Трудовой путь капитана советского ледокольного флота Б.Н. Макарова

Abstract

This paper attempts to reconstruct the career of one of the prominent captains of the Soviet icebreaker fleet, Boris N. Makarov. Up to date, Makarov’s biography, unlike the biographies of his famous contemporaries, representatives of the first generation of Soviet polar captains (P.A. Ponomarev, M.P. Belousov, V.I. Voronin, A.P. Melekhov, etc.), has not been studied. Meanwhile, his life’s journey was quite typical of the period of the foundation of the Soviet icebreaker fleet. The article traces Makarov’s entire career: a cabin boy, a sailor, a navigator, a chief mate, and a captain. On the basis of the documents from his personal collection, the chronology of Makarov’s service on more than fifteen ships, including icebreakers and icebreaking steamers, was restored. The research demonstrates Makarov’s outstanding role in the exploration of the Arctic during the pre-war period (the rescue expedition for the icebreaking steamer G. Sedov) and during the Great Patriotic War (work along the Northern Sea Route on the icebreaking steamer Montcalm and passing the complete route in 1943–1944) as well as in post-war redeployments of Soviet Navy units as part of special-purpose expeditions. Further, the paper points out the captain’s highest awards, including the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, and the Order of the Red Star. Makarov’s recreated career complements a number of well-known biographies of Soviet icebreaker captains, heroes of the Arctic exploration. In addition, the article provides updated information on when the icebreaker Yermak was repaired in Antwerp and new details about post-war special-purpose expeditions to transfer large ship formations between the fleets, in two of which (no. 71 in 1961–1962 and no. 73 in 1963) Makarov participated. The paper is based on the materials from the collections of the St. Petersburg Branch of World Ocean Museum – Icebeaker Krassin, which had not been previously introduced into scientific discourse.