"Akademik Shokalsky" and the rescue operation in Antarctica. Liner Akademik Shokalsky, cruise company QUARK EXPEDITIONS ice class ship Akademik Shokalsky cruise

Akademik Shokalsky is a small ice-class cruise ship, owned by the Russian Federation and operated by the Australian operator Aurora Expeditions, built in 1982

in Finland for polar and oceanographic research. Named in honor of the Russian and Soviet geographer, oceanographer and cartographer Lieutenant General and academician Yuli Shokalsky.

The vessel was built in 1982 in Finland for polar and oceanographic research and is UL ice class. The size of the vessel allows it to go where larger ships cannot. "Akademik Shokalsky" accepts 46 passengers on trips to the Arctic and 48 passengers on cruises to the Antarctic.
The ship has 26 sea view cabins (including the 23.2 m² Amundsen Suite) and has undergone several modernizations and refurbishments (2008).

On December 25, 2013, a ship with 74 Australian scientists, tourists and crew members on board became stuck in the Antarctic ice 1.5 thousand nautical miles (2.7 thousand km) from Hobart.
Early in the morning of December 25, a distress signal was received from the ship. Three icebreakers were sent to rescue him, but they were powerless to help the Russian ship.
On January 2, 2014, all the ship's passengers were evacuated by helicopter from the Xue Long ship to the icebreaker Aurora Australis, while the Xue Long icebreaker also found itself frozen 20 km from the Akademik Shokalsky. On January 7, as a result of ice movement, a wide crack formed near the ship “Akademik Shokalsky” and it began moving at a speed of seven knots towards the Chinese icebreaker “Xue Long”.
On January 8, 2014, “Akademik Shokalsky” was finally freed from ice captivity and reached clean water.

On board

Wardroom, crew canteen.

Lecture hall.

Salon and bar.

Library.

Satellite connection.

Expedition doctor and outpatient clinic.

All that remains of Russian research vessels are beautiful names: “Akademik Korolev”, “Akademik Kurchatov”, “Akademik Shokalsky”. Enterprising people got involved and use them for cruises. So “Akademik Shokalsky” with tourists and several Australian climatologists went to Antarctica to obtain new data on global warming. But on the 16th day, global warming came to an end and the ship hit the ice.

TOURISTS KEEP THE FLEET AFLOAT

On November 24, 2013, the Russians were notified that the Russian research vessel Akademik Shokalsky was covered in ice near the coast of Antarctica and was asking for help. And soon we learned that “Akademik Shokalsky” has not served for the benefit of Russian science for a long time. Converted into a cruise ship, it makes money for its Australian operator Aurora Expeditions by taking tourist cruises to Antarctica one after another, and there are not a single Russian scientist on board the distressed vessel. In 2012, Akademik made three commercial voyages along the same route to commemorate the 1912 landing in Antarctica of Australian explorer Douglas Mawson.

News agency reports stated that the Akademik Shokalsky carried out work commissioned by the Australian Antarctic Expedition. In reality, he continued to work for a tour operator that made good money from the desire of a group of Australian climatologists to take a comfortable Christmas cruise with sponsors' money. At the same time, tourists set sail on the Akademik Shokalsky, paying for the cruise out of their own pockets. All cabin berths were sold. Moreover, the ship belongs to a federal budgetary enterprise - the Vladivostok-based Hydrometflot, subordinate to the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring.

The Antarctic epic of “Academician Shokalsky” once again recalled the sad fate of the collapsed Russian scientific fleet. This ship was named after the outstanding Russian geographer and oceanographer Yuli Shokalsky. It was built in Finland in 1982 and equipped with the most modern scientific equipment at that time. But then the ship was extensively converted into a tourist liner with the famous Amundsen luxury suite. On board are two expensive restaurants with a daily changing menu, a lounge and a bar with a wide selection of wines. “Akademik” works in the Arctic in the summer and moves to the Antarctic summer in the winter. The cheapest thirteen-day cruise to the Kuril Islands will cost from $8,450 in a three-person cabin without amenities, that is, with only a washbasin, and for sailing in the captain's suite you will have to pay $12,050. Other former flagships of the Soviet oceanographic fleet, such as Akademik Vavilov and Akademik Ioffe, are engaged in exactly the same business, far from scientific research.

