Galleon from Pirates of the Caribbean. "Saint Peter" - a Russian ship from the film "Pirates of the Caribbean"

The Petrozavodsk shipyard “Varyag” dates back to the 90s. Although its creator Pavel Martyukov fell ill with a love for ships in early childhood.

Pavel Martyukov. Photo: “Republic”/Nikolai Smirnov

“I started by whittling boats out of planks and floating them in puddles,” recalls the director of Varyag LLC.

After school he entered the Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute named after Lenin. After graduation, he returned to Petrozavodsk, worked at the Avangard plant for five years, and gained experience. And in 1989 he turned to free work: he began building wooden ships. In 1992 he created his own company.

“At that time it was pure romance, and the last thing I thought about was earning money. And even now, in general, I don’t really think about it. For me, the main thing is to do what I love. That is, this is a disease that will probably never go away.

There are many former Avangard employees at the shipyard. Photo: Respublika/Nikolai Smirnov

The unique production quickly found its niche. And even in the harsh 90s we managed to keep the shipyard afloat.

— At first there was nothing: no permanent crew, no tools, no materials, no own space. There were also difficult times. In 1998, we made stairs for cottages and window blocks. But the company and people were saved. Only in 1999 did we finally manage to buy out part of the Petrozavodsk shipyard workshop.

“The first ship that we built ourselves was the schooner “St. Peter,” says Pavel. — This is a ship in the style of Peter’s sailing ships. We built it by order of a St. Petersburg company, and the captain on it was Vladimir Martus. Now he sails on the famous St. Petersburg frigate “Standart”.

The captain sailed the St. Peter around the Baltic for several years, and then sold it to the British, who transferred her to the Caribbean. Now the ship carries tourists to the Antilles.

“This ship managed to star in Pirates of the Caribbean, but, admittedly, in a supporting role, but I saw it in almost every film,” says the shipyard owner, not without pride.

Pavel tries to track the fate of each of his “brainchildren”.

Thus, a replica of the first battleship of the Russian fleet, commissioned by the administration of the Voronezh region, took three years to build.

“It was a large-scale and interesting project - a ship 40 meters long and with a displacement of 300 tons. Now it is used as a floating museum in Voronezh. Locals put it up for competition as a symbol of the city on the hundred-ruble note.

The Varyag shipyard in Petrozavodsk builds different ships: from small boats and cutters to large copies of historical ships, costing from 260 thousand to several tens of millions of rubles (it all depends on the needs and capabilities of the customer). The company employs up to 35 people, the average salary is 25 thousand. Customers include individuals, government agencies, and commercial firms from Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, and Latvia. Ships made by Petrozavodsk craftsmen sail in Portugal, Spain, Italy, the Canary Islands, and England.

— This year we sent 13 boats to the Far East, the customer was the Nevelskoy Maritime State University and the Ocean children's center. Last year, we built the research vessel “Professor Senkevich” for Moscow State University to conduct research in the White Sea,” said Pavel.

Another large interesting order was in 1997. They built ships for the filming of the English series “Hornblower” based on Forester’s novel, the plot of which was dedicated to the war at sea during the time of Napoleon.

— We built 11 models of ships of the late 18th - early 19th centuries from 5 to 11 meters in length and boats of various types.

In 2007, a large model of the barque Kruzenshtern was created for the Vertical film studio. He starred in the film “Passenger” by Stanislav Govorukhin.

In the summer of 2016, in record time, the Varyag shipyard built a replica of the double boat "Yakutsk" for the filming of the historical film "Constellation of the Seas." In the mid-18th century, a similar ship participated in the expedition of Vitus Bering and explored the Arctic Ocean. After filming, this ship will be used as a training vessel in Yakutia.

Sea trials have shown that the seaworthiness of this vessel is excellent: smooth rolling, good speed, under sail it goes even faster than under the engine. Photo: “Republic”/Nikolai Smirnov

— The uniqueness of this story is that on such a relatively small ship with a crew of 54 people, a fragile woman, the wife of the ship’s captain Vasily Pronchishchev, went along with the stern men. The couple died on this expedition, their grave on the coast of the Arctic Ocean is still preserved, said the head of the shipyard.

