Motor ship Chelyuskin. The first Heroes of the Soviet Union. Rescue of Chelyuskinites. Preparing for your trip

70 years ago, on July 14, 1933, a brand new, large, handsome cargo ship, the legendary Chelyuskin, set sail from the Leningrad port, shining in the sun. It was just built at the Danish shipyard of the Burmeister and Wein shipyard on a special order for our northern latitudes and was initially called “Lena”. In preparation for her maiden voyage, "Lena" became "Chelyuskin".

The polar expedition on the Chelyuskin was supposed to repeat the voyage of the icebreaking steamship Sibiryakov that took place in 1932, which for the first time in history passed along the Northern Sea Route from Arkhangelsk to the Bering Strait in one navigation. Choosing a vessel for a polar expedition is far from simple. The icebreakers “Krasin”, “Ermak”, “Lenin”, which were first-class for that time in our country, were not intended for long-distance navigation.

They could only take a limited amount of fuel on board, not to mention additional cargo. And the new expedition was faced with the task of delivering a large cargo of food and equipment for the winterers of Wrangel Island. In addition, it was necessary to have enough fuel on board to not only go the entire way without reloading coal, but also to supply it to the rescue icebreaker if its help was needed. "Chelyuskin", which received the highest class from the British Lloyd's, seemed to satisfy these requirements. Sending it on its way, the Soviet government set as its goal to find that type of polar cargo ship, after which it would be possible to build the entire transport flotilla of the North, delivering supplies and transporting cargo along the entire Arctic coast of the country.

The expedition was led by Otto Yulievich Schmidt, professor of mathematics, editor of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia; Vladimir Ivanovich Voronin became the captain of “Chelyuskin”. Both were experienced polar explorers. 112 people went with them on the next polar expedition. In addition to the ship's crew, there were experienced hydrographers, hydrobiologists, hydrochemists, physicists, personnel who went to Wrangel Island for the winter, and builders to erect houses on this island.

In addition to specialists, there were also writers, film workers, and an artist on “Chelyuskin”. Some Wrangel soldiers went on such a long business trip with their wives, and the head of the polar station, Pyotr Buiko, even risked taking his one-year-old daughter with him.

The Chelyuskin encountered the first ice in the Kara Sea. The ice strip turned out to have melted, and the steamer could cope with it without difficulty. But already on August 14, the Chelyuskinites found themselves in heavy six-point ice. This is where the real test of the ship began. “Chelyuskin” flew onto the ice from a running start, moving only five to ten meters per hour. Here he received the first damage: a seam split on the starboard side, and a stringer burst on the left side. Obviously, the ship's fastenings turned out to be calculated inaccurately. For three days, the crew dragged cargo from bow to stern and pumped out water. Under the leadership of engineer Remov, additional wooden fastenings were supplied, which turned out to be very reliable. In order to get rid of the excess cargo, the icebreaker Krasin was urgently called and part of the coal was loaded onto it. Soon "Chelyuskin" was able to continue sailing independently.

Having covered most of the route, Chelyuskin made its way to Cape Billings. To the north lay Wrangel Island - the first goal of the expedition. Before reaching the island, the ship stopped. Aerial reconnaissance from an airplane showed that it was impossible to approach Wrangel Island - the path to it was bound by continuous heavy ice. We decided to go to the Bering Strait and then try again from the eastern side.

The ice of the Chukchi Sea turned out to be much heavier than the Kara Sea. Masses multi-year ice the most bizarre shapes were surrounded by small spots clean water. "Chelyuskin" walked, with difficulty moving apart 20 - 50-ton blocks of ice. The bow and sides of the ship received many dents. It was necessary to further strengthen the existing fastenings with huge logs. The tree springs back, and the impact of the blows becomes less sharp.

The Chelyuskin, squeezed by ice, was carried by the current towards Kolyuchin Island. The ice stood up, and the ship stopped with it. He was immobilized. For three days the crew tried to break through the road by blasting the ice with ammonal, but the attempts remained unsuccessful. Only after 14 days did the ice finally release the ship from captivity, allowing it to continue its journey east - to the Bering Strait. And so, when there were only 5-6 kilometers left to free water in the Bering Strait, the Chelyuskin, along with the ice, was carried north by a strong current.

The treacherous Arctic began to circle the ship in a drift, forcing it to describe the most intricate zigzags. They walked at the very borders of the current, which could carry it so far to the north that a two-year winter would have been provided for the expedition. The Litke ice cutter, which was located in Providence Bay, was called by radio to help, but only managed to approach the border of the ice field that had pinned down the Chelyuskin. The remaining 60 kilometers to him solid ice he failed to pass.

On November 26, Chelyuskin experienced the first compression by ice, which made people think about a possible disaster. After this, the entire expedition was divided into emergency teams, in which each person knew what he needed to do in case of trouble. The compressions followed one after another. We had to either unload the necessary cargo onto the ice floe, then load it back onto the ship. A bulky wooden ladder descended from the side onto the ice. People walked along it to replenish their water supply (again from ice), and sometimes to hunt. In the resulting mynas, seals appeared, from which they made good roast meat. Arctic foxes came running across the ice, and once, right next to the ship, ice captives shot a polar bear.

Telegram after telegram flew ashore to the pilots working in Chukotka. But the engines of low-power aircraft did not always start in cold weather, and blizzards and fog “cancelled” flights. Nevertheless, the Chelyuskinites went every day to clear the airfield equipped on the ice floe.

On the fateful day for Chelyuskin, the wind jumped from 5 to 7 in the morning. A huge ice shaft was approaching the ship like a living monster. At 12 o'clock the first blow struck, so strong that the ship shuddered and creaked. A machine gun crack was heard from the left side - the ice had broken through the plating and was creeping into the cabins through gaping holes. People quickly divided into groups and began unloading everything they needed onto the ice. The work was clearly organized, there was no panic. Thanks to the fact that the ice that compressed the Chelyuskin remained in place for two hours, a lot was unloaded. As soon as the ice parted a little, the ship sank, taking with it into the abyss the ship’s caretaker, Mogilevich, who had hesitated. Everyone else managed to escape, including baby Karina and one-year-old Alla Buiko.

The hard, dangerous life of the Chelyuskinites on the ice floe began. In the black hole of ice the morning after the ship sank, logs, boards, and boxes floated up. They were cut out of ice and a barracks were built, followed by a galley and an observation tower. After the completion of these construction works, people could sleep and eat hot food in a warm room. Stoves, boilers, and dishes were made from metal barrels. Scientists did not stop their scientific work for a single day, using instruments to determine the location of the ice floe, studying weather conditions and the behavior of ice.

Women sewed mittens for work from tarpaulin; under the current conditions, fur mittens immediately became wet and became useless. On a board nailed to two poles stuck in the snow, the wall newspaper “We will not surrender!” appeared. Drifting on an ice floe at the will of the wind, it didn’t even occur to the people that they could be abandoned to the mercy of fate in icy silence; they firmly believed that they would be saved, that the Motherland would not leave them in trouble.

Meanwhile, the ice under the Chelyuskin camp lived its own life. Sometimes it suddenly cracked under food tents, sometimes it pulled apart and tore a residential barracks in half, sometimes it rose up like hummocks on an airfield that had been cleared with such difficulty. We had to move the property to another location and start construction again.

Finally, on March 5, pilot Lyapidevsky made his way to the camp in his ANT-4 and removed 10 women and two children from the ice floe. What a holiday it was! People started dancing on the ice. Lyapidevsky was not destined to make a second flight - the engine failed in the air. But by this time, the Smolensk with 7 aircraft on board had already left Vladivostok to save the Chelyuskinites, the icebreaker Krasin was preparing for the trip, tractors, sleighs and even airships were being transported.

