member of the Nabokov family.
Exile and death
Following the collapse of the White movement in the Russian Civil War, Kolomeitsev went into exile with his wife in France. He served as vice-chairman of the Union Knights of St. George in France.
Kolomeitsev died in Paris in 1944 after he was run over by a United States Army truck. He was 77. He is buried in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery.
Honours
- Silver medal for lifesaving (1890) with bow (1893)
- Officer of the Royal Order of Cambodia, French colonial (1895)
- Order of St. Anne3rd degree (1895)
- Silver medal to commemorate the reign of Emperor Alexander III (1896)
- Gold Medal for lifesaving (1896)
- Silver medal in memory of the Sacred Coronation of Their Imperial Majesties (1898)
- Bronze Medal in memory of the war in China (1902)
- Order of St. Stanislaus3rd degree with sword, (1904)
- Order of St Vladimir, 4th degree with swords and bow, (1904)
- Light bronze medal in memory of the war with Japan in 1904–1905 (1906)
- Golden Sword of St George "for bravery"(01/08/1906)
- Order of St. George, 4th class, (1907)
- Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, UK (1908)
- Gold mark in the memory after the full course Sciences Marine Corps (1910)
- Light bronze medal in memory of 300 years of the reign of the Romanovs (1913)
- Order of St Vladimir, 3rd degree, (1913)
- Legion of Honour, Commander's Croix, France (1914)
- Light bronze medal in memory of the 200th anniversary of the victory of Gangutskaya
- Order of St. Stanislaus1st degree, (1916)
Posthumous honours
Since he was a war hero, and despite his support of the White movement, Nikolai Kolomeitsev was also honored by the
Works
- Otchet plavanii yachty "Zarya" s iyunya po sentyabr' 1900g. Izvestiya Imperatorskoy Akademii Nauk. St. Petersburg 1901.
- Russkaya polyarnaya expeditsia pod nachal'stvom barona Tollya. Izvestiya Imperatorskago Russkago Geographicheskago Obschestva. St. Petersburg 1901.
- Chernoviki zaveschaniia. Paris 1924.
See also
- Zarya (polar ship)
- Vladimir Nabokov & Nabokov House – N.N. Kolomeitsev was related to the Nabokov family by his marriage to Nina Dmitrievna Nabokov
References
- ^ N. Bolotnikov. Nikifor Begichev, Moscow-Leningrad 1949
- ^ Tchaikovsky, Yu. (2002). "Возвращение лейтенанта Колчака. К 100-летию Русской полярной экспедиции (1900–1903)" [Return of Lieutenant Kolchak. On the 100th anniversary of the Russian polar expedition RAS]. Vestnik RAN 2: 152–161.
- ^ a b E. Toll. Die Russische Polarfahrt der Sarja 1900–1902 aus den hinterlassenen Tagebüchern von Baron Eduard Von Toll. Berlin 1909
- ISBN 978-5-235-03375-7. p. 62
- William Barr, Baron Eduard von Toll's Last Expedition: The Russian Polar Expedition, 1900–1903. 1980
- ^ Dieter E. Zimmer 2000
- ^ "Geographic and Geospatial Information". Archived from the original on 19 July 2007. Retrieved 19 May 2008.