Main events

world's first female sea captain

pinnacle of career

Associate Professor of the Department "Marine Affairs"

Hero socialist labor,

twice Order of Lenin,

Order of the Red Banner of Labor,

Order of the Red Star,

Order of the Patriotic War 2nd class,

medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945",

Medal "For the Defense of Leningrad"

medal "For the victory over Japan",

gold medal "Hammer and Sickle"

Medal "In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin",

"Honorary Citizen of Vladivostok"

Shchetinina Anna Ivanovna born February 26, 1908 Russian empire, Primorsky region, Okeanskaya station died on September 25, 1999, Vladivostok. The captain is a mentor of the Far Eastern Shipping Company, the world's first female sea captain. Honorary Worker Marine fleet. Honorary Member of the Geographical Society of the USSR. Honorary Member of the Far East Association of Sea Captains in London, FESMA and IFSMA. Author of the book "On the seas and beyond the seas ...".

Biography

early years

Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina was born on February 26, 1908 at Okeanskaya station near Vladivostok. Father Ivan Ivanovich was born in Kemerovo region in the village of Chumai, with whom he did not work in different years, he was a locksmith, and a forester, and a worker in the fisheries, and a carpenter, and commandant of dachas in the Regional Department of the NKVD. Mother Maria Filosofovna was a housewife for most of her life. Younger brother Vladimir worked at an aircraft factory as a foreman. In 1919 A.I. Shchetinina began to study at primary school in Sadgorod, but after the Red Army entered Vladivostok, all schools were reorganized. And since 1922, Anna Ivanovna studied at the Sedanka station in general labor school, where in 1925 she finished 8 classes.

Military service

In 1925, after graduating from school, A.I. Shchetinina entered the Vladivostok Marine College at the navigation department. While studying at the technical school, she worked as a nurse and cleaner in a dental office. I was never afraid of the so-called "black work". During her studies at the technical school, she repeatedly went to sea as a student on the Simferopol steamboat, on the Bryukhanov guard ship, and then as a sailor on the First Krabolov steamboat. After graduating from a technical school, Anna Ivanovna was sent to the Joint-Stock Kamchatka Shipping Company, where she went from sailor to captain in just 6 years.

In 1932, at the age of 24, Anna Ivanovna received a diploma as a navigator. In 1933, she took over as senior assistant to the captain of the steamship "Orochon".

In 1935, when she was only 27 years old, the entire world press spoke about Anna Ivanovna Shchedrina. It was in this year that Anna Ivanovna, as a captain, made the ferry of the steamer "Chinook" from Hamburg to Kamchatka. A. I. Shchetinina commanded the "Chinook" until 1938.

In 1938, A. I. Shchetinina was appointed head of the fishing port in Vladivostok. In the same year, she entered the Leningrad Institute of Water Transport at the Faculty of Navigation. Having the right to attend lectures freely, she finishes 4 courses in two and a half years.

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Anna Ivanovna received a referral to the Baltic Shipping Company. In August 1941, under fierce fire from the Nazis, she drove the steamer Saule loaded with food and weapons along the Gulf of Finland, supplying our army and evacuating the population of Tallinn. In the autumn of 1941, together with a group of sailors, she was sent to Vladivostok at the disposal of the Far Eastern Shipping Company. There she worked on the ships "Karl Liebknecht", "Rodina" and " Jean Jaures" (like " Liberty") - transported military cargo through Pacific Ocean.

At the very end of World War II, on August 25, 1945, Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina participated in the VKMA-3 convoy in the transfer of the 264th Infantry Division to southern Sakhalin.

After the end of the war with Japan, she filed a request to be released to Leningrad to graduate from the Leningrad Institute of Water Transport Engineers. In Leningrad, until 1949, she worked in the Baltic Shipping Company as the captain of the Dniester, Pskov, Askold, Beloostrov, and Mendeleev ships. In 1947, the ship "Dmitry Mendeleev", commanded by Shchetinina, delivered to Leningrad the statues stolen by the Nazis from Petrodvorets during the occupation. And all on the same ship "Mendeleev" sat in the fog on the reefs of Senar Island, for which she was transferred by the Minister of the MF to the captain of the vessels of the V group for one year. After the transfer, she commanded the Baskunchak timber carrier until it was transferred to Far East.

Since 1949, Shchetinina went to work at the Leningrad Higher Marine Engineering School as an assistant and at the same time completed the 5th year of the navigation faculty in absentia.

In LVIMU in 1951, she was appointed first as a senior lecturer, and then as a dean of the navigation faculty. After 5 years, Anna Ivanovna was awarded the title of associate professor at the Leningrad Higher Marine Engineering School.

In 1960, he was transferred to the Vladivostok Higher Marine Engineering School as an assistant professor at the Department of Marine Engineering.

In 1963, she became the chairman of the Primorsky branch of the Geographical Society of the USSR

perpetuation of memory

September 25, 1999 Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina passed away. She was buried at the memorial site of the Marine Cemetery in Vladivostok.

A bust was erected on her grave in 2001.

2005 The publishing house "Svetlana" in Vladivostok published the book "Captain Anna" with numerous illustrations and memories of A.I. Shchetinina.

"Sea Wolves" in Hamburg in 1935. were utterly astonished when Soviet Russia to accept the new steamer "Chinook", the former "Hohenfels", a woman arrived - the captain. The world press was buzzing.

She was then 27 years old, but according to the engineer Lomnitsky, our representative in Hamburg, she looked at least 5 years younger.

