Motor ship Korolenko - description, photo. Like a steamboat goes to the heart

After a whole gamut came off the stocks cargo ships- tankers and tugs, it became clear that the appearance of a passenger ship is not far off. The "first swallow" was not long in coming - in 1910, the wheeled motor ship "Ural", built for the Lyubimov shipping company, left the stocks of the Kolomna plant. In 1916, the ship died - approaching Perm, an explosion thundered in the car.
And next year "Caucasus and Mercury" orders a series of screw motor ships. Diesel came to the fleet and firmly took its place.

So it was - the first screw passenger ship - "Borodino". Built - 1911, Kolomna Plant, (now Kolommashzavod), owners - the Kavkaz and Mercury Society, the Volga United Shipping Company (VORP), the former name - Borodino (1911-1917), Comrade. Raskolnikov (1918 - 1938), Tov. Mikoyan (1939 - 1947), Borodino (1948 - 1985). Overhaul - internavigation period 1954 - 1956, diesel engines were replaced with German 6NVD48. Decommissioned - 1985, sank and scrapped for metal - 1997

"Uritsky", built in 1913, Kolomna plant. ex. "Tsargrad" (1913 - 1919), since 1920 - "Uritsky", decommissioned in 1991. accurate information about it future fate No

"25th October", built - 1914, Kolomna plant. Former "Tsar Michael" (1914-1916), Kyiv (1916-1918), from 01.10.1918 - 25 October. Burned down in Astrakhan along with the same type "Seventeenth Year" and the motor ship "Valentina Tereshkova" (project 588) during internavigation repairs in the winter of 1978

"Seventeenth year". Built - 1912. Initially, the name was given to him "The Twelfth Year" - it is quite possible that, like "Borodino" - here the choice of name is quite connected with the centenary of the Battle of Borodino. From 1918 to 1935 - the Year of the October Revolution, from 1935 - the seventeenth year. Burned down at the Astrakhan Shipyard in 1978.

"Paris Commune" departs from the Gorky river station. Built - 1914. This ship was "lucky" - the first time it was renamed even before launching - the construction name was "Ivan the Terrible", but after delivery to the customer - Petrograd (1914 - 1918), in 1919 it was renamed twice - "Friedrich Adler", then " Memory of the Paris Commune", since 1920 - "Paris Commune". Decommissioned - 1991, in 1999 burned down on a slipway shipyard in White City.

The only ship of the Kolomna series that has survived to this day, though in a terrible state - "Memory of Comrade Markin" (built - 1912, until 1918 - Bagration. Renamed after the death of the first commissar of the Volga Military Flotilla Markin Nikolai Grigorievich). A lot of interesting historical photos and the history of the ship a - .

"Henri Barbusse" - the hull was assembled in Kolomna, final assembly - Balakovo Shipyard. The motor ship belongs to the so-called series. "Voenmorov" (after the name of the lead ship "Narkomvoenmor Voroshilov"). Vessels of this type have not been preserved. These motor ships were a copy of the pre-revolutionary "Kolomenskaya" series (of the Borodino type), the construction of motor ships began in 1933.

"DneproGES". Potsroen - 1932, plant them. Chkalova, Gorodets (Gorky region), decommissioned in 1970.

motor ship "Levanevsky" - the lead ship of a series of medium-sized motor ships for work on the channel named after. Moscow. Construction - 1936-1937, Krasnoye Sormovo plant, Gorky. All ships of this type were decommissioned in the early 70s.

"Dove", type "Levanevsky". Small cargo compartment as luggage compartment was present on these ships.