Only on April 7 did they wait for the next planes on the ice floe. Within a week, pilots Levanevsky, Molokov, Kamanin, Slepnev, Vodopyanov, Doronin, showing miracles of heroism, took the rest of the Chelyuskinites to the mainland. On April 13, 1933, the Schmidt camp ceased to exist.

"Chelyuskin" was crushed by ice before reaching the Pacific Ocean. But he still reached the Bering Strait, proving that the Northern Sea Route can be mastered. The scientific work carried out by a team of scientists provided the most valuable material: observations on the study of the currents of the northern seas, measuring ice fluctuations, ice chemistry, hydrobiology, meteorology and other useful information. The Chelyuskin expedition showed how to properly deploy an icebreaker fleet to ensure the passage of ships along the Northern Sea Route, and gave a number of valuable recommendations on the design of steamships for the Arctic.

70 years ago, the Chelyuskinites, risking their lives, set out on an unknown path with the sole goal of increasing the power and wealth of their country, realizing that its future depended on the proper use of natural resources.

And it's great that Russian Government is again turning its face to the problems of the North, that the words “Northern Sea Route” are again flashing on the pages of newspapers and magazines, the polar station “North Pole-32” is in operation, a project for an underwater Arctic transport system is being created, ice-class tankers are being built. Rising above the Arctic again Russian flag, which means that the work of the Chelyuskinites was not in vain.

Olga Timofeeva.

On the occasion of the anniversary of the rescue of the Chelyuskin expedition, I am posting my article published in our magazine "Picturesque Russia"

Once upon a time, every Soviet schoolchild knew about the expedition of the Chelyuskin steamship. 80 years separate us from the Chelyuskin epic. Few remember this story. And the majority, living in another country, know little at all about this dramatic and heroic event. Although once upon a time films were made about the heroes of the Chelyuskinites and songs were composed that were sung throughout the country. This is an amazing epic of courage and dedication.

Since the 30s. last century, the Soviet Union began extensive work on the development of the Northern sea ​​route as a transport route. The Soviet government implemented the traditional Russian idea of ​​developing the eastern and northern regions of the country. It started back in the 16th century. Ermak Timofeevich. It was scientifically formulated by Mikhail Lomonosov. But only in Soviet times was this idea able to come true. In 1928, by resolution of the Council of People's Commissars, the Arctic Government Commission was established. It was headed by the former commander-in-chief of the country's Armed Forces S.S. Kamenev. The commission included scientists and pilots. The commission supervised the creation of naval and aviation bases and weather stations on the coast of the Arctic Ocean and regulated the navigation of ships. The first practical result of the commission’s work was the rescue of the Nobile expedition, which suffered an accident on the airship “Italy”. Thanks to her efforts, the Soviet steamship Stavropol and the American schooner Nanuk, which had wintered in the ocean ice, were saved.

Expedition on the steamship "Chelyuskin"

The Soviet government was tasked with ensuring reliable navigation of merchant ships from Leningrad and Murmansk to Vladivostok along the northern sea route in one navigation, during the summer-autumn period.

In 1932, the icebreaker Sibiryakov was able to complete this task. The head of the expedition was Professor Otto Yulievich Schmidt, and the captain of the icebreaker was Vladimir Ivanovich Voronin. Immediately after the end of the expedition, the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route (Glavsevmorput) was created, which was tasked with mastering this route, providing it with technical equipment, building settlements and much more. O.Yu. was appointed head of the Main Northern Sea Route. Schmidt.

On the slipway in Copenhagen

In 1933, the transport ship Chelyuskin was sent along the Northern Sea Route. “Chelyuskin” was supposed to travel from Leningrad to its home port of Vladivostok in one navigation. It was assumed that the ship would be accompanied by icebreakers. But this did not happen.

The expedition on the Chelyuskin was headed by O.Yu. Schmidt, and V.I. was appointed captain. Voronin. There were 111 people on board - the ship's crew, scientists, journalists, a shift of winterers and builders for Wrangel Island. On February 13, 1934, crushed by ice in the Chukchi Sea, the ship sank. One person died, and 104 crew members landed on the ocean ice. Some of the cargo and food were removed from the ship. The rescue of the Chelyuskin crew became one of the most exciting and heroic pages of the Soviet era.

The Chelyuskin expedition was supposed to prove the suitability of the Northern Sea Route for supplying everything necessary to Siberia and the Far East. “Chelyuskin” was named in honor of Semyon Ivanovich Chelyuskin (1700-1764), a member of the Great Northern Expedition, who discovered the northernmost point of continental Eurasia (now Cape Chelyuskin). The ship was built at the shipyards of Burmeister and Wein (B&W, Copenhagen) in Denmark to order Soviet Union. The steamship was intended to sail between the mouth of the Lena (hence the original name of the ship “Lena”) and Vladivostok. In accordance with the technical data, the ship was the most modern cargo-passenger ship for that time. In accordance with Lloyd's classifications, she was classified as an icebreaker class steamship. The ship had a displacement of 7,500 tons.

Scheme of Schmidt's expedition routes

On July 16, 1933, “Chelyuskin” sailed from Leningrad to Murmansk, stopping at the docks in Copenhagen on the way to eliminate defects identified during the first voyage.

In Murmansk, the team was completed - those who showed themselves to be unsuitable were brought ashore. the best side. We loaded on board additional cargo that we did not have time to take in Leningrad. Preparing for a polar expedition is a separate topic. This is what the deputy head of the expedition, Ivan Kopusov, who was responsible for supplies, wrote: “It’s no joke: the amplitude is from a primus needle to a theodolite! All this came for “Chelyuskin” from all over our great country. We received cargo from Siberia, Ukraine, Vologda, Arkhangelsk, Omsk, Moscow. We sent representatives to all parts of the Union to speed up the execution of orders and their progress along the railways. All people’s commissariats participated in the preparation of the expedition.”

The expedition also took food issues seriously. To supply the crew with fresh meat, they took with them 26 live cows and 4 small piglets, which then turned into healthy hogs and helped diversify the ship's menu. On August 2, 1933, Chelyuskin left the port of Murmansk for Vladivostok, while working out a scheme for delivering cargo along the Northern Sea Route in one summer navigation.

The passage in the open sea showed the shortcomings of the Chelyuskin’s special shape - it rocked, like a real icebreaker, strongly and rapidly. At the very first encounters with ice in the Kara Sea, the ship was damaged in the bow. The fact is that it was overloaded (carrying coal for the icebreaker Krasin), and the reinforced ice belt was below the waterline, so the steamer encountered ice floes with a less protected upper part of the hull. To install additional wooden fastenings, it was necessary to unload the bow hold from coal.

How this was done was described by the head of the expedition, Otto Schmidt: “This operation had to be done quickly, and here for the first time in this voyage we used the same method of general rush operations, which already on the Sibiryakov and in previous expeditions turned out to be not only necessary for a quick end work, but also an excellent means of team building. All participants in the expedition, both scientists and builders, sailors and business executives, carried coal, breaking into teams, between which the competition took place brightly and with great excitement.”

The voyage was successful all the way to Novaya Zemlya. Then “Chelyuskin” entered the Kara Sea, which immediately showed both its “bad” character and the defenselessness of “Chelyuskin” in front of real polar ice. Serious deformation of the hull and a leak appeared on August 13, 1933. The question of returning back arose, but the decision was made to continue the journey.

