The Mystery of the Missing Expedition. Lost in the Ice

On July 28, 1912, the schooner «Saint Anna» set sail from Saint Petersburg. The expedition, led by Lieutenant Georgy Brusilov, was to traverse the Northern Sea Route to Vladivostok with one wintering stop. However, by early October, the schooner found itself trapped by ice in the eastern part of the Kara Sea and soon began its forced drift northward. The crew was never able to escape from the icy captivity. In April 1914, 11 people, led by navigator Valerian Albanov, left the ship and headed for the mainland. Only two reached dry land: navigator Valerian Albanov and sailor Alexander Konrad, whose diaries are presented together for the first time in this book. Fragments of Valerian Albanov's diary, which became the prototype for navigator Klimov, can be found in the novel by Veniamin Kaverin «Two Captains». Here, many other facts from the history of «Saint Anna» are woven into the context of the narrative, referred to by the author as «Saint Maria».