About the book: 1969 / This book is a fascinating story about the eventful fate of a sailor. Its author, Alexander Pavlovich Bochek, went through a difficult but interesting path from a sailor to a sea captain. Every step of his life is connected with the sea, with the merchant fleet. The author vividly and colorfully tells the history of Soviet domestic shipping. The book tells about voyages on the sailing ships “Nadezhda” and “Viking”, about the ferrying of river vessels by the northern seas, about the conquest of the Arctic, the first voyages along the Northern Sea Route, meetings and work with the wonderful Russian captains Lukhmanov , Nikolaev, Voronin, Milovzorov, organizer and participant of many sea expeditions to the North by Schmidt. The book is of interest to a wide range of readers, it will be especially useful to young people preparing to become sailors and young navigators.