There are few seas in the Arctic Ocean, among them there are such as the Barents Sea, the Bering Sea, the Laptev Sea, the Beaufort Sea, the Lincoln Sea, the Baffin Sea, which are named after famous people. Let's remember the people after whom the seas in the Arctic Ocean and its environs were named, and also figure out what else they were famous for.

Willem Barents

Dutch navigator and explorer.

The Barents Sea, one of the islands and a city on the Spitsbergen archipelago he discovered, as well as the Barents Islands off the western coast of Novaya Zemlya, are named after him.

Three times (1594, 1595, 1596-1597) Barents went on a journey in search of the Northeast Passage from Europe to Asia. During the first two expeditions he reached the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.

Barents ship, soon crushed by ice, in 1596.

During the third, he discovered Svalbard and circled the northern tip of Novaya Zemlya; the ship was stuck in the ice. After the Arctic wintering, the team sailed to the mainland, diving into two boats. On the way, on June 20, 1597, Willem Barents died of scurvy.

During his travels, Barents made such significant geographical discoveries and made such accurate maps that to this day he remains one of the largest explorers of the Arctic. The meteorological data collected by him are still taken into account in the study and forecasting of the Arctic climate.

Vitus Bering

An island, the Bering Strait (a strait between the Arctic and Pacific Oceans) and the Bering Sea (in the north Pacific Ocean), as well as the Commander Islands, are named after Bering. In archeology, the northeastern part of Siberia, Chukotka and Alaska (now considered to have been previously connected by a strip of land) is often referred to by the general term Beringia.

The strait and the sea, as well as the Commander Islands, are named after Vitus Bering
A native of Denmark. He was born on August 12, 1681 in the city of Horsens in the family of a customs officer. Together with his cousin Sven and comrade Sivere, he went to the East Indies on a Dutch ship.

Peter I included Bering in the number of commanders who were to lead the first ships under the Russian flag around Europe from the ports of the Sea of ​​​​Azov to the Baltic, and then approved him as the commander of the then largest warship in Russia - the 90-gun battleship Lesnoy.

In 1725, on behalf of the emperor, Bering led the 1st Kamchatka expedition, sent to the Pacific Ocean in search of a land isthmus between Asia and America. The expedition went overland through Siberia to Okhotsk. In Nizhnekamchatsk, the ship "Saint Gabriel" was built, on which Bering went around the shores of Kamchatka and Chukotka, discovered the island of St. Lawrence and the strait (now the Bering Strait).

In 1730, Bering returned to St. Petersburg, where he was awarded the rank of captain-commander. In 1733 he was entrusted with the leadership of the 2nd Kamchatka, or Great Northern, Expedition, the purpose of which was to describe the northern and eastern coasts of Asia and to get acquainted with the coasts of North America and Japan. Having left St. Petersburg in 1733, Bering reached Okhotsk in 1737, and only in 1741, on the ships St. Peter and St. Paul built there, did he set off to sea. During the storm, the ships parted. Bering reached Alaska, explored and mapped its shores, several Aleutian Islands, a number of Kuril Islands. On the way back, he met a group of unknown islands (now the Commander Islands). On one of them (now Bering Island), the ship's crew spent the winter. Here, many, including Bering himself, died of scurvy.

Of the 38 years that Bering lived in Russia, for 16 years he led the Kamchatka expeditions. In addition to the strait and islands, the sea, a cape on the coast of the Sea of ​​​​Okhotsk, etc. bear the name of Bering.

Dmitry and Khariton Laptev

Given the harsh natural conditions of the Laptev Sea, it is easy to assume that the process of exploring its water area by travelers was not easy and safe. In addition, it should be taken into account that the work began back in the 18th century - at a time when the development of many sciences, including navigation, was in its infancy and the level of geographical knowledge was also not very high.

The brothers Khariton and Dmitry, after whom the Laptev Sea is named, began serving in the navy in 1718, where they were enlisted as midshipmen at a young age. By 1721, young people had already been promoted to midshipmen. Fate decreed that for some time the life paths of the brothers diverged. But Dmitry and Khariton were always faithful to the sea, the Russian fleet, giving the best years of their lives to the service.

