The North Pole was stormed by the entire USSR. Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin. Famous Arctic explorer Interesting biography facts

On this day, May 21, 1937 - 79 years ago, the expedition of I. Papanin, E. Krenkel, P. Shirshov, E. Fedorov landed on the ice of the Arctic Ocean in the area of ​​the North Pole and deployed the first polar station “North Pole-1”.

For decades, thousands of desperate travelers and explorers of the North sought to get to the North Pole, trying at all costs to plant the flag of their country there, marking the victory of their people over the harsh and powerful forces of nature.

With the advent of aviation, new opportunities arose to reach the North Pole. Such as the flights of R. Amundsen and R. Bird on airplanes and the flights of the airships “Norway” and “Italy”. But for serious scientific research In the Arctic, these expeditions were short-term and not very significant. A real breakthrough was the successful completion of the first high-latitude airborne Soviet expedition and the landing on drifting ice in 1937 of the heroic “four” under the leadership of I. D. Papanin.

So, O.Yu. Schmidt headed the air part of the transfer to the Pole, and I. D. Papanin was responsible for its sea part and wintering at the drifting station "SP-1". The expedition's plans included a landing in the North Pole region for a year, during which it was planned to collect a huge amount of various scientific data on meteorology, geophysics, and hydrobiology. Five planes took off from Moscow on March 22. The flight ended on May 21, 1937.

At 11:35 a.m. the flagship aircraft, under the control of the flight squad commander Hero Soviet Union M.V. Vodopyanova landed on the ice, flying 20 km beyond the North Pole. And the last of the planes landed only on June 5, the flight and landing conditions were so difficult. On June 6, the USSR flag was raised over the North Pole, and the planes set off on their return journey.

Four brave researchers remained on the ice floe with a tent for living and working, two radio stations connected by an antenna, a workshop, a meteorological booth, a theodolite for measuring the height of the sun and warehouses built from ice. The expedition included: P.P. Shirshov - hydrobiologist, glaciologist; E.K. Fedorov - meteorologist-geophysicist; THIS. Krenkel - radio operator and I.D. Papanin is the station manager. Months of exhausting work and a difficult life lay ahead. But it was a time of mass heroism, high spirituality and impatient striving forward.

Every day at the North Pole brought researchers new discoveries, and the first of them was the depth of water under the ice at 4290 meters. Every day, at certain observation periods, soil samples were taken, depths and drift speed were measured, coordinates were determined, magnetic measurements, hydrological and meteorological observations were carried out.

Soon the drift of the ice floe on which the researchers' camp was located was discovered. Its wanderings began in the area of ​​the North Pole, then the ice floe rushed south at a speed of 20 km per day.

A month after the Papaninites landed on the ice floe (as the brave four were dubbed throughout the world), when a ceremonial meeting of the participants of the world’s first air expedition to the North Pole took place in the Kremlin, a decree was read out on the award of O.Yu. Schmidt and I.D. Papanin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the rest of the drift participants were awarded the Order of Lenin. The ice floe on which the Papanin camp was located, after 274 days, turned into a fragment no more than 30 meters wide with several cracks.

A decision was made to evacuate the expedition. Behind us was a journey of 2,500 km across the Arctic Ocean and the Greenland Sea. On February 19, 1938, the polar explorers were removed from the ice floe by the icebreakers Taimyr and Murman. On March 15, the polar explorers were delivered to Leningrad.

The scientific results obtained in the unique drift were presented to the General Meeting of the USSR Academy of Sciences on March 6, 1938 and received highly appreciated specialists. The scientific staff of the expedition were awarded academic degrees. Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin received the title of Doctor of Geographical Sciences.

With the heroic drift of the Papaninites, the systematic development of the entire Arctic basin began, which made navigation along the Northern Sea Route regular. Despite all the gigantic obstacles and difficulties of fate, the Papaninites, with their personal courage, wrote one of the brightest pages in the history of Arctic exploration.

Mikhailov Andrey 06/13/2019 at 16:00

Many glorious pages in the history of discovery and study Russian Arctic. But there is a special chapter in it, from which the heroic polar epic began. On May 21, 1937, the polar air expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences reached the North Pole and landed the North Pole-1 scientific station on drifting ice for nine long months.