It is possible that soon “Akademik Shokalsky” will be sent for another repair and given a new, loud English name. As happened with a similar ship “Professor Khromov”. Now the operating company Ocean Adventures has renamed it Spirit of Enderby, and they have suggested forgetting about Professor Khromov. “Our chefs will delight you with international cuisine made from the freshest ingredients,” cruise businessmen promise. At the same time, the Spirit of Enderby still continues to be listed as a Russian research vessel.

But “Akademik Shuleikin” turned into Polar Pioneer with 29 cabins for 54 people. Sailing on it to Antarctica in a room for two will cost at least $8,700.

IN THE WOODS OF THE "CANNISH"

Traveling for Australian tourists on the Akademik Shokalsky was also not a cheap undertaking. According to the Daily Mail, it cost 900 thousand British pounds. Australian Antarctic researchers have announced their goal is to obtain new data confirming global warming in Antarctica. A member of the Australian Parliament from the Green Party, as well as journalists from the Guardian and the BBC, promoting the theory of global warming, also boarded the ship. But on the 16th day of the journey, global warming came to an end and the ship ran into ice. The conquerors of Antarctica clearly could not appreciate the seriousness of their situation and cheerfully reported that the wind should soon drive the ice away from them. However, the current Antarctic summer turned out to be somehow irregular; the ice, instead of melting as it should at this time of year, on the contrary, grew, and impressive hummocks appeared around the Akademik.

Perhaps the participants should not have dedicated the cruise to the memory of Sir Douglas Mawson and followed his Antarctic footsteps, given how Mawson's fatal Antarctic epic ended. In December 1912, one of the expedition members fell into a deep icy crevasse, along with him most of the supplies, a tent and the best dogs were lost. Mawson and his companion, champion cross-country skier Javier Mertz, had to travel 300 miles to base camp with only a week and a half of food left. The famous historian David Day, in his documentary book, talked about how Mawson and Mertz ate all the remaining dogs, and unknowingly poisoned them from their liver. According to one version, Mertz went crazy and died, according to another, as Day describes it, Mawson deliberately killed his companion and ate him, only this allowed him to reach his goal barely alive. He had no other way to survive.

THE CLIMATE DID NOT OBEY THE PROFESSOR

If you look at photographs of Antarctica at the beginning of the 20th century, including those taken by Mawson, then this part of Antarctica was significantly less covered with ice than is the case in the 21st century. At that time, there was not a single piece of ice in the bay where the Akademik Shokalsky was stuck today. Now three icebreakers, which themselves were under the threat of ice captivity, were unable to break through the ice thickness.

Australians are in vain assuring the public that the current ice is still the same result of global warming. They do not say that in reality the area covered by ice in Antarctica has reached two million square kilometers, which is significantly more than in 1981 and 2010. But climatologists, including those who were on board the ship, recently stated that by the summer of 2020, Antarctic waters will be completely free of ice. But this summer, the area of ​​ice cover has increased by almost 30 percent compared to last year.

The Daily Mail writes that all the blame for the disaster of the expedition lies with its leader, professor from the University of South Wales Chris Tierney. A geographer by training, he argues that carbon dioxide emissions will lead to climate catastrophe and must be reduced immediately. He made a brilliant career for himself on this hypothesis and established connections with influential politicians. At the same time, he is the main shareholder of Carbonscape Holdings Ltd, which develops and implements methods for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

When the Russian ship sent an SOS, it was only two nautical miles away from clear water; seven days later the sea had moved 20 miles away. In some places the ice thickness reached five meters. It seems that all the Antarctic ice has gathered around the “Akademik Shokalsky”. Disputes began among tourists and scientists; some blamed the enterprising professor for the incident, who led the ship into an ice trap and neglected the critical ice situation in the area. The Russian crew of the ship could only obediently follow the instructions of the cruise organizers. Another indication that these scientists did not have much knowledge of Antarctic ice was their belief that one of the icebreakers was about to break through to help. But they were not capable of crushing ice that reached more than three meters in thickness. On January 2, 52 passengers of the Akademik Shokalsky were transported by helicopter from a Chinese icebreaker to a floating ice floe, and from there they were transported to an Australian ship. And the Russian crew will have to remain on board their ship, possibly for several more weeks. The captain intends to wait until the ice breaks up. There is another option - to use the help of a powerful American icebreaker. They say that there remains a sufficient supply of food on the ship and the Russians will not have to starve.