An important event took place in the Kara Sea - Dorothea Ivanovna (maiden name Dorfman) and surveyor Vasily Gavrilovich Vasilyev, who were heading to Wrangel Island for the winter, had a daughter. The birth record was made by V.I. Voronin in the ship's log "Chelyuskin". It read: “August 31st. 5 o'clock 30 m. The Vasiliev couple had a child, a girl. Countable latitude 75°46’51” north, longitude 91°06’ east, sea depth 52 meters.” The girl was named Karina.

“The fate of this girl is curious, who was born at 75° latitude and in the first year of her life suffered a shipwreck, life on ice, a flight to Uelen and a solemn return to Moscow, where she was caressed by Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin and Maxim Gorky,” Otto Schmidt later wrote .

The fate of Karina Vasilievna Vasilyeva is really interesting. She now lives in St. Petersburg and her passport actually says her birthplace is the Kara Sea. “My birth happened before Chelyuskin was captured by the ice,” recalls Karina Vasilievna. - But I was born on board a ship. Then a difficult ice situation developed. When a strong compression occurred, the side tore apart, and the expedition landed on the ice. Through a huge hole it was possible to go out onto the ice. The first 3 days were very harsh, as everyone lived in rag tents at temperatures below 30 degrees below zero. Then the barracks were ready. It was insulated with snow and ice. We made a stove out of a barrel. Mom and I were placed near the stove. Water was heated from ice. They bathed me in it. We lived on the ice floe for 21 days.”

The Laptev and East Siberian seas "Chelyuskin" passed relatively freely. But the Chukchi Sea was occupied by ice. Pyotr Buyko, who was to become the head of the polar station on Wrangel Island, recalls: “The ship fought, it fought, moving towards the east. Vladimir Ivanovich Voronin sat longer and longer in a barrel on Mars, nicknamed the “crow’s nest,” from the height of the foremast, looking with binoculars for the blue strings of mines along which “Chelyuskin” was making his way. More and more often, the road was blocked by heavy, bull-like ice of a different, stronger type than in the seas they had traversed. But Vladimir Ivanovich did not give up, and “Chelyuskin” pushed away the jelly sludge with its cheekbones and crashed into the ice fields with its stem, like a wedge. Schmidt does not leave the bridge, his hands are in the pockets of his seal coat, and from under his cap his eyes vigilantly search the horizon. He is outwardly calm. But he is also worried about the pace of progress.”
Heavy ice began to appear in the East Siberian Sea. On September 9 and 10, the Chelyuskin received dents on the starboard and port sides, one of the frames burst, and the ship’s leak intensified. The experience of Far Eastern captains who sailed the northern seas said that September 15-20 is the latest date for entering the Bering Strait. Swimming in the Arctic in the fall is difficult. In winter - impossible. The ship froze in the ice and began to drift.

Last photo - the death of "Chelyuskin"

On November 4, 1934, thanks to a successful drift, the Chelyuskin entered the Bering Strait. There were only a few miles left to clear water. But no effort by the team could save the situation. Movement to the south became impossible. In the strait, ice began to move in the opposite direction, and “Chelyuskin” again found itself in the Chukchi Sea. The fate of the ship depended entirely on the ice conditions. Otto Schmidt recalled: “At noon, the ice wall on the left in front of the steamer moved and rolled towards us. The ice rolled over each other like the scallops of sea waves. The height of the shaft reached eight meters above the sea.” The ship, trapped by ice, could not move independently. Fate was not merciful.

All this preceded the famous radiogram from O.Yu. Schmidt: “Polar Sea, February 14. On February 13 at 15:30, 155 miles from Cape Severny and 144 miles from Cape Wells, the Chelyuskin sank, crushed by compression of the ice. Already the last night was alarming due to frequent compression and strong hummocking of the ice. On February 13, at 13:30, a sudden strong pressure tore the left side over a long distance from the bow hold to the engine room. At the same time, the steam pipes burst, which made it impossible to run drainage equipment, which, however, was useless due to the size of the leak. Two hours later it was all over. During these two hours, the long-prepared emergency supply of food, tents, sleeping bags, an airplane and a radio were unloaded onto the ice in an organized manner, without a single sign of panic. Unloading continued until the bow of the ship was already submerged under water. The leaders of the crew and expedition were the last to leave the ship, a few seconds before complete immersion. While trying to get off the ship, the caretaker Mogilevich died. He was crushed by a log and carried into the water. Head of the expedition Schmidt."

Boris Mogilevich became the only one killed during the entire Chelyuskin expedition.

Rescue of Chelyuskinites

104 people, led by O.Yu., were captured by the ice. Schmidt. Among the ice captives were two very young children - Alla Buiko, born in 1932, and the previously mentioned Karina Vasilyeva. To save people, a government commission was created under the leadership of Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V.V. Kuibysheva. On her instructions, on the Chukotka Peninsula, rescue issues were dealt with by an emergency “troika” headed by the head of the station at Cape Severny (now Cape Schmidt) G.G. Petrov. They were tasked with mobilizing dog and reindeer sleds and alerting the planes that were in Chukotka at that moment. The animals were needed to transport fuel from the bases at Cape Severny and the Uelen polar station to the Vankarem point closest to Schmidt’s camp. Airplanes were intended to save people.

Photo of Otto Schmidt on an ice floe in the camp

The rescue of the Chelyuskinites is a truly glorious page in the history of polar aviation. Her actions were constantly reported in the press. Many experts did not believe in the possibility of salvation. Some Western newspapers wrote that people on the ice were doomed, and raising hopes of salvation in them was inhumane, it would only worsen their suffering. There were no icebreakers that could sail in the winter conditions of the Arctic Ocean at that time. The only hope was in aviation. The government commission sent three groups of aircraft to rescue. Apart from two “Fleisters” and one “Junkers”, the rest of the aircraft were domestic.

The first landing at the expedition camp on March 5, 1934 was made by the crew of Anatoly Lyapidevsky on an ANT-4 aircraft. Before that, he made 28 missions, but only the 29th was successful. It was not easy to find a drifting ice floe with people in the fog. Lyapidevsky managed to land in 40-degree frost on an area measuring 150 by 400 meters. It was a real feat.

Pilots M.V. Vodopyanov, I.V. Doronin, N.P. Kamanin, S.A. Levanevsky, A.V. Lyapidevsky, V.S. Molokov and M.T. Slepnev, who took part in this operation, rightfully became the first Heroes of the Soviet Union. Their names in those years, and even more late time, the whole country knew. However, not everyone, especially now, knows that the pilots seconded to carry out the extremely dangerous mission of evacuating the O.Yu. Schmidt, there were significantly more than seven. Only a third of them were awarded the title of Hero.
However, there were few available means of air evacuation: on Cape Severny there was a damaged N-4 aircraft with pilot Kukanov, and on Uelen there were two ANT-4 aircraft with pilots Lyapidevsky and Chernyavsky and one U-2 with pilot Konkin. The technical condition of the last three cars was also cause for concern. At the proposal of the government commission, additional air transport was allocated for the operation. It was decided to transfer part of it as far north as possible by water, so that the planes could then go “under their own power” to the area of ​​rescue operations.

