Boarding team. Boarding crew Side view

Alexander Sergeevich Suvorov (“Alexander Suvory”)

Photo chronicle book: “The legendary BOD “Fierce”. DKBF 1971-1974".

Chapter 702. Kaliningrad. Division-crew of the BOD "Ferocious". Boarding crew. 29.05.1972.

Photo illustration from the open Internet: Kaliningrad. Division-crew of the newly built BOD "Ferocious". At this time in the early 70s of the 20th century, everything was secret, and everything related to the newest large anti-submarine ship BOD “Ferocious” was super secret, so it was almost impossible to take photographs in the crew division, and even more so on the ship or during training sessions . In the minds of our friends from the ship’s crew, we, the boarding crew of the BOD “Ferocious,” were presented as anarchists from the movie “Optimistic Tragedy.” In fact, we were perhaps the most responsible, friendly and disciplined sailors of the Fierce ship. May 29, 1972.

In the previous one:

After the publication of an article about the meeting-meeting on May 11, 1972 in the main newspaper of the Baltic Fleet “Guardian of the Baltic” dated May 15, 1972, I was unexpectedly included in the ship’s boarding team - a special armed group of officers, midshipmen, foremen and sailors to capture an enemy ship or ship .

On Monday, May 29, 1972, on the morning of the ship's detachment service, quite unexpectedly, the first mate, Lieutenant Commander A.A. Salnikov read out a short list with an order marked: “Get out of action!” and led us, officers, midshipmen, foremen and sailors, to the “red corner” of the 115th separate division of newly built and repaired ships of the DKBF - the “lenkayut” of the crew of the BOD “Ferocious”. Here we were ordered to sit at the tables and listen carefully to the guest - captain 3rd rank of the Marine Corps (I don’t remember his last name - the author).

In accordance with the likely development of situations at sea during combat service,” the senior assistant to the ship’s commander, Lieutenant Commander Alexander Andreevich Salnikov, told us, “it was decided to create a special temporary combat unit within the crew of the BOD “Ferocious” - a boarding team for landing on enemy ships, ships or to the shore using standard ship's watercraft - boats and boats, or from the side of the ship.

The purpose of landing a boarding team is to capture an enemy vessel or ship, capture the crew, intercept communications, prevent damage and destruction of property, machinery and equipment, cargo, weapons and ammunition, fuel, fresh water and food, watch, personal and secret documents and equipment.

In addition, the boarding crew is obliged, independently or with the help of the crew, to restore the operation of the vessel or ship, give it movement and control the direction of its movement, either independently or under tow. If it is impossible to fulfill this duty, the boarding team must destroy the enemy vessel or ship using improvised or sabotage means.

In accordance with these goals and objectives, the boarding team of the BOD “Ferocious” includes combat numbers of the following military specialties:
boarding team commander, combat unit commander, senior lieutenant;
deputy commander of the boarding team, head of the combat and demolition group, lieutenant;
weapons specialist, midshipman;
specialist in machines and mechanisms, midshipman;
communications specialist, petty officer 1st article;
Navigation and control specialist, petty officer 1st article;
rigging and supplies specialist, foreman 1st article;
experts in hand-to-hand combat, sabotage and survivability, petty officers and sailors.
The total number of boarding crew is 10-12 people.

You must, in complete secrecy, in the near future, undergo special short training and training in the behavior of a boarding or sabotage team on an enemy ship or ship at sea under the guns or torpedoes of the Ferocious BOD, as well as in the methods and techniques of capturing, lifting from a boat to board a ship or ship and perform assigned tasks in conditions of passive or active resistance and sabotage by the command and personnel of a captured ship.

The principles of the design and structure of ships and ships all over the world are practically the same, so it will not be difficult or difficult for you to master the power plant, weapons, machines, mechanisms, communications, navigational equipment and steering gear. The most trouble and effort will require overcoming the resistance and sabotage of the crew of the captured ship. Therefore, the emphasis in training and education will be on this element of the combat training of the boarding team.

