MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS Correspondent Vera Kostamo/. Under a cultural project, dubbed Russia’s Main Facade. History, Events, People (Arctic expeditions of the Russian Geographical Society, the Defense Ministry and the Northern Fleet), travelers have visited the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago's Yuzhny Island and studied routes of Arctic explorers. The voyage was onboard the unique Ilya Muromets icebreaker, which took the expedition participants across the Barents and Kara Seas, across the Matochkin Shar Strait.
"We sail to the unexplored"
Russia has the biggest number of icebreakers - more than 40 icebreakers of different classes, most of which are civil vessels. The Ilya Muromets is the first icebreaker in almost 50 years, which was built exclusively for the Navy. It was laid in 2015, and floated in 2016, and in 2017 it was given to the Navy. In 2018, the Ilya Muromets icebreaker sailed to the home port - Murmansk.
In St. Petersburg (the icebreaker was built at the Admiralty Shipyard), it was received by Captain 1st rank Gleb Rutkovsky. Later on, he had to retire due to the health issues. Viktor Osipov became the second Captain on the Ilya Muromets.
"I am not from a family of sailors, but since the age of 11 my dream was to be a sailor. My cousin was a cook at sea, and I wanted to be like him," Viktor said. "At school, every year, when filling in a questionnaire, I kept writing I want to be a sailor. The school director once asked me what particular sailor I wanted to become. A motorist, I replied. Back then he told me - If you dream to be a sailor, then dream to be a captain."
Viktor studied at the Navy's Lomonosov Marine College. The number of students at the first year was 89, and only 19 stayed to the end. After the college, Viktor was invited to work on the Baltic Sea, but he rejected the offer. A six-months-long navigation was not his dream, the only dream he had was the North. Nothing else.
"In the North, I worked on tankers for 22 years. To date, my Northern experience is 25 years. What mattered to me in the very beginning of career - an unfreezing port and a year-round navigation. On the tankers, I served 13 terms, I've been to all the oceans in the world, I've seen a few dozen countries."
For six years, Viktor was the third mate, for two years - the second mate, for ten years - the senior mate, and for the seventh year he has been the captain.
"I was offered a promotion, and I agreed. I've anticipated it for so many years, paying so much effort, and besides the country has spent quite money to educate me. However, most important is the high trust. There's no becoming a captain for no reason."
"The ship's heart and soul is the people"
The Ilya Muromets is a unique vessel. Not to be compared with any other. The icebreaker does not have a steering wheel. It is controlled by screw-steering columns, which are fixed on hinges and can rotate 360 degrees. This allows the vessel to move sideways, to turn around on the spot.
"The icebreaker has tremendous maneuverability. This is important: we can avoid unnecessary contact with ice when sailing and we keep the hull moving through thawed ice. Any contact with ice is a risk. The ice thickness we can handle is up to a meter, if sailing in jerks — then up to one and a half meters (sailing in jerks is when a ship stops, sails back and then sails forward in jerks)."
The icebreaker does not have any fin system, neither active, nor passive, or retractable. This has a reason - so that additional structures do not damage the vessel when it is sailing in the ice. The bottom of the vessel has the shape of an egg. It is very sensitive to the wave. Therefore, in a storm of 5-6 points, which we experienced during the expedition, we were noticeably rocked.
The Ilya Muromets is capable of carrying out many functions. Hydrography: the icebreaker has laboratories and equipment. Search and rescue, towing on ice and in water, transportation of containers, cargo. The vessel is equipped with booms in case of oil spills.
"If we compare it with other vessels, where I've worked, the feeling is that out of an ancient cave I get strait into the 21st century - the difference is huge. This is not a vessel, it's a spaceship, as our commander-in-chief says. Very quiet, it's a diesel-electric vessel, thus the vibration is minimal. When I just started working, for a long time I couldn't really sleep at night - too silent, no noises of the ship," the captain said.
The Admiralty Shipyard in St. Petersburg is top responsible for the vessel, supervising it even now: if the captain or crew have any questions, specialists always give a hand. The captain remembered a case: they had a problem during a voyage, and the shipyard's specialists came even to Dudinka.
"I've spent most part of my life in the sea. The ship is my home. I want everyone to treat it likewise. I always tell people who come to work with us: I won't tolerate lies, rudeness or alcohol. If everyone understands these simple things, then anyway the people will become a team. The North, the sea select and filter people. Remember Vysotsky? "If you can't decide for sure / Whether friendship is fake or pure / Try ascending the steepest slope / Tied to opposite ends of the rope / Finding toeholds in ice and snow / His true colors will show." (English version source: lyricstranslate.com)
The crew is experienced in working with expeditions. Rare specialists are always interesting, the captain said. Normally, slightly more than 30 people are onboard, and an autonomous work may continue for months.