In accordance with this plan, two light aircraft "Sh-2" on the steamship "Stalingrad" were supposed to begin sailing from Petropavlovsk; five R-5 aircraft and two U-2 aircraft, which were to be flown by a group of pilots of the reconnaissance regiment of the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army (OKDVA), led by Kamanin, were intended to be transported by the Smolensk steamer from Vladivostok; From there, but by the steamer "Soviet", it was planned to relocate the planes of the pilots Bolotov and Svyatogorov. From the very beginning, the remaining aircraft faced difficult flights: three aircraft (two PS-3 and one R-5), at the controls of which the pilots Galyshev, Doronin and Vodopyanov were supposed to be, had to overcome a distance of almost 6000 km over unexplored mountain ranges and tundra, departing from Khabarovsk. Finally, the reserve group of pilots (Levanevsky and Slepnev) was required to get into the rescue area from US territory, namely from Alaska. As a result, in addition to the four aircraft available in the disaster zone, sixteen more aircraft were brought in to evacuate the Chelyuskinites.

Lyapidevsky took out 10 women and two children, and the second time his engine failed and he joined the Chelyuskinites. The mass evacuation began 13 days later and lasted two weeks. The pilots made 24 flights in difficult weather conditions. All of them then became the first Heroes of the Soviet Union - Anatoly Lyapidevsky, Mavriky Slepnev, Vasily Molokov, Nikolai Kamanin, Mikhail Vodopyanov and Ivan Doronin (the Gold Star medal appeared later), they were then awarded the Order of Lenin. The rest were presented with orders and medals.

Upon returning home, all participants in the ice epic basked in the glory. Streets and geographical features were named in their honor. They say that in the list of Soviet names, among Dazdravperma and Vladilen, a new one has appeared - “Otyushminald” - “Otto Yulievich Schmidt on the ice floe.”

Political information in the Chelyuskin camp, drawing by P. Reshetnikov

All participants in the ice drift, as well as G.A. Ushakova and G.G. Petrov, were awarded the Order of the Red Star and a six-month salary. The same orders, but without conferring the title of Hero, were also awarded to members of their crews, including American mechanics. The recipients of the country's highest award then became L.V. Petrov, M.A. Rukovsky, W. Lavery, P.A. Pelyutov, I.G. Devyatnikov, M.P. Shelyganov, G.V. Gribakin, K. Armstedt, V.A. Alexandrov, M.L. Ratushkin, A.K. Razin and Ya.G. Savin. In addition, all of the named aviators, unlike the Chelyuskinites, received bonuses in the amount of an annual salary. The authorities noted other pilots who participated in the rescue operation and also risked their lives more modestly.

The same resolution of the USSR Central Executive Committee, in accordance with which G.A. was awarded. Ushakov and G.G. Petrov, the Order of the Red Star and a six-month salary were awarded to V.L. Galyshev, B.A. Pivenshtein, B.V. Bastanzhiev and I.M. Demirov. These pilots, who for various reasons were stopped literally a step away from the ice camp, did no less than, for example, Levanevsky, who also did not break through to the Chelyuskinites and did not take out a single person from the ice floe, but, nevertheless, became a Hero (according to the official According to the unofficial version, it is believed that Sigismund Aleksandrovich received his high rank for transferring Ushakov to Vankarem; The rest of the pilots, who were involved in the rescue operation but, not of their own free will, were unable to take an effective part in it, were much less fortunate. They were simply forgotten...

80 years have passed since the names of the Chelyuskin heroes became a legend and a symbol of human feat and dedication. And this is one of the few cases when the state and the entire Russian, then Soviet, people empathized with the drama of the pioneers of the North. This is a rare case when everyone felt not like expendable material of history, which, sadly, is very specific to Russian history, but part of one state and people, about whom they think and for the sake of whose salvation they strain all their strength. Perhaps this is the most important lesson of the feat of the Chelyuskinites and the rescue expedition.

The article was written specifically for the magazine "Picturesque Russia"

Photo from the Schmidt family archive

The name of the steamship “Chelyuskin” is familiar to many Russians, especially older ones. At the same time, not everyone clearly remembers what exactly this ship became famous for. The Chelyuskin expedition in the mid-1930s was supposed to prove the suitability of using the Northern Sea Route (NSR), which was planned to be used to supply the Far East and Siberia with everything necessary. In the summer of 1932, the Soviet ice drift Alexander Sibiryakov successfully passed from Arkhangelsk to the Bering Strait. The success of the icebreaker was to be repeated by a cargo ship. The Chelyuskin steamship became such a vessel.

The ship was named after Semyon Ivanovich Chelyuskin (1700-1764), a member of the Great Northern Expedition. This Russian explorer discovered the northernmost point on the Eurasian continent - the cape that currently bears his name. It is worth noting that the 1932 campaign was not without adventure. The icebreaker Alexander Sibiryakov lost its propeller in the Bering Strait, so it had to move stern first under homemade sails. And yet he was able to travel from Murmansk to Vladivostok in just one navigation, that is, during the summer-autumn period. The captain of the icebreaker on this voyage was Vladimir Ivanovich Voronin, and the head of the expedition was the famous Soviet professor Otto Yulievich Schmidt.

Immediately after the completion of this first expedition to the USSR, the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route, or Glavsevmorput for short, was organized. New organization it was necessary to master this route, build the necessary settlements, provide the route with the necessary technical equipment and do much more. The above-mentioned O. Yu. Schmidt became the head of the Main Northern Sea Route. He planned to carry out a new trip along the NSR route already in 1933. With considerable difficulty, Schmidt managed to achieve the transfer to the Main Northern Sea Route of the new steamship Lena, just built at the Danish shipyards, which was renamed Chelyuskin.

The ship was built in Copenhagen at the shipyards of the Burmeister and Wein company by order of the USSR. It was a fairly large steamship of the latest design at that time. During the construction of the vessel, the conditions of its operation in ice were taken into account. The ship's hull had the appropriate shape, and the hull plating was reinforced. The ship also had a special room designed in case of forced wintering, when the power plant would have to be stopped so as not to waste fuel. There was even a small amphibious aircraft Sh-2 placed on board the ship. The plane could take off both from a large ice floe and from open water, and was intended for aerial reconnaissance.

It should be noted that in those years the Arctic achievements were a brilliant boon for Soviet propaganda. At this time, the polar explorers were the people whose place would be taken by the cosmonauts 30 years later. The theme of the development of the North in the Soviet Union was associated with the courage of polar explorers and the romance of Arctic everyday life; it did not leave the pages of Soviet newspapers and magazines, as well as fiction and movie screens. As a result, a whole generation of citizens was formed for whom work in the Soviet Arctic became a real lifelong endeavor. These people reflected the era of the 30s. They were motivated by everything sublime and pragmatic, romantic and terrible that was inherent in that time.

On July 16, 1933, the steamer Chelyuskin, under the command of the famous polar captain V.I. Voronin and the head of the expedition O.Yu. Schmidt, who, among other things, was a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, sailed from Leningrad to Murmansk. Along the way, the ship stopped at the Danish docks of the Burmeister and Wein company, where a number of identified defects were eliminated on the ship. On August 10, 1933, the ship left the port of Murmansk and set sail for Vladivostok. The expedition had to work out a scheme for delivering cargo along the NSR route in one summer navigation. On difficult sections of the route, it was planned to escort the Chelyuskin with the help of icebreakers.

At first, the voyage went quite successfully for the expedition. “Chelyuskin” managed to cover almost the entire route. The ship entered the Bering Strait and on November 7 sent a special welcoming radiogram to Moscow. However, ice began to move in the opposite direction in the strait. The steamship Chelyuskin, trapped in the ice, began moving in the opposite direction, again ending up in the Chukchi Sea. This return was accompanied by damage to the ship. As a result, the ship simply froze into a large ice floe and was forced to drift with it for several months. At the same time, at any moment the ice could move and simply crush the ship. And so it happened...