With this expedition, the systematic development of the entire Arctic basin began, thanks to which navigation along the Northern Sea Route became regular. Its members had to collect data in the field of atmospheric phenomena, meteorology, geophysics, and hydrobiology. The station was headed by Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin, its employees were hydrologist Pyotr Petrovich Shirshov, geophysicist-astronomer Evgeniy Konstantinovich Fedorov and radio operator Ernst Teodorovich Krenkel. The expedition was led by Otto Yulievich Schmidt, the pilot of the flagship N-170 aircraft was the hero of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Vasilyevich Vodopyanov.

And it all started like this. On February 13, 1936, at a meeting in the Kremlin on the organization of transport flights, Otto Schmidt outlined a plan for an air expedition to the North Pole and the establishment of a station there. Based on the plan, Stalin and Voroshilov instructed the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route (Glavsevmorput) to organize an expedition to the North Pole region in 1937 and deliver equipment for the scientific station and winterers there by plane.

An air expedition squadron was formed consisting of four four-engine ANT-6-4M-34R "Aviaarktika" aircraft and a twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft R-6. To select the location of an intermediate base for the assault on the pole on Rudolf Island (Franz Josef Land), in the spring of 1936, pilots Vodopyanov and Makhotkin went on reconnaissance. In August, the icebreaking steamer Rusanov headed there with cargo for the construction of a new polar station and airfield equipment.

The whole country was preparing the expedition. For example, a tent for a residential camp was created by the Moscow Kauchuk plant. Its frame was made of easily disassembled aluminum pipes, the canvas walls were lined with two layers of eider down, and the rubber inflatable floor was also supposed to conserve heat.

The Central Radio Laboratory in Leningrad produced two radio stations - a powerful 80-watt one and a 20-watt emergency one. The main power source was two sets of alkaline batteries, charged from a small windmill or from a dynamo - a light gasoline engine (there was also a manually driven engine). All equipment, from the antenna to the smallest spare parts, was made under Krenkel’s personal supervision; the weight of the radio equipment was half a ton.

According to special drawings, the Leningrad Shipbuilding Plant named after Karakozov built ash sleds that weighed only 20 kilograms. Institute of Engineers Catering prepared lunches for the drifting station for a whole year and a half, weighing about 5 tons.

On May 21, 1937, at about five in the morning, Mikhail Vodopyanov’s car took off from Rudolf Island. Throughout the flight, radio contact was maintained, the weather and the nature of the ice cover were clarified. During the flight, an accident occurred: a leak developed in the flange in the upper part of the radiator of the third engine, and antifreeze began to evaporate. The flight mechanics had to cut the wing skin in order to place a rag that absorbed the liquid, squeeze it into a bucket, and use a pump to pump the coolant back into the engine reservoir.

The mechanics had to carry out this operation until the landing, sticking their bare hands out of the wing in -20 degrees and a fast wind. At 10:50 we reached the pole. And on May 25, the remaining group of aircraft was launched.

After landing at the North Pole, explorers made many discoveries. Every day they took soil samples, measured depths and drift speeds, determined coordinates, carried out magnetic measurements, hydrological and meteorological observations. Soon after the landing, a drift of the ice floe on which the researchers' camp was located was discovered. Her wanderings began in the North Pole area, after 274 days the ice floe turned into a fragment of 200 by 300 meters.

The mourning date of February 6, 1938 is remembered by many Dolgoprudny residents and people interested in the history of airship construction and aeronautics. On this day, the USSR B-6 airship crashed on the Kola Peninsula near Kandalaksha. Thirteen of the nineteen crew members were killed.
The flight of “USSR-B6” on February 5-6, 1938 is remembered not only in Dolgoprudny. Every year on February 6, commemorative rallies are held in Kandalaksha on Aeronauts Street. In the cities of Russia and Ukraine, streets are named after Gudovantsev, Ritsland, Lyanguzov, Gradusov.

Background. Expedition of Ivan Papanin

At the end of May 1937, an expedition consisting of four people - hydrobiologist Pyotr Shirshov, magnetologist-astronomer Evgeny Fedorov, radio operator Ernst Krenkel under the leadership of Ivan Papanin - landed on an ice floe near the North Pole and on June 6, 1937 a ceremonial meeting was held dedicated to the opening of the world's first Soviet polar drifting station "North Pole-1". It was planned that the station would operate on a drifting ice floe for a year.