Anna Ivanovna was born in 1908. at Okeanskaya station. The sea lapped not far from her house and beckoned her from childhood, but in order to fulfill her dream and achieve something in the harsh male world of sailors, she had to become not just the best, an order of magnitude better. And she became the best.

After graduating from the navigational department of the marine technical school, she is sent to where she begins her labor activity a simple sailor, at 24 she is a navigator, at 27 she is a captain, in just 6 years of work.

She commanded the "Chinook" until 1938. In the harsh stormy waters of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. She managed to become famous again when in 1936 the ship was trapped in ice captivity by heavy ice.

Only thanks to the resourcefulness of the captain, who did not leave the captain's bridge for the entire time of the ice captivity, and the well-coordinated work of the team, they were able to get out of it without damaging the ship. This was done at the cost of a titanic effort, while they almost ran out of food and water.

The first steamship of captain Anna Shchetininay "Chinook"

And in 1938, she was instructed to create the Vladivostok fishing port almost from scratch. This is 30 years old. She also coped with this task brilliantly, in just six months. At the same time, she enters the Institute of Water Transport in Leningrad, successfully completes 4 courses in 2.5 years, and then the war began.

She was sent to the Baltic Fleet, where, under fierce shelling and continuous bombing, she took out the population of Tallinn, transported food and weapons for the army, cruising the Gulf of Finland.

Then again the Far Eastern Shipping Company and a new task - trips across the Pacific Ocean to the shores of Canada and the USA. During the war, ships under her command crossed the ocean 17 times, she also had a chance to participate in the rescue of the steamer "Valery Chkalov".

Many glorious deeds on account of Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina, she commanded large ocean liners and taught first in Leningrad at the Higher Engineering Naval School, then she was the dean of the faculty of navigators at the Far East Higher Marine Engineering School. adm. Nevelskoy in Vladivostok.

Now it's Marine State University them. adm. Nevelskoy.

She was the organizer of the "club of captains" in Vladivostok and the chairman of the jury at tourist song festivals, which, with her active participation, grew into the famous in the Far East festival of author's song "Primorskie strings", she wrote books about the sea and textbooks for cadets.

Her merits were highly appreciated by captains abroad, for her sake the famous Australian club of captains "Rotary Club" changed age-old tradition and not only invited a woman to their club, but also gave her the floor at the forum of captains.

And during the celebration of the 90th anniversary of Anna Ivanovna, she was presented with a congratulation on behalf of the captains of Europe and America.

Anna Shetinina - Hero of Socialist Labor, Honorary Resident of Vladivostok, Honorary Worker of the Navy, Member of the Writers' Union of Russia, Honorary Member of the Geographical Society of the USSR, Member of the Committee of Soviet Women, Honorary Member of the Association of Far Eastern Captains in London, etc., the irrepressible energy of this woman, her heroism was highly appreciated in her homeland - 2 orders of Lenin, orders of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, the Red Banner, the Red Banner of Labor and many medals.

Anna Ivanovna passed away at the age of 91 and was buried at the sea cemetery in Vladivostok. The city has not forgotten this amazing woman.

At the Maritime University, where she taught, a museum of her memory was created, a cape on the Shkota Peninsula was named after her, not far from the house where she lived, a square named after her was laid out, etc.

Then other female captains came, but she was the first.

She spoke about herself

I went through the whole difficult path of a sailor from beginning to end. And if I am now the captain of a large ocean ship, then each of my subordinates knows that I did not come from the foam of the sea!

Based on materials from Tonina Olga Igorevna:-http://samlib.ru/t/tonina_o_i/ussr_navy_women_002.shtml

There she worked on the ships "Karl Liebknecht", "Rodina" and "Jean Zhores". These were steamships of the Liberty type, carrying military cargo across the Pacific Ocean. “... During the war, I quite often ...

There she worked on the ships "Karl Liebknecht", "Rodina" and "Jean Zhores". These were steamships of the Liberty type, carrying military cargo across the Pacific Ocean. “... During the war, I quite often had to attend receptions in the USA and Canada,” she said. - At one of them I was introduced to the present officials. The secretary of the embassy met everyone and loudly announced the name and position. I arrived a little earlier than the deadline and was also introduced to the audience. In addition, one of the employees of the Soviet embassy, ​​who took care of me, introduced people whom he called "important persons useful to our state."

Liberty steamer "Jean Jaurès"

At the very end of World War II, on August 25, 1945, Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina participated in the VKMA-3 convoy in the transfer of the 264th Infantry Division to southern Sakhalin.

In 1947, the ship "Dmitry Mendeleev", commanded by Shchetinina, delivered to Leningrad the statues stolen by the Nazis from Petrodvorets during the occupation. After many years, she will say about herself: “I went through the whole difficult path of a sailor from beginning to end. And if I am now the captain of a large ocean ship, then each of my subordinates knows that I did not come from the foam of the sea!

After the end of the war with Japan, she filed a request to be released to Leningrad to graduate from the Leningrad Institute of Water Transport Engineers. In Leningrad, until 1949, she worked in the Baltic Shipping Company as the captain of the Dniester, Pskov, Askold, Beloostrov, and Mendeleev ships. On the "Mendeleev" she sat in the fog on the reefs of Senar Island, for which the Minister of the Ministry of Finance was transferred to the captain of the ships of the V group for one year. She commanded the Baskunchak timber carrier until it moved to the Far East.

Anna in 1943

Since 1949, Shchetinina went to work at the Leningrad Higher Marine Engineering School as an assistant and at the same time completed the 5th year of the navigation faculty in absentia.