On February 13, 1934, a radiogram was broadcast that told the world about the death of the Chelyuskin steamship. The ship sank on February 13, 1934 at 15:30, 144 miles from Cape Uelen and 155 miles from Cape North, having been crushed by ice. The last to leave the ship were its captain Voronin and the head of the expedition, Schmidt, while the supply manager Boris Mogilevich hesitated on the deck of the ship and was crushed by a barrel that rolled onto him. He sank with the ship and became the only casualty of the expedition. After the ship was sunk, 104 people remained on the ice, including 10 women and 2 children (during the expedition, a daughter was born into the family of surveyor Vasilyev). Another 8 people left the ship before the events described near Cape Chelyuskin for various reasons, mainly due to illness.

The rescue of the Chelyuskinites turned into a real epic and became a glorious page in domestic polar aviation. The first landing at the Chelyuskin camp on March 5, 1934 was made by the crew of the ANT-4 aircraft under the control of Anatoly Lyapidevsky. Before this, the crew under his command made 28 missions, only the 29th was successful. This is not surprising: finding a drifting ice floe with polar explorers with periodically falling fog was not so easy. At the same time, Lyapidevsky managed to land the plane in a very limited area of ​​150 by 400 meters in 40-degree frost. This was a real feat.

On the first flight, the ANT-4 plane took 10 women and two children out of the camp, but the second time the plane’s engine failed and its crew was forced to join the Chelyuskinites. The mass evacuation of polar explorers began 13 days later and lasted two weeks. In total, Soviet pilots completed 24 flights and managed to save all 104 people who were trapped on the ice floe and spent 2 months on it in polar winter conditions. All pilots who took part in the rescue of polar explorers were nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Among them were Anatoly Lyapidevsky, Mavriky Slepnev, Vasily Molokov, Nikolai Kamanin, Mikhail Vodopyanov and Ivan Doronin. All participants in the winter on the ice floe, including B. Mogilevich, who died during the sinking of the ship, were awarded the Order of the Red Star (except for children). For their assistance in rescuing Soviet polar explorers, two Americans were also awarded - flight mechanics William Lavery and Clyde Armstead, who received the Order of Lenin.

In Moscow, all Chelyuskin residents were given a ceremonial meeting with the leadership of the Soviet Union and city residents; they were greeted as real heroes. The history of the steamship "Chelyuskin" is reflected in literature and cinema. Based on this expedition, several feature films were made and books were written. The memory of the Chelyuskinites was immortalized in large quantities streets that today can be found in many cities of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

In the recent past, attempts have been made to locate the wreck. The expeditions that were organized in 1974 and 1978 ended in nothing. A new search underwater expedition was organized already in Russia - in 2004, on the 70th anniversary of the events described. The expedition was named "Chelyuskin-70". The participants of this expedition announced the discovery of a sunken steamship in the same year, but pretty soon they managed to find out that this information is erroneous.

The ship was discovered in 2006. Fragments of the ship raised from the bottom of the sea and metal samples taken were sent to Denmark to the shipyards where the ship was built. In February 2007, a Danish shipbuilding company confirmed that the found fragments belonged to the Chelyuskin. In particular, the ventilation grille and railing post, which were raised from the bottom of the Chukchi Sea, actually belong to the legendary steamship. The discovery of the sunken steamer put an end to this whole story.

Sources of information:
http://www.diletant.ru/excursions/35543
http://monoblog.su/?p=7275
http://www.calend.ru/event/5888
http://www.testpilot.ru/review/ppt/cheluskin.htm

On the occasion of the anniversary of the rescue of the Chelyuskin expedition, I am posting my article published in our magazine "Picturesque Russia"

Once upon a time, every Soviet schoolchild knew about the expedition of the Chelyuskin steamship. 80 years separate us from the Chelyuskin epic. Few remember this story. And the majority, living in another country, know little at all about this dramatic and heroic event. Although once upon a time films were made about the heroes of the Chelyuskinites and songs were composed that were sung throughout the country. This is an amazing epic of courage and dedication.

Since the 30s. last century, the Soviet Union began extensive work on the development of the Northern Sea Route as a transport route. The Soviet government implemented the traditional Russian idea of ​​developing the eastern and northern regions of the country. It started back in the 16th century. Ermak Timofeevich. It was scientifically formulated by Mikhail Lomonosov. But only in Soviet times was this idea able to come true. In 1928, by resolution of the Council of People's Commissars, the Arctic Government Commission was established. It was headed by the former commander-in-chief of the country's Armed Forces S.S. Kamenev. The commission included scientists and pilots. The commission supervised the creation of naval and aviation bases and weather stations on the coast of the Arctic Ocean and regulated the navigation of ships. The first practical result of the commission’s work was the rescue of the Nobile expedition, which suffered an accident on the airship “Italy”. Thanks to her efforts, the Soviet steamship Stavropol and the American schooner Nanuk, which had wintered in the ocean ice, were saved.

Expedition on the steamship "Chelyuskin"

The Soviet government was tasked with ensuring reliable navigation of merchant ships from Leningrad and Murmansk to Vladivostok along the northern sea route in one navigation, during the summer-autumn period.

In 1932, the icebreaker Sibiryakov was able to complete this task. The head of the expedition was Professor Otto Yulievich Schmidt, and the captain of the icebreaker was Vladimir Ivanovich Voronin. Immediately after the end of the expedition, the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route (Glavsevmorput) was created, which was tasked with mastering this route, providing it with technical equipment, building settlements and much more. O.Yu. was appointed head of the Main Northern Sea Route. Schmidt.

On the slipway in Copenhagen

In 1933, the transport ship Chelyuskin was sent along the Northern Sea Route. “Chelyuskin” was supposed to travel from Leningrad to its home port of Vladivostok in one navigation. It was assumed that the ship would be accompanied by icebreakers. But this did not happen.

The expedition on the Chelyuskin was headed by O.Yu. Schmidt, and V.I. was appointed captain. Voronin. There were 111 people on board - the ship's crew, scientists, journalists, a shift of winterers and builders for Wrangel Island. On February 13, 1934, crushed by ice in the Chukchi Sea, the ship sank. One person died, and 104 crew members landed on the ocean ice. Some of the cargo and food were removed from the ship. The rescue of the Chelyuskin crew became one of the most exciting and heroic pages of the Soviet era.

The Chelyuskin expedition was supposed to prove the suitability of the Northern Sea Route for supplying everything necessary to Siberia and the Far East. “Chelyuskin” was named in honor of Semyon Ivanovich Chelyuskin (1700-1764), a member of the Great Northern Expedition, who discovered the northernmost point of continental Eurasia (now Cape Chelyuskin). The ship was built at the shipyards of Burmeister and Wein (B&W, Copenhagen) in Denmark, commissioned by the Soviet Union. The steamship was intended to sail between the mouth of the Lena (hence the original name of the ship “Lena”) and Vladivostok. In accordance with the technical data, the ship was the most modern cargo-passenger ship for that time. In accordance with Lloyd's classifications, she was classified as an icebreaker class steamship. The ship had a displacement of 7,500 tons.

Scheme of Schmidt's expedition routes

On July 16, 1933, “Chelyuskin” sailed from Leningrad to Murmansk, stopping at the docks in Copenhagen on the way to eliminate defects identified during the first voyage.

In Murmansk, the team was completed - those who did not show their best side were brought ashore. We loaded on board additional cargo that we did not have time to take in Leningrad. Preparing for a polar expedition is a separate topic. This is what the deputy head of the expedition, Ivan Kopusov, who was responsible for supplies, wrote: “It’s no joke: the amplitude is from a primus needle to a theodolite! All this came for “Chelyuskin” from all over our great country. We received cargo from Siberia, Ukraine, Vologda, Arkhangelsk, Omsk, Moscow. We sent representatives to all parts of the Union to speed up the execution of orders and their progress along the railways. All people’s commissariats participated in the preparation of the expedition.”