Pavel Martyukov showed us the new ship:

— We have almost no ordinary ships. “They are all unique,” ​​the shipbuilder believes. — Nowadays, it is practically impossible to build wooden ships in series. Therefore, we build any orders, this is our strong point.

The boat of the Askold-18 project is designed for recreation on the water. But it is stylized as tugboats, its main “zest” is its all-wood construction using materials such as oak, teak, mahogany and hull architecture. Photo: “Republic”/Nikolai Smirnov

The ship begins with an idea: details can be discussed with the client for a very long time in order to understand what he wants to get in the end. Next, the technical specifications are developed: the dimensions of the vessel, its design and equipment are determined. The next stage is design, and then construction. The shipyard produces turnkey ships, starting from the hull and ending with the internal equipment.

— Considering that the company is small, everyone has a lot of responsibilities. Employees who build ships are usually generalists. They can work with both wood and metal. We are our own designers and suppliers; we have to combine many responsibilities.

“You have to have time to do everything at once.” And knowledge must be replenished all the time. So I can’t do this eight hours a day, I do it all the time.

For almost 20 years, the work has been fine-tuned to the smallest detail: there is a base of reliable suppliers, and word of mouth spreads the fame of exclusive production. Therefore, it is difficult for Pavel to answer the question about business problems.

— Taxes must be paid, we pay regularly and accurately. If the enterprise operates normally and stably, then now you can work, you can live. We most likely do not need any special support. We have contacts in both the city administration and the government. They know about us; we regularly have guests from the republic who watch with interest the construction of wooden ships. But we have a problem that the shipyard does not have access to the water. We are trying to solve it. We hope that the republican authorities will help us here. We need an extension wall. Any shipbuilding enterprise has a so-called finishing quay, that is, a pier at which ships are completed. Here there are certain difficulties.

Both of Pavel's sons followed in their father's footsteps. The eldest, Peter, is already working at the shipyard and learning from experience.

— My father is from the Tetemsky district of the Vologda region. Recruits for the fleet used to be recruited in Totma; Totma merchants reached Russian America. I recently discovered a list of the crew of the sloop Nadezhda, which participated in the first Russian round-the-world expedition under the command of Krusernshtern and Lisyansky. The Nadezhda crew includes a sailor named Martyukov. I don’t presume to say that this is my ancestor, but who knows,” the shipbuilder laughs.

A ship, a flag and appearance - only these three things could put a pirate above the rest of the world. A fast ship, a flag with a bad reputation, and a terrifying appearance were often enough for the enemy to surrender without a fight. When success depends on how much fear you can instill in the victim, these three things were of no small importance, and they also served as evidence of the pirate’s luck.

The pirates did not build their own ships. Pirate ship had to be fast, maneuverable and well armed. When capturing a ship, they first looked at its seaworthiness. Daniel Defoe said that a pirate ship is, first of all, “a pair of light heels that will be very useful when you need to quickly grab something or run away even faster if they grab you”. On captured merchant ships, hold bulkheads, deck superstructures and one of the masts were often removed, the poop was made lower, and additional gun ports were cut into the sides.

As a rule, pirate ships were faster than ordinary ships, which was very important both in order to catch up with the victim and in order to evade pursuit. For example, when Charles Vane hunted a ship in the Bahamas in 1718, he easily evaded naval patrols, "making two feet on their one".

Most pirate captains did not change ships throughout their careers.(which was often very short - we can even talk about months, not years; even Blackbeard's empire of terror lasted only a few years). However, there were also those who changed ships like gloves - Bartholomew Roberts had about six of them. As for the captured ships, they were usually sold or simply burned.

A pirate ship needs constant care; it is especially important to timely clean the bottom of shells and algae so that they do not slow down the ship’s progress.. This procedure was performed once every three months. Usually, the pirates swam to some safe place, placed cannons at the entrance to the bay to repel a possible attack, and heeled the ship - that is, using tackles they pulled it onto the sandbank and cleaned the bottom. Heeling was also used in cases where it was necessary to repair the underwater part of the hull. The biggest threats to the ship were shellfish and the shipworm (woodworm), which gnawed into the wood and could make tunnels up to 6 feet (2 meters) long in it. These worms were capable of completely destroying the ship's hull.