Naturally, what has just been told to you and what you will still learn and learn to do cannot be spoken or reported to anyone except those present here and the ship’s commander. For violation this condition Severe criminal penalties will immediately, surely and automatically follow.

Responsibility for all legal and illegal actions of the boarding team lies with its immediate commander (the first mate named his name and introduced us to one of the most authoritative and physically trained commanders of the combat units of the newly built BOD "Ferocious" - the author).

To me personally, everything that was said by A.A. Salnikov, I liked it extremely, I was only embarrassed by the fact that I was not yet a senior sergeant of the 1st article, I was not mentally and physically ready to fight to the death with someone, conflict, quarrel and be part of the boarding team, because I was “young”, thin and relatively weak, and around me there were real “idiots”...

Participation in the boarding team is voluntary,” the senior assistant to the ship’s commander, Lieutenant Commander A.A., told us. Salnikov. “So I’ll give you a minute to think.” Those who consider themselves unprepared for this work can leave the premises and forever forget about everything that happened here. Time has passed...

None of us even looked at each other, but in a dull murmur we informed the command that we were ready to immediately begin training...

An older captain of the 3rd rank of the Marine Corps with sharp features of a courageous face, cut by deep wrinkles and slightly disfigured by some traces of pock marks from an illness, immediately “raised us on our hind legs” because he forced everyone to undergo a mini-examination of physique, biceps size, muscle power by “push-up” from the floor on your hands and holding the “corner” with your legs raised from a handstand between the tables.

I tried very hard, but my thin “torso”, lack of pronounced muscles on the body and just a few “push-ups” from the floor plus the “instant corner” between the tables caused restrained disapproval, cheerful and mocking condemnation of those present.

The captain of the 3rd rank of the Marines calmly watched how our “dumbheads” diligently did push-ups and held their legs raised in front of them for a long time, and then suddenly made an unexpected blow with his fist right at my jaw...

I barely managed to dodge this attack and not just dodge, but “spin” around myself with a rebound to the side, thereby finding myself behind this crazy Marine. He didn’t react to me in any way, but made the same lunge-blow towards one, second, third “stupid” - they steadfastly withstood a painful blow with a fist in the chest and “in the gut”...

Error! – our teacher said loudly. “Your task is not to proudly and honorably accept the blows of your enemies, but to capture the ship, suppress the resistance of the crew, carry out the order, and here you are showing me your “oak fortitude and endurance.”

Sailor Suvorov did everything right,” said Cap Three of the Marines. - He avoided dangerous physical impact, which, due to his build and physical condition, could be fatal, and even managed to change his position and ended up behind the attacker, and you “dumbheads” were just lucky that I didn’t hit with full force and at the wrong points in your pumped up bodies that would make you disabled.

Your task is not to fight and not to show your strength and prowess, your task is to avoid fights, hand-to-hand combat, injury and death, your task is to capture the ship. Who needs your stupid heroism, bruises, bumps, scars, fractures and wounds? By doing this, you will only weaken the boarding crew, add to the hassle of caring for your wounds, and your heroic bragging and flexing your muscles will only benefit the enemies, irritate them, and encourage them to resist and rebel.

Our ship's "goofballs" were sincerely confused and wilted; they looked at me with hostility, as if I was guilty of something in front of them. After this, the captain of the 3rd rank of the Marine Corps began to tell and show us things that not only I, not only our officers, midshipmen and foremen, but the “all-knowing” first mate himself, Lieutenant Commander A.A. Salnikov, opened their mouths and made “round eyes” in amazement.

I can only say that this rude, tough, strong and courageous Marine officer turned out to be a real subtle psychologist, an expert on the human soul and the laws of human behavior, especially genetically innate instinctive behavior. Moreover, he turned out to be a real anthropologist, an expert in the anatomy and physiology of the human body and organism, and we learned a lot of amazing things (we only touched on secret knowledge - author).

