A meeting with the polar captain took place in the Inter-settlement Library of the Kola district

Participants of the event. Photo by A. Yagodina

The meeting with the polar captain, member of the MRB RGS Council Rostislav Gaidovsky was attended by the head of the city of Kola Svetlana Chukareva, representatives of the Murmansk Regional Branch of the Russian Geographical Society, members of several social clubs and library users.

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Participants of the event. Photo: Inter-settlement library of the Kola district

Rostislav Gaidovsky spoke about his youth and life before work in the North, shared his experience of participating in polar expeditions, described the dangers and difficulties of the Arctic, and talked about non-standard ways to solve them. The audience was particularly interested in the sailing expedition to the Svalbard archipelago. It was an experimental voyage of the new models of the historical ships of the Polar Odyssey club from Petrozavodsk. The purpose of the expedition was to prove that the Pomors could use this route ships and were the first people to inhabit Svalbard.

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Participants of the event. Photo: Inter-settlement library of the Kola district

Much attention was devoted to the 1985 expedition to Franz Josef Land, during which Rostislav Gaidovsky made an important discovery - the strait separating the islands of East Northbrook and West Northbrook.  A book based on the materials of the 1985 expedition was presented at the event. It was published in 2021 on the initiative of the Murmansk Regional Branch of the Russian Geographical Society and with the financial support of the Norilsk Nickel.   Rostislav Gaidovsky is one of its co-authors of the book. 

Sergey Goncharov, a member of the MRB RGS Council, told the participants of the event about the activities of the Murmansk Regional Branch of the RGS, about plans for the current expedition season and already implemented projects, including the book "On Franz Josef Land. Based on the materials of the 1985 historical expedition". He paid special attention to the expedition dedicated to the Day of Russia and the 75th anniversary of the Murmansk Regional Branch of the RGS, scheduled for June 11-13.

“We have an ambitious goal – to go on an expedition to Sredny and Rybachy on the Day of Russia. This is a difficult task, the last few years have been snowy, and usually no one goes there before July. But that's why we are called the Geographical Society, to be the first,” said Sergey Goncharov.