"Komsomolets", type "Levanevsky"

"October", type "Levanevsky"

"Maksim Gorky". It was built as a service and crew boat for I.V. Stalin. For its time, it was an excellent example of river ship building. I do not have exact data on whether Stalin visited it. The ship is now used as a pleasure boat. commit virtual walk on its premises it is possible.

in the 1930s, the construction of motor ships began in the USSR, which received the popular name "river trams". These were small motor ships designed to operate on intracity and local lines. For what such a "title" and received. In the photo - the ship "Red Pioneer", built in Gorodets in 1932. But if you look closely, then there is a family resemblance to type M ships (these are already post-war ships). One way or another, the city dwellers were ahead of their Moscow colleagues by 20 years. "Red Pioneer" was decommissioned in 1977.

at the same time, a whole series of "trams" was built in Gorodets - in the photo "Hawk". The ships received the following names: Golub (not to be confused with the later Levanevsky type motor ship - it was renamed), Pelican, West, Ost, Pole, Nord, Zuyd, Sokol, Chaika, A. Serov, Drummer, Zhizdra. The construction of the series began with the "Hawk" - it was built in 1932, with a power of 50 hp, a capacity of 100 people, a speed of 13 km / h. We can say that these boats anticipated much later "galoshes" - ships of the PS type, project 792. True, PSs were already based on tractor units (in particular, the diesel was from the DT-75 tractor)

after the Great Patriotic War An example of German motor ship building appeared on Kim's coast - the motor ship "Kuzma Minin" built in 1927. The ship worked on the Danube and received reparations after the surrender of Romania. Power - 710 hp, 280 people + 15 tons of cargo, speed 20 km / h

"Kuzma Minin" in 1958.

after Khrushchev's de-Stalinization, the courts were completely renamed. What can I say - if the names of famous pilots of the 30s disappeared from the sides. True, in the 50s two Chkalovs appeared on the rivers at once - on the Volga (project 26-37) and on the Yenisei (588). In the photo - the ship "Mikhail Kalinin" - ships of this type were built in Sormovo for the canal and were the largest of the entire "canal flotilla". The former name of the ship is "Vyacheslav Molotov". Decommissioned - 1971.

"Mikhail Frunze" former name- "Joseph Stalin"

"Vladivostok" - ex. "Klim Voroshilov"

The second wave of construction of motor ships began in the 1950s. It was then that "bubbles" appeared on the rivers - this is how the rivermen called the motor ships 305 of the project and the "electric trains" - the diesel-electric ships of the project 785. The latter received their nickname for their very large passenger capacity and work on local lines, and the first - for large windage and shallow draft. Subsequently, it turned out that only the 305s survived - they also became the "tugboat" that pulled the cruise industry in Russia in the 90s.

diesel-electric ships appeared on the rivers due to their greater maneuverability. It was believed that on the canals, especially on the newly opened Volga-Don, such vessels would be most effective. In addition, small dimensions made it easier to work on the Don.

As subsequent practice showed, more than large ships. By the 1980s, a situation had developed in which diesel-electric ships were forced out on the lines of local and interregional communication. Relatively low seaworthiness did not allow them to enter the lakes of the northwest. But in 1986 they were remembered - several ships of this project went to Chernobyl - they became a home for the liquidators of the consequences of the 1986 disaster. Unlike the Dnieper 785s, the Volga ones all returned to their ports. But... another time was coming.
The deterioration of the units, the lack of spare parts and the initially high cost of operation in the 90s put these ships on a joke. Many then disappeared without a trace. In the 2000s, in the wake of the growth of the cruise industry, interest arose again. But the tragedy of 2011 may have crossed out the future of these courts completely.

"Belarus". Built in 1953. His fate is not known

"Kazakhstan", 1954. This photo is from 1958. Then the ship was transferred to the Ob-Irtysh Shipping Company. The ship has been decommissioned.

"Azerbaijan", 1953. In the photo, it is already in a modernized version - ships that have undergone modernization were distinguished from non-modernized ones by their "halved" capacity life-saving appliances- Removed two of the four boats. This was due to the fact that the passenger capacity was decreasing - 8 and 6-bed cabins were converted into 4- and 3-bed single-tier cabins, and the hold cockpits were divided into 4-bed cabins.

