Sea captain in a skirt. Anna Shchetinina

Mikhailov Andrey 01.02.2019 at 19:00

Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina became a real legend not only in the Soviet civilian fleet, but became famous all over the world. After her, the captain's course around the world went, according to the most conservative estimates, at least 65 female captains. Many plow the oceans now.

Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina was born on February 26, 1908 at the Okeanskaya station near Vladivostok. Miraculously, the name of the place of her birth became, as it were, a "guiding and guiding" force, which determined her amazing fate. Moreover, there were no sailors in her family before, she is the first.

Father Ivan Ivanovich worked with anyone - a switchman, a forester, a worker and an employee in the fisheries, a carpenter and a commandant of dachas in the regional department of the NKVD. Mother - Maria Filosofovna, judging by her biography, she was a housewife all her life. Brother Vladimir worked as a workshop foreman at an aviation plant. In a word, how young Anna came up with the idea of ​​becoming a sailor, and then also becoming the world's first female captain, and even with a rich, downright heroic marine biography, only Neptune knows.

In 1925, Anna graduated from eight classes. And in the same year she entered the navigation department of the Vladivostok Marine College. She was the only girl on the course. After graduating from a technical school, she worked in Kamchatka, where she went from a simple sailor to a captain. At the age of 24, Anna received a navigation diploma, and at the age of 27 she became the world's first female sea captain.

In 1935, she became famous all over the world by leading the German-built Chinook ship from Hamburg through polar ice to the Far East. It was then that her name sounded in almost all the world's leading newspapers. March 20, 1938 Anna Ivanovna was appointed the first head of the fishing port of the city of Vladivostok. She met the war in the Baltic, where, under bombing, she evacuated the population of Tallinn and transported strategic cargo.

After the war, Anna Shchetinina was the captain of the Askold, Baskunchak, Beloostrov, Dnestr, Pskov, Mendeleev ships in the Baltic Shipping Company. Since 1949 she worked at the Leningrad Higher Marine Engineering School. Since 1951, she has been a senior lecturer, and then the dean of the navigational faculty of the school. In 1956, Anna Shchetinina was awarded the title of Associate Professor. In 1960, she was transferred to VVIMU as an assistant professor at the Department of Marine Engineering. She is the author of the wonderful book "On the Seas and Beyond the Seas".

She herself spoke about the beliefs existing in the fleet: “According to the written and unwritten rules of the sea, you can’t whistle on a ship, you can’t mention the devil, although you can curse faith, grave, coffin, soul, ancestors, spleen and liver in case of failure. And God forbid you for board to throw away something edible when the ship is at sea!" And she added with a smile: "A woman on board also brings misfortune, but this does not apply to me!" History has preserved her other "star" words: "I went through the whole difficult path of a sailor from beginning to end. And if I am now the captain of a large ocean ship, then each of my subordinates knows that I did not come from the foam of the sea!".

Fate did not deprive her of not only sea adventures and hard work, but also awards and titles. Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina - Honorary Worker Marine fleet, Honorary Citizen of Vladivostok, Member of the Writers' Union of Russia, Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences, Honorary Member of the Geographical Society of the USSR, Active Member of the Soviet Women's Committee, Honorary Member of the Far Eastern Association of Sea Captains in London. In 1978, she became a Hero of Socialist Labor and was also awarded many other government and international awards. In 1968, the famous film "Anna Ivanovna", shot at the studio "Daltelefilm", was released on the screens of the country.

She passed away in 1999. A monument was erected to her at the Marine Cemetery in Vladivostok. On October 20, 2006, the name of Shchetinina was given to a cape on the coast of the Amur Bay of the Sea of ​​Japan. The 16th school of the city of Vladivostok has been named after her since 2008. In 2010, one of the new streets of Vladivostok in the Snegovaya Pad microdistrict was named after Captain Anna Shchetinina ...

The Pravda.Ru correspondent managed to find a man in Arkhangelsk who knew Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina quite well. Honored Worker maritime transport USSR Nikolay Efimovich Zarudny in the early 50s of the last century, he studied at the Leningrad Higher Marine Engineering School, when the first female captain was a teacher there. The honorary pensioner, despite his already fairly advanced age (he recently turned 81), remembers Anna Ivanovna very well. Here is what the "sea wolf" told a Pravda.Ru correspondent about her:

- Actually, I first entered the Frunze Higher Naval School in Leningrad, but did not pass the competition. And friends advised: they say, urgently take the documents and enter the civilian Higher Nautical School. It turned out to be even more difficult to enter there than in a military school (the examiners are stricter, the medical board is generally "brutal"). But I did. From the second year of study, Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina supervised our course for a whole year. I must say right away: she was stricter than many male teachers, but this had a positive effect on our academic performance: the course became the best in the school in a year.