In LVIMU in 1951, she was appointed first as a senior lecturer, and then as a dean of the navigation faculty. In 1956 she was awarded the title of Associate Professor. In 1960, he was transferred to the Vladivostok Higher Marine Engineering School to the position of associate professor of the Department of Marine Engineering. In the archive of Moscow State University. adm. G.I. Nevelskoy (former VVIMU and DVVIMU), documents related to A.I. Shchetinina, for example, in the “Minutes of the meeting of the department dated May 30, 1963 on the re-election of Shchetinina as an associate professor of the department, good lectures were noted in the courses “Meteorology and Oceanography”, “Marine Affairs”, “Navigation and Piloting”, management theses, writing teaching aids and books."

In 1963, having become chairman of the Primorsky branch of the Geographical Society of the USSR, Shchetinina published an appeal to navigators, urging them to report observations “of unusual, anomalous or rare events', the study of which will 'enlarge the knowledge of man'.

Anna at the Feast of Neptune

In 1969 and 1974, she was again re-elected, but already in the department of “Ship Management and Its Technical Operation”. In 1972, FEHEMU petitioned for the appointment of the sea captain Shchetinina A.I. republican pension. Unfortunately, as often happens in a state where mentally handicapped people like N.S. Khrushchev come to power, instead of attention and care for those who are engaged in a real and necessary business, the authorities begin to glorify and praise those who bend their back better . That is why the long-deserved title - Hero of Socialist Labor - Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina received only by the 70th anniversary.

Captain Shchetinina was awarded several orders for commanding ships during the Great Patriotic War, on which she carried out the now-famous "fiery flights" in history.

Her successes in peacetime were noticed not only in the USSR, but also abroad. Indicative in this sense is the fact that even unshakable conservatives - Australian captains and the ship's leaders - violated their age-old tradition for her sake: not to allow a woman into the holy of holies - the Rotary Club. And before A.I. Shchetinina opened the doors. Moreover, they gave the floor on their forum. And later, during the celebration of her 90th birthday, the President of the World Association of Captains, Mr. Kawashima, presented Anna Ivanovna with congratulations on behalf of the captains of Europe and America.

But in her country, the first woman sea captain A.I. Shchetinina for a long time was not awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. Although by this time two women who became captains later than her - Orlikova and Kissa, bore this title. The management of the school prepared and sent the relevant documents to the government. But the award did not take place. Secretary of the Regional Committee of the CPSU for Ideology A.G. Mulenkov explained that an official in the award commission said: “Why are you putting your captain up? I have a woman in line - the director of the institute, and a woman - a well-known cotton grower! On attempts to explain that this is the world's first female sea captain, he simply rude: "You would have introduced the world's first carriage driver ...". The reason for the refusal was the "dissenting opinion" of one of the representatives of Morflot in the Central Committee of the CPSU, previously the deputy head of the Baltic Shipping Company for personnel. At one time, A.I. Shchetinina sharply criticized him for unseemly deeds in this post.

Anna Shchetinina in the seventies

In the late 70s, A.I. Shchetinina receives an invitation from the head of the FESCO, V.P. Byankin to the post of captain-mentor. The award found her on her 70th birthday. It was on February 26, 1978, when Anna Ivanovna's birthday was celebrated in the old Sailors' Club, that the award case fell on the table to L.I. Brezhnev, and was signed.

A.I. Shchetina became a member of the Writers' Union of Russia and wrote two books, one of which is called On the Seas and Beyond the Seas. The writer Lev Knyazev said about her: “Anna Ivanovna is a wonderful writer, the only woman in the world, as far as I know, a marine painter. She did not address the so-called "pure" fiction, although, judging by the language in which the books are written, she could well have done it. The value of her books is in their absolute truthfulness, high professionalism and one more, not so frequent quality - kindness. Talking about real events, describing hundreds of sailors and other people with whom her sea roads collided, she did not say a bad word about the bottom of them. She is a sailor and understood sailors with their virtues and shortcomings. That's why many of her books will surely outlive her. works of art and keep her legendary image.

The author's song developed in the 70s with the active participation of Anna Ivanovna. The Tourist Patriotic Song Competition held in Vladivostok, where she headed the jury, will turn into the Primorsky Strings festival in a year, which will later become the largest bard festival in the Far East.

Anna Ivanovna was also the organizer of the Captains' Club in Vladivostok in the old building of the Sailors' Palace of Culture on Pushkinskaya Street. An obligatory ritual was the ablution in a glass of the badge of honor "Captain of a long voyage" for the newly-made chief commander of the vessel. She amazed experienced captains with her directorial finds, which Eldar Ryazanov himself would envy. These were comic competitions between the teams of artists of the Primorsky Regional Theater named after M. Gorky and a group of captains, a demonstration of fashionable women's clothing and ballroom dancing, in which gallant gentlemen performed bizarre steps of a forgotten polonaise, famously danced in a Polish mazurka, and collective festive performances. Anna Ivanovna had to persuade some captains for a long time to play an unusual role. The elders of the "Club of Captains" helped the young commanders in their official and domestic affairs, they often had to directly contact the leadership of the shipping company. The Club also accepted the captains of the fishing fleet of Primorye, and the most worthy commanders of the Pacific Fleet. They did not pass by misconduct discrediting the rank of captain, they removed “shavings” from the guilty.