"None of the crew has complained they have to work 24/7. I've been in the North for 25 years, but I have not been to most of the places we visited. Besides, it's new experience for the navigators - the route is new, with no navigating signs. White spots, for example, regarding depths," the captain said.
Our expedition is lucky to have good weather. We've missed the Novaya Zemlya's bora. This wind normally is strong from October to March and it is typical for the archipelago's north, where mountains are. The wind "slides" from the tops turning into a storm.
"The ship's heart and soul is the people. The people, who make sure the equipment works. Many people say the heart is the engine or gyrocompass. That's wrong. The heart is the people. Without them ship is not alive," Viktor said. "And something else - without dreams sailing is out of question. No voyages are similar. We've been to the Matochkin Shar Strait an endless number of times, and every time it's different! The Arctic is full of surprises! Just manage to see the beauty, the life in every day."
The only person on the island
"The Defense Ministry started expedition activities in 2018 with the Novaya Zemlya. Our first route crossed the archipelago's Yuzhny Island. We referred to a report by Leonid Grinevetsky to the Russian Empire Geographical Society about how he had crossed the Novaya Zemlya in 1883. I can remember how amazed and bewildered I was - how could they, the first explorers, not just survive but also do the work! Our team drove five heavy Vityaz swamp buggies, we were 30 men, with special equipment and navigation, while the polar station's doctor Grinevetsky did not have even a map - he was putting it together!" said Captain 2nd rank Alexey Chistyakov of the Defense Ministry's 12th Chief Department.
At the expedition, Alexey was responsible for the logistics, formation of teams and for going ashore and the security.
"The Arctic is the nature, and we must remember that there the weather is unstable, there are bears and other dangers. Here, like nowhere else, mutual assistance and attentive attitude to each other are vitally important. Last year, an object similar to an orange life raft was discovered from a helicopter on the archipelago's Severny Island coast. We decided to check if someone needed help there. We knew at that time a ship had wrecked not far, in the Norwegian Sea. While our group was busy doing the main works, I had an opportunity to fly a helicopter and find out everything. I landed on the coast not far from the "raft", and the helicopter flew away for further tasks. At that moment I was the only person on the entire Severny Island, almost 100 km to the nearest inhabited place! Those are special, very strong feelings that only the Arctic can give," Alexey said. That very "raft" turned out to be a loose beacon.
The Arctic is not discovered fully
"Why are we here? One of the purposes is not to forget our history, the history of how the archipelago was discovered. We want to tell the story of how complicated the discovery and the development of those places have been. We are monitoring not only monuments and remaining buildings, but also the changing landscapes. This is very important for further expeditions, and for sailors who will be here," said Sergey Zinchenko, Captain 2nd rank, the Northern Fleet's chief of the headquarters' department.
Prior to the expedition, Sergey studies archives, diaries and books.
"Getting prepared for expeditions and going ashore are important stages to make sure we can notice whatever important there may be. To know where to search and what there was in the past," Sergey said. "Emotions from the archipelago are extraordinary: first, you read about explorers, about their discoveries, and later on - you are right at those locations. For example, in the place, where Barents stayed for the winter. Not many can do so."
All findings during expeditions are material connections with the past, and they must be preserved, he added.
"The location, where Pyotr Pakhtusov stayed in winter (a Russian hydrographer, navigator, an outstanding explorer of the Barents, White and Kara Seas, of the Novaya Zemlya - TASS), which Rudolf Samoylovich (an outstanding geographer, polar explorer, traveler, geologist, author of scientific and popular books about the Arctic - TASS) described back in 1929. He wrote the expedition saw wrecks of a big vessel with a fortified hull. We have found fragments of a cannon wheel and pole. On the Krasheninnikova, at the location of Avgust Tsivolko's cross, we found a modern cross. But, having cut accurately through the cairn (a man-made pile of stones - TASS), we could see the old cross' fragments have remained there safely."
On Cape Drovyanoy, we found a silver coin dated 1906. Sources say, in 1910, Vladimir Rusanov's expedition was there.
In 2020, at the Russian Geographical Society's office in Moscow, Sergey met with school students, who had noticed on satellite images a new island in Novaya Zemlya's northern part. The island had not been described earlier.
"On the images, the kids could see just the biggest island, which had appeared from under the retreated glacier. However, they haven't seen a few other, smaller islands there. We found them during our trip ashore. The Arctic is not discovered fully. It invites researchers to be the first to discover its secrets," he concluded.