Dnieper has become shallow, so they don’t swim
Recently, seasonal navigation along the Dnieper has officially opened. But is this navigation? So, the name is one ... Now it’s hard to imagine that once on the main river of the region hefty boats and large steamships could swim. The history of Smolensk shipping dates back many centuries.
First tourists
The fact that shipping along the Dnieper was very well developed in ancient Russia is not in doubt for any historian. And the very name of our city, according to one of the most popular versions, is directly connected with the ships: ships that overcame halfway "from the Vikings to the Greeks" were repaired and smashed here.
The first water tourists - at least documented - were the princes Askold and Deer with the company. The date of the first mention of Smolensk in the annals (863) is considered the first documentary confirmation of the fact of navigation along the Dnieper.
The fact that the Dnieper was navigable is stated in many letters found in the city.
“Birch bark with Scandinavian runes is considered one of the most interesting,” says Smolensk professor of SmolSU Evgeny Schmidt. “The letter indicates that merchants from the Gothic coast sailed to Smolensk more than once.”
Ancient port
Foreigners sailed to the Smolensk land, not only for trade, but also to rob. This conclusion was reached by archaeologist Veronika Murasheva from an expedition organized by the State Historical Museum.
Moscow archaeologists have discovered in Gnezdovo one of the very first Smolensk ports of a thousand years ago. Last year, scientists were fortunate enough to find a wooden ship oarlock, with the help of which a paddle was fixed in a boat. A rare find is dated to the beginning of the X century. “It is interesting that the ship oarlock was used by the Varangian peoples,” Veronika Murasheva explains. - And that means that the northern foreigners often swam to our lands. Traces of frequent fires have been discovered in the excavations, remaining over ten centuries on almost all buildings. It is unlikely that the fires were only of natural origin, it was too painful for them to pass. ”
In modern terms, the ancient port in Gnezdovo was a real complex of repair shops and "service" centers for ships. The pier was wooden. A tar pit was located near the pier. A solution was cooked in it, with which the bottoms of the vessels were coated. And a little further there was a forge, where rivets for ships were forged.
Shipping trade
From a bit later evidence, one way or another connected with shipping, the story stands out with the assassination of Prince Gleb, who was passing through Smolensk. This happened in 1015 at the mouth of the Smyadyn River, which flowed into the Dnieper. Smyadynsky Bay was very convenient for calling ships - "shipbuilders", "Assad" and "Uchan". Moscow, Tver, Vyazma merchants, and later Lithuanian merchants, stayed here. Later, Smolensk merchants engaged in noble trade with Riga, with Scotland and with German cities. Proof of this is the agreement concluded with them by Prince Smolensk Mstislav Davidovich in 1228. “Peace and friendship will henceforth be between Smolensk region, Riga, the Gothic coast (Gotland) and all Germans walking along the East Sea, to the mutual pleasure of both sides ", - said in a historical document.
In the XII-XIII century, another pier existed at the mouth of the river Klovka. It housed the "Gostiny Dvor Lithuanian" with warehouses of goods. Over time, the Klovka River became shallow and dried up. Smyadyn suffered the same fate.
Until the second half of the 19th century, bread, hemp, wheat, wood, and building materials were rafted along the Dnieper.
First steamboats
Steamboats on the Dnieper appeared at the beginning of the twentieth century. Three steam-powered vessels cruised along the river: “The Valiant”, “Grace” and “Daring”. They transported goods and passengers on a section from Mogilev to Dorogobuzh. In 1903, on the site of the former baths on the left bank of the Dnieper, a pier was built, consisting of a warehouse and two waiting rooms for passengers.
In Soviet times, the Smolensk marina of the Dnieper-Dvinsk State Shipping Company was built in Zadniprovye, and a ship repair workshop was built with it. at that time, the passengers were transported by the steam-powered ships Pyatiletka, Sovetskaya Belarus and several river trams, cargo - nine barges and the towing steamer Pravda. It is known that in 1940, river ships transported 114 thousand people and more than two million tons of various cargoes.
