KALININGRAD, January 28. /TASS/. The famous Russian barques Kruzenshtern and Sedov and the frigate Pallada participating in the round-the-world expedition of sail ships of Russia’s Federal Agency for Fishing held festive events on their board to mark 200 years since the discovery of the Antarctic, the expedition’s media center told TASS on Tuesday.

The round-the-world expedition "Sails of the World 2020" is devoted to the 200th anniversary of the discovery of the Antarctica and the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

The Russian expedition led by prominent explorers Faddey Bellinsgauzen and Mikhail Lazarev discovered the Antarctic on January 28, 1820. On that day, 200 years ago, the explorers approached the shores of the ice-covered continent aboard the sloops Vostok and Mirny. After circumnavigating the Antarctic ice sheets, the expedition confirmed the existence of the sixth continent, the Antarctic.

"The three Russian sail ships - the Kruzenshtern, the Sedov and the Pallada participating in the round-the-world expedition devoted to this remarkable event and partially following the route of the first Russian Antarctic expedition of 1819-1821 held festive line-ups of the crews and cadets at 08:00 nautical time and also solemnly raised the state flag of the Russian Federation," the media center said.

The captains of the training sail ships congratulated the crewmembers and the cadets with the memorable date, reminding them of the significance of the discovery made by the Russian explorers for Russia and the entire world.

Since the start of the round-the-world expedition, which began for the Pallada on November 1, 2019 from Vladivostok and for the Sedov and the Kruzenshtern on December 8 from Kaliningrad, the three sail ships have covered a distance of over 24,000 nautical miles, calling at the foreign ports of Brest, Vigo, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro, Apia and Papeete.

A total of 692 cadets of educational institutions of the Federal Agency for Fishing and 56 boy seamen will undergo training aboard the windjammers during their voyages.

As their major event, the windjammers will meet near the South Georgia Islands in the southern Atlantic. In the area between the ports of Ushuaia (Argentina) and Cape Town (South Africa) where the route of the round-the-world voyage will come maximally close to the Antarctic, the barques Sedov and Kruzenshtern and the training frigate Pallada will carry out a 200-mile memorial sailing race.

Russian barques Kruzenshtern and Sedov

The four-mast barque Kruzenshtern was built at a German Shipyard near Bremerhaven in 1926 and was given the Italian name of the Padua (after the Italian city). The windjammer was listed among the world’s ten largest sail ships. She was surrendered to the Soviet Union in 1946 in WWII reparations and renamed after the 19th-century Russian admiral and explorer Ivan Kruzenshtern. The barque was re-equipped as a training vessel with a modern engine.

Over its 94-year history, the barque has made two round-the-globe voyages, as well as a trans-Atlantic expedition, and won many international sailing races. This is the world’s last classical barque initially built for voyages solely under sail without any additional engines and power generators. Over the years of its operation, more than 17,000 cadets have undergone maritime training on its board and acquired their first maritime professional skills.

The barque Sedov was floated out at the Shipyard in Kiel (Germany) in 1921 and was originally named the Magdalene Vinnen II. During WWII, the vessel was part of Germany’s auxiliary fleet. It was transferred to the Soviet Union in December 1945 in accordance with a decision by the Potsdam conference on reparations and renamed as the Sedov in honor of Russian polar researcher Georgy Sedov.

The barque has been entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest sail training ship in operation. The barque is 117.5 meters long and displaces 7,320 tonnes, has a crew of 240 and a total sail area of almost 4,200 square meters. In April 2017, the barque Sedov was transferred from the Murmansk State Technical University to the Kaliningrad State Technical University, which also integrates the Baltic State Academy of the Fishing Fleet.