"Kyrgyzstan", 1954. In the 90s, together with "Karelia", it was acquired by the "Samara Trading House". Then the ship was renamed "Petra Alabina". Before the tragedy of "Bulgaria" the ship carried out retssy lasting up to seven days from Samara.

"Pyotr Alabin" in Vinnovka, July 2007

so it became after modernization in 2009

after many years of sludge, "Composer Glazunov" returned to life in 2010. Together with Bulgaria, he worked at Vodaflot LLC. In this year, 2011, he also went into navigation ...

May 8, 2010 - early in the morning, a diesel-electric ship arrived from Perm and, having taken passengers in Samara, at 10-00 Moscow time, set off on its first flight after settling.

at the pier in Khvalynsk, June 2010

"Mussorgsky", 1956, fate unknown

"Russia", 1952. Lead ship of the series. In this form, it came from Czechoslovakia. After Chernobyl, the ship first stood in the Kuibyshev port, then was used as a camp site (it stood next to the Dostoevsky), before the 2009 crisis, the ship began to be converted into a banquet walker. But it wasn't completed. What his fate is now - I do not know. "Russia" together with "Kyrgyzstan", "Estonia", "Karelia" worked on the lines of the Kuibyshev river port.

"Uzbekistan", 1953. Now used as a rack. New name "Kolomensky Standard"

if I'm not mistaken - he is, stands in Pechatniki, June 2011

the first diesel-electric ship with the name "Ukraine" was built in 1952, and burned down in 1953. In 1955, the second "Ukraine" was built - it is in the photo, it will also become "Bulgaria". The ship sank near the village of Syukeyevsky Vzvoz (Tatarstan) on July 10, 2011. At the end of August, the raised diesel-electric ship was in the dock of the backwater named after. Kuibyshev. I do not know about the beginning of work on dismantling the ship.

final voyage of navigation 2010

both Vodaflot vessels together, July 2010

"I. I. Shishkin", 1958. Renamed twice - A. S. Griboyedov, Victoria

d / e "Victoria", after many years of sedimentation and repair - September 3, 2010 - sea trials

"Estonia", 1955. Sold in the early 90s, now located in Moscow. The current name is "Prince Vorontsov"

now project 305 - "Angara", 1960. Later renamed to "V. M. Zaitsev"

already "V. M. Zaitsev"

"V. S. Zaitsev" in 2007

"Argun", 1960. Renamed - "Hero Alexander Golovachev"

"Hero Alexander Golovachev" leaves Bolgar

"Barguzin", 1960. Renamed - "Musa Gareev"

"Musa Gareev" in Kostroma, June 2011

"Berezina", 1961. Renaming - "Motovilikhinsky worker", "Borodino"

"Motovilikha worker"

"Borodino" on the Canal. Moscow, 2011. Photo - Alexey Pravdin, Moscow

"Vetluga", 1963. Renamed - "Salavat Yulaev"

"Salavat Yulaev" in Bolgari, 2008

"Volkhov", 1961. Renamed - "Alexander Sveshnikov"

"Alexander Sveshnikov" at the pier in Kasimov, June 2011

"Hero A. Sutyrin", 1961. Former "Vychegda". Decommissioned.

"Hero A. Sutyrin" on a long-term sedimentation in the Klyazmensky reservoir of the Moscow Canal, 2010. Photo - M. Pashkovsky, St. Petersburg.

"Dniester", 1959. Renamed - "Hero Y. Gagarin"

"Hero Y. Gagarin", the second half of the 70s

"Hero Yu. Gagarin" approaches the pier of the Samara River Station, July 2011

"Pavel Mironov", 1962. Former "Vistula"

"Pavel Mironov" near Yelabuga, 2011. Photo - Alexander Melnikov, Ivanovo

"Amu Darya", 1960.