Anna Ivanovna died on September 25, 1999. At the Marine Cemetery in Vladivostok, a monument was erected to her, built at the expense of shipping companies and ports. Hero of Socialist Labor, Honorary Worker of the Marine Fleet, Honorary Citizen of the City of Vladivostok, Honorary Member of the Geographical Society of the USSR, Member of the Writers' Union of Russia, Active Member of the Committee Soviet women, Honorary Member of the Far East Association of Sea Captains in London, FESMA and IFSMA. For her work, Anna Ivanovna was noted by many government awards: two orders of Lenin, the Order of the Patriotic War II degree, the Order of the Red Star, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945”, medal “For the Victory over Japan”, gold medal “Hammer and Sickle”, insignia “Hero of Socialist Labor”. On October 20, 2006, the name Shchetinina was given to a cape on the Shkota Peninsula in the Sea of ​​Japan. In Vladivostok, not far from the house where the female captain lived, there is a park named after her. A memorial plaque was opened on the building of the school, which Anna Shchetinina graduated from in 1925.

Anna Shchetinina - Hero of Socialist Labor

As previously reported, in 2009, a female navigator, Aysan Akbey, a 24-year-old Turkish woman, was held captive by Somali pirates. She is on board the Turkish bulk carrier Horizon-1, which was hijacked by pirates on July 8. Interestingly, the pirates acted like a knight and told her that she could call home to her relatives any time she wanted. However, Aysan very dignifiedly answered that she would call home on an equal basis with other sailors, she did not need privileges.
The Women's International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA) was founded in 1974 and has grown by 40% in the last 2 years, now has chapters in 20 countries and has over 1,000 individual members. According to the International Labor Organization ILO in 2003, out of 1.25 million seafarers worldwide, women accounted for 1-2%, mainly maintenance personnel, on ferries and cruise ships. The ILO believes that total number women working at sea has not changed significantly since then. But there is no exact data on the number of women working in command positions, although we can confidently say that their number is growing, especially in the West.
Bianca Fromemming, a German captain, says that of course it is harder for women at sea than for men. Now she is on the beach, taking a two-year leave to care for her baby son. However, he plans to return to the sea, again to work in his company Reederei Rudolf Schepers as a captain. By the way, in addition to captaincy, she also writes as a hobby, her novel “The Genius of Horror” about a girl - a student of a maritime college prone to murder, sold well in Germany. Among the 1400 German captains, 5 are women. In South Africa, the first woman in the history of the South African Navy became the commander of a patrol ship. In 2007, the famous Royal Caribbean International appointed the first woman in the history of the cruise fleet, Swedish Karin Star-Janson, as the captain of a cruise ship (see Women Captains). The laws of Western countries protect women from discrimination based on gender, providing equal rights with men, but this is not the case in many other countries. There are a few female navigators in the Philippines, but not a single captain. In general, in this regard, Asian women are much harder, of course, than their European sisters - the centuries-old traditions of a certain attitude towards a woman as a creature of a lower order affect. The Philippines is perhaps the most progressive in this matter, but even there it is much easier for a woman to succeed in the business field on the coast than at sea.
Of course, on the shore it is much easier for a woman to combine career and family; at sea, in addition to isolation from home, a woman is met with the deepest skepticism of male sailors and purely domestic problems. Momoko Kitada tried to get maritime education in Japan, the captain-mentor of one of the Japanese shipping companies, when she came there as a trainee cadet, told her directly - a woman, go home, get married and have children, what else do you need in this life? The sea is not for you. In the United States, the admission of women to naval schools was closed until 1974. Today in Kings Point, New York, at the US Merchant Marine Academy, out of 1,000 cadets, 12-15% are girls. Captain Sherry Hickman has worked on US flag ships and is now a pilot in Houston. She says that many girls simply do not know that it is possible to get a maritime education on a par with men and have the opportunity to make a career at sea. And of course, many girls, after receiving an education and an appropriate diploma, do not work at sea for long - they start a family and go ashore without becoming captains.
South African Louise Engel, 30, is the first female captain in the well-known Belgian company Safmarine, which specializes in South African lines. The company is developing special programs for those of its employees who plan to return to the sea after having a family or still settle on the coast, but continue to work in shipping.
There is only one thing to complete this article - there are more and more women in the sea, and not in the service staff, but in command positions. So far, there are too few of them to try to assess whether this is good or bad. So far, those of them who reach the bridge undergo such a tough selection that there is no doubt about their qualifications and suitability for their positions. Let's hope it stays that way in the future.

April 16, 2008 - Siba Ships has appointed a woman, Laura Pinasco, as the captain of its largest livestock ship in the world, Stella Deneb. Laura brought Stella Deneb to Fremantle, Australia, her first voyage and first ship as a captain. She is only 30 years old, she got a job at Siba Ships in 2006 as a first mate.
Laura from Genoa, at sea since 1997. She received her captain's diploma in 2003. Laura has worked on LNG carriers and livestock carriers, and was an XO before captaincy at Stella Deneb, notably on a record-breaking head voyage last year when Stella Deneb loaded an A$11.5 million shipment in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. , assigned to Indonesia and Malaysia. 20,060 cattle and 2,564 sheep and goats were taken on board. It took 28 railway trains to deliver them to the port. Loading and transportation were carried out under the careful supervision of the veterinary services and met the highest standards.
Stella Deneb is the largest livestock ship in the world.