She somehow, in a purely feminine way, did not tolerate untidiness, she said: for a sailor, a uniform is like a face. And I think she was absolutely right. Cadets, watching their appearance, as if put in order and thoughts, and were more disciplined. By the way, Anna Ivanovna, in spite of mature age was a very pretty woman. In addition, her peculiar, very smart and subtle humor forced those who were lagging behind to catch up in their studies, in addition, she disciplined all the cadets very much.

I remember her words for the rest of my life (I even took them as my life motto): "Love the sea, and it will reciprocate!". I was considered on the course as if "not my own": everyone knew that I actually dreamed of becoming a military sailor. The rumor about this reached Anna Ivanovna. She invited me to her office and simply told me about her life, about the romance of the sea, about the difficulties that long-distance sailors experience in their work.

She was genuinely passionate about her profession. And what do you think - since then I have been thinking exclusively about the profession of a sea captain, but I seem to have forgotten about the navy. I believe that I owe all the success in my work to her, like all my fellow students. By the way: on our course, which Anna Ivanovna supervised for only a year, there are already four Heroes of Socialist Labor!

The fate of Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina prompted the choice of a profession for many representatives of the "weaker sex". Today, several female captains are known, all commanding very respectable ships, and one even the largest ship of its type in the world. Here are just a few examples, so to speak, offhand.

Our Russian female captain, Lyudmila Tibryaeva, is, according to Marine Bulletin, the only female captain in the world with Arctic sailing experience. She became a sea captain in 1987, is a member of International Association sea ​​captains. At one time, she made her way right up to the Minister of Transport of the USSR himself in order to obtain permission to enter the nautical school.

Alevtina Alexandrova was a captain in the Sakhalin Shipping Company for many years. Inspired by the example of Anna Shchetinina, she is still in school years began to write letters to nautical schools, and then to the ministries and personally to Nikita Khrushchev, asking for permission to study in nautical school. And she got her way!

Valentina Reutova has a profession that is generally rare for women; she is the captain of a fishing boat in Kamchatka. There are many examples of women's "captainship" abroad.

"Marine Bulletin" provides such data. On April 16, 2008, Siba Ships appointed Laura Pinasco as the captain of its largest livestock carrier and the largest livestock carrier in the world. She became a captain at the age of 30. Men would envy her career!

In December 2007, during the formation of a new team, the American container ship Horizon Navigator was "captured" by women. All navigators and the captain are women. They were appointed according to the competition of the trade union as the best of all men who passed the test exams.

In May 2007, a Swedish woman, Karin Star-Jansson, was appointed captain of the Monarch of the Seas cruise ship. By the way, this is one of the largest passenger liners in the world with a crew of 850 people.

In general, the list of female captains can be continued for a long time. But, you see, it was our Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina who laid the course for the oceans for them back in the 30s of the last century!

Anna was born in 1908 at Okeanskaya station near Vladivostok. Father Ivan Ivanovich, originally from the village of Chumai, Verkhne-Chubulinsky District, Kemerovo Region, worked as a switchman, forester, worker and employee on ...

Anna was born in 1908 at Okeanskaya station near Vladivostok. Father Ivan Ivanovich, originally from the village of Chumai in the Verkhne-Chubulinsky district of the Kemerovo region, worked as a switchman, forester, worker and employee in the fisheries, carpenter and commandant of dachas in the Regional Department of the NKVD. Mother Maria Filosofovna is also from the Kemerovo region. Brother Vladimir Ivanovich was born in Vladivostok, worked as a workshop foreman at the Aircraft Plant at the station. Varfolomeevka Primorsky Krai.

In 1919 A.I. Shchetinina began to study at primary school in Sadgorod. After the entry of the Red Army into Vladivostok, the schools were reorganized, and from 1922 Anna Ivanovna studied at a unified labor school at the Sedanka station, where in 1925 she completed 8 classes. In the same year, she entered the navigation department of the Vladivostok Marine College, where she was the only girl on the course among the Komsomol guys. While studying at the technical school, she worked as a nurse and cleaner in the dental office of the technical school. During the period of study, she sailed as a student on the Simferopol steamship and the Bryukhanov security ship of the Dalryba state association, served as a sailor on the First Krabol steamboat. In 1928, she married Nikolai Filippovich Kachimov, a naval radio operator, later head of the Fishing Industry Radio Service in Vladivostok.

After graduating from a technical school, Anna Ivanovna was sent to the Joint-Stock Kamchatka Shipping Company, where she went from sailor to captain in just 6 years. She also worked on the schooner Okhotsk, which left in her memory vivid memories associated with one incident: “During the stop at the factory, where repairs had just been completed at Okhotsk, the watch mechanic started the auxiliary engine that ensured the operation of the generator, and violated safety rules. There was a fire. After the people were removed, the engine room was closed, the ship was towed aground at south coast bays and flooded, for which it was necessary to cut through the wooden sheathing of the side. The fire has stopped. The divers closed the hole in the hull, pumped out the water, and the ship was again taken to the factory for repairs. Then Anna served as a navigator on the ship "Koryak".

