April 11th, 2015
... Ziganshin stood strong, held on, was cheerful, pale as a shadow, and what he was going to say, he said only the next day: “Friends!” An hour later: “Darlings!” "Guys! - In another hour, - After all, the elements did not break us, So will hunger break us? Let’s forget about the food, what’s there, and let’s remember about our soldiers...” “We’d like to find out,” Fedotov began to rave, “What do they eat in our unit”...
These lines are almost half a century old. Young Vladimir Vysotsky wrote them in 1960, wrote about his peers, whose names were then thundering throughout the country, and throughout the world. The poem by Vysotsky, from which these lines are taken, is called “Forty-nine Days.”
Fifty-five years ago, this foursome was more popular than the Liverpool quartet.
Guys from the Far East have been written and talked about all over the world. But the music of the legendary Beatles is still alive today, and the glory of Askhat Ziganshin, Anatoly Kryuchkovsky, Philip Poplavsky and Ivan Fedotov is a thing of the past; their names are remembered today only by people of the older generation. Young people need to be told from scratch how on January 17, 1960, the T-36 barge with a crew of four conscripts was carried away from the Kuril Island of Iturup into the open ocean, where it fell into the epicenter of a powerful cyclone. Intended for coastal navigation, and not ocean voyages, the boat dangled for forty-nine days at the will of the waves, drifting about two thousand nautical miles. There was almost no food or water on board from the very beginning, but the guys survived without losing their human appearance. Half a century later, only two participants in the unprecedented raid remained alive. Ziganshin lives in Strelna near St. Petersburg, Kryuchkovsky lives in independent Kyiv...
Let's remember this story...
Those famous “49 days” began on January 17, 1960. On the island of Iturup - one of the four still “disputed” islands of the Kuril ridge - four boys served as soldiers: Tatar Askhat Ziganshin, Russian Ivan Fedotov and two Ukrainians: Anatoly Kryuchkovsky and Philip Poplavsky. Four soldiers, four friends met the morning of January 17 on board the T-36 self-propelled barge. The rocky shallow water did not allow cargo to be delivered directly to the shore, and T-z6 served as a kind of floating berth for cargo ships. The barge, with a displacement of one hundred tons, had a length of 17 meters at the waterline, its width was only three and a half meters, and its draft was just over one meter. Having such dimensions plus a maximum speed of 9 knots, the T-36 could afford to move away from the coast by at most 200-300 meters. You can imagine what it looked like, this same T-36 barge, from a photograph of its exact model.
They weren't border guards, these guys. They were not military sailors either. They were not sailors at all - they served in a construction battalion and were engaged in loading and unloading work: they accepted cargo onto a barge and transported it to the shore. Or vice versa. Just on January 17, the next cargo ship was supposed to arrive, and the whole four, led by Junior Sergeant Ziganshin, went to the barge - straight from the bathhouse. They even managed to receive cash allowance on the shore, but they did not have time to receive food rations.
Private Anatoly Kryuchkovsky
By nightfall it was stormy. In fact, stormy weather was not unusual for the windswept bay, but that storm was especially strong. As Anatoly Fedorovich Kryuchkovsky later recalled, many years later, “in a matter of seconds, huge waves rose, our barge was torn from the mooring mast and let’s throw it across the bay like a piece of wood.” Fearing that the barge would be thrown onto the rocks, they started both diesel engines
This is what he says Askhat Rakhimzyanovich
Around nine in the morning on January 17, the storm intensified, the cable broke, we were carried onto the rocks, but we managed to inform the command that we would try to take refuge on the eastern side of the bay, where it was quieter. After that, the radio was flooded, and communication with the shore was lost. At seven in the evening the wind suddenly changed, and we were dragged into the open ocean. After another three hours, the mechanics reported: the fuel reserves in the diesel engines were running out. I decided to throw myself ashore. It was a risky step, but there was no choice. The first attempt was unsuccessful: they collided with a rock called Devil's Hill. It was a miracle that they didn’t crash, they were able to slip between the stones, although they got a hole and water began to flood the engine room. Behind the rock a sandy shore began, and I directed the barge towards it. We were almost there, our bottom was already touching the ground, but then the diesel fuel ran out, the engines stalled, and we were carried into the ocean.
Of course, they were looking for them, they could not help but look for them. When weather conditions allowed. But those searches were hardly particularly persistent: few doubted that a T-36 type vessel was not able to withstand an ocean storm. In addition, during that storm, a large chest of coal was thrown overboard, and its fragments later found on the shore seemed to correspond to the version of the death of the T-36 barge along with its people.
Private Ivan Fedotov
... It is now difficult for us to judge all the details of what happened, what, why and how. In any case, the fact remains: the January storm, which raged for several days in a row, drove the barge into the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean - a barge that was not at all ocean-class, uncontrollable and no longer self-propelled, fairly battered, deprived of radio communications, de-energized, with a hastily repaired hole in the bottom . It later turns out that the boat with four people on board was caught by a powerful ocean current, which Japanese fishermen gave the name “death current.” With every hour, with every minute, the T-36 barge was carried further and further from its native shores. And another fatal accident, which the four learned about almost immediately, from the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper found in the control room: the article reported that training missile launches would take place in this part of the ocean, and therefore the entire area was declared unsafe for navigation. This meant that in the near future they did not have even a ghostly chance of meeting any ship...
Again from an interview with Askhat Rakhimzyanovich:
What if on your own, by swimming?
Suicide! The water was icy, the waves were high, the temperature was below zero... And we wouldn’t have lasted a couple of minutes on the surface. Yes, the thought of abandoning the barge never entered our heads. Is it possible to squander state property?!
It would not have been possible to anchor in such a wind, and the depth did not allow it. In addition, everything on the barge was icy, the chains were frozen. In a word, there was nothing left to do but look at the shore disappearing in the distance. The snow continued to fall, but in the open ocean the wave decreased a little and was not so rippling.
All efforts were devoted to pumping water from the engine room. Using a jack, they patched the hole and eliminated the leak. In the morning, when it was dawn, the first thing they did was check what we had with our food. A loaf of bread, some peas and millet, a bucket of potatoes smeared with fuel oil, a jar of lard. Plus a couple of packs of Belomor and three boxes of matches. That's all the wealth. A five-liter tank of drinking water broke in a storm; they were drinking technical water intended for cooling diesel engines. It was rusty, but most importantly - fresh!
At first they hoped that they would find us quickly. Or the wind will change and drive the barge to the shore. Nevertheless, I immediately introduced strict restrictions on food and water. Just in case. And he turned out to be right.
We ate once a day. Everyone got a mug of soup, which I cooked from a couple of potatoes and a spoonful of fat. I kept adding more grain until it was all gone. We drank water three times a day, in a tiny glass from a shaving kit. But soon this norm had to be cut in half.
I decided on such saving measures after accidentally discovering in the wheelhouse a piece of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, which reported that the Soviet Union would launch missiles in the indicated area of the Pacific Ocean, therefore, for security reasons, any civilian and military vessels were prohibited from appearing there until the beginning of March. Attached to the note was a map of the region. The guys and I took stock of the stars and wind direction and realized that... we were drifting right into the epicenter of missile testing. This meant that there was a possibility that they wouldn’t look for us.
Private Philip Poplavsky
The ocean current carried the T-36 barge towards the Hawaiian Islands. In principle, it would be entirely possible to hope for rescue - provided that there is no new storm and the barge does not sink. And also provided that they have a sufficient supply of food and fresh water - a supply for several weeks or even months.
... For all four of them they had: a loaf of bread, two cans of stew, a can of fat and some cereal, also in jars. They also found two buckets of potatoes, but during the storm they scattered throughout the engine room and became saturated with fuel oil. At the same time, the drinking water tank also overturned, and salt water was mixed with the fresh water to cool the engines. Yes! Here's another thing: there were several packs of Belomor. If not to eat, then at least smoke...