Radiograms of the Papaninites were published in newspapers and broadcast on the radio. Papanin's expedition became another achievement Soviet power, so her work was followed by millions Soviet people.

In plain sight of the district committee
There was a map hanging. There on the ice
In the morning in a nomadic circle
They stuck a small flag.

The difficulties of life in polar conditions aroused empathy, and reports of success generated pride in their country.

The expedition members made many discoveries in the field of oceanology, geophysics, and marine biology; the results of their research were subsequently highly appreciated by specialists. Over the course of nine months, the ice floe on which the polar explorers' camp was located floated more than 2,000 kilometers to the south and was carried out into the Greenland Sea.

The size of the ice floe was initially 3 kilometers wide and 5 kilometers long, with a thickness of 3 meters. However, in the winter of 1938, the ice floe began to rapidly decrease in size, crack and collapse. A desperate radiogram was sent by Papanin to the mainland on February 1: “As a result of a six-day storm, at 8 am on February 1, in the area of ​​the station, the field was torn by cracks from half a kilometer to five. We are on a fragment of a field 300 meters long and 200 meters wide. Two bases were cut off, as well as a technical warehouse... There was a crack under the living tent. We will move to a snow house. I’ll give you the coordinates later today; If the connection is lost, please do not worry."

On February 2, a new radiogram arrived: “In the area of ​​the station, debris from fields no more than 70 meters in length continues to break up. The crack is from 1 to 5 meters, the gap is up to 50. The ice floes move mutually. Ice to the horizon is nine points. The aircraft cannot land within visual range. We live in a silk tent on an ice floe 50 by 30 meters. We place the second antenna mast on another ice floe for the duration of communications.”

The head of the Main Northern Sea Route, academician Otto Yulievich Schmidt, said that in rescue operation, which begins on February 3, the icebreakers “Murman”, “Taimyr” and “Ermak” will participate.

"USSR V-6". Rescuers and victims

In the 1930s, the Soviet government began intensive development of the airship fleet. The plans included, among other things, the creation of intercity air cargo and passenger services. The first experimental route was to be the Moscow-Novosibirsk route, for which the crew of the USSR-B6 airship was preparing to master it. The opening of communication between the capital and Siberia was planned for the spring of 1938.

By the beginning of February, in the village of Dirizhablestroy - that was the name of Dolgoprudny at that time - everything was ready for the first flight. Just at this moment a message was received that Papanin’s expedition needed help. In this regard, the airship operators turned to the Kremlin with a request to conduct a training flight Moscow - Petrozavodsk - Murmansk - Moscow. If the flight results were satisfactory, the USSR-B6 could be used to evacuate Papanin’s expedition from the ice floe.

This proposal was logical: it would take a long time for icebreakers to get to the drifting station, and planes could not land on the ice floe due to the ice breaking. The airship seemed ideal in such a situation vehicle. The Zeppelin did not need a landing pad; it could simply hover over the ice floe so that people could winch up into the gondola.

For the rescue operation, the airshipmen assembled a crew of the most experienced specialists of the squadron - nineteen people, led by twenty-nine-year-old Nikolai Gudovantsev, a holder of the Order of the Red Star. The crew is experienced, but quite young - average age The flight participants were about 30 years old.

On February 5, 1938, at 19:35, the airship "SSSR-B6" took off from the airfield in the working village of Dirigablestroy. On the afternoon of February 6, the airship flew almost blindly over Petrozavodsk and Kemya in difficult weather conditions. To get our bearings we had to descend to a height of 300-450 meters. In the afternoon, visibility improved, a tailwind blew, and the airship reached a speed of about 100 km per hour. However, after some time, the aircraft again found itself in a band of low clouds, visibility deteriorated sharply, it began to get dark, and it began to snow. At first we walked at an altitude of 300-350 meters, but then rose to 450 meters. The crew flew on maps of ten versts, compiled according to data from the beginning of the century, on which high mountains in the Kandalaksha area were not marked. The aircraft's trajectory in some places passed over by rail. The railroad workers even laid fires along the tracks to make it easier for the airships to find their way. But the fires were noticed by the airship command too late.

