Figure 7. Icebreaker Sibir ' and icebreaking multipurpose cargo ship Kapitan Myshevskiy on
first high-latitude crossing of the NSR in 1978. (Courtesy of Sovphoto, Moscow.)
each with a single ship. The Swedish icebreaker
In 1978 another landmark voyage occurred: the
Oden and the German icebreaker Polarstern shared
first complete, high-latitude passage of a surface
in a scientific expedition and arrived at the Pole
ship. The Arktika-class icebreaker Sibir' led the
on 7 September, 1991. On 22 August, 1994, the U.S.
Amguema-class transport ship Kapitan Myshevskiy
icebreaker Polar Sea and the Canadian icebreaker
(Fig. 7), which was loaded with oil-field equip-
Louis St.-Laurent celebrated their attainment of that
ment bound for the Kolyma region (Mikhaili-
geographic prize (Brigham 1995). By remarkable
chenko 1986). This voyage followed the track iden-
coincidence, this joint scientific expedition met the
tified as the "transit route" in Figure 2. They
Russian ship Yamal, still in the vicinity, which had
travelled from Murmansk east through the Bering
arrived two days earlier on its sixth polar tourist
Strait to Magadan and passed to the north of all
excursion. This marked the first time in history
the major island groups (except Wrangel Island),
that surface ships from three separate nations
shaving many miles off the standard coastal route.
would rendezvous virtually at the top of the globe.
Altogether, the convoy covered 3200 nm, of which
The Louis St.-Laurent and Polar Sea went on to com-
nearly 3000 was in ice. In addition, the ships left
plete an historic first crossing of the Arctic Basin:
Murmansk in May (a record early departure up to
over the Pole from the Bering Strait to Spitsbergen
that time) to obtain data on navigating under more
and Iceland. It is significant that only nuclear-fu-
challenging ice conditions.
eled ships have been successful in reaching the
The advent in 1990 of Russian tourist cruises to
North Pole alone. The ability to navigate such long
the North Pole could be considered landmark. The
distances in heavy ice has so far required either
fact that the Soviets have the capability to make
two diesel-fueled vessels to take turns in the lead
routine and profitable excursions there is unique
(and thus save fuel), or the nearly limitless range
in the world today. As of August 1994, they had
of a nuclear-powered vessel.
succeeded in reaching the Pole on 13 occasions
with six different vessels (Table 5). Only four other
Increasing international interest
nations can boast of the considerable achievement
of having piloted a surface vessel to 90 North,
Since Gorbachev's 1987 Murmansk speech (see
Armstrong 1988 for a translation of the relevant
and they have accomplished this only once and
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