They did smoke. They ran out of cigarettes first. The stew and pork fat ran out very quickly. We tried to boil potatoes, but couldn’t bring ourselves to eat them. Because of that same fuel oil.
More from the interview Askhat Rakhimzyanovich:
And we continued to drift. My thoughts revolved around food all the time. I started making soup every two days, using one potato. True, on January 27, on his birthday, Kryuchkovsky received an increased ration. But Tolya refused to eat the extra portion alone. Like, the birthday cake is shared among all the guests, so help yourself!
No matter how they tried to stretch the supplies, the last ones ran out on February 23. This is how the festive dinner in honor of Soviet Army Day turned out... You know, during the whole time no one tried to snatch an extra piece. It wouldn't have worked, to be honest. Everything was in order. We tried eating soap and toothpaste. If you're hungry, anything will do!
Did you count the days?
I had a watch with a calendar. At first, even the boat logbook was filled with: the mood of the crew, what who was doing. Then I began to write less often, because nothing new was happening, we were hanging out somewhere in the ocean, and that’s all. They saved us on March 7, and not on the 8th, as we decided: they miscalculated by a day, forgetting that it was a leap year and February had 29 days.
Only on the last stretch of the drift did the “roof” slowly begin to move away, and hallucinations began. We hardly went out on deck, we lay in the cockpit. There is no strength left at all. You try to get up, and it’s like you’ve been hit on the forehead with a butt, there’s blackness in your eyes. This is due to physical exhaustion and weakness. We heard some voices, extraneous sounds, the whistles of ships that weren’t really there.
We ate once a day. Each person received a mug of soup from a couple of potatoes and a spoonful of fat. They drank water from cups from a shaving kit.
While we could move, we tried to catch fish. They sharpened hooks, made primitive gear... But the ocean raged almost without a break, during all the time no one took a bite. What kind of fool would climb a rusty nail? And we would have eaten the jellyfish if we had pulled it out. True, then schools of sharks began circling around the barge. One and a half meters long. We stood and looked at them. And they are on us. Maybe they were waiting for someone to fall overboard unconscious?
Jr. Sergeant Askhat Ziganshin
After a few more days, those potatoes soaked in fuel oil began to seem like a delicacy to them... They decided to strictly save the remaining food and water. The guys entrusted their commander, Askhat Ziganshin, with the most important thing: preparing food and distributing portions. The calculation was to hold out until the end of the announced missile launches. At first, each person had two spoons of cereal and two potatoes per day. Then - potatoes for four. Once a day. Then - a day later...
We drank the same water from the cooling system. At first they drank it three times a day, three sips each. Then this norm was halved. Then this water ran out, and they began to collect rainwater. Everyone got a sip of it every two days...
The last potato was eaten the day after the holiday, February 23. A month has already passed of their loneliness in the ocean. During this time, the barge was carried hundreds of miles away from their coast... And they no longer had any food left.
Almost half a century later, Askhat Ziganshin recalled:
... I was tormented by hunger all the time. Because of the cold, there were no rats on the barge. If there were, we would eat them. Albatross flew, but we could not catch them. We tried to make fishing gear and catch fish, but we couldn’t do that either - you get on board, the wave gives you whatever it takes, and you quickly run back... I was lying there, with almost no strength left, fiddling with my belt. And suddenly I remembered how at school the teacher talked about sailors who ran aground and suffered from hunger. They skinned the masts, cooked them and ate them. My belt was leather. We cut it finely, like noodles, and added it to soup instead of meat. Then the strap from the radio was cut off. Then they thought that we still had a leather one. And, except for boots, they didn’t think of anything else...
Experienced people say that in the situation in which these four found themselves, people often go crazy and stop being human: they panic, throw themselves overboard, kill for a sip of water, kill to eat. These same guys held on with all their strength, supporting each other and themselves with the hope of salvation. Ivan Fedotov endured hopeless hunger and thirst the hardest of all. Sometimes he was seized with insane fear, and under his pillow, just in case, lay an ax. At such moments, others came to the rescue: they encouraged, instilled hope, even if they themselves had little left...
“What does boot leather taste like?” - they asked Anatoly Kryuchkovsky half a century later.
... Very bitter, with an unpleasant odor. Was there any sense of taste back then? I wanted only one thing: to deceive my stomach. But you just can’t eat the skin - it’s too tough. So we cut off a small piece and set it on fire. When the tarpaulin burned, it turned into something similar to charcoal and became soft. We spread this “delicacy” with grease to make it easier to swallow. Several of these “sandwiches” made up our daily diet...
Where to go? We found skin under the accordion keys, small circles of chrome. They ate it too. I suggested: “Let’s, guys, consider this premium meat...”
Amazingly, we didn’t even suffer from stomach upsets. Young organisms digested everything!
Surprisingly, it’s not that there weren’t fights between them - none of them even raised their voices at the other. Probably, by some incomprehensible instinct, they felt that any conflict in their position would mean certain death. And they lived, lived in hope. And they worked as much as their strength allowed: standing waist-deep in cold water, they used bowls to scoop out the water that was constantly flowing into the hold.
Anatoly Fedorovich Kryuchkovsky:
... In recent days, hallucinations have begun. It was as if there was a blacksmith shop somewhere nearby, people were talking, cars were honking. And when you go up to the deck, you see - there is emptiness all around, pure water, and this is where it became truly scary. We agreed: if one of us feels that he cannot continue to live, then we will simply say goodbye and that’s it. The last one left will write our names. Just that day a ship passed by us. We began to give him signals, but due to the great distance they did not notice us. It was March 2. We saw another ship on March 6th. But it also passed by...
Salvation came on March 7, late in the evening, when they had very little time left to live: their life span was then measured by only three matches, half a kettle of fresh water, and the last uneaten boot. They were discovered by aircraft from the USS Kearsarge about a thousand miles northwest of Midway Island. Thus, their half-submerged barge, with a broken bottom, was able to travel halfway to the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean and traveled over a thousand nautical miles - and this also looks like a miracle...
Salvation came to them literally from the sky, in the form of two helicopters. The Americans dropped ropes onto the deck and... and there was a pause. Askhat Ziganshin:
Aircraft carrier Kearsarge
... They are screaming, and we are waiting for one of them to go down to the deck, and we will set our conditions: “Give us food, fuel, and we will get home ourselves.” Some helicopters hung up, ran out of fuel and flew away. Others arrived. We look - a huge ship appeared on the horizon, an aircraft carrier. When these helicopters ran out of fuel, they disappeared along with the ship. And here we got really scared. So, when a couple of hours later the ship came close to us, we were no longer driving the fool. I was the first to climb...
The initial attack of unprecedented pride was explained very simply: at that moment the guys were no longer concerned so much with their own fate (it was clear that they were saved), but with the fate of the socialist property entrusted to them, that is, the T-36 barge. Ziganshin was the first to rise precisely in order to explain to these dull Americans: they needed some kind of lift to take their barge onto the aircraft carrier with them. Oddly enough, for some reason there were no lifts for lifting barges on the aircraft carrier, and Ziganshin had to be satisfied with the Americans’ promise that another ship would pick up the long-suffering barge.
On the aircraft carrier they immediately took us to feeding. They poured a bowl of broth and gave us bread. We took a small piece each. They show: take more, don’t be shy. But I immediately warned the guys: a little of the good, because I knew that you can’t overeat when you’re hungry, it ends badly. After all, I grew up in the Volga region in the post-war period...
We were given clean linen, shaving equipment, and taken to the shower. As soon as I started to wash myself, I collapsed unconscious. Apparently, the body worked at the limit for 49 days, and then the tension subsided, and immediately such a reaction.