The last radiogram from the airship was received at 18:56 in the area of ​​Zhemchuzhnaya station, 39 kilometers from Kandalaksha.

Suddenly, navigator Myachkov sharply cried out: “Mountain!” But the airship did not have time to gain altitude and change trajectory. The ship hit the treetops and crashed into a mountain. The wreckage of the airship fell on the slope of Neblo Mountain, 18 kilometers west of the White Sea station. A fire started.

Crew member flight mechanic K. Novikov recalls: “A few seconds before the disaster, Comrade Pochekin heard the navigator’s voice: “Mountain!” Following this, the first blow occurred. In the aft gondola I watched the machine, sitting in a chair with my back to the bow of the ship. At the first impact I was thrown out of my chair and hit my head on the water radiator. The next moment, the second blow threw me with my chest onto the engine. The lights in the gondola went out. Feeling the need to turn off the engine, I groped for the switch. At that moment the third blow followed, and my back and then my head hit the engine. Trying to rest my hands on something hard, I felt pain in my left hand: apparently, I cut it on something sharp. Then came a moment of peace. The gondola stopped shaking. I'm trying to get my bearings. I look for the door on the left, but I don’t find it. The hot gondola cover burns your head. I bend over. I see snow and the burning shell of the airship. With my bare hands I lift the burning material, squeeze through to my waist, then brace myself with my hands and pull out my stuck leg. Finally freed. My hair and clothes are burning. Burying myself in the snow. I can’t get up and decide to roll away from the burning airship.”

Only six crew members survived from the wreckage. The fourth assistant commander, Viktor Pochekin, flight mechanics Alexey Burmakin and Konstantin Novikov were injured (Novikov was seriously injured), while ship engineer Vladimir Ustinovich, flight mechanic Dmitry Matyunin and radio operator engineer Ariy Vorobyov remained unharmed. Killed - 13 people.

The nord is raging. Yesterday Moscow
Sent an airship. No way!
On the radio through the howl of the blizzard
The words barely come out.
The nord is raging. Radio operator in the corner
Hoarse, the whole world is covered:
He rakes it like ashes
Cooled and empty ether.
Where is the airship? Trouble struck...
The nord is raging. Two hundred miles away
An explosion was heard. Go there now
An emergency train has been dispatched.
K. Simonov “Murmansk Diaries”

Local residents recalled that just before the disaster they heard a strong roar. Then the noise of the engines suddenly died down. On the morning of February 7, a group of skiers led by forester Nikitin approached Neblo Mountain, which was located in the 91st quarter of the Prolivsky logging station. They provided first aid and called in reindeer teams to transport the surviving crew members to the nearest lumberjack barracks. Then the airshipmen were sent to the Straits station, from where they were transported by rail to Kandalaksha.

On February 12, 1938, 13 crew members of the USSR-V6 airship were buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow. Nikolai Gudovantsev - first commander of the airship "SSSR-V6", Ivan Pankov - second commander, Sergei Demin - first assistant commander, Vladimir Lyanguzov - second assistant commander, Taras Kulagin - third assistant commander, Alexey Ritslyand - first navigator, Georgy Myachkov - second navigator , Nikolay Konyashin - senior flight mechanic, Konstantin Shmelkov - first flight mechanic, Mikhail Nikitin - flight mechanic, Nikolay Kondrashev - flight mechanic, Vasily Chernov - flight radio operator, David Gradus - flight forecaster.

The youngest of the dead crew members, flight radio operator Vasily Chernov, was 25 years old, the oldest, flight mechanic Konstantin Shmelkov, was 35 years old.

79 years ago, the world’s first polar research station and “North Pole-1” began drifting in the Arctic. Four polar explorers - expedition leader Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin, hydrobiologist and oceanologist Pyotr Petrovich Shirshov, astronomer and magnetologist Evgeny Konstantinovich Fedorov, as well as radio operator Ernst Teodorovich Krenkel spent 274 days on the expedition - from the end of May 1937 to February 19, 1938. During this time, the ice floe with researchers traveled more than 2000 km from the pole to the shores of Greenland. At the end of the campaign, the four polar explorers who became famous were accepted into the State geographical society(as the Russian Geographical Society was then called) as honorary members.

