New Sea Route

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 43, 21 February 1936, Page 5

New Sea Route

ACROSS TOP OP GLOBE. (SOVIET SHIP BREAKS THROUGH. The northern, sea route sought for centuries by explorers and merchants before the opening of the Suez Canal, as the shortest water route between, the markets of Europo and tlu Ear Ea3t, has at last been conquered. ' For the first time in history, four ordinary freighters bearing commercial cargoes have successfully accomplished simultaneous east-to-west and west-to-east crossings along the northern coast of Europe and Asia through the Polar seas in ono navigation season. The arrival in Vladivostok of two Soviet freight steamers which left Murmansk in July and tin simultaneous arrival in Murmansk of the two other vessels journeying from Vladivostok have marked, the Russians claim, the opening of a regular route for the transport of passengers and cargoes at. oss the top of the globe. Laden with soft pine wood from Siberia, the s.s. Stalingrad, one of the two west-bound vessels, reached London the other day, says the “Sunday Observer.” The conquest of the northern seaway was undertaken in earnest by the Soviet only three years ago, when the ice-breaker Sibiryakov reached Vladivostok via the Arctic in one navigation season. The freighter Chelyuskin, under the leadership of Russia’s famous explorer, Otto Schmidt, was baulked in its attempt in 1933 almost within sight of its goal, when the vessel was crushed by ice-floes. But, after this season’s success, the Russians are not resting on their laurels. With the newly-opened route now free for navigation for only two months in midsummer, new and stronger ice-breakers are already being constructed to be stationed along the Arctic coast to maintain an ice-free route for a longer period. The route is of incalculable important to the Soviet Union, and the Kremlin is placing unlimited resources at the disposal of its “Northern Sea Route Administration.” The new route should now render ; possible the speedy development of the untapped rich resources of North Siberia by affording cheap transport facilities to Eastern Russia and to the European markets.