I woke up three days later. First of all, I asked what was wrong with the barge. The orderly who looked after us in the ship's infirmary just shrugged his shoulders. This is where my mood dropped. (Of course, they only cared that Ziganshin would not worry. The barge was destroyed long ago, since, from the American point of view, it was of no value, and it was simply unsafe to leave it afloat and unattended). Yes, it’s great that we’re alive, but who do we have to thank for saving us? Americans! If not bitter enemies, certainly not friends. Relations between the USSR and the USA at that moment were not so hot. Cold War! In a word, for the first time in all my time I was openly drifting. I wasn’t as afraid on a barge as I was on an American aircraft carrier. I was wary of provocations, I was afraid that they would leave us in the States and not allow us to return home. And if they are released, what awaits in Russia? Will they be accused of treason?
On the deck of an American aircraft carrier
Soviet soldiers were greeted on the American aircraft carrier with exceptional care. Literally the entire crew, from the captain to the very last sailor, looked after them like children and tried to do everything possible for them. Having lost “35 to 40 pounds” in weight, the boys were still able, although with great difficulty, to stand on their feet and even move independently. They were immediately changed, fed and taken to the shower. There Ziganshin tried to shave, but lost consciousness. He woke up in the infirmary, where he saw his comrades next to him, sleeping peacefully in neighboring beds...
The aircraft carrier, meanwhile, headed for San Francisco.
Ziganshin didn’t have the strength to shave himself
After long weeks of loneliness, hopelessness, desperate hunger and thirst, truly happy days have come for our four boys, unspoiled by life. They were under constant medical supervision, fed almost with a spoon and on a special diet. Every morning the commander of the aircraft carrier himself visited them and inquired about their health. Ziganshin once asked him why the aircraft carrier did not approach the barge as soon as they were discovered. “We were afraid of you,” the admiral joked. The Americans, helpful and smiling, did everything possible so that they would not be bored on the ship. The guys did not remain in debt and showed the Americans a unique trick: this is when three people wrap themselves in one soldier’s belt.
Didn't they offer to stay overseas?
They asked carefully if we were afraid to return. They say, if you want, we will provide shelter, we will create conditions. We categorically refused. God forbid! Soviet patriotic education. I still don’t regret that I wasn’t tempted by any offers. I have one homeland, I don’t need another. They later said about us: these four became famous not because they ate the accordion, but because they did not stay in the States.
Servicemen Filipp Poplavsky (left) and Askhat Ziganshin (center) talk with an American sailor on the aircraft carrier Kearsarge, who took them on board after a long drift on a barge.
The US State Department notified the Soviet Embassy in Washington of the happy rescue of all four just a few hours after the guys found themselves aboard the aircraft carrier Kearsarge. And all that week, while the aircraft carrier was heading towards San Francisco, Moscow was hesitating: who were they - traitors or heroes? All that week, the Soviet press was silent, and Pravda correspondent Boris Strelnikov, who contacted them by phone on the third day of their idyll on an aircraft carrier, strongly advised the guys to keep their mouths shut. They held on as best they could...
By the time the aircraft carrier arrived in San Francisco, having weighed all the pros and cons, Moscow finally decided: they are heroes! And the article “Stronger than Death,” which appeared in Izvestia on March 16, 1960, launched a grandiose campaign in the Soviet media. Of course, the American press started even earlier. The brave four were now destined for truly world glory.
... We are proud and admire your glorious feat, which is a vivid manifestation of the courage and fortitude of the Soviet people in the fight against the forces of nature. Your heroism, perseverance and endurance serve as an example of impeccable performance of military duty...
... I wish you, dear compatriots, good health and a speedy return to your homeland
So, the Motherland was preparing to meet its heroes. In the meantime, America greeted them enthusiastically. Just in case - under the watchful tutelage of representatives of the Soviet embassy. In San Francisco, the children were awarded the “golden key” to the city. They were dressed in a Western style, and they, still thin, in tight fashionable trousers, in fashionable shoes polished to a shine, began to look like real dandies. By the way, a little later, at the apogee of their fame, the Soviet underground, the so-called “hipsters,” responded in a strange way to these very tight trousers and fashionable boots. For some time, either ditties or couplets were extremely popular in our country, performed in countless variations (in a low voice, of course) to the tune of the famous “Rock Around the Clock,” a kind of calling card of rock and roll. It is clear that no records have been preserved
Then there was New York, a transatlantic passage on the Queen Mary liner, Paris, a plane to Moscow, a ceremonial meeting at the airport: flowers, generals, crowds of people, banners and posters. Their incredible, almost round-the-world journey was over.
The other world is a thing of the past. The Motherland meets its heroes
In Moscow, in the first days, I was afraid that they would end up in the Lubyanka, put me in Butyrka, or start torturing me. But the KGB didn’t call us or interrogate us; on the contrary, they met us at the plane’s ramp with flowers. It seems that they even wanted to give the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but everything was limited to the Order of the Red Star.
We were received by the Minister of Defense, Marshal Malinovsky. He gave everyone a navigator’s watch (“So that they don’t get lost again”), awarded me the rank of senior sergeant, and gave everyone a two-week leave to go home. We stayed at home, met in Moscow and went to Crimea, to a military sanatorium in Gurzuf. Again everything is first class! There generals and admirals were resting - and suddenly we, soldiers! Rooms with a view of the Black Sea, enhanced meals... However, we didn’t manage to sunbathe. As soon as you undress, tourists run from all sides with cameras.
How long have they been dancing around you?
Consider that before Yuri Gagarin's flight we were making noise, and then the country and the whole world had a new hero. Of course, we couldn’t even come close to his glory. They didn't even try.
Their glory did not fade even a year later, when the country learned the name of Yuri Gagarin. One of the first newspapers published a congratulation then, which was signed by Ziganshin, Poplavsky and Kryuchkovsky - cadets of the naval school near Leningrad:
... We, ordinary Soviet guys, managed to resist the 49-day drift in the raging rapids of the Pacific Ocean. That is why our first messenger into space, pilot Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin, overcame all the difficulties of the world’s first flight into space...
But Fedotov’s signature was not there. Ivan Fedotov, and this was felt even then, seemed to stay somewhat aloof, refused to enlist with the others in the naval service, then left for his Far East and lived quietly and unnoticed until his death in 2000. Why? Who knows…
Glory found heroes: Askhat Ziganshin, Philip Poplavsky, Ivan Fedotov and Anatoly Kryuchkovsky (from left to right) after their triumphant return to their homeland. March 1960.
at a reception with the USSR Minister of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union R.Ya. Malinovsky
However, the rest of the decades lived quietly and unnoticed. None of them received any special benefits or titles.
Soon after returning to their homeland, the soldiers were demobilized: Rodion Malinovsky noticed that the guys had served their time in full.
Philip Poplavsky, Anatoly Kryuchkovsky and Askhat Ziganshin, on the recommendation of the command, entered the Leningrad Naval Secondary Technical School, which they graduated in 1964.
Ivan Fedotov, a guy from the banks of the Amur, returned home and worked as a riverman all his life. He passed away in 2000.
Philip Poplavsky, who settled near Leningrad, after graduating from college, worked on large sea vessels and went on voyages abroad. He passed away in 2001.
Anatoly Kryuchkovsky lives in Kyiv, worked for many years as deputy chief mechanic at the Kiev Leninskaya Kuznitsa plant.
After graduating from college, Askhat Ziganshin entered the emergency rescue squad as a mechanic in the city of Lomonosov near Leningrad, got married, and raised two beautiful daughters. After retiring, he settled in St. Petersburg.
Askhat Ziganshin never managed to use the key to San Francisco. After 1960 he did not visit America. Which, however, he doesn’t regret.
