Steamboat Soviet Union. Escape from the USSR across the ocean. Pride of domestic shipbuilding

Courts, like people, have their own destiny. They are born, live and die, with the only difference being that some are forgotten, while others fall into history and become legends.

90 years ago, a steamship set off on its first voyage under its first name "Albert Ballin", which later became the ship "Soviet Union". 30 years after its birth, the ship received the name of the country of the Soviets, and after another 30 it was decommissioned. The correspondent of "AIF - Primorye" talked with the last captain of the most famous ship in the country, Pyotr POLESHCHUK.

Trophy of the Third Reich

P.P.:- We got the ship under reparations. Not in at its best. In 1945, the Nazis blew it up on the roadstead of Warnemünde, and it was flooded, only 8 meters rose above the surface of the water. In 1949, it was raised, and then restored there, in Germany, according to the drawings of the Leningrad Central design office Marine fleet. Few people know, but the project manager received the Stalin Prize for his work. The revived liner became the largest passenger ship in the USSR, which is why it was named "Soviet Union" in 1953. Two years later, I was appointed second mate on this ship, while it was still in the German port of Sassnitz. In January 1956 we left Sassnitz and headed for Sevastopol. Even at the entrance to the bay, we saw the inverted battleship "Novorossiysk" (the former "Giulio Cesare", which our country also inherited as a reparation). As you know, he sank on October 29, 1955 after an explosion in the bow. There were a lot of rumors, it was said that it was a bottom mine ... We were put to the northern mooring wall, next to which about 600 people were buried. You can imagine how we felt then. ( It is said that the fate of "Novorossiysk" indirectly gave rise to the legend that the "Soviet Union" was supposedly called "Adolf Hitler". "Knowledgeable" people claimed that the German trophy steamer with the seditious name was specially driven off to Far East so that he does not suffer the fate of "Novorossiysk" - they will not forgive, they say, the Germans mockery of the leader's name, they will blow it up.Note. ed. )

"AiF-Primorye": - Why did the "Soviet Union" not immediately leave Germany for Vladivostok, but first he went to Sevastopol? After all, this is such a hook.

P.P.:- For some reason, the Germans could not balance the reverse turbine. In Sevastopol, she was removed and sent to a factory in Kharkov. The crew was waiting for her to be repaired. The work took about a year, so even sailors' families came to Sevastopol.

VIP guests

"AiF-Primorye": - I heard that on board the "Soviet Union" in different time important visitors rose ...

P.P.:- During sea trials, which took place along Black Sea coast, while parking opposite Livadia, the ship was seen by Nikita Khrushchev. Wanted to get on deck.

"AiF-Primorye": - Did Nikita Sergeevich like it?

P.P.: - I think yes. There is one associated with that visit. interesting story. The guests arrived on a torpedo boat. They all got on board, walked around the ship, and when Khrushchev said goodbye and began to go down the ladder, one of the crew members - the young sailor ANOSHKIN - called out to the General Secretary and handed him a letter. Nikita Sergeevich mechanically put it in his pocket. As it turned out later, in it the sailor asked to pay attention to the low salaries and lack of housing for sailors.

After their departure, the ship's management began to find out who the secret message was intended for. The commandant of the Kremlin, the KGB officers arrived ... We thought that Anoshkin would be "torn off his head" for such a message, but nothing happened.

There was another such case. Voroshilov, during a visit to the ship, assured that he would come home and be sure to tell about the miracles of our shipbuilders. And I tell him that the ship was built by the Germans. “But I thought it was ours,” he said in confusion.

The very first captain of the Soviet Union was Nikolai ARTYUKH (an honorary citizen of Vladivostok, an old partisan). Then it was rumored that it was from him that the sculptor sculpted the main figure of the monument to the Fighters for the Power of the Soviets in the Far East. By the way, he lit the first Eternal Flame in Vladivostok in 1975.

Through Nakhodka to Vladivostok

"AiF-Primorye": - When did you go to the seaside shores?

P.P.:- At the end of December, we moved to Odessa. The ship was loaded with canned vegetables and in January 1957 it set off for the Far East. We rounded Africa and on March 8, without calling at ports, we arrived not in Vladivostok, but in Nakhodka, since the canned food had to be delivered there. They arrived in Vladivostok on May 29. "Soviet Union" was put on the express coastal line Vladivostok - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Because of the Iron Curtain, he could not go on cruises, so he mainly transported people arriving in the Far East for organizational recruitment and fishing. Of course, they transported both food and industrial goods. On this line, the turboship worked to the end.

"AiF-Primorye": - It was about the "Soviet Union" that legends were made. Why do you think they appeared?

P.P.:- Maybe because it was the largest and, in my opinion, the most beautiful ship in the country. Or maybe because its "living" history is like a legend - the "sea wolf" traveled all the continents, conquered dozens of seas. But not everyone knew him true story, which is why the legend appeared that he used to be called "Adolf Hitler". But this is a myth, and not the only one.

"AiF-Primorye": - How many years have you been a captain on the "Soviet Union"?