Anya Shchetinina

In 1932, at the age of 24, Anna received a navigation diploma. In 1933 or 1934 she received A.A. Kacharava (the future commander of the Sibiryakov steamship, which entered into battle with the "pocket" battleship Admiral Sheer in 1942) in the position of senior assistant to the captain of the Orochon steamship, owned by the Joint-Stock Kamchatka Society.

The first flight of Anna Shchetinina as a captain took place in 1935. Anna had a hard time - as a captain, a 27-year-old beautiful woman not every sailor could accept, it was too unusual. Anna had to transfer the ship "Chinook" from Hamburg to Kamchatka. The flight attracted the attention of the world press.

Anna Ivanovna said:

“In Hamburg we were met by our representative engineer Lomnitsky. He said that "my" steamer had already arrived from South America and after unloading, docked to examine the underwater part of the hull, that the captain was warned of my arrival and stunned that a woman would come to replace him. Immediately, Lomnitsky examined me rather critically and said that he never thought that I was so young (he apparently wanted to say - almost a girl). He asked, among other things, how old I was, and, having learned that I was already twenty-seven, he noted that they could give me five years less.

I, too, looked at myself from the side and thought that I was not solid enough for the captain: a blue silk hat, a gray fashionable coat, light shoes with heels ... But I decided that a uniform suit would be later, on the ship, when I was doing business . After breakfast and accommodation at the hotel, everyone went to the ship. At the city pier, we boarded a boat and set off along the Elbe River to the so-called "Free Harbor", where there was a steamer, which I so wanted and was so afraid to see. Lomnitsky answered my questions: - See for yourself. Such an intriguing answer made us wary and expect some kind of surprise. Good or bad? The boat runs briskly along the river, and I look around uneasily, trying to be the first to see and recognize “my” ship myself. But they don't give me.

Engineer Lomnitsky warns:- Around the bend, on the other side, there will be a floating dock. Look! The boat turns and rushes to the opposite shore, and I see a floating dock and on it - a ship, stern to us. The underwater part of its hull has been cleaned and from one side it has already been painted with bright red-brown paint - minium. Minium is not only for beauty, it protects the sides and bottom of the quarry from rust ... The freeboard is green, the superstructures are white, the intricate brand of the Hansa company on the pipe. At the stern, the name is "Hohenfels" and the port of registry is Hamburg. I even choked with pleasure, joy, pride - whatever you want to call it. What a big, clean, strong steamer! What wonderful body contours! I tried many times to imagine it. The reality exceeded all my expectations.

The boat stops at the pier. We rise to the floating dock and go to the ship. They give way to me: the captain must board the ship first. I'm touched. I see people on deck: they meet us. But I haven't looked at them yet. As soon as I cross the gangway, I touch the ship's gunwale with my hand and, greeting him, whisper a greeting to him so that no one notices. Then I turn my attention to the people standing on the deck. The first in the group of those who meet are the captain - I judge this by the galloons on the sleeves - and a man in a civilian gray suit. I extend my hand to the captain and greet him in German. He immediately introduces me to a man in civilian clothes. It turns out that this is a representative of the Hansa company, authorized to formalize the transfer of this group of ships. I understand the captain in the sense that at first I should have greeted this 'high representative', but I deliberately do not want to understand this: for me the main thing now is the captain. I can't find in my stock of German words the necessary expressions for a polite greeting - for this a few lessons German language taken in Leningrad are not enough. I switch to English. And only after saying everything that I considered necessary to the captain, I greet the representative of the Hansa company, keeping his last name in my memory. This must be strictly followed. If at least once you were told the last name of a person, especially with such representations, you must remember it and not forget it in subsequent conversations. Here, too, I tried to English language.

Then we were introduced to the chief engineer - a very elderly and very handsome-looking "grandfather" - and the chief mate - a desperately red and freckled fellow of about thirty. He especially shook my hand and spoke a lot, now in German, now in English. This rather lengthy greeting made the captain jokingly remark that my appearance on the ship made a strong impression on everyone, but, apparently, especially on the chief officer, and the captain was afraid that he was losing in this moment a good senior assistant. Such a joke somehow helped me come to my senses and hide my involuntary embarrassment from everyone's attention. After everyone got to know each other, we were invited to the captain's cabin. I fluently, but memorizing every detail, examined the deck and everything that came into view: superstructures, corridors, ladders and, finally, the captain's office. Everything was good, clean and in good order. The captain's office occupied the entire forward part of the upper deckhouse. It contained a solid desk, an armchair, a corner sofa, a snack table in front of it, good chairs. The entire rear bulkhead was occupied by a glazed sideboard with many beautiful dishes in special nests.

