Name Vostok Homeport Kronshtadt Type 24-gun sloop-of-war Length 40 m Weight 900 tons Complement 117 Builder Saint Petersburg | Namesake East Status Broken up in 1828 Displacement 900 tonnes Launched 1818 Sail plan Full-rigged ship Speed 10 kn (19 km/h) | |
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Vostok was a 28-gun sloop-of-war of the Imperial Russian Navy, the lead ship of the First Russian Antarctic Expedition in 1819—1821, during which Faddey Bellingshausen (commander of the ship) and Mikhail Lazarev (commanding Mirny, the second ship) circumnavigated the globe, discovered the continent of Antarctica and twice circumnavigated it, and discovered a number of islands and archipelagos in the Southern Ocean and the Pacific.
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History
Vostok was launched in 1818 at Okhta shipyards, Saint Petersburg.
On 14 July [O.S. 3 July] 1819 Vostok under the command of Commander Faddey (Fabian Gottlieb von) Bellingshausen, the leader of the expedition, alongside Mirny under the command of Lieutenant Commander Mikhail Lazarev left Kronshtadt and on 28 January [O.S. 16 January] 1820 reached the shore of Antarctica, which was sighted for the first time in history. After repair in Sydney in Australia, the expedition explored the tropical parts of the Pacific, and on 12 November [O.S. 31 October] 1820 again turned to Antarctica. On 22 January [O.S. 10 January] 1821 the sloops reached the southernmost point of their voyage at 69° 53' S and 92° 19' W. On 5 August [O.S. 24 July] 1821 they returned to Kronshtadt.
In 751 days they covered 49,723 miles (circa 92,300 km). Apart from the discovery of the world's sixth continent, Antarctica, 29 islands were mapped and complex oceanographic works carried out. A medal was issued by the Russian Admiralty to commemorate the expedition.
In 1828 sloop Vostok was excluded from navy lists and scrapped.