The expedition also took food issues seriously. To supply the crew with fresh meat, they took with them 26 live cows and 4 small piglets, which then turned into healthy hogs and helped diversify the ship's menu. On August 2, 1933, Chelyuskin left the port of Murmansk for Vladivostok, while working out a scheme for delivering cargo along the Northern Sea Route in one summer navigation.

The passage in the open sea showed the shortcomings of the Chelyuskin’s special shape - it rocked, like a real icebreaker, strongly and rapidly. At the very first encounters with ice in the Kara Sea, the ship was damaged in the bow. The fact is that it was overloaded (carrying coal for the icebreaker Krasin), and the reinforced ice belt was below the waterline, so the steamer encountered ice floes with a less protected upper part of the hull. To install additional wooden fastenings, it was necessary to unload the bow hold from coal.

How this was done was described by the head of the expedition, Otto Schmidt: “This operation had to be done quickly, and here for the first time in this voyage we used the same method of general rush operations, which already on the Sibiryakov and in previous expeditions turned out to be not only necessary for a quick end work, but also an excellent means of team building. All participants in the expedition, both scientists and builders, sailors and business executives, carried coal, breaking into teams, between which the competition took place brightly and with great excitement.”

The voyage was successful all the way to Novaya Zemlya. Then “Chelyuskin” entered the Kara Sea, which immediately showed both its “bad” character and the defenselessness of “Chelyuskin” in front of real polar ice. Serious deformation of the hull and a leak appeared on August 13, 1933. The question of returning back arose, but the decision was made to continue the journey.

An important event took place in the Kara Sea - Dorothea Ivanovna (maiden name Dorfman) and surveyor Vasily Gavrilovich Vasilyev, who were heading to Wrangel Island for the winter, had a daughter. The birth record was made by V.I. Voronin in the ship's log "Chelyuskin". It read: “August 31st. 5 o'clock 30 m. The Vasiliev couple had a child, a girl. Countable latitude 75°46’51” north, longitude 91°06’ east, sea depth 52 meters.” The girl was named Karina.

“The fate of this girl is curious, who was born at 75° latitude and in the first year of her life suffered a shipwreck, life on ice, a flight to Uelen and a solemn return to Moscow, where she was caressed by Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin and Maxim Gorky,” Otto Schmidt later wrote .

The fate of Karina Vasilievna Vasilyeva is really interesting. She now lives in St. Petersburg and her passport actually says her birthplace is the Kara Sea. “My birth happened before Chelyuskin was captured by the ice,” recalls Karina Vasilievna. - But I was born on board a ship. Then a difficult ice situation developed. When a strong compression occurred, the side tore apart, and the expedition landed on the ice. Through a huge hole it was possible to go out onto the ice. The first 3 days were very harsh, as everyone lived in rag tents at temperatures below 30 degrees below zero. Then the barracks were ready. It was insulated with snow and ice. We made a stove out of a barrel. Mom and I were placed near the stove. Water was heated from ice. They bathed me in it. We lived on the ice floe for 21 days.”

The Laptev and East Siberian seas "Chelyuskin" passed relatively freely. But the Chukchi Sea was occupied by ice. Pyotr Buyko, who was to become the head of the polar station on Wrangel Island, recalls: “The ship fought, it fought, moving towards the east. Vladimir Ivanovich Voronin sat longer and longer in a barrel on Mars, nicknamed the “crow’s nest,” from the height of the foremast, looking with binoculars for the blue strings of mines along which “Chelyuskin” was making his way. More and more often, the road was blocked by heavy, bull-like ice of a different, stronger type than in the seas they had traversed. But Vladimir Ivanovich did not give up, and “Chelyuskin” pushed away the jelly sludge with its cheekbones and crashed into the ice fields with its stem, like a wedge. Schmidt does not leave the bridge, his hands are in the pockets of his seal coat, and from under his cap his eyes vigilantly search the horizon. He is outwardly calm. But he is also worried about the pace of progress.”
Heavy ice began to appear in the East Siberian Sea. On September 9 and 10, the Chelyuskin received dents on the starboard and port sides, one of the frames burst, and the ship’s leak intensified. The experience of Far Eastern captains who sailed the northern seas said that September 15-20 is the latest date for entering the Bering Strait. Swimming in the Arctic in the fall is difficult. In winter - impossible. The ship froze in the ice and began to drift.

Last photo - the death of "Chelyuskin"

On November 4, 1934, thanks to a successful drift, the Chelyuskin entered the Bering Strait. There were only a few miles left to clear water. But no effort by the team could save the situation. Movement to the south became impossible. In the strait, ice began to move in the opposite direction, and “Chelyuskin” again found itself in the Chukchi Sea. The fate of the ship depended entirely on the ice conditions. Otto Schmidt recalled: “At noon, the ice wall on the left in front of the steamer moved and rolled towards us. The ice rolled over each other like the scallops of sea waves. The height of the shaft reached eight meters above the sea.” The ship, trapped by ice, could not move independently. Fate was not merciful.

All this preceded the famous radiogram from O.Yu. Schmidt: “Polar Sea, February 14. On February 13 at 15:30, 155 miles from Cape Severny and 144 miles from Cape Wells, the Chelyuskin sank, crushed by compression of the ice. Already the last night was alarming due to frequent compression and strong hummocking of the ice. On February 13, at 13:30, a sudden strong pressure tore the left side over a long distance from the bow hold to the engine room. At the same time, the steam pipes burst, which made it impossible to run drainage equipment, which, however, was useless due to the size of the leak. Two hours later it was all over. During these two hours, the long-prepared emergency supply of food, tents, sleeping bags, an airplane and a radio were unloaded onto the ice in an organized manner, without a single sign of panic. Unloading continued until the bow of the ship was already submerged under water. The leaders of the crew and expedition were the last to leave the ship, a few seconds before complete immersion. While trying to get off the ship, the caretaker Mogilevich died. He was crushed by a log and carried into the water. Head of the expedition Schmidt."

Boris Mogilevich became the only one killed during the entire Chelyuskin expedition.

Rescue of Chelyuskinites

104 people, led by O.Yu., were captured by the ice. Schmidt. Among the ice captives were two very young children - Alla Buiko, born in 1932, and the previously mentioned Karina Vasilyeva. To save people, a government commission was created under the leadership of Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V.V. Kuibysheva. On her instructions, on the Chukotka Peninsula, rescue issues were dealt with by an emergency “troika” headed by the head of the station at Cape Severny (now Cape Schmidt) G.G. Petrov. They were tasked with mobilizing dog and reindeer sleds and alerting the planes that were in Chukotka at that moment. The animals were needed to transport fuel from the bases at Cape Severny and the Uelen polar station to the Vankarem point closest to Schmidt’s camp. Airplanes were intended to save people.

Photo of Otto Schmidt on an ice floe in the camp

The rescue of the Chelyuskinites is a truly glorious page in the history of polar aviation. Her actions were constantly reported in the press. Many experts did not believe in the possibility of salvation. Some Western newspapers wrote that people on the ice were doomed, and raising hopes of salvation in them was inhumane, it would only worsen their suffering. There were no icebreakers that could sail in the winter conditions of the Arctic Ocean at that time. The only hope was in aviation. The government commission sent three groups of aircraft to rescue. Apart from two “Fleisters” and one “Junkers”, the rest of the aircraft were domestic.