The meeting, acquaintance and business communication with this amazing unknown person had a very strong impact and impression on me, prompted me to study science, which subsequently led to many of my personal discoveries in life, in biorhythmology, to predicting the fate of a person, to creative activity in politics, to study at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation, to the creation of my main work - “Chronology of the history of human development. Experience in reconstructing the sequence of historical events in time and space in correlation with solar activity.”

Of the multitude of information with which this “cap three” from the Marine Corps literally “inundated” us like an avalanche, I will show and tell you only one indicative technique-influence in relations with an aggressive member of the crew of a captured ship.

He is in front of you and he is determined to beat you, hit you, kill you. You are armed, but he is not, so he has nothing to lose - he will beat you desperately, suddenly, insidiously, mercilessly, evilly, vilely, in order to kill or finish you off for sure. He feels like a hero, he is excited, he is “on top” of his mood, but at the same time, he is instinctively afraid and on guard, because behind the side of his ship is a warship, ready to immediately sink this “hero” even at the cost of the lives of his boarding crew. Therefore, this “hero” wants to feel like a self-confident hero, in control of his fears, a worthy, self-respecting person.

How to immediately reduce his self-esteem, self-confidence and determination to be a “kamikaze hero” and at the cost of his life to fulfill his duty and “blah blah blah”? Moreover, please note that this is not ours, not a Russian, not a Soviet person, but a graduate of a capitalist society and state that is alien to us, a foreign worldview and morality, who considers himself higher than us, more civilized than us, and therefore stronger morally and physically.

We did not know the answer to this question of the captain of the 3rd rank of the Marine Corps and were waiting for some kind of revelation from him...

Here's how! - he said and ordered our three “stupid guys” to adjust accordingly and stand in front of him in the aisle between the shifted tables, imitating a narrow ship corridor with turns.

They (you) are standing in the corridor and I need to go out to them (you). They are waiting and ready from around the corner not just to stun me, but to “knock me out” with a blow to the crown of my head with something heavy. Stand in the pose of a man with a club or something heavy (the ceilings in ship corridors are low - author).

This means that I should not expose my sensitive parts of the body to them, for example, my bare head, face (eyes, nose), arms and legs (my tools for work, defense and movement). Consequently, I only have to appear around the corner for a moment, look out, “take a picture” of the situation with my gaze, instantly analyze the opponents’ readiness for any action, and immediately retreat.

But if my enemies performed their action and lunged towards me when I appeared, that is, their hands and their weapons had already “discharged”, stretched forward, so I have the opportunity to instantly neutralize their “tools” with a strong crippling blow to the hands.

Why a strong and crippling blow? Because this is a fair punishment for trying to maim or kill me: “An eye for an eye,” a tooth for a tooth.” Clear? This law has been known since primitive times; it is valid for cases of armed hand-to-hand combat. We are not in the ring, but in a real fight, this is war, they really kill here...

Now something else. You looked out and saw tense enemy opponents, but they did not perform any actions, but by all indications they were about to proudly and with contempt for pain and death perform a heroic act, that is, they would attack you. What to do when you find yourself right in front of them?

In any group of opponents there is always a leader, leader, ringleader, who is fueled by the energy of cowardice, caution and submission of others, and therefore is ready for heroism before their eyes. You know: “Even death is a blessing to the world!” Therefore, the leader feels at the height of his position, above everyone, cooler than everyone. Yes, and others see him exactly like that - “hillock”, “van”, “ivan”, “chief”. This means that his strength and confidence lie in this height of his dominant position and the role of leader in this group...

Perhaps the true leader is not in front, but behind, in the thick of a group of hostile crew, and in front is a simple “double breaker” - this is even easier and simpler. There are three of you, choose one leader from among you, whom I allow to hit me hard in the chest, in the stomach, in the jaw, while I will put my hands behind my back and promise not to turn away and not return blow to blow. You can hit me hard, but, of course, not fatally.