Askhat Ziganshin: « And sometimes it seems to me that nothing happened. I don't feel any consequences. Neither in terms of health, nor in material terms - none. And thank God…
They made a film about us, Vladimir Vysotsky wrote a song for it. The dudes set the American hit song to a rock and roll tune: “Ziganshin-boogie, Ziganshin-rock, Ziganshin ate the second boot.” Hemingway sent me a telegram. A letter came from Alain Bombard, from Thor Heyerdahl. Of course, it’s nice that great people heard my name, but I understood: the guys and I owe our fame to a coincidence.
I keep thinking about your question about the main event of my life. Honestly, it would be better if they didn’t exist, those forty-nine days. In every sense - better. If we had not been carried out to sea then, after the service I would have returned to my native Shentala and continued to work as a tractor driver. It was that storm that turned my whole life upside down... On the other hand, what would we talk about today? No, it's stupid to be sorry. Where it carried, there, as they say, it carried...»
Anatoly Kryuchkovsky
In San Francisco, the Russian four were received at the highest level. Soviet soldiers Askhat Ziganshin, Filipp Poplavsky, Anatoly Kryuchkovsky and Ivan Fedotov are photographed during an excursion in the city of San Francisco.
A year after the drift, the star quartet stopped being shy about microphones and high-ranking bosses. A rally at Vnukovo airport in honor of the arrival of the heroes of the Pacific Ocean in Moscow.
Askhat Ziganshin, Philip Poplavsky, Anatoly Kryuchkovsky and Ivan Fedotov during a conversation with film director Mikhail Romm (center, foreground) and the screenwriters of the film “49 Days” Vladimir Tendryakov, Grigory Baklanov and Yuri Bondarev.
Cadet Askhat Ziganshin during practical training. Training of employees of the USSR Navy.
Delegates of the XIV Komsomol Congress. On the left is Askhat Ziganshin, a participant in the drift on the Pacific Ocean.
Anatoly Kryuchkovsky, Askhat Ziganshin and Philip Poplavsky (from left to right) in the uniform of cadets of the naval school.
Rescue ship mechanic Askhat Ziganshin (left), one of four Soviet servicemen adrift on the barge, helps a diver put on a diving suit. 1980
P.S. According to the official version, as already mentioned, the T-36’s drift lasted 49 days. However, checking the dates gives a different result - 51 days. There are several explanations for this incident. According to the most popular, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was the first to speak about “49 days.” No one officially dared to challenge the data he voiced.
Link to the article from which this copy was made -In the Pacific Ocean in 1960. Knight of the Order of the Red Star (1960). Honorary Citizen of San Francisco (USA).
Biography
Tatar. He grew up in the Volga region. He served in the engineering and construction troops in the Far East.
The servicemen spent 49 days on the open sea without water or food. However, they survived. The starving soldiers who ate seven pairs of leather boots and leather accordion furs were rescued by the crew of the American aircraft carrier Kearsarge on March 7, 1960. Exhausted and exhausted military personnel of the USSR were picked up by the American aircraft carrier Kearserge 1930 km from Wake Atoll. The aircraft carrier transported the troops to San Francisco, where they were interviewed repeatedly and a press conference was held where members of the T-36 crew, dressed in civilian suits provided by the US government, answered numerous questions related to the incident and miraculous salvation. This four, according to the press, competed in popularity with Gagarin and the Beatles.
In 1964, Askhat Ziganshin graduated from the Naval School in Lomonosov, Leningrad Region. From March 1964 to May 2005 he served in the navy, as part of the emergency rescue division of the Leningrad naval base. He was elected as a delegate to the Komsomol Congress.
Currently lives in Strelna near St. Petersburg.
In the regional center of Shentala, Shentala district, Samara region, a street is named after Askhat Ziganshin.
In 1960, the mayor of San Francisco presented them with symbolic keys to the city and made them honorary residents.
Junior Sergeant ZIGANSHIN Askhat Rakhimzyanovich
Private POPLAVSKY Philip Grigorievich, KRYUCHKOVSKY Anatoly Fedorovich, FEDOTOV Ivan Efimovich
Dear comrades! We are proud and admire your glorious feat, which is a vivid manifestation of the courage and fortitude of the Soviet people in the fight against the forces of nature. Your heroism, perseverance and endurance serve as an example of the impeccable performance of military duty. With your feat and unparalleled courage, you have increased the glory of our Motherland, which raised such courageous people, and the Soviet people are rightfully proud of their brave and faithful sons.
I wish you, dear compatriots, good health and a speedy return to your homeland.
Feat of the Quartet in art
- In 1960, the song “About Four Heroes” appeared. Music: A. Pakhmutova Words: S. Grebennikova, N. Dobronravova. This song performed by Konstantin Ryabinov, Yegor Letov and Oleg Sudakov was included in the album “At Soviet Speed” - the first magnetic album of the Soviet underground project “Communism”.
- In 1962, the film “49 Days” was shot at the Mosfilm film studio by director Genrikh Gabay.
- Vladimir Vysotsky dedicated one of his songs “Forty-nine Days” to them (“The climate of Okhotsk is harsh…”, 1960).
- In 2005, a documentary film “They Might Not Have Been Saved” was shot. Prisoners of the Kuril Square."
- A children's counting rhyme was created in two versions;
| "Yuri Gagarin. |
| "Yuri Gagarin |
In reality, the barge's drift in the Pacific Ocean lasted exactly 51 days, not 49: according to the calendar, from January 17 to March 7. The first to pronounce the number “49” in his speech was N. S. Khrushchev, but they were afraid to correct him. One of the living participants in the event, Anatoly Fedorovich Kryuchkovsky, spoke about this oversight in April 2010. When they were found in the ocean, they had half a kettle of fresh water, one boot and three matches left. With such supplies, according to calculations, those rescued could survive no more than a couple of days...
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An excerpt characterizing Ziganshin, Askhat Rakhimzyanovich
Before Prince Andrei had time to follow Pfuel with his eyes, Count Bennigsen hurriedly entered the room and, nodding his head to Bolkonsky, without stopping, walked into the office, giving some orders to his adjutant. The Emperor was following him, and Bennigsen hurried forward to prepare something and have time to meet the Emperor. Chernyshev and Prince Andrei went out onto the porch. The Emperor got off his horse with a tired look. Marquis Paulucci said something to the sovereign. The Emperor, bowing his head to the left, listened with a dissatisfied look to Paulucci, who spoke with particular fervor. The Emperor moved forward, apparently wanting to end the conversation, but the flushed, excited Italian, forgetting decency, followed him, continuing to say:
“Quant a celui qui a conseille ce camp, le camp de Drissa, [As for the one who advised the Drissa camp,” said Paulucci, while the sovereign, entering the steps and noticing Prince Andrei, peered into an unfamiliar face .
– Quant a celui. Sire,” continued Paulucci with despair, as if unable to resist, “qui a conseille le camp de Drissa, je ne vois pas d"autre alternative que la maison jaune ou le gibet. [As for, sir, up to that man , who advised the camp at Drisei, then, in my opinion, there are only two places for him: the yellow house or the gallows.] - Without listening to the end and as if not hearing the words of the Italian, the sovereign, recognizing Bolkonsky, graciously turned to him:
“I’m very glad to see you, go to where they gathered and wait for me.” - The Emperor went into the office. Prince Pyotr Mikhailovich Volkonsky, Baron Stein, followed him, and the doors closed behind them. Prince Andrei, using the permission of the sovereign, went with Paulucci, whom he knew back in Turkey, into the living room where the council was meeting.
Prince Pyotr Mikhailovich Volkonsky held the position of chief of staff of the sovereign. Volkonsky left the office and, bringing cards into the living room and laying them out on the table, conveyed the questions on which he wanted to hear the opinions of the assembled gentlemen. The fact was that during the night news was received (later turned out to be false) about the movement of the French around the Drissa camp.
