September 25, 1999
In Vladivostok 91-year-old died Anna Schetinina — the world's first female long-distance captain. "Lady Captain."
I've lived the arduous journey of a sailor from start to finish. And if I'm now the captain of a large ocean-going vessel, then every one of my subordinates knows that I didn't come from the sea foam.
She was born in 1908 at Okeanskaya Station near Vladivostok, into a forester's family. Only at age 11 was she able to attend elementary school, which was 7 km from her home. In winter, she took a shortcut by skating across Amur Bay.
She decided to work at sea after joining her father on a steamship in the fishing industry. At the time, newspapers were urging women to pursue male-dominated professions. However, the head of the maritime technical school was reluctant to accept her. Shchetinina later recounted his words in her memoirs:
Feeling like going to the seaside? Feeling romantic? You're completely clueless about this job. If a guy makes a mistake and can't do something, it'll just be a mistake. And if you make a mistake, they'll say, "She's a woman, what can you expect from her?"
She was accepted. During her studies, she worked part-time unloading railroad cars. Many captains rejected her for internships, being prejudiced against women on ships. The first ship she got a chance to try her hand as a deckhand was the merchant steamer "Simferopol." At first, she was assigned the most difficult jobs: knocking off rust, cleaning the hold, and washing paint cans.
I understood that if I refused, I would never be on an equal footing with the sailors; I would always be a passenger for them.
In 1929 she graduated from the navigation department and served as a sailor for several years Kamchatka.
At 24, she received a navigational diploma, at 26, a long-distance captain’s diploma, and began working as a first mate.
At 27, I found myself passing through Moscow—on a voucher to the south. There I learned that it was necessary to ferry a new steamship, purchased by the Union in Hamburg. She sacrificed her vacation and agreed to serve as the captain's first mate. But the captain fell ill, and Shchetinina was appointed in his place.
She led the steamer to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky via Odessa and Singapore, completing the journey in three months, cutting the deadline and saving foreign currency. Foreign journalists admired the "lady captain"'s command of the ship and its all-male crew—crowds of locals greeted her at every port.
For the next two years, she remained captain of a dry cargo ship in Kamchatka. She ran the ship's drama club and organized sports competitions for the crew.
In 1938, after the arrest of her husband, a sailor-radio operator Nikolai Kachimov, saved him from execution - achieved his release and rehabilitation.
The years 1938-1939 were terrifying. More than once, we encountered trucks carrying people under guard to prison. People disappeared, sometimes entire families. It was terrifying.
In 1938, she became the first head of the Vladivostok fishing port and organized its work from scratch.
She met the war in the Baltic, ferrying another ship to the Far East. She stayed behind to evacuate the population of Tallinn during the bombing.
Later, it transported cargo from the United States to Vladivostok under the Lend-Lease program. Over five years, its ships crossed the Pacific Ocean 17 times, avoiding enemy mines, aircraft, and submarines. It supported landing operations during the war with Japan and assisted ships in distress. In 1944, it rescued the crew of the steamship Valery Chkalov, which had broken into two pieces. Alexander Shantsberg.
Papa Shantzberg always sings praises when I'm mentioned. Admittedly, with his Estonian accent, they sound quite peculiar: "He (that's me), though a woman, worked hard!"
A year later, 500 miles off the coast of Alaska, the deck of the steamship Jean Jaurès, under the command of Shchetinina herself, cracked. She managed to bring the ship to port, where the crack was welded shut, but refused to stop for repairs, took on her cargo, and sailed for Petropavlovsk.
After the war, she served as a captain in the Baltic and headed the navigation department at the Leningrad Higher Maritime School. In 1960, she transferred to the Vladivostok Higher Marine Engineering School.
It carried out (often for the first time in the USSR) the most important voyages of Soviet ships to countries in Africa and Asia. It ferried ships to Australia, Cuba, and India.
Retired in 1983 – at 75.