December 23-29, 2007 - container ship Horizon Navigator (Gross 28212, built 1972, US flag, owner HORIZON LINES LLC) of 2360 TEU of Horizon Lines was captured by women. All navigators and the captain are women. Captain Robin Espinoza, XO Sam Pirtle, 2nd Mate Julie Duchi. All the rest of the total crew of 25 men are men. Women fell onto the bridge of a container ship, according to the company, quite by accident, during a union competition. Espinoza is extremely surprised - for the first time in 10 years she works in a crew with other women, not to mention navigators. international organization Captains, Shturmanov and Lotsmanov in Honolulu says that 10% of its members are women, while 30 years ago they accounted for only 1%.
The women are amazing, to say the least. Robin Espinoza and Sam Pirtle are schoolmates. They studied together at the Merchant Marine Academy. Sam also has a diploma as a sea captain. Julie Duci became a sailor later than her captain and chief officer, but sailors-navigators will understand and appreciate such a hobby of hers (in our times, alas and alas, this is a hobby, although without knowing a sextant, you will never become a real navigator) - “I, perhaps , one of the few boatmasters who uses a sextant to locate, just for fun!”
Robin Espinoza has been in the Navy for a quarter of a century. When she first began her maritime career, a woman in the US Navy was a rarity. For the first ten years of work on ships, Robin had to work in crews that consisted entirely of men. Robin, Sam and Julie love their profession very much, but when many weeks separate you from your native shore, it can be sad. Robin Espinoza, 49, says: "I miss my husband and 18-year-old daughter so much." Her age, Sam Pearl, never met someone with whom she could start a family. “I meet men,” she says, who want a woman to look after them all the time. And for me, my career is a part of myself, I can’t even for a moment admit that something could prevent me from going to sea. ”
Julie Duci, who is 46 years old, just loves the sea, and simply cannot imagine that there are other, more worthy or interesting professions in the world.

May 13-19, 2007 - Royal Caribbean International has appointed a Swedish woman, Karin Star-Janson, as captain of the Monarch of the Seas cruise ship. Monarch of the Seas is a liner of the first, so to speak, rank, gross 73937, 14 decks, 2400 passengers, 850 crew, built in 1991. That is, it belongs to the category of the largest liners in the world. The Swedish woman became the first woman in the world to receive the position of captain on vessels of this type and size. She has been with the company since 1997, first as a navigator on the Viking Serenade and Nordic Empress, then as an XO on the Vision of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas, then as a backup captain on Brilliance of the Seas, Serenade of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas. Her whole life is connected with the sea, higher education, University of Technology Chalmers, Sweden, Bachelor's degree in navigation. She currently holds a diploma allowing her to command ships of any type and size.

And the first female LPG tanker captain
The tanker LPG Libramont (dwt 29328, length 180 m, beam 29 m, draft 10.4 m, built in 2006 Korea OKRO, flag Belgium, owner EXMAR SHIPPING) was accepted by the customer in May 2006 at OKRO shipyards, a woman took command of the ship, the first woman - the captain of Belgium and, it seems, the first female captain of a gas carrier tanker. In 2006, Rogge was 32 years old, two years since she received her captain's diploma. That's all that is known about her.

Marianne Ingebrigsten, April 9, 2008, after receiving her pilot's certificate, Norway. At the age of 34, she became the second female pilot in Norway, and this, unfortunately, is all that is known about her.

Russian female captains
Information about Lyudmila Tebryaeva was sent to me by a site reader Sergey Gorchakov, for which he thank you very much. I dug as much as I could and found information about two other women in Russia who are captains.
Lyudmila Tibryaeva - ice captain
Our Russian female captain, Lyudmila Tibryaeva, is, and it seems safe to say, the only female captain in the world with Arctic sailing experience.
In 2007, Lyudmila Tebryaeva celebrated three dates at once - 40 years of work in the shipping company, 20 years as a captain, 60 years since her birth. In 1987, Lyudmila Tibryaeva became a sea captain. It consists of International Association sea ​​captains. For outstanding achievements, she was awarded in 1998 the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, second degree. Today, her portrait in a uniform tunic against the backdrop of a ship adorns the Museum of the Arctic. Lyudmila Tibryaeva received the badge "Captain of a long voyage" number 1851. In the 60s, Lyudmila from Kazakhstan came to Murmansk. And on January 24, 1967, 19-year-old Luda went on her first voyage on the icebreaker Kapitan Belousov. In the summer, a part-time student went to Leningrad to take a session, and the icebreaker went to the Arctic. She made her way to the minister to get permission to enter the nautical school. Lyudmila also had a successful family life, which is rare for sailors in general, and even more so for women who continue to swim.

Alevtina Alexandrova - captain in the Sakhalin Shipping Company In 2001, she turned 60 years old. Alevtina Alexandrova came to Sakhalin in 1946 with her parents, and even in her school years she began to write letters to nautical schools, and then to the ministries and personally to N.S. Khrushchev, with a request to be allowed to study at the nautical school. At the age of less than 16, A. Alexandrova became a cadet at the Nevelsk Naval School. A decisive role in her fate was played by the captain of the ship "Alexander Baranov" Viktor Dmitrenko, with whom the navigator girl was practicing. Then Alevtina got a job at the Sakhalin Shipping Company and worked there all her life.

Valentina Reutova - captain of a fishing vessel She is 45 years old, she seems to have become the captain of a fishing boat in Kamchatka, that's all I know.

Girls rule
He goes to the fleet and youth, and letters to the president or minister are no longer required. Last year, for example, I gave a note about a graduate of Moscow State University. adm. G.I. Nevelskoy. On February 9, 2007, the Maritime University gave a start in life to the future captain Natalya Belokonskaya. She is the first girl in the new century - a graduate of the Faculty of Navigation. Moreover - Natalia is an excellent student! Future captain? Natalya Belokonskaya, a graduate of the Far Eastern Higher Medical School (Moscow State University), is getting a diploma, and Olya Smirnova is working as a helmsman on the river m/v "Vasily Chapaev".