General Armfeld began to speak first, unexpectedly, in order to avoid the difficulty that had arisen, proposing a completely new, inexplicable position away from the St. Petersburg and Moscow roads, on which, in his opinion, the army should have united and await the enemy. It was clear that this plan had been drawn up by Armfeld long ago and that he now presented it not so much with the aim of answering the proposed questions, which this plan did not answer, but with the aim of taking advantage of the opportunity to express it. This was one of the millions of assumptions that could be made, just as well as others, without having any idea of what character the war would take. Some disputed his opinion, some defended it. The young Colonel Toll, more ardently than others, disputed the opinion of the Swedish general and during the argument took out a covered notebook from his side pocket, which he asked permission to read. In a lengthy note, Toll proposed a different campaign plan, completely contrary to both Armfeld’s plan and Pfuel’s plan. Paulucci, objecting to Tol, proposed a plan for moving forward and attacking, which alone, according to him, could lead us out of the unknown and the trap, as he called the Dris camp, in which we were located. Pfuhl and his translator Wolzogen (his bridge in court relations) remained silent during these disputes. Pfuhl only snorted contemptuously and turned away, showing that he would never stoop to object to the nonsense that he was now hearing. But when Prince Volkonsky, who led the debate, called him to express his opinion, he only said:
- Why ask me? General Armfeld proposed an excellent position with an open rear. Or attack von diesem italienischen Herrn, sehr schon! [this Italian gentleman, very good! (German)] Or retreat. Auch gut. [Also good (German)] Why ask me? - he said. – After all, you yourself know everything better than me. - But when Volkonsky, frowning, said that he was asking his opinion on behalf of the sovereign, Pfuel stood up and, suddenly animated, began to say:
- They ruined everything, confused everything, everyone wanted to know better than me, and now they came to me: how to fix it? Nothing to fix. Everything must be carried out exactly according to the principles I have laid out,” he said, banging his bony fingers on the table. – What is the difficulty? Nonsense, Kinder spiel. [children's toys (German)] - He went up to the map and began to speak quickly, pointing his dry finger at the map and proving that no accident could change the expediency of the Dris camp, that everything was foreseen and that if the enemy really goes around, then the enemy must inevitably be destroyed.
55 years ago the famous “odyssey” of Soviet construction battalion soldiers began. They spent 49 days in the Pacific Ocean without food or water. After the miraculous rescue, films were made about them and songs were written.
“Ziganshin-rock, Ziganshin-boogie, Ziganshin forty days in the south. Ziganshin-boogie, Ziganshin-rock, Ziganshin ate his boot,” - the words of this simple song were once known to all children of the Soviet Union. It was sung to the tune of the famous rock and roll hit Clock Around the World. The words in different versions of the comic song changed, but the feat of the Russian military is described to the smallest detail: the story about the eaten boots and accordion, the journey to the camp of the ideological enemy is not fiction at all.
This story began on the island of Iturup, where on January 17, 1960, a hurricane wind tore the T-36 self-propelled tank landing barge from its mooring. At that moment, there were four soldiers on board - junior sergeant Askhat Ziganshin and privates Ivan Fedotov, Anatoly Kryuchkovsky and Philip Poplavsky - all of them were engaged in loading and unloading operations, and the barge could move away from the shore a maximum of 200-300 meters. Despite the fact that they all served in the construction battalion, each of the soldiers still had a little “naval” experience. And who among the young men at that time did not dream of becoming a sailor? Askhat Ziganshin, for example, graduated from a naval training unit even before the army and even had the right to independently operate small ships. Therefore, at first they did not attach much importance to the wind that rose in the small bay. However, very quickly, what seemed like a small wind grew into a real storm. “In a matter of seconds, huge waves rose, our barge was torn from the mooring mast and let’s throw it across the bay,” - this is how Anatoly Kryuchkovsky recalled the beginning of his “odyssey” many years later. They started the engines and tried to enter the bay, but the attempt failed. Multi-meter waves, throwing the small boat like a piece of wood, “spared” the soldiers - the barge, although it was holed, was not smashed against the rocks, but washed out into the ocean. By this time, the fuel had run out, a barrel of engine oil and firewood for the stove had been washed overboard, the antenna had been torn off, the signal light on the mast had gone out, but the crew did not despair. At first they hoped that the wind would change and their boat would wash ashore, and when the wind became stronger, they hoped that they would be found.
The search operation was indeed carried out, and now it is difficult to say why it was unsuccessful. Perhaps this was due to weather conditions that did not allow a thorough exploration of the coastal zone, perhaps the fragments of a drinking water barrel discovered on the shore, and perhaps missile firing, because of which all ships were prohibited from going to sea. In short, the search ended as soon as it began. Relatives of the soldiers were informed that they were missing, but all places where soldiers could appear were placed under surveillance. “While we were being tossed around the ocean, our parents’ basements and attics were being checked to see if we had deserted during a storm and were hiding from military service,” Askhat Ziganshin said in an interview.
Meanwhile, the storm did not subside, the wind only intensified, carrying the barge into the ocean, further and further from the shore. Much later, Ziganshin and his comrades learn that during their lonely voyage, their half-sunken boat covered more than a thousand nautical miles.
The first days they practically did not sleep: Ziganshin and Fedotov took turns standing at the helm in the piercing wind, and Kryuchkovsky and Poplavsky scooped water from the hold with bowls and tried to patch the hole. But lack of sleep was not the worst test for young Soviet soldiers. After checking the supply of food and fresh water, they realized that there would be enough food for exactly two days. “It became creepy. We had a loaf of bread, a couple of buckets of potatoes, a can of stewed meat, some cereal and several packs of Belomor,” said Askhat Ziganshin. A few days before that ill-fated day, the T-36 was put for repairs and the emergency supply of food was handed over to the warehouse. However, on January 16, the barge had to be urgently launched to unload the arriving refrigerator. In the confusion, apparently, they simply forgot to return the so-called NZ.
We decided to save money. But the cigarettes ran out, and the stew quickly disappeared... During the storm, the potatoes crumbled and became saturated with fuel oil, however, after some time, they too seemed to be “the food of the gods.” A barrel of drinking water was also knocked over. They drank water from the engine cooling system, and when it came to an end, they collected rainwater.
However, there was still hope for salvation. A few days after the start of the unplanned journey, they found in the control room a copy of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper with a report of training missile launches in the area of the ocean where they had been carried away. It was hoped that ships heading for the exercise would spot the lone barge. They hung a distress flag on the mast and set up a watch. Rations were cut in order to last until March 1st.
But the last potato was eaten on February 24th. They drank a sip of water every two days. According to the recollections of the participants in this terrible “odyssey”, the first two weeks were the most difficult - hunger and thirst were excruciating. “Because of the cold, there were no rats on the barge. If there had been, we would have eaten them. Albatross flew, but we couldn’t catch them. We tried to make fishing gear, catch fish, but we didn’t succeed in that either—you’ll get on board in a wave whatever he gives you, and you quickly run back,” Askhat Ziganshin later said. It was he who remembered the story of his school teacher about sailors who ate skin torn from the masts during hunger. “I had a leather belt. We cut it finely, like noodles, and added it to the soup instead of meat. Then we cut off the strap from the radio. Then we thought that we still had a leather one. And, except for boots, we didn’t care about anything else came up with the idea,” recalled the junior sergeant. Years later, when asked what it tasted like, the leather of tarpaulin boots, Kryuchkovsky answered: “Very bitter, with an unpleasant smell. Was there any sense of taste then? I wanted only one thing: to deceive the stomach.” And Askhat Ziganshin, almost 50 years later, said that he still remembers this taste.
"The days float, the weeks float,
The ship is floating on the waves,
The boots have already been eaten in the soup
And with an accordion in half.
Ziganshin-boogie, Kryuchkovsky-rock,
Poplavsky ate the second boot.