The main task of the expedition, the organization of which took exactly a year - from the spring of 1936 to the spring of 1937, was to study meteorological conditions, sea currents and ice in the very center of the Arctic. In addition to the four polar explorers, whose names became known to the whole world during and after the expedition, the expedition was supported by employees of the Northern Sea Route department (its chief, Chelyuskin hero Otto Yulievich Schmidt, was the initiator of SP-1) and polar aviation pilots, including Heroes Soviet Union Mikhail Vodopyanov and Vasily Molokov. Attention to the drift of "SP-1" was universal and worldwide - so it is not surprising that the expedition was carefully controlled by the top officials of the USSR.

The main burden of preparation, however, lay precisely on the four polar explorers. Papanin personally supervised the construction of a polar tent insulated with eider down at the Kauchuk plant, and Krenkel supervised the assembly of radio stations - the main and backup ones. Shirshov mastered medicine - it was he who got the additional role doctor

The base of the expedition was chosen as the northernmost of the Soviet Arctic islands - Rudolf Island, part of the Franz Josef Land archipelago. In the summer of 1936, an expedition camp with a capacity of about 60 people was built on the island, with an airfield, telephone, radio beacon and other necessary elements.

They flew to the pole, guided by Fr.'s radio beacon. Rudolph. Arrangement of four polar explorers on a huge ice floe with an area of ​​about 4 square meters. km took about 16 days. On June 6, the planes left the expedition, "North Pole - 1" switched to autonomous drift mode.

Almost immediately after the start of the drift, SP-1 completed an important task - it provided meteorological data for the record trans-Arctic flights of Valery Chkalov and Mikhail Gromov from the USSR to North America.

“Never before have scientific observations in the Central Polar Basin been carried out according to such a broad program, with such intensity and the greatest care,” O. Yu. Schmidt noted in the final article “Expedition to the Pole.”

The glory of the Papanin four was deafening and immediate - after the expedition, all four were awarded the titles of Heroes of the Soviet Union; in March 1938, Papanin, Krenkel, Fedorov and Shirshov were awarded the titles of Doctors of Geographical Sciences.

The concept of drifting polar stations in the Arctic was considered successful: SP-1 was followed in 1950 by the SP-2 station under the leadership of Mikhail Mikhailovich Somov, who later founded the first Soviet stations in Antarctica. By the end of the 1950s, drifting North Pole expeditions had become almost permanent. The longest expedition of the series was SP-22, which began work in September 1973 and ended on April 8, 1982. From 1991 to 2003, the Arctic drifting stations "North Pole" were not operational; the first station after the break, "SP-32", started on April 25, 2003.

It just so happened historically that in Russia they often do things that the rest of the world considers unattainable and impossible. Great traveler James Cook proclaimed that there was no continent South Pole no, and if there is, then it is impossible to get to it because of the continuous eternal ice.

Everyone believed Cook, except the Russians. In 1820 ships Thaddeus Bellingshausen And Mikhail Lazarev, disobeying Cook, went further than him and discovered Antarctica.

Great traveler Roald Amundsen, the discoverer of the South Pole, having flown over the North Pole on the airship “Norway”, said: “We did not see a single place suitable for descent during our entire long journey from Svalbard to Alaska. Not a single one! And here’s our opinion: don’t fly deep into these ice fields until airplanes become so advanced that you won’t be afraid of a forced descent!”

By the mid-1930s, aircraft technology in the world was still very far from perfect. But there were people who decided that the warning of Amundsen, who, by the way, himself perished in the vastness of the Arctic, did not apply to them. Need I say that these brave men were from Russia?

In February 1936, one of the main enthusiasts and organizers of Soviet Arctic research Otto Yulievich Schmidt At a meeting in the Kremlin, he outlined a plan for an air expedition to the North Pole and the establishment of a station in its area.

No one in the world has ever done anything like this. Moreover, Amundsen's words directly indicated that this was impossible.

But the Soviet leaders believed in Otto Yulievich Schmidt, even despite the fact that the Chelyuskin steamship had perished several years earlier, and many associated its death with Schmidt’s erroneous decisions.

Schmidt’s new project was accepted, and a government decree ordered the organization of an expedition to the North Pole in 1937 and the delivery of scientific station equipment and winterers there by plane.