Nikolay Ivanov

Photo WIKIPEDIA

Motor ship "Akademik Shokalsky" (hydrometeological service), 1980s

The ship "Mogilev" washed ashore (with a cargo of more than 20,000 pounds), covered with ice

"Akademik Shokalsky" is in shambles

From left to right: Viktor Sobolev (radio operator), Valery Nefediev (mechanic), Sergey Sklyanov (senior mate)

The Shokalsky team a month before its death (July 1983). From left to right: Nefediev V., Maksimov V., Konovalova A.P. (cook), sailor who did not go on that voyage, Sklyanov S., Chernysheva A.K., Sobolev V. in the first row.

Widows, children, relatives of crew members at the monument on the shore of Lake Baikal (October 1983)

Monument at the site of the sinking of the motor ship "Akademik Shokalsky" (Cape Krasny Yar, October 1983)

Every year, a Baikal ship, the kind that usually sails the waters of Lake Baikal, comes to the deserted shore near Cape Krasny Yar. There are never tourists on its deck, but people sail with it to celebrate a sad funeral feast here. And so every year, in 1993 this was the tenth time.

Here, in this place, in full view of the shore, the motor ship “Akademik Shokalsky” and seven crew members with it died. One of the last major disasters on Lake Baikal with human casualties. The ship disappeared without a trace, without returning anyone to the earth. Baikal tightly keeps its secrets.

Those who sail here every year remember those who died and the wound does not heal, and the grief is unbearable, and the heart hurts deeper; there are no graves on earth, and even if no one talks about it out loud, hope lives in everyone - maybe alive? And every year they commemorate Vladislav Ivanovich Chernyshev, Sergei Sklyanov, Valery Nefediev, Viktor Maksimov, Viktor Sobolev, Antonina Konovalova, Valery Rudakov.

Sometimes, knowing why the ship came here, passing ships swim up. People have been connected with Baikal for years, decades,

rarely lets anyone go. And, looking at Baikal, sparkling under the morning sun from the memorial sign placed on the mountainside, they remember both the sad and the happy.

They were all young, they all had children of different ages: Captain Chernyshev’s son was already twenty-two years old, and his assistant Sergei Sklyanov had three children; Nefedyev has a nine-year-old daughter, and Maksimov, a mechanic, has a son and daughter. Left behind were widows, orphans, and inconsolable parents.

And the crew was friendly and cheerful. Their pranks and jokes are still remembered. And maybe cheerful memories of them brighten up the grief. When arriving at the port, instead of things they could put bricks in someone’s backpack, wrapped in something soft. Or they could, on the contrary, when getting ready to go sailing, put all their ties loose. Before the last tragic voyage, a month before it, the entire crew cut their hair short, like recruits.

After the disaster, a garden bench washed ashore. She was taken away at night from some garden and carried across the whole city to the ship, frightening and surprising late passers-by. And this

the bench became proof that “Shokalsky” had died. There are so many absurd accidents in life, or indeed fate, and you can’t run away from it. And, obviously, such accidents are enshrined in folk vocabulary: “it was written in the family,” “whoever is hanged will not drown.” Sailor Alexander Mikheev did not go on the voyage; musical comedy theater artist Valery Rudakov went instead for the duration of his vacation. And on this day, when a ship comes to Krasny Yar, even if Father Baikal frowned the day before, dispersing the wave, then on the second of August, on Ilya’s day, he smiles affectionately, all shining in the glare, as if on this day he was trying to make amends for his guilt before these innocent people, maybe guilty only of being wives, mothers of people who passionately loved Baikal and could not imagine life without it.

Baikal belongs to the class of lakes, but disasters have happened on it, just like on a real sea, and you need to think hard before frivolously calling it a lake. Its waters inspire respect, even when it is quiet and calm. He is neither evil nor good, he is indifferent to human destinies. And he took victims from the very beginning of the appearance of fragile boats and sailing ships.

“...in the fall of 1772, the boat “St. Kuzma” was thrown by a storm onto the eastern shore near Posolsk and damaged. In 1779, the boat “Adrian and Natalya” was thrown onto the embassy corga and covered with ice. In 1817, three ships with government lead were broken by a storm, “ships that were on the delivery of Xenofont Mikhailovich Sibiryakov, the cargo and people were completely lost.” On September 15, 1838, the galliot “Irkutsk” crashed near the Posolsky Monastery, the crew escaped, and the ship sank.” In 1860, in the late autumn, the steamship "Heir Tsesarevich" sank."