"Nikolai Ostrovsky". In the 90s, the ship went to work in Kazan. Later it was renamed "Kazan". While in Kazan, the ship sank on winter sludge. Currently, the upper part of the superstructure is cut off. But at low water levels, part of the ship's hull peeks out from under the water.

"Araks", 1960. Renamed - "Mikhail Chebotarev". Burned out.

"White", 1961. Renamed - "L. V. Sobinov", Vidin.

"L. V. Sobinov"

photo of 2000, now the ship is used as a floating hotel

"Bug", 1961. Currently, the ship is operating - "Grigory Pirogov"

"Grigory Pirogov" in

"Daugava", 1962. Renamed - "Alexey Kiselev", "Bashkortostan"

"Aleksey Kiselev"

"Alexey Kiselev" in flight

"Bashkortostan" before winter sludge, SRV, Moscow, 2008

"Yenisei", 1962. Currently - "Fyodor Kibalnik", is on a long-term sludge in Ufa

"Kuban", 1963. Renamed - "Alexander Pirogov", "Fyodor Ushakov". In the early 90s, it underwent reconstruction in Finland, later returned to the shipping company, worked on tourist routes from Moscow. In 2009 she was converted into a pleasure craft and renamed "Fedor Ushakov"

"Alexander Pirogov"

"Fyodor Ushakov"

"Sviyaga", 1962. Renaming - "Alexander Shemagin", "Swallow" (walking)

"Alexander Shemagin"

"Swallow" at the pier in Luzhniki

It happens that something once strongly liked becomes a hobby for life. This happened to me when in July 1983 my dad and I went on a river trip on the ship "Mamin-Sibiryak". I was ten years old and this was my first multi-day river cruise.

Before that, I had occasion to make small trips by water: both along the Black Sea on "Comets" and pleasure boats project 1430, and along the Neva and the Gulf of Finland on the "Meteors", as well as along the Neva on the motor ship "Neva-6". I really liked both motor ships and travel on them. But I had no idea that you can take a ship and go on a trip along the river for many days.

Vouchers were not cheap, but my father had the opportunity to purchase them at preferential price. True, it was also not easy, and at some point it turned out that there were no preferential vouchers, and we would not go anywhere. I remember that I was not upset at all, because I imagined river boat something like a walking "Moscow", and did not understand how you can spend many days on it.

But then everything worked out, and one of the July days we arrived at River Station board the ship "Mamin-Sibiryak". The four-deck handsome "Alexander Ulyanov" (now the ship "Kronstadt") was leaving for Astrakhan from the neighboring pier, and our "Mamin-Sibiryak" next to him seemed very small. I remember my father was even upset.

We settled in a four-bed cabin on main deck. We had another neighbor, a good-natured middle-aged man. I inspected the ship. The biggest impression is that on stands with different information for the crew, the word "ship" was abbreviated as "t / x". :)

On the Neva, the Alexander Ulyanov, which was walking behind, went to overtake. A beautiful ship! I really wanted to get on it someday (and this happened ten years later, and after another twelve years I was lucky enough to get to know Vadim Mikhailovich Lapidus, who in that 1983 was the captain of the Alexander Ulyanov).

This photo of the first watch on board is a photo of the day I realized the river was mine.

But returning to the cruise: the first two days we went non-stop, and in all three lakes - Ladoga, Onega and Bely we were pretty shaken. I remember a green-faced barmaid who closed the buffet during lunch. She became ill.

The first lock on our way, Nizhnesvirsky, we passed very early in the morning, and did not manage to see it. However, the cabinmate drew me a lock on paper and explained how it works. And during the passage of the Verkhnesvirsky lock, all the tourists were already on the deck. It was strictly forbidden to take pictures of the locks, about which a loud announcement was made from the shore.

On the third day was the first stop - Irma.

I must say that at that time in our family it was believed that just a photograph is not very interesting, but if someone is depicted on it against the background of something, then this is a completely different matter. Popular opinion, right? I did not like to be photographed against the background of something, finding it boring, but who asked me? So please accept that my image will be in almost every photo here. There are just no other photos.