March 9, 2009 - recently died in Canada, at the age of 93, the first North America a chartered female merchant marine captain, Molly Carney, known as Molly Cool. She graduated as a captain in 1939 at the age of 23 and sailed between Alma, New Brunswick and Boston for 5 years. It was then that in the Merchant Shipping Code of Canada, the Canadian Shipping Act was changed at the word "captain" "he" to "he / she". Pictured is Molly Carney in 1939 after receiving her captain's diploma.
Commentary: Our Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina received her diploma much earlier and became a captain much more, remaining a teacher at the Far Eastern Higher Medical School Vladivostok until the last, one might say, days. Honor and praise to all women captains, but what Anna Ivanovna did, no one has yet surpassed.

On April 10, 2009, Commander Josie Kurtz became the first woman to command a ship in the Canadian Navy, and she was recently appointed commander of the frigate HMCS Halifax, one of the most powerful ships in the Canadian Navy. Just 20 years ago, women received the right to serve on ships, but then it could not have occurred to anyone that a woman would ever be able to step on the bridge of a ship as its commander. In addition to Josie, more than 20 women serve on the frigate, but the male part of the crew as a whole treats her, according to her, as an ordinary commander and does not express any complexes about this. 6 years ago, the first woman became the watch commander of the coastal defense ship HMCS Kingston, she became Lieutenant Commander Martha Malkins. Interestingly, Josie's husband spent 20 years in the Navy, retired and now sits on the beach, at home, with their 7-year-old daughter. Features of the frigate HMCS Halifax:
Displacement: 4,770 t (4,770.0 t)
Length: 134.1 m (439.96 ft)
Width: 16.4 m (53.81 ft)
Draft: 4.9 m (16.08 ft)
Speed: 29 kn (53.71 km/h)
Cruising range: 9,500 nmi (17,594.00 km)
Crew: 225
Armament: 8 x MK 141 Harpoon SSM - missiles
16 x Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile SAM/SSM - Missiles
1 x Bofors 57 mm Mk 2 gun
1 x Phalanx CIWS (Block 1) - guns
8 x M2 Browning machine guns
4 x MK 32 torpedo launchers
Helicopter: 1 x CH-124 Sea King

Traditionally, the hearth and tow were considered the lot of women. In principle, this is correct, well, you won’t leave the house for a man? Someone has to be there with brains and a sense of responsibility. Men were always afraid to admit the fact that women in any business are capable of not only catching up with them, but also overtaking them. That is why they tried in every possible way to humiliate them, to hunt them down. But always born great women who escaped from the dullness of life. And if the lady got down to business - then her name thundered! It was these women who became the mistresses of the seas, the most famous pirates.

1. Princess Alvilda

According to the monk-chronicler Saxo Grammaticus (1140 - c. 1208), Alvilda was the daughter of the king of Gotland and lived in the late 9th and early 10th centuries. As usual, they tried to use the girl as a bargaining chip in the political games of men, to marry the son of the Danish king Alpha. The princemma did not agree with such a formulation of the question, grabbed a group of girls and went on a voyage through the fjords of Scandinavia.

The ladies put on a man's dress and carried out the usual activities for those times - they robbed merchants and coastal villagers. Apparently, they did it well, because very soon the king of Denmark was worried about the decrease in profits from merchants due to the presence of competitors and sent Prince Alpha personally to hunt for the brave pirates.

The failed groom at the time of the beginning of the hunt did not yet know who he would have to chase. But in the end drove a pirate ship in a goal, in single combat with a pirate leader, he forced him to surrender, and found his betrothed under the armor. As a result, the girl got the opportunity to evaluate the fighting qualities of her betrothed, his perseverance and other virtues, and immediately on ship the wedding took place. During the ceremony, vows were pronounced, among which the great woman gave her word to no longer play pranks in the seas without her husband.

2. Jeanne de Belleville(Jeanne de Belleville) (c. 1300-1359)

The life of Jeanne-Louise de Belleville Dame de Montagu flowed along the usual course for young medieval aristocrats: an easy childhood, at the age of 12, marriage to a gentleman chosen by her parents, the birth of her first children. But in 1326, Jeanne is left a widow with two children in her arms. But it would not be easy for a woman alone at that time to survive, and in 1330 she marries again.

The marriage was arranged, Olivier IV de Clisson was rich and powerful. But it turned out that Jeanne found not only protection, but also love. In warmth and happiness, the family continues to grow - five more children appear one after another. But here too fate intervenes - begins Hundred Years War in 1337, followed in 1341 by the struggle for the Breton inheritance. Olivier de Clisson joined the party of supporters of the de Montforts, who sided with the king of England. By the way, this war was also connected with the rights of women, in particular the inheritance of the Capetians.

The struggle in Breton continued with varying success, until de Montfort was captured by the French in 1343, and the Breton knights were invited to the wedding of the second son of King Philip VI. But in Paris, the participants in the war on the side of the de Montforts were seized, executed, their bodies hung on Montfaucon, and de Clisson's head was sent to Nantes. It was there that Jeanne saw her husband in last time. there she showed her head to her sons and swore revenge. It is not easy to kill a woman's feelings, she can be disappointed, she can be killed, but under the ashes of an extinct fire, the heat remains for a long time - it gave birth to a flame of revenge in Jeanne.