P.P.:- From 1976 to 1981. Of course, when I went on vacation, they replaced me, most often it was Captain VEDENSKY.

"AiF-Primorye": - And they worked exclusively on the coastal line?

P.P.:- Yes. The turboship "Soviet Union" completed its work on the coastal line on November 30, 1980, and on December 2 it was laid up to dismantle equipment and prepare the vessel for scrapping. At that time he was already 57 years old! In January 1982, I was appointed captain of the Vladivostok commercial port, and captain Gennady KOBTSEV led him to the cutting to Hong Kong under the new name "Tobolsk".

"AiF-Primorye": - It is now customary to preserve ships as surface museums. Do you think it was possible to revive the "Soviet Union"?

P.P.:- For that time, it was certainly good (there were, for example, three restaurants, a gym), but time did not spare the "Soviet Union". His wooden deck was rotten, the metal was corroded. And the premises would not have passed the fire safety class. There were such labyrinths in which it was easy to get lost. You could only find it by smell.

"AiF-Primorye": - And if you had not been appointed the captain of the port, would you have taken the "Tobolsk" for cutting? Was it sad to say goodbye to him?

P.P.:- When the "Soviet Union" began to be issued for "nails", I jokingly told one of the party secretaries of the FESCO: "It is impossible to hand over the "Soviet Union" for scrap. This is a bad omen." He grunted in response to me “be silent more loudly”, otherwise they would put me in jail. And 8 years after the decommissioning of the ship, the Soviet Union itself was gone.

This was in 1968. I was then doing military service on a landing ship in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. They pulled me into the service after the third year of medical school because of disrespectful behavior towards our military commissar. Usually, students at the paramedic department are given the opportunity to complete their studies, but the military commissar made an exception for me. The position of a paramedic was not provided on the ship, and I became a helmsman-signalman. Naturally, I solved all medical issues within my competence. The commander even allocated a double cabin for the infirmary, and during long flights I treated my colleagues there. Two years later I reached the rank of foreman of the 2nd article, the commander of the warhead-1 (helmsmen-signalers, radar, navigational electronics). I dreamed of entering the Military Medical Academy, and from the second entry, my documents were sent there. In July, we were on a flight when our radio operator received a radio message that a call had come to me. We arrived in St. Petersburg only two weeks later. The commander, as much as he did not want to let me go, nevertheless, strained the combat department, and all the documents were drawn up for me literally on the run.
Starley in the combat department grinned wryly: - Fuck such a rush, anyway, you won’t get out of Kamchatka now.

July, the time of holidays, a plane ticket can only be obtained with a big pull, the ship runs once every five days. There are no other options. By the way, the Sovetsky Soyuz is leaving for Vladivostok today, but the tickets have long been sold out. If you're lucky, you can beg for a reservation from the military commandant of the seaport.
His words of optimism did not add to me, but I did not want reconciliation with the cruel reality, keeping in my soul a smoldering flame of hope.
Everything turned out to be really bad. The ticket office was closed, the seaport's military commissar, soared, without letting me open my mouth, sent me to hell: - I can't send all demobilizations, some have been sleeping at the station for two weeks already.
Almost crying, I went out to the pier, at which stood a moored snow-white handsome ship "Soviet Union".

The landing was in full swing. Along a wide gangway, civilians and military men laden with oversized luggage climbed aboard. Noise, screams, swearing in the bluish tobacco smoke, that's what the deck of the legendary ship was like.
At the entrance to the board, three controllers checked the tickets, and on the deck, several people from the team in broken voices gave instructions to the passengers where to go according to the purchased tickets. The passengers frantically rushed around the deck, colliding with each other, most of them, before such an important event as departure, were taken “on the road” and therefore were, to put it mildly, inadequate.
I have already been a passenger of the "Soviet Union" twice. The first time was in 1966, when we were brought from Vladivostok to Kamchatka. They placed us on the deck, who were lucky - on the closed one. There were patrols on the ship, the main task of which was to protect the peace of the passengers accommodated in the cabins. The second time, the next year, returning from the Russian Island, where he was in training for six months. This time everything was civil, all four days he lived in a third-class cabin. During this time, he climbed the entire ship and perfectly navigated its nine decks.
Rumors were passed from mouth to mouth that this was a German-built ship, transferred to us after the war as a reparation, and earlier it had the name "Adolf Hitler", and in concert hall stands Hitler's personal piano. Everything except that it was German built was untrue, but the rumors lived on.

