question about newspapers and magazines

[Barbara]

Alexander, did you believe the mate when he told you about his REMARKABLE dream ?
Did you take any precautions as a result ? Even say prayers - privately, of course. This would have been about the height
of the Soviet system, I guess.

That is truly fascinating.

So why do lights stay ON when a ship sinks under the water ? That seems unusual. One would expect the
electrical current would be stopped ?

Keep telling us more of your account of this revealing historical incident.
Sad about the Captain's suspicious demise.

[Alexander Kuzmin]

Barbara, we did not think that this dream was remarkable. We realized it only after the incident.

As for the lights, a ship usually has several generators working and a system that protects current. We had 8 generators and 4 or 5 people responsible for electricity. Besides when a ship sinks, the water does not fill it up immediately. There can be air in some places for a long time, so the light can stay on for an hour and even more. The ship is "alive" for some time even when it is under the water. My books were left there and probably there was still light in the cabin.

I will write about helicopter-pilots later.

[Barbara]

Too bad about the lost books. No doubt, though, the loss was keener at the time. I bet you wouldn't want them anyway by now, probably having much different reading interests ?

Thank you for the electrical explanation. Indeed, it sounds so sad when any ship sinks.
Think about all the money spent on them in construction and maintenance over years, just to have the vessel end up on the bottom of the ocean.

I always feel disappointed when reading accounts of ships of any type or nationality sunk in the 2 World Wars. What an abysmal waste of materiel, even when
all the crew were fortunate enough to be saved, as in your case.

We are waiting for whenever you have time to tell us about the helicopter pilots and more of the story.

[Alexander Kuzmin]

And now about American pilots who saved our crew. They made a real heroic deed, because it was very risky. Our ship was very far from the coast. It was right on the "point of return" -- the point, where a helicopter needs to hurry back home or there will be not enough of fuel to return. So, they had enough fuel only to fly to the ship and go back, without spending time there.

And they had so pick up people one by one. They could not stop above the ship because of the strong wind. So, they put down a sort of cradle and every crew member (including three women) had to jump to this cradle one-by-one, and there were 37 people.

On this picture you can see one of the pilots. His costume is bright-orange. His duty was to jump into water immediately in case if somebody fell down into water. He was to go grab the fallen sailor and to keep him while other would take them into helicopter by the rope.

[Maria]

Thanks for sharing this wonderful true story. It was probably one small act of charity that started the thaw that brought down the Iron Curtain.

[Alexander Kuzmin]

I think you are right, Maria.

[Barbara]

Alexander, you mean the man in orange would have clutched onto anyone who fell into the water to
keep him from drowning ? That sentence wasn't 100 % clear.

I guess no one fell in, thank God.

That IS terrifying that your ship was so far off the coast that
it was touch and go [i.e., dangerous] for the helicopters to be able to rescue and have enough fuel to
return to land.

Was this incident covered widely in the US media at the time? I would imagine it was,
but I don't remember reading about it at the time. Of course, it was a good propaganda piece for the US.
Probably USIA would have broadcast this story everywhere overseas ! [They were not permitted by law
to publish or broadcast domestically in the U.S. But their mission was to show the good side of America
and counterract Soviet dezinformatsia. They did their best to capitalize on any incident like this to
show the world that the American way was superior to the Soviet Communist one.]