Since 1738, the brothers again begin to serve one common cause. On the recommendation of his cousin Laptev Khariton Prokofievich was appointed captain of the ship "Yakutsk" instead of Pronchishchev, who died on the expedition. In the summer of 1739, an expedition began, whose goal was not only to survey the northern expanses of the sea, but also to inventory the coastal territories. Therefore, it included detachments that followed by land. Having a well-developed plan of action, a brave dedicated team on land and at sea, by 1741 Dmitry Yakovlevich Laptev was able to cover the distance from the mouth of the Lena to the Kolyma on the Irkutsk ship. Having carefully processed the information received, he returned to St. Petersburg in the fall of 1742.

Khariton Prokofievich was supposed to explore the coast and the sea to the west of the mouth of the Lena. Huge difficulties and hardships had to be experienced by the detachments led by Laptev. The explorer and his companions did not stop even when they lost the ship, which was destroyed by ice. The expedition continued on foot. Its result was a description of the territories from the mouth of the Lena River to the Taimyr Peninsula.

The life of such people as the brothers Khariton Prokofievich and Dmitry Yakovlevich, after whom the Laptev Sea is named, can rightfully be called a feat. Amazing perseverance, purposefulness and love for Russia helped these people overcome the seemingly insurmountable.

Sir Francis Beaufort.

Sir Francis Beaufort

A sea in the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Canada and Alaska, as well as an island in Antarctica, are named after Beaufort. Beaufort also developed in 1805 a twelve-point scale for estimating wind speed by its effect on land objects and by sea waves. In 1838, the Beaufort scale was adopted by the British Navy, and then by sailors around the world. From 1829 to 1855 he was in charge of the hydrographic service of Great Britain. In 1831, he became one of the initiators of the creation of the future Royal United Institute for Defense Studies.

Adolphus Washington Grill

Lincoln Sea

The sea was named by polar explorer Adolphus Washington Greeley during his 1881-1884 expedition. Lincoln's name is not associated with the 16th US President Abraham Lincoln, but with his son, US Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln.

Robert Todd Lincoln.

Adolph Washington Grill was an American scientist and traveler, as well as a polar explorer. Since 1868 he was in the service of the government signal bureau. In 1881, he led an expedition to Greenland sent by the US government to set up one of the 13 circumpolar stations for meteorological observations according to the plan worked out at the Hamburg International Congress in 1879. On the way back in 1883, part of his team died of starvation, one was shot dead on Greeley's orders. The half-dead survivors, along with Greeley himself, were rescued by a warship sent out to find the expedition. Greeley is the author of many works on meteorology and isothermal maps.

Portrait of William Baffin by Hendrik van der Borcht.

William Buffin

English navigator who discovered in 1616 the sea that bears his name and the island of Baffin Island.

Nothing is known of his early life other than that he was probably born in London. He was first mentioned in 1612 in connection with an expedition to find the Northwest Route to India, as first mate to Captain James Hall. The captain was killed in battle with the natives on the west coast of Greenland. For the next two years, Baffin was engaged in whaling.

In 1615, he was entrusted with a second expedition to find the Northwest Route to India. On the ship "Discovery" Baffin explored the Hudson Strait. The accuracy of Baffin's astronomical observations on this voyage was confirmed by Sir Edouard Pari two centuries later, in 1821.

After the expedition of 1615, when he visited Hudson Bay, he became convinced that the Northwest Passage could only pass through the Davis Strait (between Baffin Island named after the navigator and Greenland). He followed this strait during his fifth expedition (1616) and, due to the favorable state of the ice, he managed to penetrate into the Baffin Bay named after him up to Smith Strait. Determining longitude at sea by moonlight is considered by many to be the first experiment of its kind. Baffin accurately mapped all the shores of "his" bay, but the expedition's discoveries in England were considered fiction and later removed from the maps. Such injustice continued until 1818, when John Ross reopened Baffin Bay.

In the Anglo-Persian attack on Qeshm on January 23, 1622, Baffin was killed.

The Tasman Sea, named after the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman, is a body of water between New Zealand and Australia. From north to south, the waters of the Tasman Sea stretch for 2800 km. The maximum depth is considered to be a point in the East Australian Basin, which is located at a distance of 5200 m from the surface of the water. Look at the beauty.

Geography of the Tasman Sea

The first European navigator to reach New Zealand and Tasmania was none other than a citizen of the Kingdom of the Netherlands - Abel Tasman. Subsequently, the Briton James Cook, who scrupulously explored the maritime territories near Australia, during one of the expeditions in the 1770s described the Tasman Sea. And what a story, read here.