There were twenty minutes left until the end of the landing, I looked at in despair, not a single decent thought came into my head, except to jump onto the deck from the pier when the ship was leaving. The idea was unrealistic, since the board of the ship towered 6-7 meters above the pier. I’m not Bubka, and I don’t have a pole either ...
My eyes fell on a military patrol, which slowly walked along the pier among the crowd of demobilized people. Those, at the sight of the patrol, disgustedly turned away, not burning with the desire to salute, feeling already civilians. The head of the patrol, an almost two-meter midshipman, a marine, was not embarrassed, he did not find fault with anyone, and, it seems, did not even look at the demobilizations, but admired the liner. Behind him scurried two sailors with bandages on their sleeves, judging by their sad faces - first years.
And then it dawned on me! “Soldier with a song,” I approached the midshipman and hastily, so as not to be refused, quickly introduced him to my misfortune. He listened to me attentively, chuckled and asked: - And how can I help you?
- Do you have the right to come on board?
- Well, yes ... - the midshipman answered uncertainly.
-Then, let's ask for my backpack to be brought onto the deck of some well-trained demobilization. I'll put on a patrol band, let the guy smoke. We'll go aboard, spin around there, and before boarding is over, you'll get off at the pier, the two of you already. Controllers, I'm sure, will not pay attention to it. There is simply no other chance...

The midshipman, despite his height, thought quickly. I immediately hooked on a sailor - demobilization, and despite his grumbling, handed him my backpack. Then we went on board, and I felt such euphoria that from the outside, I probably seemed drunk. We talked about something with the midshipman, I only remember that he admonished me: - Don't go back, I must do it! I promised, because I was honestly sure, despite the fact that the competition was 15 people per place, I will do it.
Finally, the gangway was removed, the mooring lines were given, two tugboats pulled the liner from the wall. Hooray! Don't throw a hare overboard! Everything has grown! The farewell horn caused jubilation, both among the passengers and the mourners. Among the crowd of mourners, I was pleased to see the tall figure of the midshipman, who was intently looking at the departing ship.
I found my backpack at the second mast, where we asked the demobilization team to throw it. He was nearby. We met. He called the number of the cabin, where he stayed with his colleagues, and said: - We have a complete set there, but if you don’t find anything, come, we will sleep in turn. Only four days, let's turn around ...
- Thanks bro! Pretend - I'll come ...
There was nowhere to hurry, the people gradually dispersed into their cabins, there was a blessed silence, only emphasized by the measured hum of the engines and the lapping of the waves cut by the stem. I admired the receding panorama of Petropavlovsk, unusual, but in two years it had become the familiar beauty of the volcanoes surrounding Avacha Bay and did not think about anything, just blissfully contemplated.

Here are the Three Brothers, three rocks left behind, which we passed dozens of times, leaving for a flight and returning back. Will I never see them again...

My loneliness was suddenly disturbed in a rather romantic way. I felt how small female hands lay on my eyes ... But that's another story ...

The human body is capable of much, I would even say the impossible. This is the story of one escape across the ocean.

December 1974 Pacific Ocean. On passenger liner"Soviet Union" dances. There are several hundred lucky people on board. These are Soviet citizens who were lucky to go on a sea tropical cruise in the dead of winter. Only a very attentive look from all the tourists would single out one not quite ordinary. He was almost always alone, while others drank, ate and made merry. He spent hours looking at the ocean or studying the starry sky. On the evening of December 13, 1974, a man goes out onto the upper bridge and looks around. On the main deck, the passengers were dancing, the girls were waiting for an invitation to dance. But the lone passenger did not look at them, but into the darkness overboard. A roaring ocean and not a single fire on the horizon. The clock showed 21:00. One minute later a man came down to the stern main deck and took a step overboard across the border of the state.

On New Year's Eve 1975, Muscovites were preparing for New Year's celebrations. On the eve of the holidays, sensational news comes from across the ocean - an escape from the USSR. A citizen of the Soviet Union threw himself into the Pacific Ocean from the liner. After three days spent in the water, he independently went to the Philippine coast. But the Soviet radio stations and the press were silent, and through the noise and interference of the so-called "jammers", the Voice of America radio station announced the name of the fugitive. It was Stanislav Vasilyevich Kurilov. When asked by relatives where Stas was, they received an answer - he was missing. And only 12 years later, the fugitive gave an interview to Israel. A modest and shy person with uncertain English and a disarming smile. It is hard to believe, but it was he who made one of the most desperate and daring escapes from the USSR in its entire seventy-year history.

It was a jump from the height of a five-story building under a rotating propeller. Three days swimming in a stormy ocean among sharks. Not one training system guarantees the safety of a person who has decided on such a crazy act.

underwater laboratory "Chernomor"

And, nevertheless, Stanislav Kurilov really had serious experience in working in water and under water, and only thanks to this he managed to survive. So in 1968, near Gelendzhik, on the coast, tests of the Chernomor underwater laboratory were carried out. Among the testers was a young oceanologist Stanislav Kurilov. A multi-ton unit allowed divers to live under water for weeks, and go out to work on the seabed.

