The 1st of July the Moscow Headquarters of the Russian Geographical Society was visited by the captains of the vessels of the Group of the companies of JSC «Sovcomflot». This friendly visit was timed to the Day of Sea and River Fleet Workers, which is celebrated the 3rd of July.
The representatives of the Society conducted the tour through the building for the guests, got them acquainted with the collections of the marine instruments of the XIX–ХХ centuries and with the library of the Russian Geographical Society.
The greatest attention of the sailors was attracted by the maps from different eras. From a very rough schemes of «Muscovy and Tartary» to nautical charts of the mid-twentieth century, fully suitable for navigation.
Excursion to the library of the Russian Geographical Society
-Surely, paper maps in our work are already receding into the past, - the captain with years of experience Evgeny Gusev noted after visiting the library (now he is engaged in the selection of crews for new ships for «Sovcomflot»). – But even now sailing is unthinkable without geographical knowledge. For instance, soon there will be open route from Murmansk to the Gulf of Ob – there are already being built the seventh ice-class ships for it, they are able to crush ice up to 1.8 meters thick. And a fairway of the Gulf of Ob is so complex and poorly studied, that we just need new, modern maps of it.
By the way, new vessels of ice-class ships for the Northern Sea Route were named in honor of the polar explorers, whose exploits still serve as an example to the participants of the expeditions of the Russian Geographical Society. The first of these tankers with a displacement of 38 thousand tons, was named «Navigator Albanov». Thus the name of navigator of the schooner «Saint Anna» Valerian Albanov was commemorated. Valerian Albanov was one of the two survived members of the polar expedition of Georgy Brusilov of 1914.
Two more ships of this series – «Navigator Malygin» and «Navigator Ovtsyn» are named in honor of participants of the Great Northern Expedition of 1733-1743 years, which in its scope and the results was worthy forerunner of polar research of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society in the XIX - early XX century.
After the tour through the Headquarters the captains of «Sovcomflot» presented to the Russian Geographical Society a photograph of one of the newest vessels of the company. In their turn, the representatives of the Society congratulated the sailors on the upcoming professional holiday and presented them with gifts.
-We are particularly pleased with congratulations from the Russian Geographical Society, - the Deputy General Director of «Sovcomflot» Mikhail Suslin said, passing a gift. - The sailors and geographers have always been close in spirit, by their thirst for discovery, for love and respect for nature. I hope that we still will be close to each other, and will help each other to carry out plans and dreams.
Photo by Mikhail Oreshnikov