The business part of the conversation was short. Engineer Lomnitsky acquainted me with a number of documents, from which I learned the basic conditions for accepting the ship, as well as the fact that the ship was given the name of our Far Eastern large salmon fish- "Chinook". The entire group of accepted vessels received the names of fish and marine animals: "Sima", "Kizhuch", "Tuna", "Whale", etc. Here, the captain and I agreed on the procedure for receiving the vessel. It was decided to call the team with the next flight of our passenger ship from Leningrad. At present, it was necessary to get acquainted with the progress and quality of the repair and finishing work, stipulated by the agreement on the transfer of the vessel. After a business conversation, the captain invited us to drink a glass of wine.

The conversation began. Captain Butman said that he was surprised by the news of the sale of the ship Soviet Union and that it should be delivered now. He did not hide that he was very upset. He has been sailing on this ship for six years, got used to it, considers it a very good seaworthy vessel, and he is sorry to leave it. He gallantly added that, however, he was glad to hand over such a wonderful ship to such a young captain, and even the first woman in the world who deserved the right and high honor to stand on the captain's bridge. Toast followed toast. The short toast of the representative of the Hansa company sounded dry, in a businesslike way. It was felt that he was upset that Germany was forced to sell its fleet to the Soviet Union: he understood that the Soviet navy was growing, which means that all of our National economy. The toast of the “grandfather” who greeted all our sailors sounded very good and simple. He clinked glasses with everyone, and said a few warm words to me that sounded downright paternal. The sergeant-major spoke again for a long time. From his German-English speech, I understood that he would try to hand over the ship in such a way that the new (again compliments followed) captain would have no complaints and that the new crew would understand that the ship was taken from real sailors who knew how to protect and maintain it in due order. Wow! Now that's the thing! If this is not just polite chatter, then a friend has been acquired who wants to help with the reception of the ship.

The next day, dressed in work clothes, I began to inspect the ship. The captain did not accompany me everywhere. This was done by the senior assistant. Holds, rope boxes, some double-bottom tanks, coal pits, and the engine room were inspected. Everything was looked at in detail. Time was not spared. They worked until two o'clock, then they sorted out the drawings and other documents. After the working day, I changed my clothes and, at the invitation of the captain, took part in lengthy conversations that were held daily in the captain's cabin with members of the German command staff of the ship and our sailors, who came at the end of the working day. After such conversations, we, Soviet sailors, went to our hotel, dined, walked around the city, although not always. We were all very burdened by the atmosphere of the city, and we tried to spend time in our own circle. I was in Germany for the third time. I used to like it there, I liked the people - so simple, cheerful and good-natured, businesslike and reasonable. I liked the exceptional cleanliness and order on the streets, in houses, in shops and shops. Germany in 1935 was unpleasantly struck by some deadly emptiness of many streets, an abundance of flags with a swastika and the measured clatter of forged boots of young men in khaki with a swastika on their sleeves, who, as a rule, paced the streets in pairs, came across in the corridors of the hotel, in the dining room. Their loud barking voices cut their ears. It was somehow especially uncomfortable, as if you were in a good mood at the house of your good old friends and found yourself at a funeral ... And I, frankly, was just scared in this huge hotel. It was terrible at night to listen to the same measured clatter, which was not drowned out even by the carpets in the corridors. I counted the days until the arrival of my team and until the final acceptance of the ship, when it would already be possible to get on it. With the arrival of our team, things began to boil in a new way, the acceptance of property and spare parts began. As always in such cases, opinions appeared that “this is not so” and that “not quite so”. There was a desire to redo something, to do something anew. I had to strictly ensure that people did not get carried away and understood that the ship was not its own veranda and it was not at all necessary to remake it in your own way. A few days later, our entire crew came to the conclusion that the German team behaves very loyally towards us, helps a lot in the work and does a lot even beyond what is required by agreement. The first officer of the German team did not break his promises. From the very beginning, he proved that he was handing over the ship not only in good conscience, but even more.

By the way, not without a joke. Whenever I came to the ship, he always met me not only at the gangway, but even at the pier. If I carried anything, he offered his help. In a word, he looked after him in his own way, probably, he liked me as a woman ... My first mate, and all the assistants asked me: what to do with him - break his legs or leave him like that? And how to behave: to meet your captain at the entrance to the plant, or to recognize this right for the German? I had to laugh it off: since we were not on our own land, we must reckon with this, but it does not interfere with our young people to learn politeness and attentiveness. Our team began to call the German first mate "fascist", but then, seeing his friendliness and businesslike help, they simply called "Red Vanya". By the end of the reception of the vessel, a solemn raising of the flag was being prepared. What a great event this is - the acceptance of a new vessel for our navy. Flags of the Soviet Union Socialist Republics and the pennants of our organization were brought by us, and we looked forward to their solemn rise.