While Ziganshin was throwing rock,
Fedotov finished his accordion."
...By this point, they had been floating around the ocean for more than a month. There is only uncertainty ahead. But there was no panic, no fights, not even quarrels among the crew - they supported each other as best they could. While the harmonica was intact, Philip Poplavsky even sometimes played it. They ate leather belts, soap, and even toothpaste - only one tarpaulin boot remained. When they were rescued, they weighed no more than 40 kilograms, each having lost at least 30 kilograms in weight.
From the memoirs of Anatoly Kryuchkovsky: “In the last days, hallucinations began. We agreed: if one of us feels that he cannot continue to live, then we will simply say goodbye and that’s all. The last one left will write our names. Just that day, a ship passed us ". We began to give him signals, but due to the great distance they did not notice us. It was March 2. We saw another ship on March 6. But it also passed by..."
Salvation came the next day, as they say, out of nowhere. They were spotted by aircraft from the American aircraft carrier Kearsage. However, when helicopters arrived and dropped rescue ropes onto the deck, none of the crew moved - they were waiting for someone to come down. Exhausted, exhausted, they were going to set their conditions - it was the height of the Cold War. According to Ziganshin, they intended to demand food and fuel, but wanted to return on their own. “Some helicopters hung, ran out of fuel and flew away. Others arrived. We looked - a huge ship appeared on the horizon, an aircraft carrier. When these helicopters ran out of fuel, they disappeared along with the ship. And then we got really scared,” said the commander crew many years later. “So, when a couple of hours later the ship came close to us, we were no longer driving the fool.” In total, Soviet soldiers spent 49 days in the ocean...
On board the aircraft carrier they thought about the barge - in those days, the loss of socialist property entrusted to them was severely punished. They even tried to negotiate to move the barge after. The barge was almost immediately destroyed, but in order not to worry the soldiers, the Americans promised that another ship would come for the ship. Despite irreconcilable ideological differences, the crew of the American aircraft carrier cared for and nursed the four “seafarers”; even the commander of the aircraft carrier inquired daily about their health. They were spoon-fed on a special diet, their condition was monitored by a doctor, and so that the “guests” did not get bored, they constantly showed movies and played music. When Ziganshin, Poplavsky, Kryuchkovsky and Fedotov got a little stronger, a press conference was held on board the aircraft carrier. Of course, there were no Soviet journalists there. But Pravda newspaper correspondent Boris Strelnikov got through on the phone and warned the brave four to keep their mouths shut. They didn't spread. One of the American journalists asked if they were afraid to return to the USSR and offered to stay in America. “We want to return home, no matter what happens later,” the decision of the crew of the T-36 barge was general and unambiguous.
Meanwhile, the aircraft carrier was approaching San Francisco. “[I] sat down and thought. I’m a Russian soldier. Whose help did we accept? That’s why they didn’t follow us from Moscow for a long time. They couldn’t decide what was the right thing to do with us,” junior sergeant Ziganshin later recalled. And indeed, in Moscow it took a week to decide whether these guys were heroes or traitors. When they decided, an article “Stronger than Death” appeared in Izvestia.
On January 17, 1960, the chief of staff of the Pacific Fleet received an urgent report: “ On January 1, 1960 at 09:00 local time, as a result of a strong storm, a self-propelled ship was torn from its mooring in the bay of Iturup Island.
barge "T-36". There is no communication with the ship. On board the crew consists of: junior sergeant Askhat Ziganshin, privates Philip Poplavsky, Ivan Fedotov and Anatoly Kryuchkovsky" The last radiogram received from the barge was the following: “ We are in distress, we can’t get to the shore».
Landing boat, commanded by Askhat Ziganshin, was not intended to sail on the open ocean, it was used to transport goods, and was not even given a name. The crew members of this ship
were ordinary soldiers assigned to a station located on the island
border post. The ship carried food and ammunition from large ships,
who could not anchor off the rocky shore of the island of Iturup. IN
good weather, Japan can be seen from this island, so any
Little by little the incident acquired a strategic character.
barge and "T-36"
No one warned the crew about the approaching typhoon. At nine o'clock in the morning barge The T-36 was hit by a hurricane. The wind reached 60 meters per second. He broke the steel cable that little boat
moored to the mast of a Japanese ship that sank in the bay. The typhoon was driving
waves fifteen meters high onto the island. One of them hit
wheelhouse and smashed the radio station. The SOS signal was not received on shore. So on
One of the loudest odysseys of the 20th century began in the Kuril Islands.
The crew tried to throw the barge ashore three times, but each time it was carried straight
on the rocks. One of these unsuccessful attempts ended in a hole. U
the shore, the wave rose like a wall, and from the height of a five-story building threw the ship onto the rocks. The crew miraculously managed to avoid disaster. By 20:00 small vessel
washed out into the open ocean. A team of two people was located on
diesel engines, and warmed up without losing hope. They believed that they were like
The country will not leave the Chelyuskinites in trouble.
When the wind died down a little, a platoon of soldiers combed the shore. Debris was found
a barrel for drinking water swept from the deck and boards on which
the inscription “T-36” was read. Confusing names and surnames, Pacific Fleet command
hastened to send telegrams to the relatives of the “missing”, notifying
about their death. Not a single plane or ship was sent to the area
disasters. Until now it has not been openly said that the reason for this was not
weather conditions, but completely different circumstances: into the fate of four soldiers
global politics intervened.
R-7 rocket
On January 2, 1960, Nikita Khrushchev summoned leading developers to the Kremlin
rocket technology. He was in a hurry to launch the first satellite for the first time in
history and embody his favorite slogan: “ Catch up and overtake America».
But according to intelligence data, the United States planned to launch
human space. In January 1960, everything except rocket technology
seemed secondary to the Soviet leader.
On the second day of the drift the crew barges"T-36" continued to fight for the survivability of the ship. I had to constantly
break freezing ice. The unfortunates hoped that the next wave would not
will capsize a flat-bottomed river vessel. It was impossible to sleep: the waves rolled people from side to side.
participants of the Pacific drift T-36
Askhat Ziganshin
Anatoly Kryuchkovsky
Ivan Fedotov
Philip Poplavsky
The storm did not subside for the third day. Ziganshin found an article in the newspaper “ A red star»
on conducting missile tests of ballistic missiles for launches
heavy satellites of the Earth and interplanetary flights in the square where it carried small boat.
The first launches were supposed to take place approximately from January 15 to 15
February. And only military specialists knew that ballistic
the missiles mentioned in the TASS report are not intended for
satellites, but for a new intercontinental carrier of nuclear weapons.
The “sailors” quickly realized that this was not easy political information in the midst of a stormy ocean. Realizing the importance of the article, the crew barges I realized that they had to hold out until March. They decided to save money so
meager supply of food. The soldiers ate potatoes that were soaked
diesel fuel, as it was lying under the floor mats. We prepared soup from
cereal, of which there were sixteen spoons. Divided into several pieces
of bread. Water was taken from the engine cooling system and added salt
ocean water.
For three and a half decades, the soldiers from Ziganshin’s four were convinced that no one was coming to them
did not come to help due to bad weather. It turns out that despite the storm and
fog, the disaster area of the T-36 barge was swarming with ships, but in their combat mission
the search for missing persons was not listed. They were only interested in secret
warhead. For other ships, the expected trajectory area
the flight and fall of the rocket was closed. January 20 combat missile "R-7"
launched from the Tyura-Tam training ground. Its head part splashed down successfully
in the Pacific Ocean. The fall of the warhead was recorded and the missile was immediately
adopted.