Vessel dimensions

The size of a pirate ship was quite important. A larger ship is easier to deal with storms and can also carry more guns. However, larger ships are less maneuverable and more difficult to heel. In movies, pirates are usually shown on large ships, such as galleons, because they look very impressive, but in reality, pirates preferred small ships, most often sloops; they were fast and easy to care for. In addition, their shallower draft allowed them to sail in shallow waters or take refuge among sandbanks where a larger ship could not reach.

They were so large that anyone could participate in everyday naval duties, but in battle one gun required the service of four, or even six, people. A ship with twelve cannons on board needed seventy people just to fire, and it was also necessary to supply cannonballs and gunpowder.

Of course, all engineering factories are similar in one way or another, and usually I know exactly what I will see there and what I will photograph. Despite this, I always find it interesting to see how individual pieces of metal and blanks are transformed into a finished product. This process is somehow fascinating. As you know, a person can endlessly look at fire, water and how another person works. And here we were talking about a plant I had never seen before, where they build huge cruise ships and oil platforms, that is, the pieces of metal promised to be thick, the blanks were large, and the finished products were very large-scale. There should also be a lot of people at work. In general, we went to the shipyard in the Finnish city of Turku. Even though Moscow is called the port of 5 seas, it is still a river port, so with large multi-deck ships, and even more so with the factories where they are built, it is very difficult in our area. To see them you will have to travel 650 kilometers. When I first got on board the sea ferry, I was impressed by its size and how much everything fits on it: an entire multi-storey residential complex with shopping and entertainment centers, elevators, restaurants and parking! And with all this, he also walks on the sea! As a lover of technology, I was terribly interested in how it works, how it is controlled and, most importantly, how such huge things are built. We were practically allowed to get through the door marked “crew only” on an active ship, but we were a little behind on time. Next time. But we saw where and how large ships are built. To be honest, it was this shipyard that became the first object of interest that I planned to visit, long before we came up with the trip route. At that time, they were building an innovative sea ferry, in some respects, Viking Grace for the Viking Line company, which interested me then (this is the first sea ferry with a liquefied gas power plant). But our trip was postponed, and when we left, this boat had already been completed and was plowing the Baltic. Nevertheless, I still really wanted to see the shipyard. After all, it is one of the oldest and largest in Europe, and the largest ships are built there too. In addition to cruise ships, icebreakers, ships for various purposes, oil platforms and offshore wind power plants are also built there. By the way, official excursions are sometimes organized to this shipyard, but they are only possible for groups by appointment and very rarely. They are held by the maritime museum Forum Marinum in Turku. We had absolutely no opportunity to wait for such an excursion, and you yourself know what these official excursions and press tours are: a crowd of excursionists, urged on by a guide, moves along a certain tourist route, everyone takes the same shots, and they climb into your frame, and Then, sometimes, the organizers will completely prohibit filming anything. In short, complete frustration and no exclusivity! Fortunately, we were spared all these inconveniences and hardships, because STX made an exception for us - they arranged an individual excursion and explained and showed everything in detail, and, of course, they also gave us permission to film. The Turku shipyard has been around for 300 years and is now part of STX Europe, which has a total of 15 shipyards in 6 countries. Three of them are in Finland, and the one we visited is the largest of them. Its area is 144 hectares, it employs about 1,650 people, and the size of its dry dock is 365x80 meters. The largest cruise ship in the world at the moment was built here, in 2009, it is called Oasis of the Seas and has a length of 361 meters and a width of 66 meters (for comparison, the Titanic had a length of 269 meters and a width of 28). A shot from the STX media bank, where the construction process of the largest cruise ship Oasis of the Seas and its twin Allure of the Seas at the shipyard in Turku is visible at the dock.
As a child, I had a neighbor, a former submariner, who had models of submarines and warships on his cabinets, which I really enjoyed looking at and being amazed at how even the smallest details were worked out. And in the STX office there are models of all the ships they built. It was a surprise for me to see Russian and Soviet ships among them. It turned out that STX Finland has been actively cooperating with our shipbuilders since the times of the USSR. Voyager of the Seas, built in 1999. Now it is no longer the largest, “only” 311 meters long.