So Irma. And here already stood three-deck ship"Ilyich", to which we moored. The central lobby of Ilyich, after the small lobby of Mamin-Sibiryak, seemed to me a rather large hall. In general, "Ilyich" visually impressed.

In the evening we went to Cherepovets for two hours. It was a technical parking lot, but we managed to walk around the city.

Next day - Uglich. I remember that the tour seemed rather boring to me, although the guide was an obvious enthusiast of his work. And besides, it was raining. Therefore, I had a not very interesting impression of Uglich for a long time, and only recently I rediscovered this city for myself.

The next day we stopped in Kalinin (present-day Tver), but I did not have any photographs from this city. On the way to Kalinin and back, we had a short sanitary stop in Kimry, both times late in the evening. I remember that an announcement was made that the parking was technical, and the ship was leaving without warning. However, cheerful tourists came ashore and arranged some kind of outdoor games with round dances.

In general, the people on board were mostly positive, but I also remember a few people who devoted the entire twelve days of the cruise to finding flaws and making scandals for any reason. Even at the age of ten, I understood that they were swearing unfairly (for example: we pass Yaroslavl without stopping, since it is on the schedule on the way back - several people on board raise a scandal that there is no stop and they were deceived). Much later, I realized that in our country, some people know how to relax only in this way, and justice has nothing to do with it.

Our table at the main deck aft restaurant was friendly. I especially remember a very cheerful and positive table neighbor, who always came to dinner tipsy. Only once did he come gloomy, and left without waiting for the end of dinner: for some reason he did not have time to take anything in the first half of the day. Neighbors at the table reacted to this even with some sympathy.

The next day we walked non-stop. Now on the ships there are quite large art teams, plus the cruise management and a methodologist (guide), and then we had a cultural organizer, an accordion player and a methodologist. But it was very cool. There were competitions, evening game programs. From the cities we departed under the button accordion and songs. “Quadrille” still evokes the best feelings in me, because we always performed it in chorus every time we said goodbye to the city.

And the departure included the One Way Ticket of the Eruption group.

Not far from Yaroslavl we met paddle steamer 737 of the Dzhambul project, which went from Ufa to Moscow. This was the last or penultimate year of his work. Judging by the reaction of tourists, who animatedly commented on what they saw, even then a paddle steamer on the river was perceived as exotic.

On the seventh day of the trip, we had two stops - in Kostroma and Plyos.

In the next photo, we are with my new acquaintance (on the right), whose name I, unfortunately, did not remember. But we ran around the ship very actively: it was something like a mixture of hide and seek and tag. And they ran. I still remember the picture: I almost caught up with him, but he ran down the ladder, fell, and sprained his leg. He could no longer run until the end of the cruise. Two years later, I myself found myself in a similar situation: I ran out on the ship "Ilya Muromets" onto a wet deck, my legs went to the left, and with all my foolishness I hit my head on the deck so that it darkened before my eyes. He only told his friends who ran up not to talk about this dad.

Yes, as a child, I probably caused inconvenience to some passengers with my behavior, and therefore now I am more understanding about the noise that children create on board.

In Plyos, the three-deck Alexander Nevsky moored to the Mamin-Sibiryak, and we asked the sailor on duty for permission to inspect the ship. Then there were still old regular sailors on the river. He didn't refuse.

It was the first opportunity to see what a large ship looks like inside, because on the Ilyich I saw only the lobby. "Alexander Nevsky" made a great impression, especially - a cinema hall made of tarpaulin. Surprised that the ship can have a cinema. When we went back, the same officer on duty asked: "What's so fast? You need to inspect such a ship all day!"

In the photo I am at the "solarium" of "Alexander Nevsky" in Plyos.

