Beothic was built in 1908–09 at
Glasgow and was engaged as a support vessel in sealing until her sale to the Imperial Russian Ministry of Commerce and Industry in 1915. Renamed
Georgiy Sedov, she was inherited by the new Soviet government following the
Russian Civil War. In 1929 icebreaker
Sedov went on the "High-latitude Government Expedition" to
Franz Josef Land carrying Soviet scientists. In the summer of 1937
icebreaker Sadko sailed from
Murmansk. Her original goal was to sail to Henrietta, Zhokhow and Jeanette Islands, in the
De Long group and carry out scientific research. The purpose of the expedition was to find out if the Northern Sea Route could be used for regular shipping and to explore the complex
Nordenskiöld Archipelago. The Soviet naval authorities changed the plans and the ice-breaker was sent instead to help ships in distress in the
Kara and
Laptev Seas. The
Sadko became trapped in fast ice at 75°17'N and 132°28'E in the region of the
New Siberian Islands. Another two Soviet icebreakers, the
Sedov and the
Malygin which were in the same area researching the ice conditions, became trapped by sea ice as well and drifted helplessly. Owing to persistent bad weather conditions, part of the stranded crew and some of the scientists could only be rescued in April 1938. Only on August 28, 1938, could the
icebreaker Yermak free two of the three ships at 83°4'N and 138°22'E. The third ship, the
Sedov, had to be left to drift in the ice and was transformed into a scientific polar station.
Sedov kept drifting in the ice toward the
North Pole, very much like
Fridtjof Nansen's
Fram had done in 1893–96. In doing so they achieved a record northern latitude in 1939. There were 15 crew aboard, led by Captain
Konstantin Badygin and W. Kh. Buinitzki. The scientists aboard took 415 astronomical measurements, 78 electromagnetic observations, as well as 38 depth measurements by drilling the thick polar ice during their 812-day stay aboard the
Sedov. They were freed between
Greenland and
Svalbard by the icebreaker
Joseph Stalin, the biggest icebreaker of the Soviet fleet at that time, on January 18, 1940.
Fate Withdrawn from service in 1967,
Sedov was scrapped at
Hamburg by Eckhardt & Co. ==See also==