Soviet.
At the entrance to the office there is a bell hanging from an old sailing ship built here a long time ago. This is not a cheap “market of the year” souvenir that popular bloggers award each other every year - this is a real rarity!

In the locker room they found these artifacts, reminiscent of the long-standing cooperation between the two countries.
Models are good, but we came to see how real big ships are built! The assembly of any machine begins with metal sheets, which are cut, bent, and welded.
These are metal sheets that in the future will become the hull of the ship. Their thickness is 3-5 cm.
Crane operator with cordless control panel.

Picked it up, carried it, put it down: just a terrible dream of the owner of slot machines with soft toys
Cranes with electromagnets. Remembering the cartoon “Well, wait a minute,” I decided not to get too close to them
Metal is cut with plasma, controlled by computer programs.
Blanks are obtained.
Most of the blanks are not at all similar to any of the recognizable parts of the ship, and only specialists know what's what.
Welded pieces of metal.
Photo from STX media bank. Unfortunately, we did not see how the interior space was being equipped; at the time of our visit there were no ships at this stage of work. The cabins are assembled and brought to the shipyard in assembled form from the STX Finland Cabins subsidiary, also located in the suburbs of Turku.
There are few people in the workshops, one shift was finishing work, the second had not yet started it: “pirrriff, boss.”
Yes, the Tajiks and Uzbeks were not noticed at the shipyard. By the way, there are practically none of them in our factories, where I have visited - blue-collar professions require qualifications.
However, at the STX shipyard we were told that “guest workers”, if they are good specialists with the necessary education, are hired regardless of their origin. They also teach the necessary skills; there are special training classes for this. The salary level at the shipyard starts on average from 2000 euros.
People, ah! No, my favorite genre “people at work” did not work out here.
Employees move around the shipyard on bicycles. This is probably a common phenomenon for Finnish enterprises: we also observed this at the Helsinki metro depot.
Hangars located along the dock have retractable roofs, where large parts of the vessel are assembled and then transferred to the dock for final assembly. In the distance you can see a fragment of the bottom of some large ship, presumably the future cruise ship Mein Shiff 3 for the German company TUI. And a side screw.
An overhead crane that carries large parts of a ship from the hangar to the dock. Its carrying capacity is 600 tons.
Side screw. Such propellers are installed in the lower part of the vessel perpendicular to the direction of travel, and increase maneuverability. Thanks to such propellers, the ship can turn around in a cramped port almost on the spot.
Ice at the bottom of the dry dock.
They are building some kind of platform in the dry dock.
View of the bay from the bridge on the gate of the lock separating the dry dock.
View of the dock from the same place.
The bridge on the gateway: on the right is the bay, on the left is the dry dock. When the ship is ready to be launched, the dry dock is filled with water, the lock gates are opened and it is released into the wild.
Ilya and Jukka Gustafsson: they are waiting for me at the exit from the bridge and look as if they are about to erase my memory

"Saint Peter" is a Russian ship from the film "Pirates of the Caribbean".

You probably noticed in the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” on the Tortuga pier there is a small ship with a double-headed eagle at the stern. This is the Russian schooner “Saint Peter”, which took part in the filming of the film. And by the way, Russian pirates could easily have reached Tortuga, especially since in Ann Crispin’s book “The Price of Freedom” (2011), which is the official prequel to “Pirates of the Caribbean,” we meet the Russian pirate Borya Palachnik.

The schooner “Saint Peter” was built back in October 1991 for Vladimir Martus at the Petrozavodsk wooden shipyard “Varyag”. "St. Peter" was conceived as a training and expeditionary sailing-motor vessel, stylized as a merchant scout of the 18th century.
Paid by JSC Kronverk (RUB 0.5 million). Length - 17.5 m, displacement - 55 tons.