In the waters of the Tasman Sea, you can find a number of isolated islands lying at a fairly impressive distance from New Zealand and Australia. Although, in fairness it should be noted, this fact does not prevent the Australians from actively developing tourism on the islands.

Sharks and other entertainment in the Tasman Sea

In the northern part of the sea, the water temperature can reach +27C, in the southern part it rises to +15C. Naturally, the flora and fauna of the Tasman Sea depends on the area. The tropical zone is inhabited by living creatures typical of the Coral Sea. From the southern extremity of the sea, where the cool breath of Antarctica prevails, the flora is represented by a large number of representatives: brown, green, red algae, zooplankton, phytoalgae, microscopic crustaceans.

The fauna is represented by the inhabitants of the oceans. These are pelagic fish, and marine animals, and mammals, and other inhabitants who prefer to eat near corals. The abundance of zooplankton attracts cetaceans to the Tasman Sea: sperm whales, killer whales, and minke whales. For tourists, sightseeing cruises are organized to the places of the supposed feast of whales. I have to say that it just looks amazing.

But the main attraction of the sea are the sharks. There are a great many of them, and of different types. Great white sharks scare tourists with their sharp fins - blue, hammerhead, oceanic, long-finned. Closer to the coral formations you can meet tiger and reef sharks. You can look at graceful predators in a diving cage.

Located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean, belongs to Indonesia. Its area is 453 thousand sq. km. The sea is named after the island of the same name. Sulawesi means "iron island" in Indonesian. Another name for the sea is Celebes.

Through the Sulawesi Sea, the waters of the Pacific Ocean enter the Indian Ocean. And the water level here is much higher than in neighboring water areas. This is because almost all of the sea is traversed by the Mindanao Current. The current brings a lot of water, which does not have time to leave through the straits into the oceans.

One of the scientific hypotheses suggests that underwater life on earth originated in Sulawesi. Be that as it may, but scientists still find unique inhabitants in the sea. So, in 2007, in the depths of Sulawesi, several species of animals were discovered at once, still unknown to science. Among them are black jellyfish and sea cucumber.

- an inter-island sea bounded by the islands of the Philippines and Sulu archipelagos, as well as the islands of Kalimantan and Palawan. The area of ​​the sea is 335 thousand sq. km. The southern part of the sea is considered reserved. There are many coral reefs and atolls.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the Sulu Sea was inaccessible to Europeans, since the power over the water area belonged to the Philippine Moro pirates. These pirates had a large fleet, completely controlled trade in the region, and often robbed coastal cities.

- the southernmost sea of ​​the Pacific Ocean. This is a huge water area separating Australia and New Zealand. The area of ​​the sea is more than 3 million sq. km, the average depth is 3285 m.

The sea is named after the Dutch navigator A. Tasman, who was the first European to visit the New Zealand Islands (1642).

The Tasman Sea is elongated along the meridian, therefore it captures three climatic zones at once - from tropical in the north to temperate in the south. This explains the heterogeneity of the underwater world. If in the north the sea warms up to +27ºC, then in the southern part you can often find icebergs coming here from Antarctica.

It is located south of the equator near the Polynesian islands of Tuvalu, from which the sea got its name. Translated from the local dialect "Tuvalu" - "eight standing together." This refers to the 8 atolls of the archipelago.

The Tuvalu Sea is small, the length of the coastline is only 21 km, so it is not always indicated on the maps. But the sea is deep - the greatest depth is about 7000m.

It is located in the southwestern part of the Pacific Ocean between the islands of New Zealand and Fiji. In terms of area, it occupies the 6th place in the world - more than 3 million square kilometers, the average depth is 2741 m. The bottom of the sea is heterogeneous, in its northern part there is a boundary between two lithospheric plates. Their collisions are the cause of numerous underwater volcanoes and earthquakes.

Due to the remoteness from the main sea routes, the Fiji Sea has not yet been developed. But this is what makes the water area one of the cleanest from an environmental point of view. You can get here only by sea and only from the port of Sydney.

- the largest sea in the Pacific Ocean and the second largest sea on the planet. The area is 5.7 million sq. km, the average depth is 4100 m, the largest is 11022 m.