There are ships somewhere
After the war, river transport transported goods and passengers on a 134-kilometer stretch: from the village of Bovshevo (border with Belarus) to Dorogobuzh. From spring to autumn (navigation period) up to 125 thousand people were transported. And pleasure trips to the Red Bor and Sokol Mountain were carried out by the motor ships Don, Yenisei, Desna and Dnipro.
In 1977, the Smolensk Regional Council of Workers' Deputies prohibited the use of motor ships, boats and motor boats in the water bodies of the region. The reason for this decision was simple: "strengthening nature and improving the use of natural resources." However, many experts believe that the real reason was the unprofitability of the Smolensk fleet. Environmental imbalance was only a miserable excuse. Over the next 20 years, in Smolensk and in the region, amateur and professional shipping fell into complete decline.
By the way
More recently, the Viking-Nevo Smolensk organization began the construction of two ships based on the prototype of a 9th-century Viking boat. An unprecedented project aimed at reviving shipping along the Dnieper and developing the waterway "from the Varangians to the Greeks." In the next issue of AiF-Smolensk, read a story about how ships are built according to drawings of a thousand years ago in modern Smolensk.
reference
Currently, they are trying to actively use the Dnieper in the tourism sector. Last year, on the initiative of the Smolensk administration, a river bus was launched where you can conduct excursions and night discos.
As we learned, by the end of this summer, the Dnieper Fairway company plans to build a Smolensk port. At the moment, the issue is being resolved with the allocation of a land plot for construction on Caschen Street. In addition, for the opening of tourist shipping, they will clear the riverbed, overgrown with mud and algae.
In the meantime, lovers of water travel can only make tours of other Russian rivers. River cruises are becoming popular again. For example, fairly complete information about them can be found on the website www.riverflot.ru.
The editors thank Ivan Blinov, Smolensk Forum and the Historical Museum for their help in preparing the material.
I continue the story of the river ships built during the first five-year plans of the USSR. The information on them - for the most part - was taken from the journal "Technique - Youth".
After the restoration of the river fleet in the years of the first five-year plan, the period of its reconstruction began. Now, the shipbuilders were faced with the task of not only replenishing shipping companies with Soviet-built vessels, but boldly introducing advanced equipment that could reduce the time required to build ships, reduce the consumption of scarce metal and, consequently, the cost of them. One of the progressive methods in those years was electric welding.
In fairness, we note that it was invented in 1881 by the Russian engineer N. Benardos, and six years later it was improved by N. Slavyanov, who created the first welding workshop in history at the Perm Steel and Cannon Plant. However, for a number of reasons, electric welding did not find wide application until the last years of the First World War. It owes its “second birth” to purely military reasons — the need to save metal and accelerate the production of military equipment in every way.
In shipbuilding, one of the initiators of the application of the new technology was Professor V. Vologdin. It was he who, already in 1926, successfully conducted the first experiments, first on welding barges, and then on individual units and parts of ships - the foundations of cars, fuel and ballast tanks, all kinds of casings, davits, cargo arrows. Then the Vologdin group developed equipment designed for the manufacture of internal bulkheads. In 1929, employees of the Kiev Machine-Building Institute completed its tests, and in Sudoproekt, a centralized organization engaged in the design of new ships, a department appeared, whose employees were engaged in the development of welded ship structures, the introduction of electric welding in shipyards and the training of workers-welders.
The preparatory phase of the research work was completed by the beginning of the 30s, and the board of the All-Union River Shipbuilding Association entrusted the construction of the country's first all-welded ship at the Kiev shipyard (now the Leninsky Forge factory).
The people of Kiev chose the tug with a steam engine with a capacity of 150 liters, already mastered by industry and well-proven in operation. with. It was designed by the designers of the Krasnoye Sormovo plant in Nizhny Novgorod for towing rafts on northern rivers from logging areas to seaports.
Starting such an unusual experience, Ukrainian shipbuilders deliberately refused to make any changes to the project - the outwardly new tugboat was no different from their counterparts. It is the same flat-bottomed one, with a hull divided into five compartments by four watertight bulkheads, side paddle wheels, straight sides, with an angular superstructure crowned with a long chimney.