The task of the underwater expedition was to find out how the body behaves in unusual conditions and what are the limits of human capabilities. Aquanauts in conditions of high pressure and without sunlight experienced constant physical exertion.

steamship Albert Ballin

liner "Soviet Union"

The liner "Soviet Union" for almost half a century was considered the largest passenger ship in the USSR. In terms of height, the ship could be compared with a multi-storey building, its length is more than 200 meters, and its displacement is over 30,000 tons. However, encyclopedias did not write about him. And the reason is the German origin of the ship. Its original name is "Albert Ballin". The liner was built in Hamburg in 1925. Sunk in 1945. After the war raised from the bottom Baltic Sea, and already in 1957, already under the name "Soviet Union" arrived in the new home port of Vladivostok. Soviet passengers were amazed by the luxury and decoration of the liner. Shining patterned parquet, bronze lamps, an illuminated pool, in a word, a real floating palace. It was almost incredible luck for an ordinary Soviet citizen to get a trip abroad on such a liner. However, this luck accompanied Stanislav Kurilov. On a rainy November evening, he read a small announcement in the Evening Leningrad newspaper that everyone was invited to take part in sea ​​cruise titled "From Winter to Summer". It was towards the equator. There were about 1,200 tourists on the liner, and it followed without calling at a foreign port, to the equator without stopping, and then back. Such a pleasant opportunity to sunbathe in December. But the future fugitive was not going to sunbathe. He easily got a ticket, because the liner will not stop in foreign ports, which means that visas for passengers are useless. It is also not necessary to protect them, where passengers can go if there is a continuous ocean around for many kilometers. Imagine that someone dares to jump from the largest cruise ship in the USSR, even experienced employees state security just lacked imagination.

Stanislav Kurilov dreamed of adventure from early childhood. He imagined himself on a tropical island. He raved about the sea, and could spend hours admiring a picture of a sailboat. He considered his parents "hopelessly land people." Stanislav's passion for the sea, they considered a whim that would soon pass. Already at the age of 10, he announced on the street that he would swim across the Irtysh - a huge navigable river with many whirlpools and a fast current. Slava barely had the strength to fulfill his promise, but he will experience real horror 28 years later, when he finds himself at a distance of several meters from the rotating propeller of the liner in the open ocean.

The liner "Soviet Union" left the port of Vladivostok on December 8, 1974. Stanislav Kurilov mentally said goodbye to his homeland, however, he did not yet have the final confidence that he would be able to escape. In addition, the future fugitive did not take a map of the Pacific Ocean with him on the flight and did not even grab a compass, which is an unforgivable negligence for a person preparing earlier. 3 days after leaving the port, passengers walked around the deck in the same swimming trunks, and sunbathed under southern sun. Most of them approached the board with apprehension as if to an abyss, and Stanislav Kurilov, who had not really decided anything yet, spent everything at the side. free time. He spent hours peering at the horizon line trying to see the ground.

At the age of 15, Stanislav Kurilov, secretly from his parents, travels from Semipalatinsk to Leningrad to get on the ship long-distance navigation. He was immediately refused, but for the first time in his life he sees the sea, and vows to return to it. “They didn’t allow me to be a cabin boy, so I’ll be a captain!” Slava decided for himself. The traveler had no doubts. He decided to enter the nautical school, for which he studied textbooks in mathematics and physics. But then a blow awaits him again - due to myopia, he cannot pass a medical commission. It seems that his fate persistently, over and over again, tries to take him away from the sea, but he does not intend to give up. When there was almost no hope to connect his life with the sea, Stanislav Kurilov recalls that there is still a faculty of oceanology, and enters the Leningrad Hydrometeorological Institute. Here he learns about the origin of ocean winds and currents, and also learns to read a nautical chart. Very soon, his life will depend on how he applies this knowledge.

cruise route of the liner "Soviet Union"

On December 11, 1974, the Soviet Union liner was heading towards the equator at full speed. Kurilov has not yet made a decision to escape. Like everyone else, he knew the approximate route of the ship. From Vladivostok to the south along the Korean Peninsula, past the Taiwan Island of the Philippine Islands to the equator, and then back along approximately the same route. And only when the Sea of ​​Japan remained behind the stern, he saw a map indicating the route of the vessel. The route of the liner was not easy to mark on it, and dates and even ship time were next to the track line. Now the fugitive knew exactly when the liner would pass by this or that island. He understood that there would be no such luck in any of the next flights, if he really wanted to jump, he had to do it now. He calculated that he could leave the passenger ship at two points, because you only need to jump from the side and go unnoticed at night. The first point is near the island of Siargao, the second is near the southern tip of the island of Mindanao. The fugitive knew that the Philippines was a zone of influence of the United States and the location of American military bases, which means that if he sailed, he would not be returned to the Soviet Union, especially at the height of the Cold War. But he also knew that the allied Philippines had been a zone of military conflict since the 70s. Local separatists launched a large-scale guerrilla war against government troops.

On December 12, 1974, Stanislav Kurilov already had a map with the route in his hands. Going through the escape options, I realized that the best place to jump would be near the island of Siargao. But around the Pacific Ocean is a windswept coast. As an oceanographer, he knew that huge waves awaited him near the island, and the risk of drowning, breaking on the reefs, was too great. The prospect of being eaten by sharks, drowning, and finally, in case of special luck, to swim and be captured by the separatists. Only he could call it an auspicious setting.