For the crew barges The T-36 endured agonizing weeks of drift. For the entire February for four
I had about five kilograms of potatoes with machine oil. Saved
water, or rather rusty slurry, which they figured out to pump out of the system
cooling. A month later drift vessel captured by a warm ocean current. Barge
thawed and started leaking. Sharks followed her relentlessly, as if
felt that those in distress were doomed, but the people on board fought on
for a life. The team ate its last potato on February 24th. In people
there were belts left that had to be used for noodles, cut into thin
stripes. Canvas boots were also used, from which edible
only leather parts. The “food” was cooked in ocean water. Later it was used
accordion, toothpaste and even soap. In a word, the sailors ate everything that could be found on the ship and last another day.
March 2, 1960 on the forty-fifth day drift The crew of the ship saw the ship passing by for the first time. But it passed at a very great distance and did not notice wandering barge. March 6 crew drifting ship I saw the ship again, but he did not provide any help, since again he did not see barge. People are already very weak.
On day 49 drift on the small boat the sailors ate nothing but leather and soap
It's already the twelfth day. The strength was running out. The soldiers decided to write
a suicide note with names, but suddenly they heard the sound of a helicopter.
The prisoners of the barge were already accustomed to hallucinations, but the sound was growing. From
With the last of their strength, the “prisoners” crawled out of the hold onto the deck.
American Navy aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge»
was traveling from Japan to California. At four o'clock in the evening from his deck
The helicopter took off. Soon the pilot reported to the captain that at 115 miles he
noticed an uncontrollable ship on which there were four people in Soviet
military uniform. By all indications, they are in distress. The captain turned around
ship towards barge. Exhausted sailors were brought on board
aircraft carrier and immediately fed, but in small portions. Those who were saved were
so exhausted that they could not even move themselves. They were given
American naval uniform and sent to the shower. Under the warm stream
water Askhat Ziganshin felt a surge of fear for the first time in 49 days and
lost consciousness. I woke up three days later in the infirmary, but the fear did not go away.
The barge commander was worried about the idea that they had been picked up by enemies, and how
Now they can return to their homeland.
long-awaited salvation
exhausted wanderers
The ship's doctors determined that all four could only live on the barge.
day. They have practically no stomachs left. American sailors
we were surprised where the guys found the strength, and how they guessed right away
refuse food supplements. The rescued quickly walked under the supervision of doctors
on the mend. The ship's commander came to them every morning to inquire about
well-being.
A week later, when the team barges could already move independently, was on board the aircraft carrier
a press conference was organized. Soviet journalists were not allowed to attend.
The US government offered political asylum, but Commander Askhat
Ziganshin replied that he was not afraid to return to his homeland. After
conference, each of the reporters wanted to take pictures with Soviet
heroes. The next day, the four rescued were received by the Soviet
Consulate in San Francisco. A welcome telegram was read to the soldiers
N. S. Khrushchev. He thanked the crew barges"T-36" due to their heroic behavior during a 49-day drift in the Pacific Ocean. In the Soviet Union, the newspaper " Is it true»
casually reported on the feat of Soviet soldiers in the ocean, and America
honored them as heroes. TV news commentators reported that
similar situations, other unprepared wanderers fought over a piece of
bread and died.
The crew at the Soviet consulate barges"T-36" replaced the American uniform with elegant suits. The heroes were given $100 each and taken on a shopping spree.
Exactly 50 years ago, in mid-January 1960, in stormy weather, the T-36 self-propelled barge, which was unloading on the Kuril Islands, was torn from its anchor and carried out to sea. On board there were four servicemen from the engineering and construction troops of the Soviet Army: junior sergeant Askhat Ziganshin and privates Philip Poplavsky, Anatoly Kryuchkovsky and Ivan Fedotov.
These people spent 49 days on the open sea without water or food. But they survived! Starving sailors who ate seven pairs of leather boots were saved by the crew of the American aircraft carrier Kearsarge. Then, in 1960, the whole world applauded them, they were more popular than the Beatles, films were made about them, and Vladimir Vysotsky dedicated one of his songs to them...
On the eve of this anniversary, the Free Press correspondent visited Askhata Ziganshina. Now he is 70 years old, he is a simple Russian pensioner living in Strelna, cared for by his children and grandchildren. Askhat Rakhimzyanovich, an honorary citizen of San Francisco, works as a caretaker of yachts and boats on the shore of the bay in Strelna.
— We were torn away from the shore and carried out to sea, - probably for the thousandth time he talks about those incredible events. — Kasatka Bay is completely open, and the weather in the Kuril Islands is not joking. Winds of 30-35 meters per second are commonplace there. But we were not very upset, we thought: in a day or two, the wind will change, and it will drive us to the shore. This has happened to us before.
However, very soon the connection with the earth was lost. The wind increased to 70 meters per second... The fuel reserves ran out, and the guys began to understand that if they were not thrown aground, they would be carried into the ocean or smashed against the rocks. Then they attempted to throw themselves ashore together with the barge, but were unsuccessful: they only got a hole, which they had to repair immediately, in 18-degree frost, and they broke the radio. The wind was blowing with terrible force, there was no visibility, there was snowfall, it was dark, there was nothing to cling to the shore, everything was covered in ice... They had a loaf of bread, potatoes, a can of stewed meat, some cereal and several packs of Belomor.
...Ziganshin held on, held on,
He was cheerful, pale as a shadow,
And what I was going to say
He said only the next day:
"Friends!" An hour later: “Darlings!”
"Guys! - In another hour, -
After all, the elements did not break us,
So will hunger break us?
Let's forget about food, what's there,
Let's remember about our soldiers..."
“I’d like to find out,” Fedotov began to rave, “
What do they eat in our unit? "...
(V.Vysotsky)
Askhat found a copy of the Red Star on the barge, which reported that in the area of the Hawaiian Islands - that is, right where, apparently, the barge was carried, firing tests of Soviet missiles were taking place. But the boys in trouble on the small boat were not afraid of the shelling. The newspaper made it clear that from January to March, ships were prohibited from moving in this direction of the Pacific Ocean, since the entire area had been declared unsafe for navigation. This means that no one will look for them here. They had no chance of salvation...
- And we began to save our meager supplies in such a way as to last until March,- recalls Askhat Rakhimzyanovich.
Drinking water was taken from the diesel cooling system, and when it ran out, rainwater was collected. It was barely enough. As it turned out later, they “lost weight” by 800 grams per day. When they were rescued, Ziganshin, who had previously weighed 70 kg, lost weight to 40.
- If there were, we would eat them. Hunger was relentless. Albatross flew, but we could not catch them. They didn’t catch any fish, although they tried to do it all the time, preparing gear from scrap material that they found on board.
Then they learned that there were no living creatures in those places due to a powerful ocean current, which the Japanese call the “current of death.” And there was no energy left for fishing anymore.
- You go on board, the wave gives you whatever it takes, and you run back...
Free from watch - and they still tried not to miss some rescue ship - the guys mostly lay down. And as he lay there, Ziganshin fiddled with his belt, and suddenly he remembered how at school the teacher told about sailors who ran aground and suffered from hunger. They skinned the masts, cooked them and ate them. And Askhat’s belt was leather!
“We cut it finely into noodles and started making “soup” from it. Then we welded the strap from the radio. We began to look for what else we had made of leather. Several pairs of tarpaulin boots were found. But you can’t eat the tarpaulin so easily, it’s too tough. They boiled them in ocean water to boil off the shoe polish, then cut them into pieces, threw them into the stove, where they turned into something similar to charcoal and ate it...
Ziganshin boogie!
Ziganshin rock!
Ziganshin ate the second boot!
Kryuchkovsky rock!
Kryuchkovsky-boogie!
Kryuchkovsky ate his friend's letter.
(folk hit of 1960)
...On the 30th day of drift, the barge found itself near the Hawaiian Islands, and it was warm there. And a new scourge appeared - sharks. How did these creatures sense that people were dying on a tiny barge with a draft of just over a meter?
