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Return to MurmanskBy Henry SwainFrom Lloyd's List, April 1996: “An able seaman in a small naval escort ship on the grim Russian convoy run in the Second World War was thinking about the chances of his ship and convoy surviving to reach Murmansk. The notion of taking his own yacht there would have been fantasy at the time. But nearly 50 years later, perhaps to exorcise the grim memories of war, he sailed his 34 ft yacht CALLISTO in a summer cruise to Murmansk. His was the first British yacht to go there. What kind of welcome would he get? “Having explained his reasons, and that he had previously arrived in a wartime convoy, he got a tremendous welcome, plus a civic reception, and [was] overwhelmed by the warmth of the Russian people. Harbour and pilotage duties were waived, cars were provided free; there was no charge for diesel fuel or propane gas cylinders. Murmansk took [him] to its heart. “In one of the most interesting accounts for some time, Henry Swain smoothly interweaves the yacht and convoy escort stories in a thoughtful and illuminating study of naval and personal life in a convoy escort, of modern Russian people, and of modern Murmansk, where all the schoolchildren speak good English. “The book is absorbing for its excellent narrative qualities and for its variety. It offers insight into wartime Arctic convoy life, into modern Arctic yacht cruising (getting more popular each year) and into the real, everyday Russia, rather than the perniciously distorted images of press and political propaganda.”
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