It does not have precise land borders, and conditional borders are marked by chains of islands: Japanese, Philippine, Mariana and the island of Taiwan. The deepest trench in the world, the Mariana Trench, separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean.

In the north and west of the sea lies a vast area of ​​the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is known for its high seismicity. The sea itself captures the boundaries of 4 climatic zones - from equatorial to subtropical, so the underwater world here is infinitely diverse.

A small inter-island sea in the area of ​​the Lesser Sunda Islands. It occupies an area of ​​115 thousand square meters. km, average depth - 1522 m. Named after the island of Flores, which means "blooming" in Portuguese.

The sea is located in a zone of increased seismic activity. The eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 was the largest in the history of mankind. And the last earthquake was recorded in this area on February 28, 2015. Its source was at a depth of 518 km, and the magnitude of the earthquake was 7 points.

Flores is one of the few seas where whaling is allowed.

Located between the Moluccas and New Guinea Islands in Indonesia. The area is 75 thousand sq. km, the average depth is 747 m.

Like all the tropical seas of the Pacific Ocean, Halmahera is rich in corals. The reefs are home to many species of fish and shellfish. Such a rich underwater world attracts divers from all over the world.

The sea got its name in honor of the island of the same name. Presumably translated from Malay "halmahera" means "big land".

Spread between the Indochina peninsula and the islands of Taiwan, Palawan and Kalimantan. The area is 3.5 million sq. km, the average depth is 1024 m.

A monsoonal climate dominates over most of the sea area; powerful typhoons often occur in October and November.
The South China Sea was practically not used during the world wars as a springboard for battles. It has always had more transport value. From the northeast to the southwest, a significant segment of the Main Sea Route stretches across the sea, which is used by most ships.

- the inter-island sea, limited by such large islands as Java, Sulawesi, Sumatra and Kalimantan. The area is 552 thousand square kilometers, the average depth is 111 m. It is named after the island of the same name.

Most of the sea is located in the equator zone, so the vegetation here is not rich, but the fauna is striking in its abundance. It is known that over 3 thousand species of fish live in the Java Sea, many of which are commercial (pink salmon, herring, mackerel). The prey of sharks and moray eels is very developed.

Washes the shores of China, Korea, Japan and Russia. The sea is narrow and elongated along the meridian, so it is customary to draw a conditional boundary between the northern and southern parts of the Sea of ​​Japan. They differ in their climatic conditions, as well as flora and fauna.

For Russia, the Sea of ​​Japan is considered the richest in species diversity. More than 600 species of fish live here (for comparison: in the Black Sea - about 200 species), 225 species of algae, 12 species of sharks and 6 species of seals.

And in Korea, this sea is called East or East Korea.

Billem Barents (c. 1550 - 1597) - Dutch navigator who led three expeditions across the Arctic Ocean in search of a northeast passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. He discovered the Medvezhiy and Svalbard Islands, studied the coast of Novaya Zemlya. The sea between Scandinavia, Novaya Zemlya, Svalbard and Franz Josef Land bears his name, as well as an island off the east coast of Svalbard.

The famous Dutch navigator and explorer of the northern polar regions, Billem Barents, was born on the island of Ter-Schilling, located north of Holland, around 1550. Who were the parents, and also where the future navigator studied, is unknown, just as it is not known when he came to Amsterdam , whose citizen was listed at the beginning of the first expedition to the North.

The first attempts to reach the North Pole were associated with a persistent delusion: for a very long time there was confidence that in the area of ​​the North Pole there was an ice-free sea space through which it was possible to pave the way to the Pacific Ocean and to the east of Asia - to China and India. The search for this route was the main stimulus for the first aspirations to the pole. Having heard about the voyages of the British, who were looking for a northeast passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the Dutch quickly realized what benefits this discovery could bring, and began their own search. Billem Barents took part in one of the first expeditions as a captain.

The Dutch Parliament allocated two ships for the expedition under the command of Brandt Tetgales and Cornelius Nye. A little later, the city of Amsterdam provided the ship "Mercury" and the schooner, the command of which was entrusted to Barents.