Jeanne raises an uprising, followed by the surrounding vassals. Bras was taken first, no one was left alive in the castle. Further, due to the captured booty or sold her jewelry, here the versions differ, but Zhanna equips three ship commanded by her sons and herself. The fleet goes to sea...

For four years, the Clisson Lioness has been raging on the sea and coast. Jeanne and her people appear suddenly, she is always in black, with gloves the color of blood. Jeanne attacks not only ships- trade, military, they make sorties deep into the coast, cutting out her husband's opponents, she herself always rushed into battle, perfectly wielding a sword and a boarding ax. Jeanne was driven by revenge ....

It is known that Joan had a marque of Edward III, and Philip VI ordered to catch her alive or dead. But the flotilla of the Clisson Lioness withstood several battles with the troops of the French king, more than once she managed to miraculously evade the chase. But in 1351, luck ran out...

During one of the battles, most of the fleet was defeated, the flagship was surrounded. Jeanne with her sons and several sailors escaped on a sloop without food and water. For several days they tried to reach the English coast, on the sixth day the youngest of the sons died, and later several more sailors died. It took almost 10 days until Zhanna got to land.

It was no longer the Lioness who stepped on the shore, the sea and the loss extinguished the fire in Jeanne's eyes. Madame de Clisson was well received at the court of Edward III. Surrounded by respect and honor. And a few years later she married Lieutenant King Gauthier de Bentley. Jeanne died in 1359. And her son Olivier de Clisson left an equally noticeable mark on the history of France, holding the position of constable in 1380-1392.

3. Mary Killigrew

Sir John Killigrew was governor of the Channel town of Flameth in the early 17th century. Among his tasks was to ensure the security of trade ships fighting pirates on the coast. In fact, Governor Killigrew's castle had its own pirate base as part of an old family business. Lady Mary helped to organize the parking and manage the sailors, who periodically went out to fish as well.

Usually no survivors were left on the captured ship, and Mary's secret remained unsolved for a long time. But once on a Spanish ship, the pirates did not pay attention to the captain wounded in the chest, who managed to escape from the ship during a stormy celebration of the capture and division of booty. On the shore, the captain first went to the local governor with a message about the pirate attack. And he was terribly surprised when he recognized in the presented sweetest wife his very cruel leader of the corsairs.

But the Spaniard managed to hide his surprise and, quickly bowing, he recovered straight to London to the king's court with a complaint against the governor and his wife. An investigation was ordered by royal decree. As it turned out, Mary was no longer a pirate in the first generation. She went to sea with her father Philip Wolversten of Sophocles. After an investigation, Governor Killigrew was executed and his wife was sentenced to prison.
But 10 years later, Lady Killigrew was talked about again. Only now it was Elizabeth, the wife of Sir John, Mary's son. But Lady Elizabeth's fleet was destroyed, and she herself died in battle.

4. Anna Bonnie and Mary Reid

The stories of these women can be enough for more than one adventure novel. Anna was born in 1690 to the lawyer William Cormac in Cork, Ireland. The strict father could not restrain his daughter's impulses; at 18, she got married to James Bonnie, a sailor. After that, the young were kicked out of their parental home, and he sailed to the Bahamas in New Providence. Meeting with Calico Jack changed dramatically destiny Anna.

Her husband was abandoned, she changed her name to Andreas, disguised herself as a man and went with Jack to look for a ship. Anna made her way to the ship under the guise of looking for work and studied his weak points. Finally fit ship was found, the pirates captured it and soon the "Dragon" under a black flag went fishing.

A few months later in team a new sailor appeared, which caused Jack a terrible fit of jealousy. After all, only he knew that Andreas was not even a man at all. But it turned out that McReid was actually Mary. The girl was born in London, at 15 she went to the military ship. After a while, she entered the French infantry regiment, fought in Flanders, where she met and married an officer. But after the death of her husband, with whom she carefully concealed everything, also pretending to be a man, she returned to the sea again.

After a while, the secret of Mary and Anna was revealed, but by that time team already enough imbued with respect for the talents of women. But in 1720, the English royal frigate attacked the Dragon and captured command practically without a fight, almost only Mary and Anna put up desperate resistance. In Jamaica, pirates were tried and sentenced to death. But unexpectedly, two of them demanded pardon on behalf of the "womb". Doctors confirmed that both pirates were women, and pregnant.

Their sentence was suspended. It is known that Mary died after giving birth from a fever, but about Anna it is only known that the birth took place, what became of her further remained a mystery ...

That's all I could find on the Internet about women captains. I think there will be many more such heroines on ships ahead.

Nowadays, women are increasingly occupying seemingly primordially masculine positions. It's already becoming a habit. But what was it like for those who were the first to decide to push men back where women were traditionally not allowed even close?

On February 26, 1908, at a small Okeanskaya station near Vladivostok, a girl was born in the family of switchman Ivan Shchetinin, who was named Anna at baptism. Who would have known then that over time, her name would be respectfully pronounced by gray-haired "sea wolves" from various countries of the world, and it would even appear on sea charts.

The times were hard and hungry, the family had to move more than once, until in the early 20s they settled at the Sedanka station (nowadays it is a near suburb, 7 km from Vladivostok). From childhood, the sea entered the life of a girl, because wherever the family lived, it was nearby. When Anna graduated from school in 1925, she had no doubts about her choice of profession.