Working drawings of "Belarus" - the tug received the name were prepared by August 1, 1931, and two weeks later the first sheets of the bottom were laid on the slipway. Then began the installation of the kit, casing, add-ons. Everything seems to be as before ... Yes, only for the first time there was no deafening roar of the rivets' hammers above the slipway, but a blinding flame of an electric arc ghostly flashed. For the first time, ready-made bollards, locks, portholes and other details were installed in the designated places on the ship under construction, and did not mount them in parts, as before. The work was unusually fast, and already on November 20 the brand new tugboat was solemnly handed over to the owners - Dnieper riverboats. The labor shift of the ship "Belarus" has begun. And at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant, in the same way, the same type of tugboat, the Welder, was built. And shipbuilders began to take stock of the experiment. Well, they were not bad. Suffice it to say that the hull of Belarus was 27.5% lighter than riveted tugboats - metal savings are evident. In addition, for the first time shipbuilders were able to do without a number of rather heavy, time-consuming operations. We are talking about reaming holes in the sheets of the casing and the body, the riveting itself, chasing; finally, there was no need to make thousands of different bolts and nuts - the complexity of the work decreased by 30%. The advantages of electric welding were clear.A new method of assembling ships was immediately extended to other enterprises in the industry, and the Kiev Lenin Forge factory began an extensive program for the design and construction of a large series of all-welded tugboats with machines with a capacity of 150 and 300 liters. with. Following the Ukrainians, electric welding was quickly implemented at many shipbuilding and repair enterprises of the Volga basin.
The length of the waterways of Belarus is 2.5 thousand kilometers. Our country is small, roads are good, therefore, domestic river transport, although they exist, is developing poorly. Till. Today, Belarus is actively modernizing its waterways to meet the requirements of European qualifications. Transit is a great prospect. Large-scale projects stimulate the development of regional ones: enthusiasts this year organized the first shipping festival in Belarus.
As early as the 1950s, the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating a long-distance — from the Dnieper to the Vistula –– international route with the designation E – 40 appeared. The start of the “new old” idea was given in the spring of 2014 in Brest. Then a memorandum was signed between Belarus, Ukraine and Poland on the reconstruction of the Dnieper-Bug-Wisla-Oder route. Active work is underway, and in December 2015 the 3rd session of the Commission on the development of the E-40 water transport connection on the Dnieper-Vistula section will be held in Lublin. They will present a feasibility study for the project. This is the first stage. There will be money, the second will begin - design. And only then - implementation.
Recently, interested organizations have shown reporters of Belarusian and foreign mass media how hydraulic structures are being updated in Belarus. At the expense of the budget.
Out of 11 hydroelectric facilities, five have already been reconstructed. They gained a second life and correspond to the high parameters of international classification. Take, for example, the Kobrin waterworks. The largest in the country, with a water drop of 5 meters 40 centimeters. Previously, the lock process took more than an hour, now about 15 minutes.
However, 15 to 20 vessels pass through the hydraulic system per month. Not much...
Now, up to 1 million tons of cargo is transported along Belarusian rivers. The plans - at least four million. Crushed stone from Mikashevichi, sand, potassium salts from the Petrikovsky deposit ... Two oil tankers are being built at the Pinsk Shipyard, which will be used to transport petroleum products from Mozyr to Brest.
Belarus is interested in transit. And for Europe, an additional transit line through the water is very welcome.
The creation of a new path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" with a length of more than 2 thousand kilometers is hindered by several neglected river sections. From Brest to Kherson you can go by water. The bottleneck is the section of the Western Bug from Brest to Warsaw. In Brest there is a dead dam. Next - a wild river without hydraulic structures, without track work and clearing. Three options have been developed to restore the site to Warsaw. As well as several options for connecting the Polish (future) shipping section with the Belarusian one.
When will it be possible to freely get from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea and vice versa? A matter of time and not one hundred million dollars.