On the night of December 13, 1974, will be close to Philippine Island Siargao. He knew this thanks to the map found on the liner. The same map allowed him to calculate the length of the island and average speed ship. Calculations showed that the fugitive had only 1 hour left. Once again, after weighing all the pros and cons, Kurilov decided to jump. First of all, he jumped as far as possible from the propeller. In the water, he clutched a bag of swimming equipment to his chest, which included a snorkel, fins and a mask. There were no landmarks around, except for the departing ship, by which he was guided for some time. But soon the lights disappeared. Then for the first time fear seized him.

He stopped and waited for 2 hours for the stars to appear. He gathered all his will and looked into the face of fear. As soon as the stars appeared in the sky, Stanislav continued to swim. He studied the map of the starry sky quite well. The main shock of the fugitive was in the morning. At dawn, peering into the distance, he did not see any island. He did not yet know that in total he would have to spend two days and three nights in the ocean without food, water and without sleep. And only by a miracle on this sea ​​route he was able to survive. By the evening of the first day of sailing, the fugitive already clearly saw the land. Long workouts in the yoga system made themselves felt.

Stanislav Kurilov yoga class - home photo

After a day spent in the water, Slava felt great. He was not tormented by hunger or thirst. He was ready for it, he had the experience of fasting for 36 days. He could go without water for two weeks. But the most difficult thing during the voyage was to do without sleep. Directly below it was the 10-kilometer Philippine Trench, one of the deepest in the world's oceans. This experienced swimmer did not frighten at all. Even more surprisingly, he was not embarrassed by the sharks that swarm these waters. He knew how to deal with them. Being in the ocean, he felt so in his element that he even enjoyed the view of a magnificent sunset. But the second day of the voyage came, and suddenly the fugitive discovers that he is moving away from the island, and not approaching it. He is carried to the south by the current, which he no longer has the strength to fight. At the end of the second day, Kurilov swam, obeying only the survival instinct. The earth has long been out of sight. The ocean was all around. The swimmer's mind turned off from time to time, hallucinations appeared. Kurilov later learns that the current, which prevented him from approaching the island, will wash him ashore in a few hours.

Philippine island of Siargao

On December 15, 1974, local fishermen of the island of Siargao saw a strange luminous creature moving on the water in a wild dance on the night shore. The natives froze in horror, it seemed to them that this was a messenger from the other world. But the swimmer experienced such happiness that when he went ashore, he could not stand it and began to dance right here. The glow was produced by porcelain plankton.

While the swimmer went ashore, the loss was finally noticed on. The passenger ship returned, and the crew tried to find a tourist who had accidentally fallen overboard. And only when the Voice of America radio station reported about Stanislav Kurilov did the KGB get down to business. He was convicted under the article "On treason" and sentenced to ten years in prison in absentia.

Kurilov spent the first week of his escape in a Philippine prison. Then he emigrated to Canada. Instead of a passport, Stanislav Kurilov was given an official paper of the most fantastic content, which he was proud of. In the west, the fugitive finally fulfilled his old dream. He traveled half the world, participated as an oceanographer in dozens of expeditions, reached the North Pole. In a word, he lived the very life that he had dreamed about since childhood. But his thoughts went back to his escape. Shortly after moving to Canada, he began writing a book about his three nights in the ocean. In 1986 he moved to Israel, where he married and worked in his specialty at the Israel Oceanographic Institute. He died on the island of Kinneret during an ordinary dive in the winter of 1998, rescuing a partner from fishing nets.

The widow of Stanislav Kurilov, Elena Gendeleva-Kurilov, is the person thanks to whom the world truly learned his story. Gathering together the scattered rough notes that he kept all his life, he combined them into a book called "One in the Ocean", published in Moscow in 2004. Now his gravestone depicts a sailboat and the words he liked to repeat: “ In order to be happy, he just needs to see a sailboat on the horizon.».

Feeling without causal happiness leaves his book. Slava Kurilov not only did what no one had done before him, he also managed to give his readers a joy that was unprecedented and never experienced by anyone.

Only a select few traveled on this ship. This liner was well known in the West - it was judged by it how they live in the Soviet Union, but most of The population of the USSR did not even know about its existence. His life was shrouded in mystery. Until now, his death remains a mystery.

February 16, 1986 at 15:00 from the New Zealand port of Picton left the Soviet a cruise ship"Mikhail Lermontov" on board, which was 408 passengers and 330 crew members. The ship sailed through the Queen Charlotte Channel. At 16:35, the ship's captain went into the cabin, and the watch navigator, the second assistant captain, two sailors and the New Zealand pilot remained on the bridge. The pilot told passengers on the radio about local attractions. At his request, the ship's course was laid closer to the shore. At 17:30, the ship left the strait on its planned course for the open ocean.
Suddenly, the pilot gave the command: "Rudder to the left, 10 degrees." The officer of the watch duplicated the order, and the ship, changing course, entered the narrow strait between Cape Jackson and the Walkers Rock lighthouse. Gusev, the second assistant to the captain, reported that he saw breakers on the water. When asked why the course had changed, the pilot replied to watch navigator Sergei Stepanishchev that he wanted to give passengers the opportunity to admire the beauties of Cape Jackson. At 17:34 the second command of the pilot sounded: "Rudder to the left, 10 degrees." The ship "Mikhail Lermontov" entered the strait at 17:38 at a speed of 15 knots. Suddenly, a passenger ship at full speed crashes into an underwater rock. The length of the hole was 12 meters. Watertight bulkheads were damaged, and by inertia the ship continued to move forward. Captain Vorobyov immediately appeared on the navigation bridge, who took control of the ship. He decided to throw the ship on sandbar in Port Gore Bay.


