Keywords: South Africa, Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town, Russian sailors

The history of the Russian Navy includes many glorious pages related to South Africa.

The first visit of our sailors to the coast of South Africa took place in 1808, when the sloop Diana, which was on a scientific expedition under the command of Lieutenant Vasily Mikhailovich Golovnin, later an admiral, a famous Russian navigator and scientist, anchored near the Cape of Good Hope in the port of Simonstown. This city is located in the vicinity of Cape Town, on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula, in the bay of Falls Bay. In colonial times, it was a base for the British Royal Navy. Today, it is a small city, near which there is one of the largest naval bases in the southern hemisphere, serving South African ships and British military vessels.

"Diana" in July 1807 left Kronstadt for a long trip to the coast of Kamchatka. V. M. Golovnin gave the order to go to the Cape of Good Hope to replenish fresh water and provisions. The Imperial sloop called at Simonstown in May 1808. There he was immediately detained by the British. After the signing of the Peace Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 by Alexander I and Napoleon, relations between Russia and England deteriorated sharply. But the captain of the Russian ship did not know anything about this at the time.

The fate of the ship and its crew depended on what decision would be made at the highest level in London. Time passed, and no specific instructions were received from the British Admiralty. The sloop Diana and her crew were held captive for a year.

The Diana was still anchored in the roadstead of Simonstown, surrounded by a dense circle of British warships. Realizing the impossibility of resolving the issue of freeing the ship by diplomatic means, V. M. Golovnin decided to escape. After carefully studying the wind rose and the undercurrents in the bay, on May 29, 1809, he gave the sailors the order to cut off the anchor chain.

The sloop Diana, under cover of a thick fog, passed through the dense formation of the British squadron and went out into the open ocean. The pursuit of the Russian sailors, taken by surprise by the British, ended in failure for them. This event was called the "daring escape" and did not leave the newspaper pages for a long time.

During his time in captivity, V. M. Golovnin compiled a detailed description of the Cape Colony, which is the most valuable historical evidence about the nature, population and customs of South Africa at the beginning of the XIX century. His book "The Voyage of the Russian Imperial sloop Diana from Kronstadt to Kamchatka, in 1807, 1808 and 1809, under the command of Lieutenant V. Golovnin" contains information that is of considerable interest to researchers today. Part of this book was translated into English and published in Cape Town in the early 1960s.

In addition to the book by V. M. Golovnin, burials at the old military cemetery testify to the stay of Russian sailors in Simonstown. In May 2005, a monument to Russian sailors buried in the land of South Africa in different years was opened here. The event was dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. On this occasion, a parade and awarding of the Russian jubilee medal "60 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War"to South African citizens-veterans of the Second World War, participants of the Northern Sea convoys - took place on the territory of the naval base of the South African Navy in Simonstown. The ceremony was attended by members of the Government of the country, representatives of the leadership of the Western Cape Province and the Cape Town Mayor's Office, as well as the diplomatic corps.

In May 2009, Simonstown hosted another celebration, this time to mark the bicentenary of the" daring escape "of the sloop Diana from English captivity. In the same cemetery, where the graves of Russian sailors have been preserved since 1809, including the graves of the crew members of the sloop "Diana", the rector of the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh served a memorial service for "seafarers who found repose far from the Fatherland".

Then the opening ceremony of the memorial plaque was held. There were many guests present. The orchestra of the South African naval base performed the national anthems of the two countries. Visitors could get acquainted with the publications, which are translations into English of excerpts from the book by V. M. Golovnin. It is noteworthy that the head of the British diplomatic mission in South Africa did not attend the celebrations.

Let's get back to the story. In 1853, the famous frigate Pallas called at Simonstown. On board the ship was a diplomatic mission of Vice Admiral Count Yefim Vasilyevich Putyatin, sent by the Russian emperor to the Far East.

During this expedition, the admiral was accompanied as secretary by the collegiate assessor Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov, the future famous Russian writer. The series of remarkable travel essays by I. A. Goncharov "Frigate Pallada" also contains a detailed description of the Cape Colony of that time.