The next day there was a stop in Yaroslavl. We arrived in Yaroslavl early in the morning. And a huge ship approached us on the second side " Soviet Russia"(now it's called" Nizhny Novgorod"). It was almost twice as long as the "Mamin-Sibiryak", and left a tremendous impression.

And the next day - a green parking lot in Goritsy. An excursion in Goritsy was not provided, but some tourists managed to go on their own regular bus Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery.

No less than the island of Kizhi itself, I was impressed by the approach to it through the archipelago. It was beautiful and unusual. At that time we did not know about vipers in Kizhi, there were no wooden paths for tourists, in my opinion, and we calmly walked on the grass.

That same evening, our "Mamin-Sibiryak" arrived in Petrozavodsk. Soon we were approached by the three-deck ship "TG Shevchenko", which was going from Leningrad to the island of Kizhi, and the tourists began to communicate, exchanging impressions. We spent the night at the pier, and it seemed very unusual.

Petrozavodsk was our last stop on the cruise. At noon, "Mamin-Sibiryak" went on a flight under the traditional One Way Ticket. I was very sorry that I heard this song on the ship in last time. In general, there was a lot of good music at "Mama-Sibiryak", which was played in the evenings at discos, for example, Smokie, Ottawan, and much more. This is now - I wanted - I bought a CD, I wanted - I downloaded any music from the Internet. And then in our family there was no tape recorder, only a record player. So, when the cruise ended, I was not soon able to listen to much of what was playing on the "Mama-Sibiryak".

In the evening we walked along the Svir, there was a gala concert of tourists at the stern, then a disco, and in parallel - an active celebration of the end of the cruise with a spire. Of course, I did not drink alcohol, but the people around me did, and it was fun. At dusk, we met the same type of ship "Korolenko", which was going from Leningrad to Rostov. I remember the conversation of two tourists on the deck: "Is this the same as ours"? - "What are you, there are no more small ones like ours, that one is bigger!"

The next day we walked along the mirror-smooth Ladoga, then along the Neva, and by 16.00 we arrived in Leningrad. When the ship made a turn to approach the pier, I felt very sorry that I did not fully enjoy this journey, these cities. Although, perhaps, this was a common feeling of many river tourists at the end of the cruise. But then it was a pity that the cruise ends, almost to tears.

Arriving home, I wanted to figure out what are passenger ships on the river. With the 50 kopecks saved in various ways, I bought a book by Alexander Markovich Medvedev "River Passenger Transportation", where all types of ships as of 1983 were described, and their specifications summarized in tables. The then emerging interest in river fleet I never weakened again.

Motor ship "Korolenko" - double-deck passenger ship with cabins for 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 passengers. Some cabins were equipped with washbasins. The ship has two restaurants and two saloons. Instead of the common space on the lower deck laid down by the project, there are twelve 4-6-bed cabins. In such a layout, vessels 646 of the project of the rivers of the European part of the USSR worked most of their lives.

Technical characteristics of the ship " Korolenko"

In November 2014, Anatoly Shperkh, a Petersburger, wrote an article about the history and romance of the Korolenko motor ship, in many respects anticipating

We spent two days in Vyborg. We lived in a mini-hotel, which was turned into an old one. soviet ship"Korolenko". We went with the younger ones, so the choice was made in favor of the “boat”, although I knew that the conditions there were “not ice”, but romance overpowered everything.

It's an amazing feeling to be on an old ship. Built in Germany in 1954, it ended up trapped in the Castle Strait (once part of Saimaa Canal). His story is as sad as it is revealing. In it, it seems to me, like in a drop of water, our whole history is reflected, our attitude to the land, our achievements, in general - to what we have.

As I have already said, the Korolenko motor ship is of German origin, it is one of the representatives of the Project 646 and was built for the USSR as a passenger-and-freight ship "for the transport of passengers and goods on transport lines, during the summer navigation period, as well as in spring and autumn in broken ice, with access to coastal areas". The vessels of this series worked throughout the Union - on the Lena, Ob and Irtysh, Dnieper and Don, even reached the Danube, where they went by sea from Odessa, and also on the White and Black Seas, Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga.