Hydrologist, member of the expedition of the drifting station "North Pole-1" Pyotr Shirshov works with a hydrological winch. 1937 Photo: RIA Novosti

Polar explorers were trained in the same way as cosmonauts were later trained

The expedition was necessary to obtain data that would allow the continued development of the Northern Sea Route and the Arctic as a whole. In addition, the Soviet station at the North Pole itself asserted the priority of the USSR in the exploration and development of this region. In addition, we again did something that no one else in the world had done - such things always strengthen the prestige of a power.

True, the failure of the expedition or, even worse, the death of its members could result in serious losses for the same prestige. But whoever does not take risks does not become a pioneer.

An intermediate base for the assault on the pole in the summer of 1936 was laid on Rudolf Island in the Franz Josef Land archipelago. Construction materials, supplies and equipment for the future station were brought here by ship.

Polar explorers Pyotr Shirshov and Ivan Papanin put the property of a residential house on a sledge at the drifting station "SP-1". 1937 Photo: RIA Novosti They prepared the expedition no less carefully than they prepared the cosmonauts a quarter of a century later. The tent for the residential camp was built by the Moscow Kauchuk plant. Its frame was made of easily disassembled aluminum pipes; the walls are canvas, two layers of eider down are laid between them, the floor is rubber, inflatable. Two radio stations - the main one and the emergency one - were specially created at the Central Radio Laboratory in Leningrad. Narty built a shipyard, and the food was prepared by the Institute of Catering Engineers.

The squadron of aircraft that were to land the expedition at the North Pole included four four-engine ANT-6-4M-34R Aviaarktika aircraft and a twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft R-6 (ANT-7).

Hero of the Soviet Union was appointed commander of the flight squad Mikhail Vodopyanov, one of those who saved the Chelyuskin expedition. General management was entrusted to Otto Schmidt.

Disembarkation

The overall composition of the expedition included four polar explorers who had the main mission to remain on the ice floe as personnel of the North Pole-1 station. He was appointed head of "SP-1" Ivan Papanin, radio operator - highly experienced Ernst Krenkel, performed the duties of a hydrologist Peter Shirshov, and geophysics - Evgeny Fedorov.

In February 1937, Schmidt reported to the Kremlin about his readiness for the expedition and received the go-ahead to implement the project.

On April 19, the squadron of aircraft reached the base on Rudolf Island. After this, attempts to break through to the pole began. But severe weather conditions destroyed them one by one.

On May 21, 1937, Mikhail Vodopyanov’s plane, despite technical difficulties, landed on an ice floe near the North Pole, “flew” its geographical point by about 20 kilometers. It was this day that became the founding day of the North Pole-1 station.

Mikhail Vodopyanov recalled a funny episode: when the station chief, Ivan Papanin, stepped on the ice, he instinctively stamped his foot on it: will it hold up? The multi-ton plane standing on the ice seemed to be hinting: perhaps, yes!

By June 5, planes delivered to the ice floe everything necessary for the operation of the station. The last to arrive at SP-1 was the “fifth Papanin” - a polar husky named Vesely.

On June 6, a rally was held on the ice floe and the USSR flag was raised, after which the planes took off. Four expedition members and a dog remained on the ice floe.

Photo fact "AiF"

Only Vesely rebelled at the station

At the beginning of the expedition, the ice floe was an ice field of three by five kilometers with an ice thickness of about three meters. However, gradually the ice floe began to shrink, and this process did not stop until the end of the expedition.

The expedition of the North Pole-1 station worked in conditions not much different from space ones. Rely on no one but yourself for help emergency will not come right away, and you can survive by relying only on your comrades.

Psychological compatibility in such an environment is the most important matter. The smallest conflict can turn into a complete disaster.

Not everyone knows, but the leaders of Arctic expeditions working in isolation from outside world, there are special powers. If one of the expedition members, unable to withstand the overload, begins to behave inappropriately, the boss has the right to take the most extreme measures to save the rest. In slang this is called “going into the hummocks.”

Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin, participant Civil War, a former security officer who had been in charge of various scientific stations in the Arctic since 1932, was a tough and decisive man. His lack of education was compensated by natural observation, practical acumen and leadership talent. The established camp on the ice floe withstood the most difficult conditions, and the members of the expedition carried out their duties even when the situation became truly threatening. Neither Ernst Krenkel, nor Pyotr Shirshov, nor Evgeny Fedorov let their boss down.

Perhaps the only one who escaped Papanin’s hands was his fourth subordinate, the dog Vesely, who perceived the expedition’s food warehouse as his personal canine paradise, visiting there regularly. Nevertheless, these tricks were forgiven to Vesely, since, living up to his name, he replaced the polar explorers with a “psychological relief room.”

Members of the expedition at the drifting station "North Pole-1". 1937 Photo: RIA Novosti

On the edge of the possible

June 18, 1937 happened historical event: an ANT-25 aircraft under control flew over the world's first drifting station in the Arctic Valeria Chkalova, who made the world's first non-stop flight over the North Pole to America. The world was shocked: these “Soviet Russians” are doing things that no one can even imagine!

Photo fact "AiF"

At the end of June 1937, a celebration was held in Moscow for Otto Schmidt, Mikhail Vodopyanov and other members of the expedition who made the work of the North Pole-1 station possible. At that moment, for obvious reasons, only four brave polar explorers who worked on the ice floe could not receive state awards.

But at that moment there was no concern about their fate - the expedition’s work proceeded as normal, communication with SP-1 was stable, scientific data flowed in an almost continuous stream. In short, no reason to worry.

But the further the ice floe drifted towards Greenland, the more difficult it became for the Papanin men to work. In January 1938, the decrease in the ice field became alarming. And on the morning of February 1, Papanin reported: the storm tore the ice floe, leaving the expedition with a fragment of 300 by 200 meters, depriving SP-1 of two bases and a technical warehouse. In addition, a crack also formed under the living tent.

It became clear: it was time to evacuate the expedition. The icebreaking steamers “Murmanets”, “Murman” and “Taimyr” urgently went to help the Papanin residents. The race against time has begun. The ice floe continued to shrink and become covered with cracks. IN last days The width of the ice field on which the station was located did not exceed 30 meters. Much later, the expedition members said that at that moment they began to mentally prepare for the worst.

But on February 19, 1938, the icebreakers Taimyr and Murman approached SP-1. The emotions of the rescuers went through the roof no less than those of those being rescued. Up to 80 people poured onto the ice floe, but, thank God, it withstood this last test. In a matter of hours the camp was collapsed. Radio operator Ernst Krenkel transmitted the last radiogram from SP-1: “At this hour we are leaving the ice floe at coordinates 70 degrees 54 minutes north, 19 degrees 48 minutes leading and having drifted over 2500 km in 274 days. Our radio station was the first to report the news of the conquest of the North Pole, provided reliable communication with the Motherland, and with this telegram ends its work.”

Awards and earnings

On March 15, 1938, the expedition members arrived in Leningrad, where a solemn meeting awaited them. All four polar explorers who worked at SP-1 were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Meeting of employees of the Soviet polar drifting scientific station "North Pole-1" Ivan Papanin, Pyotr Shirshov, Ernest Krenkel, Evgeny Fedorov on the streets of Moscow. 1938 Photo: RIA Novosti / Troshkin

SP-1 began the history of Soviet and Russian drifting polar stations, which continues to this day.

The dog Vesely also received his award - who became a favorite not only of polar explorers, but also of all the children of the Soviet Union, the shaggy conqueror of the pole was presented to a comrade Stalin and lived his remaining dog life in honor and respect at the leader’s dacha.

Photo fact "AiF"

And the last thing I would like to say about the history of the North Pole-1 station is that the state not only covered all the costs for it, but even made good money on this project. The fact is that director Mark Troyanovsky, who was part of the expedition, during the days while the station’s base camp was being built on the ice floe, he shot an entire film called “At the North Pole.” The tape was sold for foreign currency in many countries around the world, where it caused an unprecedented stir, bringing large profits to the Soviet treasury.

Participants of the expedition at the drifting station "North Pole-1": Ivan Papanin, radio operator Ernst Krenkel (foreground), geophysicist Evgeny Fedorov and hydrologist Pyotr Shirshov (standing). 1939 Photo: RIA Novosti / Ivan Shagin