I invited the German captain and crew, as well as the representative of the Hansa company and other representatives to the solemn hoisting of the flag. All, as one, answered that they probably would not be able to accept the invitation: the captain was leaving for Berlin on that very day, the Hanse's representative had to go on business to other ports - and that's all. We understood very well that they were simply forbidden to be present on the rise. Soviet flag on our ship. Our guesses were confirmed by the fact that on the appointed day the German flag was no longer raised on the ship. I had to limit myself to the fact that, even before the raising of our flag, I invited the German command staff for a glass of wine at my place. Again there were toasts and wishes. And then the Germans quickly left the ship one by one.

The captains and crews of our host vessels arrived, as well as our representatives. And now a command sounds on our ship: - Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and raise a pennant! And slowly, in expanded form, our scarlet flag will rise and with it the pennant of the Joint Stock Company of Kamchatka. The flag and pennant are raised. We all sing the Internationale with enthusiasm. The sounds of a unique melody pour over the ship and the piers, which were recently still full of people, and now are empty, as if for many miles there was not a single person but us, Soviet people, on the deck of a Soviet ship, which has now become a piece of native territory. How much it means to be away from the Motherland and feel at home! And the ship is also native land!…”

Steamboat "Chinook"

On June 15, 1935, the ship arrived in Odessa. A month later, on July 16, 1935, he left for Kamchatka with 2,800 tons of cargo, among which was equipment for a shipyard under construction in Petropavlovsk. The journey here from the Black Sea took fifty-eight days. On the morning of September 12, 1935, the Chinook was solemnly welcomed in the port of Petropavlovsk. After a small repair, the steamer proceeded to the coastal combines: its long-term daily voyages began with supply cargo and passengers.

In mid-December 1935, the Chinook was in Mitoga. The strongest storm that swept over the plant destroyed many buildings and structures. Fortunately, there were no casualties. On December 14, the ship handed over food and warm clothes to the shore for the victims.

In February In the winter of 1936, the Chinook was covered with ice for eleven days in the area of ​​the Olyutorsky fish processing plant. During the forced drift, food came to an end. The sailors sat on a meager ration: the team was given 600 grams of bread a day, the command staff - 400 each. Fresh water also turned out to be running out. The crew and passengers collected snow from the ice floes, poured it into the forepeak, and then melted it with steam. So they got about 100 tons of drinking water and boilers. This allowed the ship to remove almost all fish products in Olyutorka.

During the whole day of ice captivity, Anna did not leave the captain's bridge, steering the ship with her own hands, looking for a convenient moment to take the Chinook salmon out of the ice. The ship's crew worked smoothly and without fuss. The senior assistant captain and the sailors tried to cut the ice floe with a saw to free the ship, but they failed to do this. To turn the Chinook, a light anchor was brought onto the ice. As a result of titanic efforts, the ship left heavy ice no hull damage. In order to avoid damage to the propeller, the captain decided to sink its stern, for which the crew and passengers reloaded the contents of the bow holds into the stern for several days. However, although the draft of the vessel increased astern, three propeller blades were bent.

A. I. Shchetinina commanded the "Chinook" until 1938.

She received her first Order of the Red Banner of Labor precisely for these difficult, truly “male” flights through the Sea of ​​​​Okhotsk. On January 10, 1937, the leadership of the AKO ordered her to be sent "to Moscow to receive an order." The corresponding order that day came to Kamchatka from Glavryba.

Anna in the captain's cabin with her beloved pets - a cat and a dog

On January 23–24, 1937, a conference of AKO enterprises was held in Petropavlovsk. Her transcript contains many episodes that characterize the state of the society's fleet during this period. The main problems hindering its normal operation were voiced by the captain of the Chinook A. I. Shchetinina, who by this time had achieved all-Union fame. Outstanding personal qualities, as well as great authority among the sailors, gave the words of Anna Ivanovna considerable weight, forcing party and economic leaders of high ranks to listen to them.

The main problem in the operation of the fleet was its long idle times. According to A. I. Shchetinina, each ship should have been assigned to a certain fish processing plant: “then both the ship and the shore will mutually try to get the job done.” It was required to clearly plan the work of ships in non-navigation time. Often they went into repair at the same time, then left it at the same time and accumulated in the unequipped Petropavlovsk port, which was not suitable for their mass processing. It was necessary to timely transmit notices to the ships about changes in sailing conditions in order to avoid situations like: “We were not told that lights were displayed in Petropavlovsk, and we do not know where they are displayed.” In winter, it was necessary to organize the transmission of weather reports and ice conditions.

In 1938, A. I. Shchetinina was appointed head of the fishing port in Vladivostok. In the same year, she entered the Leningrad Institute of Water Transport at the Faculty of Navigation. Having the right to attend lectures freely, she finishes 4 courses in two and a half years.

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War Anna Ivanovna receives a referral to the Baltic Shipping Company. In August 1941, under fierce fire from the Nazis, she drove the Saule steamer loaded with food and weapons along the Gulf of Finland, supplying our army. In the autumn of 1941, together with a group of sailors, she was sent to Vladivostok at the disposal of the Far Eastern Shipping Company.