The first landing at the expedition camp on March 5, 1934 was made by the crew of Anatoly Lyapidevsky on an ANT-4 aircraft. Before that, he made 28 missions, but only the 29th was successful. It was not easy to find a drifting ice floe with people in the fog. Lyapidevsky managed to land in 40-degree frost on an area measuring 150 by 400 meters. It was a real feat.

Pilots M.V. Vodopyanov, I.V. Doronin, N.P. Kamanin, S.A. Levanevsky, A.V. Lyapidevsky, V.S. Molokov and M.T. Slepnev, who took part in this operation, rightfully became the first Heroes of the Soviet Union. In those years, and even at a later time, the whole country knew their names. However, not everyone, especially now, knows that the pilots seconded to carry out the extremely dangerous mission of evacuating the O.Yu. Schmidt, there were significantly more than seven. Only a third of them were awarded the title of Hero.
However, there were few available means of air evacuation: on Cape Severny there was a damaged N-4 aircraft with pilot Kukanov, and on Uelen there were two ANT-4 aircraft with pilots Lyapidevsky and Chernyavsky and one U-2 with pilot Konkin. The technical condition of the last three cars was also cause for concern. At the proposal of the government commission, additional air transport was allocated for the operation. It was decided to transfer part of it as far north as possible by water, so that the planes could then go “under their own power” to the area of ​​rescue operations.

In accordance with this plan, two light aircraft "Sh-2" on the steamship "Stalingrad" were supposed to begin sailing from Petropavlovsk; five R-5 aircraft and two U-2 aircraft, which were to be flown by a group of pilots of the reconnaissance regiment of the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army (OKDVA), led by Kamanin, were intended to be transported by the Smolensk steamer from Vladivostok; From there, but by the steamer "Soviet", it was planned to relocate the planes of the pilots Bolotov and Svyatogorov. From the very beginning, the remaining aircraft faced difficult flights: three aircraft (two PS-3 and one R-5), at the controls of which the pilots Galyshev, Doronin and Vodopyanov were supposed to be, had to overcome a distance of almost 6000 km over unexplored mountain ranges and tundra, departing from Khabarovsk. Finally, the reserve group of pilots (Levanevsky and Slepnev) was required to get into the rescue area from US territory, namely from Alaska. As a result, in addition to the four aircraft available in the disaster zone, sixteen more aircraft were brought in to evacuate the Chelyuskinites.

Lyapidevsky took out 10 women and two children, and the second time his engine failed and he joined the Chelyuskinites. The mass evacuation began 13 days later and lasted two weeks. The pilots made 24 flights in difficult weather conditions. All of them then became the first Heroes of the Soviet Union - Anatoly Lyapidevsky, Mavriky Slepnev, Vasily Molokov, Nikolai Kamanin, Mikhail Vodopyanov and Ivan Doronin (the Gold Star medal appeared later), they were then awarded the Order of Lenin. The rest were presented with orders and medals.

Upon returning home, all participants in the ice epic basked in the glory. Streets and geographical features were named in their honor. They say that in the list of Soviet names, among Dazdravperma and Vladilen, a new one has appeared - “Otyushminald” - “Otto Yulievich Schmidt on the ice floe.”

Political information in the Chelyuskin camp, drawing by P. Reshetnikov

All participants in the ice drift, as well as G.A. Ushakova and G.G. Petrov, were awarded the Order of the Red Star and a six-month salary. The same orders, but without conferring the title of Hero, were also awarded to members of their crews, including American mechanics. The recipients of the country's highest award then became L.V. Petrov, M.A. Rukovsky, W. Lavery, P.A. Pelyutov, I.G. Devyatnikov, M.P. Shelyganov, G.V. Gribakin, K. Armstedt, V.A. Alexandrov, M.L. Ratushkin, A.K. Razin and Ya.G. Savin. In addition, all of the named aviators, unlike the Chelyuskinites, received bonuses in the amount of an annual salary. The authorities noted other pilots who participated in the rescue operation and also risked their lives more modestly.

The same resolution of the USSR Central Executive Committee, in accordance with which G.A. was awarded. Ushakov and G.G. Petrov, the Order of the Red Star and a six-month salary were awarded to V.L. Galyshev, B.A. Pivenshtein, B.V. Bastanzhiev and I.M. Demirov. These pilots, who for various reasons were stopped literally a step away from the ice camp, did no less than, for example, Levanevsky, who also did not break through to the Chelyuskinites and did not take out a single person from the ice floe, but, nevertheless, became a Hero (according to the official According to the unofficial version, it is believed that Sigismund Aleksandrovich received his high rank for transferring Ushakov to Vankarem; The rest of the pilots, who were involved in the rescue operation but, not of their own free will, were unable to take an effective part in it, were much less fortunate. They were simply forgotten...

80 years have passed since the names of the Chelyuskin heroes became a legend and a symbol of human feat and dedication. And this is one of the few cases when the state and the entire Russian, then Soviet, people empathized with the drama of the pioneers of the North. This is a rare case when everyone felt not like expendable material of history, which, sadly, is very specific to Russian history, but part of one state and people, about whom they think and for the sake of whose salvation they strain all their strength. Perhaps this is the most important lesson of the feat of the Chelyuskinites and the rescue expedition.

The article was written specifically for the magazine "Picturesque Russia"

Photo from the Schmidt family archive

Once upon a time, the story of the first and only voyage of the Chelyuskin steamship, as well as the rescue of the Chelyuskin residents after the death of the ship, was known to the whole world. But decades have passed, and today the names no longer mean anything to most Otto Schmidt, Ernst Krenkel and captain Vladimir Voronin…

Meanwhile, the events of 80 years ago have many similarities with today. Then, as now, the question was about the development of the North and about proving our country’s rights to vast territories in the Arctic Ocean.

The country needs the North

The Soviet Union began to defend domestic priority in the Arctic at the dawn of its existence: in 1923, the Soviet government announced that all lands located in the Soviet sector of the Arctic belonged to the USSR. Not all neighbors agreed with this; other countries, for example Norway, also had their own claims.

It is not enough to declare a priority; one must also convincingly prove that the state is able to solve the problem of developing the coast of the Arctic Ocean.

To do this, it was necessary to establish navigation along the so-called Northern Sea Route - the shortest route from Europe to Far East, running through the seas of the Arctic Ocean.

The main difficulty was the multi-year Arctic ice, which interfered with navigation. Nevertheless, the Northern Sea Route was partially functioning by the early 1930s. Industrial transportation took place on the section from the Yenisei to the White Sea, as well as from Kolyma to Vladivostok. The next stage was to cover the entire Northern Sea Route in one navigation.

One of the main enthusiasts involved in northern research during this period was Otto Yulievich Schmidt, a world-famous scientist.

In 1932, Otto Schmidt's expedition on the icebreaking steamer Alexander Sibiryakov, under the command of Captain Vladimir Voronin, managed to sail from the White Sea to the Barents Sea in one navigation, thereby for the first time carrying out end-to-end navigation along the Northern Sea Route. True, during the voyage, due to an encounter with heavy ice, the ship lost its propeller, passing last part ways under sail and in tow, but the significance of the achievement did not decrease from this.

The success inspired the Soviet leaders, who, based on the results of the voyage, decided to create the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route. The management's task included the final preparation and arrangement of the Northern Sea Route for its industrial operation. Otto Schmidt became the head of the Main Northern Sea Route.

The head of the expedition on the steamship "Chelyuskin", one of the organizers of the development of the Northern Sea Route, Otto Yulievich Schmidt (1891-1956). Photo: RIA Novosti

Big adventure

The 1930s were a time of enthusiasts and adventurers, and Otto Yulievich Schmidt certainly belonged to this cohort. Striving to achieve results as quickly as possible, he did not take into account difficulties and dangers. Sometimes the risks he took became excessive.