At this time, the passengers of the ship gathered in the music room. They had fun accompanied by artists. At 17:43 a general alarm was announced. There was a report on the bridge that the watertight doors were battened down. At 17:45, the list of the vessel was already 5 degrees. Water began to flow into the refrigeration department, gym, food pantries, laundry and printing house. Water seeped through the poorly locked watertight doors of the engine room. At 18:20, when the emergency team tried to secure the doors, the list of the ship was already 10 degrees. The captain gave the order to prepare rescue equipment. The bridge received a report that water was flooding the main power distribution board, causing the main engines to stop and power to fail. At 19:10, the list of the ship was 12 degrees and the captain gave the order to leave the engine room.


The ship "Mikhail Lermontov" was built on March 18, 1972 in the GDR at the shipyard "Mathias-Thesen Werft" in the city of Wismar (former GDR). The construction of the cruise liner was supervised by commissions from the Ministry of the Merchant Marine. The ship was put into operation in 1973. Its purpose was to serve regular cruise lines. In the same year, on May 28, the ship "Mikhail Lermontov" left the home port of Leningrad and set off on its first voyage along the Bremerhaven-London-Havre-New York route, where it arrived at end point sea ​​voyage on June 11, became the first Soviet passenger ship to visit a foreign American port in the last 25 years. However, in 1980, the United States retaliated against the Soviet government, which sent its troops into Afghanistan, banning all Soviet ships from visiting US ports, and the liner was transferred to routes to Europe.
A few years later, in 1982, the ship underwent modernization, which cost the Soviet state 15 million US dollars. Since then, the ship "Mikhail Lermontov" has met all international standards transatlantic liner. It was the first ship of the passenger fleet, on which an American-made satellite communications station was installed. The cruise liner, according to the idea of ​​its creator, was a showcase of the Soviet way of life, therefore, on appearance and the interior decoration was not stingy. In Germany, the ship's hull was repainted white, and there were more luxury cabins that the market demanded. The decoration, design and comfort of the premises boggled the imagination of even Soviet sailors who had seen the world. The saloon deck surprised with glass shops and open windows. Luxuriously equipped bars: the cosiness of the Sadko bar with its soft armchairs attracted many guests, real trees grew in the winter garden, the music room accommodated about 500 spectators.
According to the maritime charter, the captain personally recruited the crew of the new vessel. To get into the team of the ship "Mikhail Lermontov" was considered a great success. The competition in the world of passenger shipping was serious, so the emphasis was placed on the democracy and sociability of the staff. The captain convinced the leadership of the Soviet fleet to introduce on such ships, in addition to the usual naval uniform, also a gala uniform for command personnel. It was forbidden to appear in places where passengers rest. Only members of the ship's crew were involved in amateur performances, while professional performers are invited on western cruise liners. Passengers enjoyed having nurses and librarians, stewards and laundresses, flight attendants and galley workers singing and dancing for them. Chefs and waiters on cruise Soviet courts studied the cuisines of the peoples of the world and the secrets of serving. The receptions were colossal, and so were the expenses. There were dance and choir groups on the ship. His own brass band, which always played on deck when the ship entered the port.

