|
| The World Ocean & Cruise Liner Society Presents |
| A RUSSIAN CHANGES HANDS By William H. Miller |
| When the liner ALEXANDR PUSHKIN began sailing between
Northern Europe and Montreal in April 1966, she was not only the
first Soviet passenger ship to offer something close to a regular service since
the late forties, just before the outbreak of the Cold War, but she was also
something of a travel novelty. The Soviets and their ships were then
still quite remote, veiled in secrecy and strangeness, an
"alien" to the West. However, it all worked to make the PUSHKIN an instant
success. She appealed to travelers because of her cultural
entertainment, the borscht with lunch and the vodka toasts at dinner. She also
called at Leningrad, then quite unique to ocean liner itineraries. She also had deep
cargo holds for passengers traveling with those big trunks and even their own cars. But
all of that is long past. In the summer of 1991, the twenty-six-year-old PUSHKIN was lying
at anchor out in Singa pore Roads. Only a small crew looked after her while her Moscow
owners sought a new owner. The 577-foot-long ship with "mechanically
tired" engines was for sale, as a rumor suggested, at a "very
reasonable price." A British tour company won out in the end. Now, the PUSHKIN is
called the MARCO POLO. The Russians have, in fact, been "weeding out" their passenger fleet, the largest in the world with well over forty ships, in recent years. After several disasters, including the tragic sinking of the PUSHKIN's near sister, the MIKHAIL LERMONTOV, in New Zealand waters in February 1986, the Gorbachev Government decreed that all older, pre-1960 built passenger ships had to go. But such an edict didn't come soon enough. Months after the LERMONTOV tragedy, the 61-year-old ADMIRAL NAKHIMOV quickly sank after a collision in the Black Sea. Nearly 400 were lost in what was called the worst Soviet maritime disaster in peacetime. The 19,800-ton ALEXANDR PUSHKIN and her four sisters actually represented something of a new era for the Soviet fleet back in the 1960's. Built at Wismar, then in East Germany, they were by far the largest newly built liners for the country's overseas services. While some might do stints of duty in the "internal" Black Sea coastal trades, mostly these ships would be used for Western charters - to the West Germans, the Dutch, the English, the Italians, the Australians and later in a Canadian-based operation called March Shipping Company, based at Montreal. In addition to cruises, these ships were also noted for their periodic "line voyages," long positioning trips that would take them from England to Australia and then home again. Apart from the aforementioned LERMONTOV, the other ships in this series included the IVAN FRANKO, the TARAS SHEVCHENKO and the SHOTARUSTAVELLI. Each ship carried approximately 700 one-class passengers in cabins of which about half had private bathroom facilities. In her day, and along with seasonal North Atlantic service (April through October), the ALEXANDR PUSHKIN also ran occasional cruises. Usually, these were one- and two-week trips along the St. Lawrence River and then out to the Canadian Maritimes. There was also at least one 21-day trip that included Bermuda, Nassau and the novelty of 2 days in Havana. Fares for that trip in the summer of 1975 started at $595. The PUSHKIN was, however, and like all Soviet ships, banished from North American ports by the end of 1980. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan cast the deciding vote. Thereafter, and following a modernizing refit for increased cruise service, she was detoured mostly to Australia for South Seas sailings. Now, being rebuilt in Greece for her new owners, it will be most interesting to see what becomes of her. The End Reprinted from a past issue ofOcean
& Cruise News. |
| - Join Today - |
|
Copyright ©
The World Ocean & Cruise Liner Society