In 1933, Schmidt decided to prove that not only icebreakers and specially prepared vessels, but also ordinary heavy dry cargo ships could pass along the Northern Sea Route. It was supposed to work out the interaction of a cargo ship and icebreakers in practical conditions.

The transport steamship Lena, which had just been built in Denmark by order of the USSR, was chosen as the vessel for the expedition, which was renamed Chelyuskin in honor of the famous Russian Arctic explorer.

Captain Vladimir Voronin, having examined the new vessel, drew attention to a number of significant design flaws, as well as the fact that the Chelyuskin was not suitable for navigation among ice.

But Voronin's cautious remarks could not compete with Schmidt's enthusiasm. There was so much doubt about the success of the upcoming expedition that the surveyor Vasiliev, for example, went sailing with his pregnant wife. The expedition, according to historians, generally included many “extra” people, without whom such a serious voyage could well have been done.

Fatal mistake

The ship left Leningrad for Murmansk on July 16, 1933 and on the way was forced to call at Copenhagen for minor repairs. The ship left Murmansk for Vladivostok on August 2. It was heavily overloaded, since on board there were cargo for the winterers, prefabricated houses for the village on Wrangel Island, as well as a seaplane for air reconnaissance.

The steamship "Chelyuskin" departs from the Arkhangelsk port, 1933. Photo: RIA Novosti

Already on August 15, during the first serious encounter with heavy ice, the ship was damaged. However, the icebreaker Krasin, called to help, made a way for Chelyuskin. At the same time, the steamer was still sailing under a serious load, since the channel pierced by the Krasin was narrow for a heavy cargo ship.

However, the expedition continued, and without incident, “Chelyuskin” reached the Chukchi Sea, where it was trapped by multi-year ice. In view of this, Chelyuskin was unable to approach Wrangel Island as planned. From mid-October to early November, the ship drifted towards the Bering Strait and reached it on November 4. In fact, the Northern Sea Route has been completed. The ice became noticeably thinner, and the Chelyuskin was only a few kilometers away from clean water. Nearby was the icebreaker Litke, which offered to break through a passage to clean water for Chelyuskin.

And here Otto Schmidt made a fatal mistake. Apparently believing that “Chelyuskin” would be free on his own within a few hours, he rejected help from “Litka”. The icebreaker set off to carry out its tasks, and already on the evening of November 4, the Chelyuskin began to drift away from the clear water into the depths of the ice fields.

Captain of the steamship "Chelyuskin" Vladimir Voronin on the bridge. Photo: RIA Novosti

The situation began to deteriorate rapidly, but Schmidt turned to Litka for help only ten days later. Time was lost - between the ships there were now fields of multi-year ice that even an icebreaker could not overcome. It became clear that the Chelyuskin crew would be spending the winter in the ice.

The death of "Chelyuskin"

What was even worse was that there were serious concerns about the safety of the ship. The ice was pressing harder and harder, and the leadership of the expedition decided to place all important cargo on the deck in case of emergency evacuation.

The ordeal of “Chelyuskin” continued until February 13, 1934, when the denouement came. A powerful pressure of ice created a crack a meter wide and 30 meters long in the left side. It became clear that Chelyuskin would soon sink to the bottom.

The evacuation was hasty, but not panicky. We managed to transfer everything necessary to create a camp onto the ice. However, it was not possible to do without tragedy. One of the expedition members was late with the evacuation, was crushed by the displaced cargo and died.

At about 16:00 on February 13, the Chelyuskin sank. There were 104 people left on the Arctic ice, including two children, one of whom was the newborn daughter of surveyor Vasilyev, Karina. The message about the disaster was transmitted to the mainland by the expedition's radio operator Ernst Krenkel.

A government commission was created in Moscow to save the Schmidt expedition under the leadership Valeriana Kuibysheva. Under the current conditions, it was only possible to save people with the help of aviation. Airplanes and the most experienced pilots were urgently transferred to Chukotka.

By that time, there was no Arctic aviation in the country, or indeed in the world, and pilots had to learn a new profession by trial and error.

Air bridge

One of the first to search for the Chelyuskin camp was the pilot Anatoly Lyapidevsky, who made 28 unsuccessful attempts to find him. Only on March 5, Lyapidevsky’s crew noticed the expedition’s seaplane and the people next to it on the ice.

The area cleared for the airfield was extremely small, nevertheless Lyapidevsky managed to land his ANT-4. Having taken all the women and children (12 people), Lyapidevsky safely delivered them to the mainland.

It seemed that the salvation of all the Chelyuskinites was a matter of several days, but the engine of Lyapidevsky’s plane failed. The rescue operation was resumed only a month later, on April 7. Pilots took part in the evacuation of Chelyuskinites Nikolay Kamanin(future head of the first cosmonaut corps), Mikhail Vodopyanov(it is he who will soon land the winterers of the first drifting station “North Pole-1” on the ice), Vasily Molokov, Mauritius Slepnev And Ivan Doronin. Another pilot Sigismund Levanevsky, will suffer an accident on the way to the place of the rescue expedition and will himself become the object of rescue. Despite this, he will be among the pilots awarded following the operation.

The pilots who took part in the rescue of the expedition from the Chelyuskin steamship. On the left is Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Kamanin. Photo: RIA Novosti

People were taken to the Chukotka camp of Vankarem, which became the center of the rescue operation, and from there they were sent further into the interior of the country.

The seaplane pilots arrived independently from the camp and flew to Vankarem on April 2. Most of the Chelyuskinites were rescued between April 7 and April 13, under increasingly deteriorating conditions. The ice field on which the camp was located was destroyed, and on April 9 the runway was seriously damaged. Despite this, the pilots continued to fly.

The last to leave the camp on April 13 was the captain of the Chelyuskin, Vladimir Voronin. The pilots made it on time - a day later a powerful storm completely destroyed the Chelyuskin camp.

Honoring Saviors and the Saved

The story of “Chelyuskin” and the rescue of its crew shocked the whole world. The very rescue of so many people in polar conditions had no analogues in history. The success of the pilots was duly noted - all the pilots who saved people, as well as Levanevsky, became the first to be awarded the newly established title of “Hero of the Soviet Union.” A little-known fact, but in addition to the pilots, two American flight mechanics who served American aircraft purchased for the rescue operation were also awarded. Clyde Armstead And William Lavery were awarded the Order of Lenin. All participants in the winter camp, except children, were awarded the Order of the Red Star.

The country honored the Chelyuskinites and their saviors as heroes. The general enthusiasm was even reflected in the emergence of original names for newborns, such as Oyushminald(Otto Yulievich Schmidt on an ice floe).

Jubilant crowds of Muscovites greet the participants in the Chelyuskin ice epic. Photo: RIA Novosti

At the official level, it was stated that the voyage of the Chelyuskin proved the reality of the complete development of the Northern Sea Route. Foreign experts, however, were not so optimistic, believing that the Chelyuskin disaster just proved the complexity of this task.

However, even in the USSR, without saying too much about it out loud, they drew the appropriate conclusions. From that moment on, ships that were much better prepared than the Chelyuskin were sent to the Northern Sea Route, the icebreaker fleet began to grow, and icebreaker piloting of cargo ships in heavy ice was practiced. The development of the Northern Sea Route continued.

Famous British playwright Bernard Shaw, speaking about the epic of the Chelyuskinites, noted: “The USSR is an amazing country: you turned even a tragedy into a triumph.”