At the time of the start of construction, there was practically nothing except the desire to build a ship. They worked on rented premises, lacking qualified specialists, tools, materials, historical literature and much more. And all this on a very limited budget. The lack of experience in building such ships also affected.

Members of the ship's future crew also took part in the construction. Despite all the difficulties, in less than a year “St. Peter” was built, launched and in the fall of 1991 went to St. Petersburg.

In 1992, he took part in the festival of wooden ships in Brest, France, then was operated in the Baltic for several years, and in 1994 he changed his owner and crossed the Atlantic to the Caribbean Sea. The ship is currently in Antigua. An article about him was published in the magazine “Captain” (No. 1, 2008). There, by the way, it is reported that “Saint Peter” is alive and well and managed to star in all three parts of the film “Pirates of the Caribbean”.

Still from the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." 2007

As the workers of the Varyag shipyard say:
“For us, the schooner “St. Peter” was the vessel during the design and construction of which we acquired the necessary experience and knowledge.

This experience and knowledge soon allowed us to take the next step and, at the end of 1991, begin construction of the lead schooner of the Askold-58 project - a ship of a completely different level.

Over the years since the construction of the “St. Peter,” dozens of motor and motor-sailing vessels have left the slipways of our shipyard, but this boat is still dear to us, like any first-born.”

By the way, the schooner “St. Peter” has a story worthy of “Pirates of the Caribbean.” In 1992, it was decided to sell the ship; the first person who wanted to buy the schooner was its captain, Vladimir Martus, but he did not have enough money (“St. Peter” is valued at 5 million rubles). On June 27, “St. Peter” with a crew of 10 people on board, bypassing border ships, sailed beyond the territorial waters of the CIS. According to criminologists, this was an unprecedented hijacking of a schooner.

Stills from the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." 2007

After a preliminary inquiry carried out by the transport police, it turned out that Captain Martus freely received travel documents at the 55th Navy Yacht Club, of which he is a member. According to the official version - to the French city of Brest to take part in the festival of ancient sailing ships and return. Unofficially, to participate and not return.

Nevertheless, in the end, “St. Peter” was sold, and with part of the proceeds, Vladimir Martus built the famous frigate “Standard”.

Today, “Standard” is not just a historical ship that participates in international regattas, but a project for the patriotic and labor education of youth. Anyone can become a member of the frigate crew. Here's what the ship's captain, Vladimir Martus, says about this:

I would say that “Standard” is a philosophy of life. Somewhere in the world there must be places where you can feel like an adult, a real one. Here is a historical frigate - this is just such a place where everything is real: where difficulties are difficulties, friendship is friendship, a team is a team. People there don’t have the mental bubblegum that we have everywhere on TV, but they have real life. And since the ship is beautiful and attractive, especially for young guys, we, of course, do our best to use this important property to distract the guys from the street and from other bad things, to give them the opportunity to express themselves and understand, maybe even improve myself.

Anyone can get on the ship; all you need is desire and time. Every year the core of the team of 6 - 7 people recruits volunteers. There is also a hierarchy at “Standard”: volunteer candidate, volunteer, project participant, midshipman, honorary participant. During sea voyages there are 30 - 40 people on board, but while the ship is on shore - up to two hundred. There is enough for everyone to do. For example, the frigate is currently being repaired. Having not collected the required amount for repairs at the dock, it was decided to repair it as in the time of Peter. The frigate was tilted and secured to the shore so that all the necessary work could be carried out: sanding, painting the bottom and changing the boards.

There are no analogues to the “Standard” project. There is one sailing frigate of the 17th - 18th centuries in Australia and America, and that’s it. But nowhere else with such an educational program as in Russia.

According to the script plot taken from the book series “Pirates of the Caribbean” by E.S. Crispina, the future "Black Pearl" was originally called "Wicked Wench" and was owned by the East India Company as a merchant ship. It was a three-masted galleon with a golden-yellow hull and snow-white sails.

It is not known for certain when exactly the ship was built, but Lord Cutler Beckett, director of the West African Representative Office of the East India Company, received it at a very advanced age.

