ARKHANGELSK, June 13. /TASS Correspondent Irina Skalina/. The expedition onboard the Matera wooden karbas, built in the Pomor tradition, without a single nail, left Arkhangelsk for Mangazeya, a TASS correspondent reported. Under sail and on oars, the expedition will cover 3,000 km along the paths of medieval pioneers. The crew rowed leaving Arkhangelsk, as the headwind was blowing.
"Can you see, it's raining now. It's a good sign to start a journey. Not too chilly, and it will be warm tomorrow. Therefore, we will not sail far today, because there is such a rule of good manners: when on a long expedition, make the first passage short," the project's manager, head of the Marine Practices Club Yevgeny Shkaruba told TASS. "Besides, we have a headwind, and tomorrow it will be fair."
The expedition will go along the so-called Mangazeya seaway: through the White, Barents and Kara Seas, Kanin and Yamal portages - one of the most dangerous and difficult routes leading from north to east. Mangazeya was founded by Russian colonists in 1601 on the Taz River at the confluence of the Osetrovka River (the Mangazeika) - nowadays this is the Krasnoselkupsky District in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region. Mangazeya was a center for collecting duty, a center for fur trade. Furs at that time brought huge revenues to the state treasury.
Part of the Mangazeya seaway ran along rivers and lakes, and in two sections - along land. The expedition plans to complete the route by August 25. "We are trying to repeat the schedule described in those documents. Around this time, it started from Pustozersk or Arkhangelsk, through the Kanin Portage, through the Yamal Portage, to come to Mangazeya," the traveler explained. "We have a slightly different situation, because we have a karbas, an open boat. Thus, we are less seaworthy than a Koch (Pomors' small one-or two-mast wooden sailing ship). Koch had a deck. If a wave covered the koch, the water retreated overboard. We will have to take care of such fresh weather, will have to wait."
Karbases are sailing and rowing fishing and transport wooden vessels, common at least since the 15th century till now on the White and Barents Seas. The Matera was built in Moscow. It is the first sewn karbas made by masters of the Pomor Shipyard from Arkhangelsk. In the autumn of 2023, it sailed to Arkhangelsk. The ship has two masts and three pairs of oars. The crew is seven people.
Educational project
During the voyage, the participants will stop in villages to tell the locals about the Pomors, the history of the North and about the development of Siberia, technologies of traditional wooden shipbuilding and navigation: from the Middle Ages to the present. "Lessons on deck" will invite school students.
"We want to link our notes from this trip with school lessons, for example, how to explain through physics, a little of chemistry, why oil reduces the impact of waves. In fact, it does not reduce large waves, it reduces only small ones due to the surface tension. Using a real situation: here are the waves, here is the ship, and explain what molecule polarity is, what surface tension is about, what hydrophobicity is, or how the wave works," expedition participant, scientific journalist Grigory Tarasevich told TASS.
The expedition will have five stages, the participants will travel in shifts. At the end of the campaign, in the autumn of 2024, the exhibition "Technology of Discoveries" will be held in Moscow. It will feature the expedition's karbas, photographs, a film and collected materials.
The Mangazeya Seaway project is supported by the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives, the Polytechnic Museum, the Museum of Moscow, the Lomonosov Northern (Arctic) Federal University, and the Arkhangelsk Region's Ministry of Culture.