Zarya (polar ship)
Zarya (Russian: Заря, Dawn) was a steam- and sail-powered ship used by the Russian Academy of Sciences for Arctic exploration from 1900 to 1903. In 1899, Arctic explorer Eduard Toll bought a Norwegian barque named Harald Harfager for 60,000 rubles and had it rebuilt for polar work by the renowned shipbuilder Colin Archer, who strengthened the hull, added deckhouses, and changed the rig to barkentine. The ship was certified for a three-year Arctic expedition.
On June 21, 1900, Zarya sailed from Saint Petersburg with a crew of 20 under N. N. Kolomeitsev. After arriving at Alexandrovsk on Murman, the voyage continued toward the Kara Sea, and the ship spent its first winter in a bay near Taymyr Island. Toll sent a sled party ashore, and Fyodor Matisen became captain for the rest of the expedition. Aleksandr Kolchak was among the crew.
In 1901–1902, the crew searched the Laptev Sea and New Siberian Islands for the legendary Sannikov Land but became trapped by ice. Toll and three companions left the ship in November 1902 to search for the land and disappeared. Zarya was badly damaged, moored east of the Lena Delta in Tiksi Bay, and was abandoned with its hull filling with water. The Neva Yacht Club flag flew there until the vessel was stripped for parts.
Today, documents and artifacts from the expedition are kept at Polyarny’s city museum. To honor the ship, an island, a peninsula, and a strait nearby were named Zarya.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 10:06 (CET).