Cargo transportation by river is cheaper than by land. But passenger river transport is not cheap. Today, there are 10 passenger ships on the balance of the Belarusian River Shipping Company. Walking. They ride on water in Brest, Pinsk, Mogilev, Gomel and Rechitsa, as well as on the Zaslavsky reservoir. During the navigation period, a little more than 99 thousand tourists were transported. Less than last year.
But ships for walking with passengers do not yet use the E-40 waterway. Although a number of hydroelectric facilities have infrastructure for such trips. Perhaps, the cruise ship for tourist and excursion transportation, which will run on the route Brest - Kiev, will be the first to test the new possibilities of water. A vessel with a length of 43.6 and a width of 7 meters, with a restaurant and a casino, is completing the Pinsk Shipyard. Next year - launching. The Secretary of the Commission for the Development of the Water Transport Connection E-40 on the Dnieper-Wisla section, Andrei Rekesh, noted that the cruise ship is not a passenger ship delivering passengers from point A to point B, therefore it will go at a speed of no more than 20 kilometers per hour, and the pleasure of traveling on it will be expensive.
While big plans await big money, enthusiasts act. In 2015, Belarus hosted the first shipping festival. The small battle boat Yatvyag, built by three reconstructors from Lida, tested the waters of the Neman. Owners of the farmstead from Kobrin district with the help of artisans built the ship "Sleipnir" (a sliding, magic octopus horse in mythology). Recently, a test launch of the ship on the water and a swim along the Mukhavets River took place.
It’s probably worth it to sit down with the oars in good company and see the tourist routes offered by the owners of the farmstead. But - in the spring. This year the navigation is over ...
Since the mid-70s, the passenger fleet of the Black Sea Shipping Company was actively updated. Vessels were built, including in Finland, which at that time was a trendsetter in the construction of passenger ferries
Motor ship "Belarus". blackseanews.net
So, in the Finnish city of Turku, at the shipyard “Vyartsilya”, five of the same type of passenger-and-freight ferry-ships intended for the Black Sea Shipping Company were under construction. The head ship was named "Belarus", the second - "Georgia", the third - "Azerbaijan", the fourth - "Kazakhstan", the fifth - "Karelia".
Almost half a century separated these vessels from the former passenger Krymchaks; much has changed over the years. The demand for tourist trips along the Black Sea has grown, the navigation area of \u200b\u200bpassenger ships has expanded, especially in autumn and winter.
The inclusion of ships of this series in the Navy's passenger fleet meant a quantum leap. This required the introduction of a number of organizational and technical innovations. In the ports of the Crimean-Caucasian line, it became necessary to equip special “corner” berths for the possibility of mooring vessels of the “Belarus” type and opening ramps. It was also necessary to develop and implement the technology of accumulation and loading of cars, containers, etc.
The new motor ships in terms of passenger comfort and shape differed markedly from their predecessors built in the thirties: the calm straightforwardness of the hull and superstructures was replaced by the dynamic contours.
Slanted superstructures, a mast bent back and a pipe with wings gave “Belarus” a swift and elegant look. When designing the vessel, special attention was paid to providing passengers with maximum amenities, to creating an atmosphere of comfort and good conditions for recreation.
“Belarus” had a deadweight of 3,000 tons; length - 157 m; width - 21.8 m; draft - up to 6.2 m. Power of two main 18-cylinder diesel engines - I8000 hp at a rotation frequency of 520 rpm, it allowed to reach speeds of up to 2І knots. To reduce pitching, the ship had stabilizing devices. There was a bow thruster, bow, stern and side ramps.
Initially, the ship had 173 passenger cabins for 480 people. On the auto deck could accommodate up to 250 cars. In 1986, the ship was refitted, passenger capacity increased, and additional cabins were built.
Belarus, as a banner, picked up its name from the famous steamship of the Far Eastern Shipping Company. Under the same name, he transported national economic and military cargoes to the Arctic; under the most difficult conditions of wartime, he made his way through caravans, overcoming the ice and enemy confrontation.