The largest disaster in terms of the number of casualties was the disaster with the Potapov ship, which belonged to the Nemchinovsky Shipping Company in the Small Sea. 158 people died, of which 143 were men, 11 women and four children. 550 barrels of fish were broken and 107 seines were sunk. A detailed study of this disaster based on archive materials was carried out by the captain of the motor ship “Andrulaitis” Viktor Vertyankin and published an article in the magazine “River Transport” No. 6 for 1991.

Last year marked ten years since the sinking of the motor ship Akademik Yu.M. Shokalsky,” with which 7 crew members died, including one woman, and the ship also disappeared, which has not yet been discovered, despite a thorough search.

The place where the disaster occurred is called Krasny Yar. And in gloomy weather it makes a gloomy impression. An almost vertical wooded mountain, rising like a screen above Lake Baikal; at the water's edge stand a wall of sun-bleached, dead pines, torn off from the mainland; branches are like hands calling for help.

The coast is usually deserted, but on that tragic day of August 2, 1983, fortunately, there were people here who had found refuge in anticipation of the approaching bad weather: fishermen, tourists, children from nearby Buguldeika. If on this day, as usual, not a single person had been here, then the death of the Shokalsky motor ship would have remained a mystery, never solved. And one more very important circumstance: on the shore of Krasny Yar there was a witness who had worked for a long time on the seas of the Northern

Arctic Ocean, who had experience in observing the state of the situation at sea and was then able to draw up a diagram of the situation of the death of the ship.

In general, Cape Krasny Yar is a bad place. One of the ship inspectors said that he had been investigating accidents with rafts for about 20 years. Most often, rafts fight near Krasny Yar. An unusual weather situation arises here, a north-west wind blows, fog rolls down from the mountains, not even fog, but some kind of jelly made from fog. Closer to the zenith, the sky is absolutely blue, it seems that the clouds are standing still. The wind blows from mountain crevices, and local mountain winds often occur. It is difficult to predict the weather here: there is no weather station on Bugul-Doyka, and winds blow, the names of which are known to everyone. Barguzin - eastern

wind from Barguzin, Kultuk - southwest wind, Verkhovik - northeast.

In the Krasny Yar area the weather was not good after noon on August 1st. At this time, in Irkutsk, the motor ship “Shokalsky” was preparing to leave for Davsha, to the north. At 14:00 it was inspected and found fit for accident-free navigation. At 18:00 he left Irkutsk and walked along the western coast.

And in the area of ​​Krasny Yar, boats moored, which, out of danger of worsening weather, moored to the shore to wait out the bad weather.

During the investigation of the accident with the motor ship “Shokalsky”, Nikolai Iovich Grabovsky said: ““... Wind Aul is gusty 15 m/sec.(1 August 1983 - author), the waves were about 1 m. We don’t go on boats in such waves. By evening the wave subsided and we moved on, we stopped for the night at Cape Krasny Yar. We pulled out the boats 200-250 m from the cape, on which there was a lighthouse and a pole near the water. On August 1, no Irkutsk / Ulan-Ude weather was broadcast on the radio over Lake Baikal.

In the evening, around 11 p.m., the wind began to increase and became gusty again, somewhere up to 25 m/sec. and continued all night. By morning the wind increased sharply, and our tent was ripped off at about 7 o'clock. We went to put up tents in the forest, at that time our two boats, tied with a 30-meter rope, were lifted into the air by a whirlwind (tornado) and thrown about 15 meters. The wind was blowing from both sides of the cape and the wind was bursting out from above the cape in gusts. All this opposite the cape gave birth to whirlwinds. At our stop, the waves were 0.5-0.75 m. At the cape, the waves were stronger, there the water seemed to be boiling.

... From the side of Peschanaya Bay, at about 9 - 00, the masts of the ship appeared, and then the ship itself. I noticed him first. While sailing, the ship made some strange zigzags and apparently could not catch the wind with its nose. I did not see any bulky cargo on the deck; it was difficult to see due to the distance and visibility. Then the ship leveled off and went towards the cape and I stopped watching it.

