The Icebreaker Mikula Selianinovich (1916-1937): To Russia and Back

The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nordFrom the very onset of the First World War, Russia depended very heavily upon Britain and France to satisfy her war needs -munitions and materiel for her armies and provisions of all sorts for her major cities.The Allies, in their turn, desperately needed the Eastern Front.With the Baltic and Black Seas blockaded by the Axis powers, supply to Russia could come only through her northern port of Archangel (Murmansk was not yet built).However, since Archangel was locked up by ice for a full half-year, the acquisition of icebreakers for Russia's North became a matter of life-or-death for the Empire.Russia's own icebreakers were all trapped behind enemy naval blockades -where, then, to find others?Russia turned to Canada and Newfoundland.By the winter of 1915-1916, virtually the whole of Russia's northern ice-breaking fleet, ten out of 13 vessels, consisted of ex-Canadian ice-breakers and ex-Newfoundland ice-capable ships (sealing steamers and iceferries).1 By late 1915 the issue of supply through the north had assumed cardinal significance.At a decisive meeting of senior officials of the Russian Ministry of Trade and Commerce and the Naval Ministry in December 1915, the Russian government embarked on a very ambitious, far-reaching programme of icebreaker acquisition which foresaw the purchase of nine new icebreakers, all save one to be built in British yards. 2 That exception was a Canadian ship.Russian officials were very much aware of an icebreaker then under construction in Montreal, and resolved to do everything possible to acquire it for the intended expansion of operations in Russia's north during the upcoming (1916-1917) winter navigation.In fact, they seemed "fired up" with the possibility of purchasing this "powerful icebreaker being built per government contract," scheduled for completion in October of 1916.It was said to be an improved version of Earl Grey, which had already more than proved itself in Russia's northern waters since arrival in late October 1914.Moreover, the vessel was already on the stocks, a significant consideration for Russian officials given fears that their icebreaker orders placed with the British Admiralty might be delayed by more pressing British needs.3 These were the developments, half-a-world away, For brief cameo-like histories of these ships, see W. Barr, "The Role of Canadian and Newfoundland Ships in the Development of the Soviet Arctic", Aspects: A Publication of the Newfoundland Historical Society, IX, No 1, (July 1977), 19-126; and EX, No 2, (November 1977), 17-23. 2 V.G.Andrienko, Nevezuchii 'Mikula Selianinovich ' [The Luckless Mikula Selianinovich], Gangut, Issue 12, 1997, 52.Andrienko's work is based exclusively on archival sources from the Russian State Archive of the Naval Fleet in St. Petersburg.3Andrienko, Nevezuchii ...,52.That Russian officials were "fired up" with the hope of acquiring the Canadian icebreaker then being built is attested by information from Captain John L. Read, who delivered Minto to Archangel in January 1916.Captain Read and his crew left for home through Petrograd.When there, the Russian Minister of Trade and Commerce sent for Read, thanked him for the good work done in bringing Minto over, and asked for the name of the appropriate Canadian minister to contact for a written expression of thanks."He also told me", wrote Captain Read, "[that] Canada was having another ice breaker built by Vickers like the 'Earl Grey' but heavier.I told him I did not know but they insisted that it was correct", an indication that Russia indeed was following icebreaker developments

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