They say that a woman on a ship is in trouble. But somehow I don’t really believe it, especially looking at these beautiful, self-confident women who have dedicated their lives to the sea. A selection - from the cabin boy to the captain to your attention.

Cabins, captains, navigators, minders and boatswains, etc. are gathered here. and so on. - for every taste!

Renowned navigator Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina
Anna Ivanovna served on rescue ships, repeatedly went through Pacific Ocean on old ships, and in February 1943 she received in Los Angeles a ship transferred to the Far Eastern Shipping Company under lend-lease, under the name "Jean Zhores". In December 1943, Jean Zhores, under her command, took part in the rescue of the steamer Valery Chkalov near the Comador Islands, which broke in half in a severe storm.

Lyudmila Tibryaeva - the first woman in the Murmansk Shipping Company - Arctic captain
40 years at sea, 20 years on the bridge. Lyudmila Tibryaeva was among the first to lead the Tiksi icebreaking transport vessel from Europe to Japan by the North Sea route, and became a member of the Association of Captains, which includes the country's best sailors.

Aleftina Borisovna Aleksandrova (1942-2012) - Aleftina Borisovna spent more than 40 years on the captain's bridge of the motor ships Sakhalinles and Sibirles, 30 of them as captain of the Sakhalin Shipping Company.

Sea captain Irina Mikhailova - Far Eastern female captain

Tatiana Oleinik. The first and only woman sea captain in Ukraine.

Kate McKay (39) became the first female cruise ship captain in the US in 2016 and also the youngest cruise ship captain.
Kate McKay became the first female cruise ship captain in the United States in 2016 and also the youngest cruise ship captain.

Tatyana Sukhanova, 46 years old, Vladivostok; container ship captain, 28 years of experience
He works as a captain in a Cypriot company, leads flights to Australia, New Zealand, Papua - New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Evgenia Korneva, 23 years old, St. Petersburg; 4th assistant to the captain of the gas carrier

Laura Pinasco (32) is the captain of one of the largest livestock transport ships.

The world's first female captain of a mega liner Swedish Karin Star-Jansson
Monarch of the Seas is a first rank liner that belongs to the category of the largest liners in the world. 73937, 14 decks, 2400 passengers, 850 crew, built in 1991.

First female LPG tanker captain Porre Lix (age 32)

Seven feet under the keel, girls!

To date, I know of several female captains, all commanding very respectable ships, and one the largest ship of its type in the world. I have started a separate page dedicated to female captains, and will update it as new data becomes available. Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina, who is deeply respected by me, is considered the first woman in the world to be a captain, although in fact it is unlikely - it is enough to recall Grace O'Neil (Barky), the most famous filibuster woman from Ireland, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st. Probably, Anna Ivanovna can be safely called the first female captain of the 20th century. Anna Ivanovna once said that her personal opinion is that there is no place for a woman on ships, especially on a bridge. But let's not forget that even with the relatively recent past, the middle of the last century, much in the sea and the world has dramatically changed, so modern women prove to us with considerable success that there is a place for a woman on ships, in any position.
The largest livestock ship in the world is headed by a woman
April 16, 2008 - Siba Ships has appointed a woman, Laura Pinasco, as the captain of its largest livestock ship in the world, Stella Deneb. Laura brought Stella Deneb to Fremantle, Australia, her first voyage and first ship as a captain. She is only 30 years old, she got a job at Siba Ships in 2006 as a first mate.
Laura from Genoa, at sea since 1997. She received her captain's diploma in 2003. Laura has worked on LNG carriers and livestock carriers, and was an XO before captaincy at Stella Deneb, notably on a record-breaking head voyage last year when Stella Deneb loaded an A$11.5 million shipment in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. , assigned to Indonesia and Malaysia. 20,060 cattle and 2,564 sheep and goats were taken on board. It took 28 railway trains to deliver them to the port. Loading and transportation were carried out under the careful supervision of the veterinary services and met the highest standards.
Stella Deneb is the largest livestock ship in the world.
Details about the ship and its photo: http://www.odin.tc/disaster/deneb.asp