The project of the ship "Mikhail Lermontov" was a successful propaganda action of the Soviet government. The ship actually performed the work of diplomatic services, successfully advertised the Soviet way of life in the West.
After the Caribbean crisis of 1962, the international situation warmed up, the Soviet government undertook a number of measures aimed at building bridges between east and west. The Soviet-Canadian line was opened by the motor ship "Alexander Pushkin". The ship "Mikhail Lermontov" was instructed to master the tour of the USSR-USA. On the day of arrival in New York, about 500 journalists visited the Soviet liner, and in the morning American newspapers came out with headlines: “The horns of the Mikhail Lermontov ship put an end to cold war". The Americans recognized the Soviet liner and passengers appeared on the ship. The ship has become a prominent ship in the market passenger traffic. It created serious competition for some Western cruise liners. When the American line was closed, the ministry navy The USSR drew attention to the large flow of passengers between England and Australia, and in 1979 the ship "Mikhail Lermontov" was sent to work in the southern hemisphere. The Soviet cruise ship made seven round-the-world tours. He left London visiting the most beautiful corners world, and returned to London, but from the other side of the world.
The atmosphere on the ship was homely. Crossing the equator, the passengers, together with the crew, participated in Neptune holidays and pirate dinners, for which they received special diplomas. We attended excursions in ports and cheered for the crew of the ship "Mikhail Lermontov" when they played football or tennis with other teams. The liner was a small state on which ordinary life flowed. Here they met, fell in love, got married and died.
Many passengers went on cruises every year and welcomed the crew members like family. They brought them gifts, and then wrote letters and invited them to visit.
Movement in the waters of the oceans was regulated by special maritime organizations the so-called conferences. Participation in them cost a lot of money, but in return, ships received the right to unhindered movement and support in ports around the world. Conferences followed and then that the prices for cruises from different providers of such services kept approximately at the same level. The Ministry of the Passenger Fleet of the USSR created its own company in England called "CTC", where tickets were sold at reduced prices, therefore Foreign tourists standing in line to get in soviet ship. Price cuts were offset by lower costs. Our sea vessels used Soviet fuel, which was much cheaper than Western fuel, and saved on the salaries of Soviet sailors (the captain of the ship received about 70 US dollars for a voyage, and other crew members from 20 to 30 US dollars). In England, tickets for a Soviet liner were sold at a price of $70 per day. A ten-day boat tour cost $700. For the British, for example, living on a Soviet ship sometimes cost less than living on the shore. Of course, Western cruise companies did not like this fact, so they undertook all kinds of provocations.


At 19:18, the list of the vessel was already 13 percent, the emergency lighting was switched on on the ship. At 19:20, the gas tanker "Tarihiko" and the sea ferry "Arahura" arrived to the aid of the sinking ship. The command was given to urgently disembark the passengers. The landing was relatively organized. At 21:15, the bridge received a report that the passengers had been brought ashore by Tarihiko and Arahura. Then the captain gave the order to check the premises and evacuate the crew.
At 21:30, the list of the ship reached 23 degrees. At 22:10 rescue operation ended. Passengers and crew members were met by police and doctors. The pilot, under the supervision of two crew members, was taken to the Arahura ferry, but as soon as the ship landed on the shore, he mysteriously disappeared. There is a version according to which the pilot fled from the ship through the toilet, located in the captain's cabin. The toilet had double doors, which the Soviet officers had no idea about. The police for a long time did not know where to look for him and how he managed to escape.


When night fell over the passenger ship, it was already lying on the starboard side. At 10:10 pm, the famous cruise ship Mikhail Lermontov sank in Port Gor Bay. Many of the crew members, floating next to the ship in boats, looked at this terrible sight with bitterness. They cried and did not believe that this could happen. When the roll call was held, one person did not respond. Workplace Pavel Zaglyadimov was in the refrigeration department. It was there that the ship received the main hole.
In Leningrad, the crew of the passenger ship was waited by relatives with warm clothes and representatives of the competent authorities, who were not interested in the psychological and physical condition of the crew members.
The disaster off the coast of New Zealand occurred on the eve of the opening of the 27th Congress of the CPSU, which fueled interest in the version that the ship was removed from the market by competitors. On the fact of the shipwreck, the USSR and New Zealand conducted an investigation in record time. The materials were immediately classified. In the history of the death of the liner, there were many unclear questions - why an experienced pilot led the ship onto the rocks, why the officer on duty allowed the course to change, whether it was possible to save the ship, and finally, who is to blame.
On February 18, 1986, the North-Western Transport Prosecutor's Office of the city of Leningrad initiated a criminal case into the shipwreck of the ship "Mikhail Lermontov". In the actions of Captain Vorobyov, the investigation did not see corpus delicti. The charge was brought against senior assistant Stepanishchev for transferring his right to steer the ship through the helmsman. Two months later, the prosecutor's office transferred the case to the Leningrad City Court. Soon, the senior assistant to the captain, Sergei Stepanishchev, was sentenced to 4 years of corrective labor. When sentencing, the court took into account the misconduct of a New Zealand citizen, a pilot of the Marlborough area, Donald Jemison.
The New Zealand side called the decision of the court in the Stepanishchev case totalitarian justice. Jemison was not convicted, he voluntarily surrendered his pilot license and expressed deep regret about the incident. The pilot ended his career as the captain of a small cargo ship. He never spoke about the tragedy of the ship, even with fellow countrymen. In all these years, not a single journalist has been able to interview Donald Jemison.