The girl managed to enter the navigation department of the Vladivostok Maritime College. Already in the years of study, she began to sail on ships, first as a student, and then as a sailor. In 1929, Anna graduated from a technical school and received a referral to the Kamchatka Shipping Company, where in a little over five years she went from a sailor to a sea captain - an unprecedented career at that time.

It is difficult to say whether there were not enough personnel then or whether the young people were trusted to such an extent, but Anna Shchetinina went to Hamburg for her first ship, from where she was to overtake the Chinook steamer to Kamchatka.

One can imagine how the faces of the Hamburg shipbuilders stretched out when a woman who was not yet thirty years old arrived to receive the steamer. It was then that the foreign press began to actively write about her, after all, the event was drawn to a full-fledged sensation - at the Soviets, a very young woman became a sea captain. Newspapermen were not too lazy to follow her route to Kamchatka along the Northern Sea Route, but they were disappointed - the ship arrived at the home port on time and without any incidents. Serious incidents in her captain's age, and he was long, still enough, but they are ahead.

In the first years, Anna had to make voyages in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, "famous" for its storms and treachery. Already in February 1936, the sea tested the strength of the young captain. The ship "Chinook" was covered with ice, and for 11 days the crew fought to save it. All this time, Captain Shchetinina did not leave the bridge, leading the crew and choosing the moment to break out of the ice captivity. The ship was saved and received virtually no damage.

The year 1936 was marked for Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina by another significant event - she received her first state award, she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. Agree that at the age of 29 to become not only a sea captain, but also an order bearer, this was a rarity for men in those years. “Captain Anna”, as her male colleagues began to call her, not only demonstrated the highest professionalism, but also won the respect of experienced captains, and oh, how difficult it is.

In 1938, Shchetinina was appointed head of the fishing port. The position is responsible, but coastal, and Anna was not going to sit up on the shore. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, she left for the Baltic and entered the navigation department of the Leningrad Institute of Water Transport, where she managed to complete 4 courses in two and a half years. The war prevented me from continuing my studies.

In the most difficult conditions of the first months of the war, Anna Shchetinina on the steamer Saule made truly “fiery” voyages, carrying various cargoes and troops, and participated in the evacuation of Tallinn. That time was stingy with awards, but Captain Shchetinina was considered worthy of the military Order of the Red Star. In the submission it was written "For the exemplary fulfillment of the task of the government and the military command and the courage shown in operations in the Baltic."

In the autumn of 1941, Shchetinina returned to the Far East, where during the war she commanded various ships, transporting goods, including under Lend-Lease. More than once she went to America and Canada, where she was always very warmly welcomed. During the next flight, while loading was in progress, she was invited on an excursion to Hollywood, where they not only showed the "dream factory", but also presented an original gift - a personalized gramophone record with "The Internationale" performed by Russian emigrants, released in a single copy by Columbia .

In 1945, Anna Ivanovna also had to take part in a military operation, landing troops on Sakhalin. After the war, she returned to the Baltic again, she had to graduate from the institute. But it was not possible to start studying right away. Prior to that, I had to command several ships of the Baltic Shipping Company and even become a participant in a serious incident - I got on the reefs on the ship "Dmitry Mendeleev". Fog is no excuse for the captain, so Shchetinina was punished, albeit in a peculiar way - she was sent to command the Baskunchak timber carrier for a year.

Continuing to go on ships, Shchetinina resumed her studies at the Leningrad Higher Marine Engineering School, where she completed the 5th year of the navigation faculty in absentia. In 1949, even before passing the state exams, Anna Ivanovna was offered to go to the school to teach, because her navigational experience was simply unique. Until 1960 A.I. Shchetinina worked at LVIMU, was a senior lecturer, dean of the navigation faculty, head of the department.

Since 1960, Shchetinina has been teaching future sailors at the Vladivostok Higher Marine Engineering School. It is curious that even after becoming a teacher, Anna Ivanovna did not leave the captain's bridge. AT summer period she went as a captain on the ships of the Baltic or Far Eastern Shipping Company (she even made a round-the-world trip on Okhotsk) or supervised the practice of cadets.

In 1978, Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. By the way, they appropriated it on the second attempt, the first performance was back in 1968 (on the occasion of the 60th anniversary), but then something did not work out. The sea captain Anna Shchetinina had and personal life though not particularly happy. Back in 1928, she married Nikolai Kachimov, who was then a radio operator on fishing boats. Subsequently, he headed the Radio Service of the Fishing Industry in Vladivostok. In 1938 he was arrested, but a year later he was rehabilitated. Before the war, he worked in Moscow at the Radio Center of the People's Commissariat for Fishery. In 1941 he went to the front, served in the Ladoga military flotilla. Nikolai Filippovich died in 1950. There were no children in the family.

Anna Ivanovna devoted a lot of time to social work, was a member of the Committee of Soviet Women, a member of the Writers' Union (she wrote two interesting books about the fleet and sailors), since 1963 she headed the Primorsky branch of the Geographical Society of the USSR. It is noteworthy that the author's song developed in the 70s not without the participation of Anna Ivanovna, the "Tourist Patriotic Song Competition" held in Vladivostok, where she headed the jury, in a year will turn into the Primorsky Strings festival, which will later become the largest bard - festival in the Far East.

Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina died on September 25, 1999 and was buried at the Marine Cemetery in Vladivostok. In memory of the first female sea captain, her name was given to a cape in the Sea of ​​Japan. Memorial plaques have been installed on the buildings of the school she graduated from and the school where she taught. But the main monument to the legendary captain was the grateful memory of the thousands of sailors she led into the ocean.