Men and strangers are not allowed to enter - the only ship in the world completely managed by women
December 23-29, 2007 - container ship Horizon Navigator (Gross 28212, built 1972, US flag, owner HORIZON LINES LLC) of 2360 TEU of Horizon Lines was captured by women. All navigators and the captain are women. Captain Robin Espinoza, XO Sam Pirtle, 2nd Mate Julie Duchi. All the rest of the total crew of 25 men are men. Women fell onto the bridge of a container ship, according to the company, quite by accident, during a union competition. Espinoza is extremely surprised - for the first time in 10 years she works in a crew with other women, not to mention navigators. The International Organization of Captains, Navigators and Pilots in Honolulu says it is 10% female, down from 30 years ago to just 1%.
The women are amazing, to say the least. Robin Espinoza and Sam Pirtle are roommates. They studied together at the Merchant Marine Academy. Sam also has a diploma as a sea captain. Julie Duchi became a sailor later than her captain and chief officer, but sailors-navigators will understand and appreciate such a hobby of hers (in our times, alas and alas, this is a hobby, although without knowing a sextant, you will never become a real navigator) - “I, perhaps , one of the few boatmasters who uses a sextant to locate, just for fun!”
Robin Espinoza has been in the Navy for a quarter of a century. When she first began her maritime career, a woman in the US Navy was a rarity. For the first ten years of work on ships, Robin had to work in crews that consisted entirely of men. Robin, Sam and Julie love their profession very much, but when many weeks separate you from your native shore, it can be sad. Robin Espinoza, 49, says: "I miss my husband and 18-year-old daughter so much." Her age, Sam Pearl, never met someone with whom she could start a family. “I meet men,” she says, who want a woman to look after them all the time. And for me, my career is a part of myself, I can’t even for a moment admit that something could prevent me from going to sea. ”
Julie Duci, who is 46 years old, just loves the sea, and simply cannot imagine that there are other, more worthy or interesting professions in the world.
Details about the glorious command staff of Horizon Navigator, and photos, were sent to me by a children's writer, a former sailor, Vladimir Novikov, for which many thanks to him!

The world's first female captain of a mega liner
May 13-19, 2007 - Royal Caribbean International has appointed a Swedish woman, Karin Star-Janson, as captain of the Monarch of the Seas cruise ship. Monarch of the Seas is a liner of the first, so to speak, rank, gross 73937, 14 decks, 2400 passengers, 850 crew, built in 1991. That is, it belongs to the category of the largest liners in the world. The Swedish woman became the first woman in the world to receive the position of captain on vessels of this type and size. She has been with the company since 1997, first as a navigator on the Viking Serenade and Nordic Empress, then as an XO on the Vision of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas, then as a backup captain on Brilliance of the Seas, Serenade of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas. Her whole life is connected with the sea, higher education, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, bachelor's degree in navigation. She currently holds a diploma allowing her to command ships of any type and size.

First female Belgian captain
And the first female LPG tanker captain
The tanker LPG Libramont (dwt 29328, length 180 m, width 29 m, draft 10.4 m, built in 2006 Korea OKRO, flag Belgium, owner EXMAR SHIPPING) was accepted by the customer in May 2006 at OKRO shipyards, a woman took command of the vessel, the first woman - the captain of Belgium and, it seems, the first female captain of a gas carrier tanker. In 2006, Rogge was 32 years old, two years since she received her captain's diploma. That's all that is known about her.
Sergey Zhurkin, a reader of the site, told me about it, for which many thanks to him.

Norwegian pilot
Pictured is Marianne Ingebrigsten, April 9, 2008, after receiving her pilot's certificate, Norway. At 34, she became the second female pilot in Norway, and this, unfortunately, is all that is known about her.

Russian female captains
Information about Lyudmila Tebryaeva was sent to me by a site reader Sergey Gorchakov, for which I thank him very much. I dug as much as I could and found information about two other women in Russia who are captains.
Lyudmila Tibryaeva - ice captain
Our Russian female captain, Lyudmila Tibryaeva, is, and it seems safe to say, the only female captain in the world with Arctic sailing experience.
In 2007, Lyudmila Tebryaeva celebrated three dates at once - 40 years of work in the shipping company, 20 years as a captain, 60 years since her birth. In 1987, Lyudmila Tibryaeva became a sea captain. She is a member of the International Association of Sea Captains. For outstanding achievements, she was awarded in 1998 the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, second degree. Today, her portrait in a uniform tunic against the backdrop of a ship adorns the Museum of the Arctic. Lyudmila Tibryaeva received the badge "Captain of a long voyage" number 1851. In the 60s, Lyudmila from Kazakhstan came to Murmansk. And on January 24, 1967, 19-year-old Luda went on her first voyage on the icebreaker Kapitan Belousov. In the summer, a part-time student went to Leningrad to take a session, and the icebreaker went to the Arctic. She made her way to the minister to get permission to enter the nautical school. Lyudmila also had a successful family life, which is rare for sailors in general, and even more so for women who continue to swim.

Alevtina Alexandrova - captain in the Sakhalin Shipping Company In 2001, she turned 60 years old. Alevtina Alexandrova came to Sakhalin in 1946 with her parents, and even in her school years she began to write letters to nautical schools, and then to the ministries and personally to N.S. Khrushchev, with a request to be allowed to study at the nautical school. At the age of less than 16, A. Alexandrova became a cadet at the Nevelsk Naval School. A decisive role in her fate was played by the captain of the ship "Alexander Baranov" Viktor Dmitrenko, with whom the navigator girl was practicing. Then Alevtina got a job at the Sakhalin Shipping Company and worked there all her life.