... Then Cheremnykh turned to Babkin and shouted: “He turned over!” I looked and saw that the ship, in my opinion, was lying on its side and after 30 seconds I saw the completely red bottom and the propellers. After about 5 minutes one person appeared, then a second and a third. The ship stayed afloat for about 20-25 minutes. The ship constantly turned around in the water and it went further out to sea. There were constant whirlwinds swirling around the ship; they often hid the ship. In my opinion, the wind speed was up to 50 m/sec, even carrying pebbles the size of a fingernail. The ship disappeared. The wind died down somehow imperceptibly. Around 5 pm we started working on the boats. Cheremnykh noticed some objects on the water and seagulls were flying above them. Two lifebuoys, on which was written G-314 IUGMS (1), were carried out of the water right towards us. Also took out a canister from

Neptune motor and from the Whirlwind motor. They were very crushed." (2)

All the people who witnessed the disaster say that the weather began to deteriorate on August 1, but none of the radio stations reported a change in the weather situation.

Panov Yuri Andreevich: “...On August 1 we were on a sailing boat in the Krasny Yar area. Because of the danger of the mountain wind, I tied the boat tightly. At 2 o'clock in the morning the mountain began, I woke up from its noise. The boats were tossed about on a leash. I didn't sleep all night. At 9 o'clock I sawAs the ship was coming from the direction of Buguldeika, it tilted to the left side. He walked among whirlwinds and tornadoes and exposed the side to the mountain. But the ship passed and disappeared behind the cape. We returned to the winter hut. Gladkov took a camera and went to photograph the raging Baikal. Suddenly he screamed. We jumped out of the winter hut, he pointed to the horizon. There lay a large ship, bottom up. A few minutes later the figure of a man appeared, he crawled along the bottom and grabbed the steering wheel. Then two more figures appeared and joined him. The ship was heading east. The ship disappeared amid the tornadoes and splashes. We talked among ourselves, seeing how people were dying before our eyes, but we could not do anything, although people were dying before our eyes. A kilometer from the shore I saw a red bottom and three dots on it, and then everything disappeared.”(3)

Panov says that Gladkov filmed the raging Baikal. Gladkov was a Muscovite. When they found out that he had the film, on the day of his departure they found him at the station and persuaded him to give the film. But a completely incomprehensible story emerged with it - indeed, Baikal does not part with its secrets - during development, the entire emulsion was washed away.

Another witness, Oleg Dmitrievich Kozlov, tells:

“...I turned on the radio, but the weather was broadcast only for Irkutsk, Buryatia also did not say anything about Baikal, although the unimaginable was happening at sea, it was as if it was being shaken from below. Tornadoes walked along the sea, they fell in fountains onto the shore, as if it was raining. The wind blew pebbles into the air. Our boat was washed ashore and there was a sound as if a large egg had been crushed. The boat was torn to pieces. We went to the yachtsmen to talk about boats (that is, we went to the winter quarters - author). One of them went to take photographs on the shore, then we heard his terrible cry: “Men!” Saw it 1.5 km away. from the shore the ship lies on its side. Five minutes later it turned upside down. Three climbed to the helm. Then it disappeared.

Floating on the water was a bench, a tank, a measuring pole, a steeple with a number, a large box with holes, and a nylon barrel. There was a lot of bread floating in the water.”(4)

Cheremnykh Vladimir Mikhailovich says:

“... At the time of the accident we were south of the lighthouse of Cape Krasny Yar. We were on our way from vacation on the Small Sea with comrades. We stopped at Krasny Yar due to worsening weather. (August 1, 1983-author). At 12 o'clock on the night of August 1-2, we went to bed. The tent was torn down and by 7 am it was completely torn down.

At about 8 o'clock the damaged boats washed ashore.

At about 9 o'clock in the area of ​​​​Cape Dyrovaty (Arch) I saw a boat (the motor ship "Shokalsky" Cheremnykh calls a boat - author).

The boat had a white superstructure and was heading north, the boat behind the wheelhouse was gray. The boat moved smoothly without rocking and there was no fear for its fate. There were no people or cargo on deck.

After 2 or 3 kilometers, he began to yaw and found himself in a band of heavy winds. The wind changed from the southwest, then from the southeast, and the boat tilted. After that I began to watch him continuously.

The ship appeared abeam our anchorage, but at 9:30 the squally wind intensified. And a wall appeared coming from the north. I turned to the fire for a moment and when I looked back towards the lake, the ship was already upside down. There were no floating objects. The gusty wind intensified even more and even tore pebbles from the sand strip. There were high waves of about 20-30 m (5), with a front of 50-100 meters, which from time to time formed waterspouts 20 m high, which went in different directions and appeared again after 30-40 seconds. The pillars were made of water droplets. The sky was torn with glimpses of blue. And above the middle of Lake Baikal the sky was completely clear and blue.