Our “dumbheads” briefly and embarrassedly conferred and one of them habitually stood in a boxing stance, like those “young people” in the crew division who, with such testing blows, tested our “young” and “newcomers” for endurance and stamina...

As soon as the “blockhead” decided to strike, the captain of the 3rd rank of the Marine Corps, who was calmly standing in front of our “year-old blockhead,” suddenly simply spat with relish in his face, in his eyes. Out of surprise, the “blockhead” was instantly taken aback, stopped, recoiled, looked at the “cap-three” in bewilderment and fear and immediately looked back at his comrades - they were also taken aback and instinctively laughed.

The captain of the 3rd rank of the Marine Corps, without opening his hands behind his back, immediately took a step forward and these three “blockheads” again instinctively parted in front of him, giving him way in the “ship corridor”; they were confused, dumbfounded and depressed by what had happened.

“Wipe yourself,” “cap-three” said calmly, “and don’t be offended, you acted instinctively and this reaction to spitting had nothing to do with you.” Only now you know one of the techniques on how you can overcome sabotage and the resistance of a numerically superior enemy in narrowness and inconvenience.

Remember once and for all,” an authoritative naval combat teacher told us. – The most powerful weapon in human relationships is an unexpected dominant mockery, a smart joke. Just remember for the rest of your life: a joke is good because it is fleeting; repeated twice or three times, it turns into mockery. With a mocking joke you will get not the confusion of wounded pride, but the furious rage of an offended human personality. No matter who your opponent is, he is a man; do not ridicule or contempt a werewolf beast in a man.

Isn't spitting in the face a form of bullying? – the “spit on” senior sergeant-major, a blockhead, ventured to ask.

“In ordinary civil relations, yes,” “cap-three” simply answered, “but we are not in ordinary relations, but in combat ones, so even the enemy will understand that in these conditions, “spit in the face” is a successful method of hand-to-hand combat. The opponents are also professionals, they understand and appreciate successful fighting techniques - this has been tested in practice.

The lesson continued, we didn’t even notice that it was time for lunch. At lunch we kept a proud and significant silence, and the guys “tortured” us in every possible way, finding out why and why we were gathered in the “lenka cabin” of the crew division.

After lunch and the “admiral’s hour,” which I spent in intense attempts to mentally remember and repeat everything that I learned in the first lesson, the captain of the 3rd rank and two other midshipmen (warrant officers) of the Marine Corps showed us (like in a slow motion movie - author) hand-to-hand combat techniques, and we carefully repeated and copied them. This activity soaked our sailor’s white robes through and through...

We did this for a week, and then we were again taken to the coast in the back of a Ural. Baltic Sea, where on the shore stood the superstructures of some trawler, cut off from the hull. A group of Marine sailors acted as the crew of this ship, and we acted as a boarding crew.

First, we were also shown in “slow motion movie” mode how to climb with the help of a “cat” (boarding hooks - the author) onto the deck of the ship or into the portholes, then how to capture the radio room, navigation bridge and chart room, the engine room, how to lock crew quarters of a captured ship, how to start machines, pumps and fans, etc.

Then they showed us how the crew of a captured ship can resist, what typical actions of sabotage they can take, and how they can passively or actively interfere with us, be rude, impudent and call us rude.

Then we simply, as spectators, walked and watched as the captain of the 3rd rank, in the mode of real combat counteraction, that is, real painful blows, pushes and pokes, walked along the corridors of the ship and overcame the resistance of the “crew” of the ship, including sailors and petty officers of the Marine Corps, Apparently, they “did not spare” their commander-instructor.

Then it was our turn. Now we, as well as the commander-instructor-teacher, diligently looked out, aggressively moved along the corridors and tried to break the resistance of the Marines. The result was our bruises and bumps.