Valentina Reutova - captain of a fishing vessel She is 45 years old, she seems to have become the captain of a fishing boat in Kamchatka, that's all I know.

Girls rule
He goes to the fleet and youth, and letters to the president or minister are no longer required. Last year, for example, I gave a note about a graduate of Moscow State University. adm. G.I. Nevelskoy. On February 9, 2007, the Maritime University gave a start in life to the future captain Natalya Belokonskaya. She is the first girl in the new century - a graduate of the Faculty of Navigation. Moreover, Natalia is an excellent student! Future captain? Natalya Belokonskaya, a graduate of the Far Eastern Higher Medical School (Moscow State University), is getting a diploma, and Olya Smirnova is working as a helmsman on the river m/v "Vasily Chapaev".

http://www.odin.tc/disaster/women.asp

"Sea Wolves" in Hamburg in 1935. were in extreme amazement when a woman captain arrived from Soviet Russia to take over the new steamer "Chinook", the former "Hohenfels". The world press was buzzing.

She was then 27 years old, but according to the engineer Lomnitsky, our representative in Hamburg, she looked at least 5 years younger.

Anna Ivanovna was born in 1908. at Okeanskaya station. The sea lapped not far from her house and beckoned her from childhood, but in order to fulfill her dream and achieve something in a harsh men's world sailors, she had to become not just the best, an order of magnitude better. And she became the best.

After graduating from the navigational department of the marine technical school, she is sent to where she begins her labor activity a simple sailor, at 24 she is a navigator, at 27 she is a captain, in just 6 years of work.

She commanded the "Chinook" until 1938. In the harsh stormy waters of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. She managed to become famous again when in 1936 the ship was trapped in ice captivity by heavy ice.

Only thanks to the resourcefulness of the captain, who did not leave the captain's bridge for the entire time of the ice captivity, and the well-coordinated work of the team, they were able to get out of it without damaging the ship. This was done at the cost of a titanic effort, while they almost ran out of food and water.

The first steamship of captain Anna Shchetininay "Chinook"

And in 1938, she was instructed to create the Vladivostok fishing port almost from scratch. This is 30 years old. She also coped with this task brilliantly, in just six months. At the same time, she enters the Institute of Water Transport in Leningrad, successfully completes 4 courses in 2.5 years, and then the war began.

She was sent to Baltic Fleet, where she, under fierce shelling and continuous bombing, took out the population of Tallinn, transported food and weapons for the army, cruising the Gulf of Finland.

Then again the Far Eastern Shipping Company and a new task - trips across the Pacific Ocean to the shores of Canada and the USA. During the war, ships under her command crossed the ocean 17 times, she also had a chance to participate in the rescue of the steamer "Valery Chkalov".

Many glorious deeds on account of Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina, she commanded large ocean liners and taught first in Leningrad at the Higher Engineering and Naval School, then was the dean of the faculty of navigators at the Far Eastern Higher Engineering Naval School. adm. Nevelskoy in Vladivostok.

Now it's Marine State University them. adm. Nevelskoy.

She was the organizer of the "club of captains" in Vladivostok and the chairman of the jury at tourist song festivals, which, with her active participation, grew into the famous Far East festival of the author's song "Primorskie strings", she wrote books about the sea and textbooks for cadets.

Her merits were highly appreciated by captains abroad, for her sake the well-known Australian club of captains "Rotary Club" changed the age-old tradition and not only invited a woman to their club, but also gave her the floor at the forum of captains.

And during the celebration of the 90th anniversary of Anna Ivanovna, she was presented with a congratulation on behalf of the captains of Europe and America.

Anna Shetinina - Hero of Socialist Labor, Honorary Resident of Vladivostok, Honorary Worker of the Navy, Member of the Writers' Union of Russia, Honorary Member of the Geographical Society of the USSR, Member of the Committee of Soviet Women, Honorary Member of the Association of Far Eastern Captains in London, etc., the irrepressible energy of this woman, her heroism was highly appreciated in her homeland - 2 orders of Lenin, orders of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, the Red Banner, the Red Banner of Labor and many medals.

Anna Ivanovna passed away at the age of 91 and was buried at the sea cemetery in Vladivostok. The city has not forgotten this amazing woman.

At the Maritime University, where she taught, a museum of her memory was created, a cape on the Shkota Peninsula was named after her, not far from the house where she lived, a square named after her was laid out, etc.

Then other female captains came, but she was the first.

She spoke about herself

I went through the whole difficult path of a sailor from beginning to end. And if I am now the captain of a large ocean ship, then each of my subordinates knows that I did not come from the foam of the sea!

Based on materials from Tonina Olga Igorevna:-http://samlib.ru/t/tonina_o_i/ussr_navy_women_002.shtml