On June 6, 1594, the flotilla, which had the goal of "penetrating the northern seas, discovering the kingdoms of Kataya and Khin, lying north of Norway and Muscovy and adjacent to Tataria," left Texel (Holland). After 18 days, the ships reached Kildin Island, located near the Kola Bay. Near the mouth of the Kola, the flotilla split up: the two ships went east, while the Barents ship and the schooner headed northeast, along the western coast of Novaya Zemlya.

On the way, they often met traces of the presence of Russian Pomors. At the end of July, Barents reached the northern tip of Novaya Zemlya - Ice Cape (modern Cape Carlson), and on July 31 discovered the Orange Islands. Here the team began to demand a return, and Barents, although he wanted to go further, was forced to send ships to Vaigach Island in order to meet with the rest of the ships, which, as it turned out, had reached the Kara Sea through Yugorsky Shar and the strait between Vaigach and the mainland.

Based on their own observations and the stories of the Pomors, the Dutch decided that they had almost reached the mythical Cape Tabin - "the extreme tip of Tataria, from where they turn to reach the kingdom of China." With good news, suspecting that thousands of kilometers lie between the coast of the Kara Sea and the extreme eastern point of the mainland, the sailors hurried to their homeland.

In Holland, their messages were received with enthusiasm. In 1595, encouraged by the results of the trip, the Dutch General States equipped a second expedition. This time, the Dutch were so sure that the ships would reach China that, in addition to opening the passage, the travelers had to organize "the sale of certain products and goods" that were specially taken for this purpose. The flotilla was increased to seven ships. Barents was appointed her chief navigator.

On June 18, the ships left Amsterdam and by autumn were in sight of the Vaygach Islands. Here they entered the Kara Sea, but could not advance further due to the accumulation of ice and a strong headwind. The unwillingness of the admiral of the flotilla, Cornelius Nye, to expose himself to danger and hardship also played a big role. Despite the promises of the Russian coast-dwellers that the ice situation should soon improve, Nye gathered officers and offered to sign a document that read: “We, the undersigned, declare before God and before the world that we have done everything that depended on us to penetrate the North Sea to China and Japan as directed by our instructions. Finally, we saw that it was not pleasing to God for us to continue on our way, and that we must abandon the enterprise. Therefore, we decided to return to Holland as soon as possible. Everyone signed the document. Only Barents refused. He offered to move on and, if necessary, to stay for the winter. But they did not listen to him. The expedition returned back without completing any of the tasks.

After that, the States General abandoned further attempts to conduct research in northern latitudes.

However, the government announced a prize for discovering the passage, and the Amsterdam Senate equipped two ships. On one of them, where Jakob Gemskerk was appointed captain, Billem Barents was only her navigator on his last expedition. Apparently, the fact that Cornelius Nye tried in every possible way to denigrate him, remembering the delicate situation in which he put him, had an effect. Nye characterized Barents as a reckless captain, ready to expose the team to unreasonable risks. However, the sailors knew the navigator better and trusted him. The crews of the ships were assembled from volunteers who were not afraid of the hardships of a dangerous voyage.

The new expedition began on May 10. Travelers hoped that this time is the most favorable for swimming. It was decided to change not only the time, but also the course. It was supposed to go further west than before. Thanks to this, it was possible to discover Bear Island, so named because a polar bear was killed on it.

Christopher Columbus.

This was 500 years ago. European navigators were looking for a way to the country of fabulous wealth - India. The most courageous of them went on dangerous voyages across uncharted seas and oceans.

In the summer of 1492, Admiral Columbus gave the command to set sail, and the caravels Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria set sail from Spain. The famous journey across the Atlantic Ocean began - the "Sea of ​​Darkness". On the seventieth day of the voyage, from the mast of the Pinta caravel, a sailor shouted: “Land! I see the earth! This is how America was discovered.

Christopher Columbus did not know that he had discovered a new part of the world. Until the end of his life, he believed that he had sailed to India.

Ferdinand Magellan.

The first voyage around the world was made by a navigator from Portugal - Ferdinand Magellan. In the autumn of 1519, the Spanish flotilla under the command of Magellan set off. Through the Atlantic Ocean, through the strait in South America, the ships entered the expanses of the Pacific Ocean. For four months, suffering from thirst and hunger, travelers sailed through the boundless waters of the Great Ocean and, finally, reached the unknown islands.