When the ship was floating bottom up, after 5 - 8 minutes a man appeared at the bow of the bottom and ran to the helm. After another five minutes, two people appeared. The ship remained afloat for 10-15 minutes.

People were in one place, the ship was turning around, tornadoes continued to occur. A tornado arose, a wall of spray covered the ship, and when the wall disappeared there was neither the ship nor the people.

By one o'clock in the afternoon the storm began to subside. By 17 o'clock to the right of the ship's death, I saw several dark objects through the telescope, including a barrel. And a lot of seagulls gathered. At 17:00, one of the friends went to the scene of death and brought a measuring pole, a red seat, a 20-liter can of gasoline and a dented fuel tank from an outboard motor. Later, foam plastic, two lifebuoys with the inscription G-314 and the letters IUGKS, and even later a wooden ladder washed up on the shore.

During the storm, schoolchildren from Buguldeika and three yachtsmen were on the shore.

About two hours after the sinking of the ship, a ship, whose identity was not identified, passed north.

At about 20-00 the boat “Kazanka” (a man and a woman) passed by, we stopped them and asked them to report the death to the authorities in Buguldeyk.

03.08 we went to Irkutsk and at the port of Baikal we reported what had happened.

In the 20 years during which I visited Lake Baikal, I have never encountered such phenomena.

I worked on the Kara Sea, on the Laptev Sea, and this didn’t happen there either.

After the storm on August 2, at about 5-6 p.m., transverse stripes appeared in the sky, which quickly moved from West to East.”(6)

The search operations did not reveal any of the crew members of the dead ship, nor did they find the ship itself; its whereabouts are unknown.

All required investigative measures were carried out and in the decision to terminate the criminal case by investigator V.M. Seryogin writes: « ... in the Krasny Yar area near the western shore of Lake Baikal, fell into the zone of an unpredictable, extremely rare local dangerous phenomenon with the formation of tornadoes and wind speeds significantly exceeding the wind restrictions for this vessel specified in the ship's documents, as a result of which the vessel capsized and sank "

In October 1983, all the relatives of the victims gathered together and went ashore at Krasny Yar, then this became an annual tradition. And the grief was still so fresh, it hurt my heart so much that Sergei Sklyanov’s father could not stand it, rushed into Baikal and swam, probably in a desperate attempt to see the silhouette of the lost ship through the water. They managed to intercept him quite far from the shore.

The summer of 1993 was unusually hot. Baikal lazily dozed on its banks. And suddenly a rumor spread that the red bottom of the ship had been seen from a helicopter; he hung near the abyss on the teeth of underwater rocks. But that was just a rumor.

Hope lives until the very last minute, but Baikal does not part with its secret, it is indifferent to human destinies.

NOTES

1.IUGMS - witnesses incorrectly name the abbreviation; follows IUGKS - Irkutsk Territorial Administration for Meteorology and Environmental Control.

2. Case No. 30508 regarding the death of the motor ship “Shokalsky” and all members of the ship’s crew, which occurred on August 2, 1983 in the area of ​​​​Cape Krasny Yar. - Archive of the Irkutsk Transport Prosecutor's Office. - ld. 135-136.

Z. Ibid., ld. 138-139.

4. Ibid., ld. 123-124. 5. Probably a mistake, the witness wanted to say 2 -Zm.

b.See note 2, l.105-107.

