July 23, 2021

Anchors Far Away


Anchors Far Away
This totally cool anchor is not from Kamchatka but also not too far away: its source is the Kaisei Maru Japanese sealing ship, sunk off Sitka, Alaska, in 1909. Amanda Shirnina

The proverbial cat dragged in, from the Kamchatka trash, two ship's anchors of historical value from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Uncovered and announced recently, the anchors were local residents' trash but the treasure of the Ministry of Culture. Museum workers treated the anchors with gun oil to try to preserve the metal. They were especially interested in maintaining the eighteenth-century remnant.

What was happening on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the eighteenth century? Probably lots of things, but historians note that Peter the Great sent expeditions there, it was mapped in 1720, and it was mapped even better in 1755. The first lengthy description of the peninsula was written in 1755 by explorer Stepan Krasheninnikov, An Account of the Land of Kamchatka.

These mappings and expeditions made it possible for the Russian-American Company to set up camp and the fur trade and launch an overseas empire into Alaska and get into fights over maritime territory with Americans and Canadians and Japanese and all manner of other things.

The earliest surviving anchors were built during the Bronze Age – about 3300 BCE to 1200 BCE – and were made of rocks. Experts assume that anchors prior to that were also made of rock.

You Might Also Like

The Shtandart

The Shtandart

On the banks of the Neva River’s northernmost curve, the wooden skeleton of a great frigate is slowly taking shape.
Raising the Shtandart
  • March 01, 2016

Raising the Shtandart

In the spring of 1703, Peter the Great oversaw the building of Russia’s first Baltic fleet flagship. In 1995, Vladimir Martus decided to build a replica.
Peter's Ship
  • March 01, 2016

Peter's Ship

Fifteen years after the new Shtandart launched, boat builders on Solovetsky created a replica of an even older ship: the first Russian naval ship built on Russian soil, in 1693.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955