The expedition suffered many losses. And among these losses is the death of Admiral Magellan. On the only surviving ship, the Victoria, the travelers continued their voyage. September 6, 1522, tormented by storms, the ship returned to Spain. There were only seventeen people on board. Thus ended the first voyage around the world in the history of navigation.

Willem Barents.

The Dutch navigator Willem Barents was one of the first explorers of the Arctic. In 1596, during the third voyage in the northern seas, the Barents ship was covered with ice near the island of Novaya Zemlya. The sailors had to leave the ship and prepare for the winter. From logs and ship planks they built a house. In this dwelling, travelers spent a long polar winter. They endured both hunger and cold ... The long-awaited summer has come. The ship was still in ice captivity. And the sailors decided to get home on boats. A chance meeting with Russian sailors - Pomors saved the Dutch from death. But Willem Barents was no longer among the rescued. The navigator died on the way to his homeland, in the sea, which would later be called the Barents Sea.

Vitus Bering.

On June 4, 1741, two Russian ships under the command of Vitus Bering and Alexei Chirikov set sail in the Pacific Ocean. They were instructed to find a sea route from Kamchatka to America.

The journey was hard. Chirikov's ship, after many months of wandering by sea, returned to Kamchatka. Bering continued swimming alone. In July 1741, Bering reached the shores of America. On the way back he discovered many islands. Luck pleased the captain. But the ship ran out of fresh water and food. The sailors were sick. Bering himself became seriously ill with scurvy. At an unknown island in a storm, the ship washed ashore. On this island the sailors buried the commander. Now the island is named after Bering. The name of the famous captain is the name of the sea and the strait between Asia and America, through which he passed.

James Cook.

James Cook started sailing ships as a boy - a cabin boy. Time passed, and Cook became the captain of the ship. In 1768, Captain Cook embarked on his first circumnavigation of the world on the ship Endever. He returned to his homeland - to England only three years later. Soon James Cook set off on a new voyage to find the mysterious "Southern Land". He never found the "southern land", but discovered many islands in the Pacific Ocean. Cook's ships sailed under the scorching sun of the equator, and among the ice of the polar seas. James Cook was the first person to travel around the earth three times.

F.F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev.

In the summer of 1819, two sloops, Vostok and Mirny, left Kronstadt on a long voyage. The ships were commanded by the outstanding sailors of the Russian fleet Thaddeus Bellingshausen Mikhail Lazarev. Having overcome a huge distance, the Russian ships entered the cold Antarctic waters. More and more often met on their way icebergs. Swimming was getting dangerous. A ship will collide with an ice mountain - it’s not good. But brave captains led the ships to the goal. And now the sailors saw the shore. The coast of the mysterious "Southern Land" - Antarctica. One sixth of the world has been discovered. This was done by Russian sailors. Now the seas are named after Bellingshausen and Lazarev. Two Soviet scientific Antarctic stations bear the names of glorious ships, Vostok and Mirny.

N.N. Miklukho Maclay.

In 1871, the Vityaz corvette delivered the traveler Miklouho-Maclay to the island of New Guinea. Here he had to live for a long time, to study the life of the inhabitants of the island - the Papuans. These dark-skinned people lived like in the Stone Age. And so the ship sailed, and the Russian traveler remained on the shore. The Papuans greeted the guest with hostility. But Miklouho-Maclay won the confidence of the Guineans with kindness and courage and became their true friend. The scientist admired their diligence and honesty. He taught the Papuans how to use iron tools, gave them seeds of useful plants. Miklukho-Maclay visited New Guinea more than once. The memory of the great Russian traveler is still alive on a distant island.

Thor Heyerdahl.

It happens that in our time people go on trips on old ships. Such journeys were made by the Norwegian scientist Thor Heyerdahl.

Ancient pyramids rise in South America. They are very similar to the Egyptian pyramids that stand on the other side of the ocean. Is it by chance? Maybe people sailed from one continent to another 5000 years ago? Thor Heyerdahl decided to check it out. He built a boat in Egypt from a herbaceous plant - papyrus, as he built antiquities, and called it - "Ra". Heyerdahl and his friends crossed the Atlantic Ocean on this boat. The first time he crossed half of the Pacific Ocean on the Kon-Tiki raft. Heyerdahl recently made another amazing voyage on the Tigris reed boat. Representatives of different countries took part in all the travels of Thor Heyerdahl. Among them was the Russian scientist Yuri Senkevich.