The Russian ship Akademik Shokalsky, chartered by New Zealand researchers, is stuck in the ice. Three icebreakers have already set off to help. They promise to rescue scientists from captivity within 70 hours. On Wednesday morning, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) received a distress call from the ship Akademik Shokalsky, which was blocked by ice approximately 1,5 thousand nautical miles (2,7 thousand kilometers) from Hobart, the administrative center of the Australian state of Hobart. It was initially reported that the ship, which was carrying more than 70 people, was on a cruise in Antarctica. However, then Roshydromet clarified that the Akademik Shokalsky was carrying out work on behalf of the Australian Antarctic Expedition and was conducting observations off the coast of Antarctica in the area of ​​the D-Urville Sea. Icebreaker-class vessels XUE LONG (PRC), L" were sent to the area where the Akademik Shokalsky is located. Astrolab (France) and Aurora Australius (Australia). Roshydromet also said that the ship received minor damage to the outer plating, there is no threat to the crew and passengers, RIA Novosti reports. “On December 24, during the completion of work, due to a sharp deterioration in weather conditions, the ship was blocked by heavy ice, the movement of the ship was impossible. When inspecting the vessel, a rupture in the outer plating was discovered on the starboard side, 1.8 meters above the waterline. The damage does not pose a danger to the crew and passengers; work to eliminate the crack is being carried out by the crew of the R/V Akademik Shokalsky, Roshydromet told RIA Novosti. A representative of Roshydromet noted that a ship stuck in the ice can be freed in just two days, when other ships arrive to help it; now the crew and passengers are not in danger. “Nothing bad happened. The ship was literally a couple of miles short of jumping out of the dangerous ice drift. Now they are waiting for passing ships and icebreakers that will rescue them from there. I think they will be fine within two days. Everyone on board is safe and healthy, there is no damage to the ship, there is nothing dangerous for the crew and everyone who is there. But we just have to move on,” said the agency’s interlocutor. According to him, the ship is leased from a New Zealand company, and there is a group of scientists on board. He added that Roshydromet would not have to pay for a rescue operation if necessary: ​​“This is the problem of the company that chartered it (the ship).” In turn, the director of the Far Eastern Regional Research Hydrometeorological Institute (DVNIHMI) Yuri Volkov said that the ship was insured in case of unforeseen situations, but did not specify the insurance company and the amount of insurance. “It’s insured for a normal amount, it’s enough,” he said. According to Volkov, DVNIGMI specialists are in contact with the ship blocked by ice. To eliminate the risk, it was decided to contact AMSA. It is expected that in a day three icebreakers passing nearby will be able to approach the Akademik Shokalsky and take it out of ice captivity. “There are more than 70 people on board the ship, including about 50 scientists, including from New Zealand, as well as 23 crew members. Everyone on board is okay. Their lives and health are not in danger,” the agency’s source said. AMSA representative Andrea Hayward-Maher, in turn, told ITAR-TASS that the vessel “does not have any structural damage.” “It's safe, which is good news,” she said. “We are closely monitoring developments and have an action plan in place if the situation becomes more difficult.” We rely on icebreakers, but as a last resort we will carry out an evacuation.” Earlier, the head of the Australian expedition, Chris Turney, who was on board the Akademik Shokalsky, wrote on Twitter that “help is expected in about 30 hours.” Hayward-Maher said she thought the forecast was "somewhat optimistic" but she "doesn't think it's impossible because it will all depend on weather conditions." Turney also reported that the air temperature outside this afternoon hovered around minus 1 degree (it is summer in Antarctica). “Like the explorers of the past, we found ourselves in the ice,” wrote the expedition leader. - Everything is fine. Everyone is in high spirits. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas." Maritime expert Mikhail Voitenko noted that the speed of rescuing the Akademik Shokalsky depends on which ships are sent to help him. “If ships of approximately the same ice class as the Akademik Shokalsky ship are sent for rescue, then it is doubtful that they can help it in any way. Unless there are helicopters on board that can be used to evacuate people. In addition, it is possible that the ship will be able to free itself from ice captivity when, for example, the wind changes. But if he is seriously stuck in heavy ice, then for effective and quick rescue he needs a good icebreaker,” Voitenko told the Vzglyad newspaper. He noted that the process of rescuing stuck ships is quite expensive, the cost is somewhere in the tens of thousands of dollars. But the amount is calculated based on the time spent on the operation and the type of evacuation vessel. The vessel Akademik Shokalsky is operated by the Australian operator Aurora Expeditions, but is owned by the Russian Federation and is registered at the port of Vladivostok. It was built in 1982 and was originally intended for oceanographic research. The length of the vessel is 71 meters, displacement is 2140 tons, speed is 14 knots. NIS fuel tanks are designed for 320 tons of oil products, water tanks - for 250 tons of fresh water. The size of the vessel allows it to go where larger ships cannot. "Akademik Shokalsky" accepts 46 passengers on trips to the Arctic and 48 passengers on cruises to the Antarctic. The ship has 26 sea view cabins (including the 23.2 square meter Amundsen Suite) and underwent several upgrades and refurbishments in 2008. On board there are two restaurants, a lecture hall, a lounge and bar, a library, an expedition doctor and an outpatient clinic, as well as satellite communications.