In March 1944, the ship "Belarus" under the command of Captain K.G. Kondratiev followed with cargo from the United States to Vladivostok. In the area of \u200b\u200bIturup Island (Kuril Islands) it was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine. Two crew members survived by a miracle: the stokers I.P. Petrovich and Ya.P. Pochernin. 41 people died.
On January 15, 1975, the state flag of the USSR was hoisted on the lead ship of a series of passenger-and-freight ferries - the ship "Belarus". In early February, a crew was staffed in Riga, the ship was supplied for the upcoming trips abroad. Then the first visit to "Belarus" by Vladimir Vysotsky took place, the friendship with which the crew struck up for a long time.
The ship was received by one of the most experienced captains of the NMP Felix Dashkov. Prior to that, he commanded the ship "Lithuania", has proven himself well while working on the international line Odessa - Marseille. The level of service reached in Lithuania by Dashkov was transferred to Belarus and did a lot to increase comfort, since the new ship was of a higher class.
“Belarus” began its work on cruises with tourists of the West German company “Turopa” along the route Genoa - Canary Islands. Sailing along this route in the cold season lasted for many years. Since 1977, work on the Marseille line has been just as constant in the summer months. In addition, the ship went along the Crimean-Caucasian, Middle Eastern lines, carried out cruises around Europe.
In the 80s, the West German Dolphin Seeraisen and the French Company Transtre were charterers. The ship began to make Arctic cruises with a call to Svalbard. Worked "Belarus" stably trouble-free. The annual operating income was several million foreign currency rubles.
There were unforeseen cases. So, in October – November 1979, the ship carried out cruises to the United States with Soviet tourists. At the Boston-Baltimore crossing, the ship pierced a 12-meter-long whale with its bulb-shaped whale stem. The main engines were stopped. To get rid of the carcass, I had to call the port tugs, which sprinkled the whale and pulled it from the stem.
“Belarus” was repaired first in Yugoslavia, and since 1977 Odessa CPZ “Ukraine” has mastered and successfully carried out dock repair of ships of this series. In February – May ı986, the ship was modernized in Bremerhaven.
Many famous people visited the flights of Belarus, for example, the outstanding Soviet writer Konstantin Simonov. In I975, in 1977, Vladimir Vysotsky and Marina Vlady made a voyage on a ship. The crew tried to do everything so that such dear guests were satisfied. And Vladimir gave sailors and tourists his wonderful songs.
Before the collapse of the USSR, the financial and economic situation in the NSR was stable, but since 1992 the shipping company began to feel the consequences of non-payments and crisis phenomena, it itself became a debtor. It was during this difficult time that “Belarus” had a major accident. October 25, 1992 at a shipyard in Singapore, the rise to the dock "Belarus". The ship arrived for scheduled repairs and docking under the command of Captain I.N. Mironenko, who headed the ship since 1980. A replacement crew flew to Singapore.
In the process of docking, when the ship was already on keel blocks, the ship suddenly flinched (as it turned out later, several “pillows” of keel blocks were pushed by the pontoon) and first landed on the left, then it began to roll more heavily on the starboard side. There was a strong roar. Two cranes collapsed from the dock tower to an adjacent floating dock.
Dock workers poured into the water like peas: the ship capsized along with the dock. Captain Mironenko announced a general ship alarm and organized the evacuation of the crew. A “gazebo” was filed with a coastal crane and they began to film a team, half of which were women.
The neighboring dock was flooded, the cranes on its towers, while they were not ripped off, slowed down the roll of "Belarus". An ocean tug docked nearby was removed on time, otherwise he would have gotten it.
After the onset of full water, the roll of the vessel reached 52 degrees, the vessel which fell on the dock suffered serious damage. Then the position of the ship along with the dock stabilized. However, a significant amount of water turned out to be in the ship's premises; the cabins of the lower decks where the crew was located were flooded. Fuel oil spilled from the fuel tanks, things floated in rainbow stains. This was the first incident in the history of the Navy fleet overturning a dock with a ship.