The history of the ship "Mikhail Lermontov" did not end with his death. Foreign passengers bombarded Australian courts with claims against the Baltic Shipping Company for millions of US dollars. To reduce the measure of indignation, the New Zealand leadership raised the safe with the valuables of the passengers who had deposited them to the surface.
The issue of restoring the passenger ship was decided at the highest authorities, but the cost of the event exceeded the cost of the vessel. On August 20, 1986, an order was signed to write off the ship "Mikhail Lermontov" from the balance sheet of the Baltic Shipping Company.
The passenger ship was not insured, since it made no sense to insure in Soviet companies, because all sea transport belonged to one owner - the state. They tried to recover funds from New Zealand to pay for the damage caused to passengers. In April 1989, the Baltic shipping company sued the Harbor Authority of Picton and pilot Donald Jemison for A$100 million or US$45 million. The litigation went on for several years. Lawyers found out that the pilot was one in several persons. He performed the duties CEO board and captain of the port of Picton, was the only pilot and, in addition, a guide throughout the water area. Jemison worked 7 days a week, 16-18 hours a day. By over-exploiting Donald Jemison, the authorities of the Port of Picton violated a huge number of both New Zealand and international conventions, which means they had to be responsible for the actions of the pilot, which led to tragic consequences. As a result, the Baltic Shipping Company received 2 million 750 thousand US dollars. The amount, of course, is much less than what was stated in the lawsuit, but Soviet side considered this to be a good outcome. In world practice, the shipowner, not the pilot, is usually responsible for the accident of a ship, moreover, the details of the death of the ship became known, but the USSR did not seek to make them public. The dissemination of information to New Zealand was not profitable either. Island state so suffered losses - 5 years after the disaster of the ship, passenger ships did not visit these places. The parties entered into a settlement agreement and pledged to keep it secret for five years. The version that the ship was removed by competitors was not discussed anywhere.
You can get to the place of the ship's death in three hours. Renting a boat and equipment costs 800 US dollars. The ship "Mikhail Lermontov" lies at a depth of 36 meters. In clear weather, its side can be seen from the surface of the sea.
Sunken in New Zealand passenger ship gave impetus to the development of diving. "Black divers" rushed to the liner, who raised alcoholic drinks, caviar in iron cans, dishes, gold and silver products, tore mahogany frames from cabin windows, pulled away deck chairs that floated up at the crash site. Collecting objects from the ship "Mikhail Lermontov" has become a favorite pastime of the locals. International laws prohibit lifting any object from lost ships. IN individual countries the punishment for this is extremely severe - up to 6 years in prison, but New Zealand lives by its island laws. The number of people wishing to visit the Soviet ship is still not decreasing.

In December 1922, a ship was laid down in Hamburg for transatlantic flights from Germany to America, named the Albert Ballin in honor of the largest shipowner of the Hamburg-Americaline company. In mid-1923, the Albert Ballin set out on its first test flight to New York. It could carry over 1,800 people in first, second and third class cabins. In 1934, leaving Hamburg, the Albert Ballin rammed the tugboat Merkur, which immediately sank, taking five crew members with it. The damaged bow of the ship was completely replaced, and she took on an inclined shape instead of the previous straight lines. Many years later, already working on the Kamchatka line, the liner rammed for the second time, but already ... a whale. The ship experienced a strong hull vibration, but followed on without slowing down. Later it became known that the dead whale was thrown out by the sea on west coast Kamchatka. In 1935, Albert Ballin was renamed Hansa. The Nazis did not want to see the name of a person of Jewish nationality on board the ship. During the Second World War, the Hansa became part of the German Navy and transported military supplies and troops. At the end of January 1945, the Hansa was supposed to participate in a convoy transporting German troops along with another liner, the Wilhelm Gustlov. However, four hours after leaving Danzig, the main engine broke down on the Hansa. The convoy stopped to reload and distribute the contingent to other ships. The captain of the Wilhelm Gustlov, having learned that he would have to take on board another 2,000 people, decided to move on on his own without escort ships. The commander of the S-13 submarine, Captain 3rd Rank Alexander Marinesko, took advantage of this by carrying out the “Attack of the Century” on the surface. In March 1945, it was the turn of the Hansa. During the evacuation of the Nazis from East Prussia, the Hansa hit a mine and sank at a depth of 20 meters, 9 miles from the coast. In accordance with the decisions of the Potsdam Conference of the leaders of the three allied powers (USSR, USA and Great Britain), the navy and merchant fleet of Germany were divided equally among the victorious countries on account of reparations. The Hansa was also among the ships intended for transfer to the USSR. In December 1949, the ship was raised and, after repairs and modernization in Holland, the GDR and Sevastopol, under the name "Soviet Union" became part of the USSR navy. During the restoration work appearance the liner has changed significantly - of the two chimneys, one remained, of the four masts with cargo booms, only two remained. In March 1957, the "Soviet Union" arrived in Vladivostok and began working on the Kamchatka Express Line. During the period from 1957 to 1980, the liner carried almost 60,000 passengers. In 1980, the "Soviet Union" was decommissioned and sold for scrap to Japan under the name "Tobolsk". In conclusion, it is worth noting that the unfinished battleship, which was laid down in 1938 at a shipyard in Leningrad, bore the proud name "Soviet Union". In 1941, the construction of the battleship "Soviet Union" was suspended and it was mothballed. In 1948, the "Soviet Union" was finally removed from construction, excluded from the lists of Navy ships and soon cut into scrap metal on the slipway. Some old-timers of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky have a myth that the ship used to be called "Adolf Hitler", and was the Fuhrer's personal liner. .. This legend is groundless and has no evidence...