“Polar Odyssey” brigandine, a replica of 18th century historic ships, has been launched in Karelia. Reconstructed from old drawings, the vessel will hoist its sails in the harbor town of Petrozavodsk on the western shore of Lake Onega, in northwestern Russia.
Together with a team of his associates, engineer Victor Dmitriev has been engaged in designing and building ships for 30 years already. He said it took them quite a long time to design and build “Polar Odyssey".
"Unlike building boats to order, which takes approximately a year, the brigandine has been under construction for a total of 10 years. Our hard work eventually resulted in a well-wrought vessel, mature like cognac in casks," says Dmitriev.
16 meters in length and 4.6 in width, “Polar Odyssey” is a replica of high-performance serviceable 18th century warships, used to conduct patrol and surveillance missions. Such vessels used to enjoy increased demand by sea pirates. The brigandine has six cannons on board, which will serve a dual purpose, Victor Dmitriev says: "Above all, these are guns for saluting. Besides, we developed a tutorial program in the form of a role-playing game “Treasure Island” or “Pirates of Lake Onega”. This is a kind of sea paintball, with cannons firing paint-filled capsules."
On several occasions, Victor Dmitriev’s team participated in European maritime festivals. Their historical wooden ship “Sanctifier Nicolas”, equipped with functioning cannons, gained particular popularity with the audience. Similar guns trace their origin to the 18th century when Peter the Great ordered the building of a cannon casting plant, which became the foundation stone for the future town of Petrozavodsk, the engineer goes on to say: "These guns were quite a common thing in those times and we are still finding cannon balls in vicinity of the Bomarzo fortress, in particular at the bottom of our harbor. This resulted from numerous gun tests on the lake."
After firing their first salvo at the ship launching ceremony, the cannons of “Polar Odyssey” will be discharged on July 8th when the ship will depart on its first voyage. Accompanied by two other vessels, including “Sanctifier Nicolas”, the brigandine will cover 10,000 kilometers. As a sailors’ blessing says, “Fair winds and a following sea!”
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