On November 14, the ship began to straighten with the help of two powerful floating cranes. After that, 19 pumps pumped water from the flooded rooms. Then the ship was put in a dry dock for restoration work, which lasted until May 1993.
Later it was decided to send the ship to Bremerhaven to complete the repair. This decision can hardly be called expedient, since the NMP was already indebted to the Lloyd-Werft company, where the repair was planned, and the performance of Belarus raised this debt to 24 million German marks. Repair in Singapore would be much cheaper.
As a result, repair cases ended in high-profile financial scandals, criminal cases were opened, Lloyd-Werft claims were added to the claims of creditors of other companies, which further complicated the financial situation of the NWP. By the way, the arrest of the ship "Odessa" in April 1995 in Naples was made at the suit of "Lloyd-Werft".
Repair of "Belarus" was completed in December 1993. The ship was renamed Kazakhstan-2 and continued cruising. In July 1995, the ship was detained in the port of Tromso by representatives of the International Transport Workers Union. The reason for the delay was the lack of a contract with the shipowner and the crew receiving a salary below the level set by the Union.
In 1996, a Liberian flag was hoisted on a ship. According to some reports, the ship "Belarus" already under the name "Dolphin" at the beginning of 2012 still worked as part of a small German company. Captain Vladimir Vorobyov commanded them, who, incidentally, was once a trainee at Belorussia.
Such is the story of the ship, which successfully operated as part of the passenger fleet of the Black Sea Shipping Company.
Vladimir Polyakov,chairman of the Council of Veterans of the Fleet of the Navy, senior mechanic,
Oleg Bulovich,deputy Chairman of the Council of Veterans of the Fleet
Ports of Ukraine, No. 7 (119) 2012
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Shipping in Belarus performed only on rivers and lakes, as the country has no access to the sea. The length of the waterways of the Republic of Belarus is about 2.5 thousand kilometers.
However, these routes for domestic transportation are, in many cases, impractical. This is due to the fact that, as a rule, only the headwaters of large rivers are located on the territory of Belarus (for example, the Dnieper, Western Dvina, Neman, etc.). Firstly, not all of them are navigable (only in the largest water arteries the depths reach 1.5 meters). Secondly, they are usually concentrated along the perimeter of the republic (Dnieper - eastern and south-eastern, Pripyat - southern, Bug - south-western, Neman - north-western, Western Dvina - north-eastern parts of Belarus).
At the same time, navigable inland waterways are practically absent in the central part.
The waterways of Belarus are not connected in any way (with the exception of the Dnieper, Pripyat and Bug).
The small size of the state and a fairly developed network of roads does not contribute to the growth of domestic transport by river.
Dnieper-Bug Canal
It is theoretically possible to use all the major waterways of the republic (Dnieper, Pripyat, Bug, Zapadnaya Dvina, Neman) for international river shipping. Currently in Belarus there is only one waterway operated in one direction - this is the Bug – Pripyat – Dnieper – Black Sea system. At the end of the years, the idea arose of creating a north-south main waterway, including the Vistula, Bug, Pripyat, Dnieper (the so-called 40 way), with possible accession to it (through the city of Yaselda, the Oginsky Canal and the Schara River) Neman, is included by the Economic Commission for Europe in the draft European agreement on the most important inland waterways of international importance.
Design work is ongoing. Of course, the construction of this highway will require very significant costs. Moreover, the bulk of their costs is necessary for a territory where the depths on most sections of the Vistula and the Bug barely reach one meter, while according to the requirements for waterways of the category There is a minimum depth of at least 1.2 meters. The Belarusian segment, with the exception of several sections, meets these requirements. A bypass channel was excavated around a dam in the Brest area, which removed obstacles to navigation along the Bug River.
1. River ports and marinas
In total, the country has 10 river ports. The river ports of Gomel, Bobruisk, Mozyr have railway access roads and are adapted for handling goods operating in a mixed direction. The port facilities are equipped with floating and gantry cranes, mechanized cargo lines for high-speed processing of ships.