The Russian writer admired this land, its nature. But he was skeptical about her future. "There's no gold here, and the crowd won't come pouring in like it did in California and Australia." Until the end of the 1860s, his prophecy proved correct. Many Europeans believed that southern Africa was doomed to oblivion. When the Suez Canal was opened to shipping in November 1869, caravans of ships were no longer required to circumnavigate the Cape of Good Hope and enter Cape Town.

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With the opening of the Suez Canal, South Africa was turned away from sea trade routes and ceased to be of interest to the outside world. At that time, it seemed that this agrarian country had no chance of an industrial future. But very soon, deposits of diamonds and gold were discovered in southern Africa. And the country fell ill with the "diamond" and "gold rush"...

Another historical episode of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. At the end of 1904, a Russian military squadron passed by Cape Town, skirting the African continent. Among the warships were the battleships Suvorov, Borodino, Oslyabya, Alexander III, and Orel. It also included the cruisers "Aurora", "Dmitry Donskoy", "Admiral Nakhimov". They were accompanied by smaller vessels: transports "Anadyr", "Meteor", "Korea"and " Malaya". There was also a navy workshop "Kamchatka". And even a second ship called "Eagle" - a floating marine hospital.

One can only imagine what a magnificent sight was revealed to our sailors. When you sail up to Cape Town, Table Mountain with a flat top and powerful vertical sandy slopes can be seen at a distance of about one hundred kilometers. It rises above the ocean waves. The distinctive shape of the mountain, which gave it its name, has long served as a clear guide for sailors, which contributed to the foundation and development of settlements at its foot. The meeting of warm sea and cold continental air currents leads to the formation of clouds right on top of it. And the illusion of a dazzling giant "white tablecloth" falling from the mountain is created...

But there was a war, and thousands of Russian sailors under the command of Vice Admiral Z. P. Rozhestvensky went to the Far East, to Tsushima, the battle of which in May 1905 became one of the most tragic pages in the history of our Navy.

When the squadron passed, the local newspaper Cape Argus published a note in Russian found on the shore of the Cape of Good Hope. A copy of this note, dropped in a sealed sealing wax bottle from one of the squadron's ships, is still preserved in the Cape Town Military History Museum. In it were the words: "We are going to die, we ask you to pray for us."

The sight of the Russian squadron so impressed the residents of the city that the South African writer Lawrence Green devoted a chapter to the" Russian armada " in his book. The title of this book speaks for itself: "An unwritten tale of ships and men in South African waters, and of some forgotten incidents and mysteries of those vast oceans that wash the shores of Africa."

Then came a long break - almost a century. And again, sailors under the St. Andrew's flag came to the Cape of Good Hope. These days, Russian sailors are once again paving the way along these coasts. In 1997, the Baltic Fleet destroyer Persevery paid a visit to Simonstown. Having taken part together with ships from 20 countries in celebrations on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the South African Navy, Russian sailors marched along the main street of the city-this march made a great impression on local residents. In those days, our sailors also had the opportunity to get acquainted with the life and everyday life of South African sailors (the traditions of the South African Navy originate from the British Navy), make interesting excursions. And the Cape Town newspapers covered the details of their visit extensively.

Finally, in January 2009, the heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser Peter the Great made a working visit to the port of Cape Town to replenish water and food supplies. The flagship of the Russian Navy was performing a circumnavigation of the world, heading from the Caribbean Sea to the Indian Ocean to participate in maneuvers. For the first time in the history of relations between the two countries, a Russian warship of this class entered South African territorial waters. All the local newspapers were full of reports about our cruiser, its photos in the roadstead. Indeed, it was a beautiful sight.

The cruiser "Peter the Great" came to the coast of South Africa in the year of jubilee events dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the first visit of Russian sailors to the Cape of Good Hope. The appearance of a huge cruiser under the St. Andrew's flag in the waters where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet has become a vivid symbol of the continuity of the glorious traditions of the Russian Navy.

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