Zhilenko Anatoly Petrovich
The sailor of the t/x "Cooperation", 25.01.1960 got under the winch while unloading at the Mirny station, died from injury
***
‘Day 404. Ships are whistling wistfully and incessantly. A group of people is walking in a long train, wading through slushy snow, their feet slipping. They are wearing work trousers tucked into boots, padded jackets, navy pea coats and sweaters. Alternating, they carry on their shoulders a casket wrapped in an enormous state ensign. The captain’s mate, a tall man leading the procession, is going slowly, his head bowed. He is wearing no overcoat, but a diver’s jumper and over it, a black blazer jacket etched with golden armbands. His black uniform trousers are tucked into work boots with turned-down tops. A revolver in a black holster is hanging somewhere close to his knees. He has brought it for a farewell salute. My God, where am I? Do captains in the 1960s still lay to rest their dead sailors on uninhabited islands?
“A.P. Zhilenko, sailor. Died January 25, 1960,” it says on the headstone. The farewell salute is being fired. The ships are whistling.
Day 405. Blizzard. The wind is 20 metres per second, and there is no visibility. All work on ice has been cancelled. Antarctica has suddenly realised that it allowed for a person to be laid to rest. Too late. We had enough time to give him a proper burial.’
Igor Zotikov, 460 Days in the Fourth Soviet Antarctic Expedition
The sailor of the t/x "Cooperation", 25.01.1960 got under the winch while unloading at the Mirny station, died from injury
***
‘Day 404. Ships are whistling wistfully and incessantly. A group of people is walking in a long train, wading through slushy snow, their feet slipping. They are wearing work trousers tucked into boots, padded jackets, navy pea coats and sweaters. Alternating, they carry on their shoulders a casket wrapped in an enormous state ensign. The captain’s mate, a tall man leading the procession, is going slowly, his head bowed. He is wearing no overcoat, but a diver’s jumper and over it, a black blazer jacket etched with golden armbands. His black uniform trousers are tucked into work boots with turned-down tops. A revolver in a black holster is hanging somewhere close to his knees. He has brought it for a farewell salute. My God, where am I? Do captains in the 1960s still lay to rest their dead sailors on uninhabited islands?
“A.P. Zhilenko, sailor. Died January 25, 1960,” it says on the headstone. The farewell salute is being fired. The ships are whistling.
Day 405. Blizzard. The wind is 20 metres per second, and there is no visibility. All work on ice has been cancelled. Antarctica has suddenly realised that it allowed for a person to be laid to rest. Too late. We had enough time to give him a proper burial.’
Igor Zotikov, 460 Days in the Fourth Soviet Antarctic Expedition
Фото из архива семьи