Fate threw "Korolenko" in different directions - having started work in the North-Western Shipping Company, in 1979 he was transferred to Rostov-on-Don, then in 1990 he was returned "home" - in 1991-1992. took pilgrims to Valaam. In the mid-90s, when a stream of tourists went to the border Vyborg, he stood against the wall in the Salakka-Lahti Bay. And - a terrific sign of the times - he was locked in this bay. Because it suddenly turned out that the lifting mechanisms of the Finnish railway bridge they can no longer raise its span (and what worked for us in the 90s?), and the only way to keep trains moving from Helsinki is to weld the span tightly, which was done. And in 2010, during the reconstruction of the bridge, it was decided to get rid of these mechanisms altogether. In fact, who needs him, this old man locked in the bay, belonging to a certain IP Andrianov A.V., who lives in St. Petersburg, on Kultury Avenue, 29-4-64 ( official information about the shipowner)?

So the boat remained locked in the creek of the once powerful and navigable Saimaa Canal. Finland long ago found ways to bypass the Zamkovy Strait along the new route of the Saimaa Canal, opened in 1968, while Russia somehow didn’t really need navigation in this part. So the huge ladle bay remained in the center of Vyborg, beautiful place for mooring cruise ships river vessels, but - deserted and strange. With a lone rusting m / v "Korolenko" at the quay wall. I first got on the Korolenko in 1996 - and I remember well the matte sheen of the "mahogany", the raw brass of the railing and the sound of the ship's main engine at night - the ship heated itself, generating steam and electricity autonomously. At that time we took schoolchildren to Vyborg. And it was so romantic - narrow stairs, ladders, a lot of "ship" accessories - from intercoms to riveted doors to the cargo hold, and - most importantly - a deck, which, of course, it was impossible to go out, but - quietly, so that no one would see - Can. In the wardroom upholstered with green cloth, we staged "knightly" performances - from "Tristan", "Roland" and "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" for what else to do in Vyborg, if not to talk about the Middle Ages, about knights and beautiful ladies?

What else amazed me then, in 1996, was the endless flow of Finnish tourists to the round-the-clock bar on this ship. Not the best neighborhood with a children's group. But what was striking was that all night long they (the Finns) went in an endless stream to this, to put it mildly, not very fashionable institution. Then it seemed to us that in the West everyone is completely rich and highly cultured people ...

The ship has been standing at the wall for twenty years. Life rushes past him. Vyborg is changing as the country is changing. The once ultra-modern Druzhba Hotel, near which it is moored, built by the Finns in 1982, the hotel, in the restaurant of which in 1996 we could only get through the great pull, since it was "Intourist", has become an ordinary three-star hotel.

The ship also fell into disrepair.

There is no bar anymore. Finns prefer more expensive eateries. The polished plywood on the walls was scratched by playful children's hands so much that the owners glued the cabins (oh, horror!) With glass wallpaper. It's like the last miserable attempt to powder a sunken nose ...

It is, of course, a sad sight. And only the irrepressible thirst for romance made us see the beautiful where it is not, by definition.

On the other hand, have you had to wander around the ship in the dim passages of which here and there you stumble upon passages covered with carpets, curtained doors, behind which, like in a Hogwarts castle, are mysterious black rooms? On a ship that still remembers sea crossings, the memory of which is hidden in old tablets on the walls, in this alarming ship telegraph, in the riveted partitions of the cargo compartment, but simply in rust and rotten deck boards ...

Have you seen steamboats die?

We saw.

And it's worth spending the night there.

The LLC that services the ship that is dying out is called Titanic. A worthy name for an old steamboat...

Did he deserve such a fate?

PPS

The ship is really alive last days. In March, the transport prosecutor's office, since he does not have a certificate allowing sailing….

Here is such a story.

Photos from sites