Northern Sea Route celebrates 85 years

The Northern Sea Route was discovered by Otto Schmidt 85 years ago, TASS informs. Soviet icebreaker Alexander Sibiryakov has made the first successful crossing of the Northern Sea Route in a single navigation without wintering from Archangel to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in 1932.

There’s a photo made in 1932 of a solemn farewell to Alexander Sibiryakov crew in The Russian State Arctic and Antarctic Museum. It shows overcrowded port boardwalk full of people.

Soviet icebreaker Alexander Sibiryakov with the captain Vladimir Voronin onboard left port at the end of July, and by the end of August it has reached Chukchi Sea. The propeller shaft broke in the ice jam, and the icebreaker drifted there for some days. Fortunately, the expedition crew has managed to build improvised sails and arrived in the Pacific Ocean. From there it was towed to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. That’s how the cross-cutting Northern Sea Route was done – the dream of many mariners has finally come through. Two Soviet polar seamen - Chief of Expedition Otto Schmidt and Captain Vladimir Voronin came back home with many honors.

In our times the importance of the Northern Sea Route is hard to underestimate: it is the shortest way from the Far East and Eastern Asia to Europe. Today Russia continues traditions of exploration of the route, established in early Soviet days.

Russkiy Mir