The "Slutty Wench" was docked in Calabar (Africa, Gulf of Guinea) at the very moment when the brig "Fair Wind" under the command of Jack Sparrow arrived at the port. Fair Wind also belonged to the East India Company. The ship's captain, Nathaniel Brainbridge, was killed by Esmeralda, the terror of the Caribbean and the pirate lord of the time. But Jack Sparrow, the first mate of the Fair Wind, saved the ship from falling into the hands of pirates. Cutler Beckett, having received Sparrow's report on how he saved the ship and most of its cargo from pirates, was so impressed that he offered him the captaincy of the Slutty Wench.

Captain Jack Sparrow, commanding the "Slutty Wench", carried out many contracts for the East India Company on behalf of Lord Beckett..." (http://otdatshvartovy.ru/vymyshlennye...l#more-50)

Everything would be fine, but!

Britain, and in particular the British East India Campaign, were only able to establish outposts and settlements in southern Africa after the bankruptcy of the Dutch East India Campaign in 1794.
Scottish missionaries appeared in Calabar only in 1846, and a British protectorate centered in Calabar did not appear until the 1880s.

In other words, there was no West African representation of the British East India Campaign and, therefore, Dutch ships could have been stationed in the port (and not in the docks) of Calabar in the 17th - 18th centuries.
The first white settlers settled in the south of the African continent in 1652, when the representative of the Dutch East India Company, Jan van Riebeeck, founded a provisions point near the Cape of Good Hope to supply ships traveling from Europe to Asia.

This means that a “merchant ship of the British East India campaign” could not exist in nature.

But if you forget about the English origin of Cutler and Jack Sparrow, or the British origin of “Wicked Wench,” then attention is immediately drawn to the Dutch ships of the 17th century and, above all, pinnaces.

One of the first creations of the free republic of the Netherlands (in 1582 the Dutch were finally freed from Spanish protectorate) was the East India Company, founded in 1602 with the permission of the Estates General.

Thanks to its own well-built and durable fleet, the company, which received a monopoly on trade with Asian countries, soon becomes one of the richest in the world. A type of new merchant ship appears. These ships had three masts and were armed with 16 to 20 small cannons, although they were not intended for combat. The average displacement of East Indian ships was about 600 tons. The ratio of hull length to width for ships of this type was even greater than that of the galleon. To give the ship strength, the frames were placed at a short distance from each other, and in places where the masts were installed they were made double. The set was supported by horizontal and vertical brackets. The ship's hull was made of oak wood - in total, at least two thousand well-dried oak trees were required for construction. When cutting wood, care was taken to ensure that the bend of the fibers matched the shape of the part being cut. A part made in this way became “eternal.” They preferred to fasten oak planks to the frames using wooden tenons - iron nails rusted too quickly in salty sea water. Meanwhile, nails were used to fasten less critical elements of the ship's structure. So, in order to protect the ship below the waterline from wood-boring beetles, the lower part of the hull was additionally sheathed with thin elm boards. The nails that secured this “second skin” were placed so tightly together that their heads formed an almost continuous iron coating.

The spacious deck of East Indian ships was free, and in the bow it was limited by a transverse bulkhead (bikged). The protruding nasal tip - the latrine, the design of which was adopted from the galleys, was limited by smoothly curved slats (regels). In the low quarterdeck at the stern there were officer cabins with wide, bright windows. A galley was usually equipped under the tank. Many new technical devices appeared that made the team’s hard work easier. For example, they begin to use a special cat-beam to lift the anchor. The pump helps sailors quickly pump out water that has leaked into the holds. And for loading goods on merchant ships, horizontal winches were installed - windlasses.

A couple of decades pass, and in England, which did not want to come to terms with the loss of the title of “Queen of the Seas,” they begin to build military frigates. The ancestor of the first frigate, built in 1646 by the famous British shipbuilder Peter Pett, was a Dutch pinnace with its high stern superstructures, blind topmast and rich decor.

Look at the replica of the Dutch pinnace "Kalmar Nukel" built in 1625 and the first English "true frigate" - the 34-gun "Constance Warwick", built by Peter Pett in 1646 and compare them with the "Black Pearl".