azloknatsouth

Since it is the 8th March and I've been meaning to write about women seafarers.  Let’s hear it for the Russian seafaring ladies - Past and present

In Soviet times, two seafaring women become famous in the West during the 40's:

Anna Shchetinina (1908-1999) - first merchant navy certified captain in 1935. (Link in Russian http://ljwanderer.livejournal.com/150094.html)

2. Valentina Orlikova 1915-1991) - she was the first woman in the world to became a large trawler and whaler captain, in Antarctic waters.

You could be mistaken that they were trend-setters in era when seafaring women in the West were mostly serving on passenger liners, as nurses, nannies or in the catering & hotel departments. Yet, both these ladies and thousands of others served at sea before and during World War II, as navigators, engineers and radio operators. 

Captain Anna Shchetinina initially trained at the Navigation Department of Vladivostok Maritime College. After earning her captain’s 4 rings, she got her first command in 1935, the steamship “Chavycha”, sailing from Hamburg to Kamchatka. She also served as a fisheries port manager before the war, then during the war,  Anna Shchetinina was a master of a Liberty ship in the Baltic, once getting hit by mine, while evacuating wounded. In 1951, Captain Shchetinina was appointed a dean of the Navigation Department in Leningrad Higher Marine Engineering College and later as assistant Professor in Vladivostok.