“We have already seen sharks swimming in schools below us. They looked at them with wild eyes. The sharks understood that we were living our last hours...
On the 45th day of the drift, those in distress saw the ship for the first time.
“We screamed and lit a fire. But they didn’t see us...
However, they realized that they were in a shipping area. And three days later at night the ship's lights appeared again. But the dead were not noticed again. It seemed like only sharks could smell them.
“We didn’t lose hope for a minute.” This saved us. The most important thing was not to panic, otherwise something terrible could happen. Fedotov could no longer stand it; he began to panic. I tried to distract him. You will say, for example: “I saw something, some kind of ship appeared there.” And he is immediately distracted from panicky thoughts.
At the end of the 49th day we heard a rumble. Hallucinations? Completely exhausted, they basked on a sunny day on a barge. And then we saw helicopters in the sky above us. Not far away is a ship. Help has arrived!
- Helicopters are spinning around us, they are throwing ladders. But who is it? It's not ours. God knows who they are. Foreigners mean enemies. And we took the oath and signed the charter. "Do not surrender to the enemy"!
The time was like this: the height of the Cold War, the guys were Soviet military personnel, high on Soviet propaganda like a drug. Even dying of exhaustion, they did not want to accept help from foreigners. But then the ship and the helicopters disappeared. It was really hard to see how the salvation that had just been nearby was gone. But it seems that foreign sailors also understood something. After a short time, the exhausted people lying on the barge heard in Russian: “Help you! Help you! Ziganshin was the first to climb the rope ladder.
On March 7, helicopters transported them to the American aircraft carrier Kearsarge, where they were given a bowl of broth, and the guys themselves refused more. Askhat warned that you can’t eat much if you’re hungry. This village guy from the Volga region has been accustomed to hunger since childhood. In a peasant family in the post-war period, four Ziganshin brothers knew exactly where what edible grass grows, where to get mushrooms and berries, how to bake potatoes in a coal dump so as not to burn their bare feet - one pair of shoes for four...
But what struck the Americans even more was the way they took the food - each one carefully passed the plate to the other first. Nobody was attracted to you. It is for this that the barge crew was appreciated. Those watching the people thinned by hunger realized that before them were real heroes. The rescued were given a smoke and taken to the shower. And here, while washing himself, Ziganshin lost consciousness, and woke up already on a bed in the infirmary.
— I looked around: all our people were sleeping, clean, beautiful, warm. The Americans treated us very well, kindly, looked after us like children, fed us under the supervision of a doctor.
Every morning the aircraft carrier commander himself inquired about their health. Ziganshin once asked him why the aircraft carrier did not approach the barge as soon as they were discovered. “We were afraid of you,” the admiral joked. The smiling Americans did everything possible so that they would not be bored on the ship.
— They showed movies about cowboys all the time, they played music. The technology around us was the latest at that time, but we pretend that we are not surprised, saying that we are used to everything. When they were told through an interpreter: “If you are afraid to return to your homeland, then we can keep you with us,” the guys replied: “We want to return home, no matter what happens to us later.”... Since then, my whole life has been like this They ask: why didn’t you stay in America? I can't justify myself- Askhat Rakhimzyanovich laughs. He just knows that “it’s still better here,” but he can’t explain it.
The most enthusiastic reception awaited them in America. Meetings, press conferences, goodwill and admiration from strangers. In San Francisco, Ziganshin saw television for the first time in his life, and just at the moment when it was showing how they were being lifted aboard a helicopter in a semi-conscious state. Voice of America reported on the incident on the same day. But Moscow was silent. And then Askhat, who by that time had eaten a little, warmed up and came to his senses, was truly scared. “Honest mother! We’re on an American aircraft carrier!” He, a Soviet soldier, surrendered to the enemies. What awaits him at home? Torture, camp, prison? The guy tormented himself: “What did I do wrong? How could I have acted differently? I almost climbed into a noose out of fear.
“I came to my senses only after a year, probably.” Even when I returned to my bay for further service, I still could not believe that I would not be punished.
Only recently did Askhat Rakhimzyanovich find out that while he was in poverty on the barge, they came to his parents with a search: they were looking for a deserter. A couple of years ago, when he was again invited to talk about his story in his homeland, a woman came up to him and apologized: excuse me, they say, your husband was a policeman in those years, he had to search your house. But Askhat’s frightened parents never said anything about this to their son.
Only on the ninth day of the soldiers’ stay in America did Soviet newspapers announce their miraculous rescue. The article “Stronger than Death” appeared in Izvestia on March 16, 1960 and launched a powerful propaganda campaign in the Soviet media. The world press started earlier. So the brave four fell into the arms of fame. New York and then Paris willingly revealed their beauties to the heroes. The Americans dressed up the guys - they bought coats, suits, hats, and pointed shoes in a beautiful store. (Askhat threw away his boots and tight trousers as soon as he arrived home: he didn’t like that they started calling him a dude.) The rescued people were given $100. Ziganshin bought gifts for his mother, father, and brothers. I didn't take anything for myself.
The unity, modesty and courage with which they survived the ordeal of hunger and cold caused real delight throughout the world. The governor of San Francisco presented the heroes with a symbolic key to the city. In Moscow, they also had a solemn welcome, crowds of people at the airport, flowers, and congratulations. Defense Minister Malinovsky gave the rescued a navigator's watch "so that they would no longer wander." Askhat Ziganshin was immediately awarded the rank of senior sergeant. Posters hung everywhere: “Glory to the brave sons of our Motherland!” There were broadcasts about them on the radio, films were made about them, newspapers wrote about them, and it was then that the most popular song at that time about the crew of a barge on the rock and roll tune “Rock Around the Clock” arose: “Ziganshin-boogie, Ziganshin- rock, Ziganshin ate his boot.”
In Ziganshin’s homeland, in Syzran, a street was named after him. The young guy traveled all over the country, spoke at the Komsomol congress, two to three hundred letters a day came to him from girls who dreamed of meeting him. Many fans proposed marriage. But how to choose a wife by mail?
“I immediately put aside letters from girls who lured me with a dowry: an apartment, a car. My main condition: just not to be rich.
He met his Raisa at a dance in Lomonosov, where he studied after service.
“I was immediately drawn to her.
They lived together, raised two children, and last year Raisa passed away. He came from the dacha and found his wife in the last minutes of her life.
He was friends with his comrades on the legendary barge all his life, which was not easy for any of them. Propaganda made noise and noise, and left them alone. Kryuchkovsky and Poplavsky, together with Ziganshin, after such a memorable adventure, devoted their lives to the sea, and together they graduated from the Lomonosov Naval School. Poplavsky and Fedotov are no longer alive. Kryuchkovsky served in the Northern Fleet, now lives in Kyiv, and has been caring for his paralyzed wife for more than 40 years.
Askhat became a professional rescuer: he devoted 41 years to the emergency rescue service at the Leningrad naval base. The Gulf of Finland doesn’t like to joke either; it has had to save a lot of people in trouble here. How much exactly? Yes, out of his modesty, he never considered it. I just lived my whole life in a state of 30-minute emergency preparedness. So he lived to see the financial crisis: he supported his daughter, who was laid off from her service at the Peterhof Museum. Alfiya, an athlete and a certified teacher, has been unable to find a job for two years. And the St. Petersburg authorities don’t seem to know what a wonderful person lives in Strelna. But people remember their hero; they recognize him on the street, especially those who are older.
- Why do you think you didn’t die in the ocean then?- I ask him.
“First of all, we didn’t lose our presence of mind. This is the main thing. We believed that help would come. In difficult moments of life, you can’t even think about bad things. Secondly, they helped each other and never fought. During the entire time of that extreme journey, none of us raised our voices at each other.
Saint Petersburg
In the pictures: In the house of Askhat Ziganshin and his daughter Alfiya.