I was also left with a bruise on my cheekbone and a small bruise under my eye near my temple. True, I still broke into the wheelhouse without spitting or hitting and reported to our first mate, Lieutenant Commander A.A. Salnikov, who stood in the distance on a hillock (imitation of the distance from the captured ship to the Ferocious BOD - author), that “the steering and navigation equipment were captured.”

By the way, what helped me overcome the resistance of a crew member of the captured ship was the door to the chart room, which I kicked twice with all my anger. The first time I kicked this door to indicate that I was about to enter, and the second time when I sensed that my opponent, who was lightly beating me all the time and immediately ran away further, was behind the door and waiting for me. I hurt him badly with that door, and in retaliation he gave me a black eye...

Late in the evening, our boarding team, without any joy, moaning and groaning, crouching and staggering, returned to the crew division and our guys silently watched with suffering as we slowly and carefully climbed over the sides of the Ural. Almost the entire crew of the newly built BOD “Ferocious” somehow already knew that we were a boarding team, that we were training to capture someone else’s ship, that we were being trained by Marines in real hand-to-hand combat, and that we were heroes.

I honestly admit, after several such classes, I wanted to give up and return back to quiet naval service, to my usual duties as a simple sailor. Everyone felt bad and painful, even our famous athlete-wrestler, the commander of one of the combat units, our boarding team commander, who trained separately with the “cap three” Marines.

When it became unbearable for everyone, we were given Saturday and Sunday for rest without the right to leave the division-crew. These days we only ate a little with our bloody lips, teeth and hands, and slept, slept, slept...

Then there were individual lessons with each specialist of the boarding team, then lessons and training only with demolition men, then a fight-battle of our “dumbheads” with the “Marines” for survival - “who will win”, “all against one” and “one against all”.

In the last exercise, the “game-fight” reached such a limit that our “blockhead” with a bloody eye, a broken lip, loose teeth, all beaten and wounded, fought so frantically and ferociously that the “Marines” surrendered. All the heavily beaten and bloodied participants in the final battle went into their “Marine” bathhouse in a brotherly “hug”, where they “got drunk on alcohol” and went outside to our truck “brothers forever.”

The overall assessment of our boarding team of the BOD “Ferocious” in the report was given “excellent” and it was noted in the text that “the boarding team of the BOD “Ferocious” showed collective and individual abilities and qualities corresponding to the goals, objectives and name of the ship.” Such an emotional mention in an official report of the word-concept “fierce” was made for the first time and our ship commander, captain 3rd rank E.P. Nazarov told us in confidence that the command of the Khmelevka training center insisted on such a formulation.

When we returned to the ordinary ship life of the crew of the newly built BOD “Ferocious”, our special relationship as members of the boarding crew was preserved and I, a young sailor-helmsman, in the eyes of my fellow peers, suddenly became a “friend” of the most notorious “year-olds” - the arbiters and keepers of the laws and "Anniversary" rules.

Moreover, it remained a mystery to everyone that my status was beyond my years and length of service in the navy; again I “stood out”...

Blocks of ice hung over the black water. The southern wind, unaccustomed to snow, hesitantly took it in his hands, swirled it in a whirlwind, tasting it, and myriads of snowflakes, fluttering from the top of the iceberg, landed on the dark surface of the sea, instantly dissolving into it. There was complete calm.

The old brig, battered by the elements and endless boardings, froze on the water. The bottom was covered with shells, the sails had long been torn. The black pirate flag with a skull and crossbones froze, hung helplessly, with its head gloomily lowered. At the bow of the ship, wrapped in a windbreaker, stood a dark-haired girl. Her name was Roberta. The cold made my cheeks blush and my eyes watered. She peered intently into the distance. Roberta breathed in the chilly air, looking for a way out of the icy labyrinth, but the dark stormy sky above her head did not promise hope, although the damp cold, which only yesterday had penetrated to the bones, had now receded.

For four days now the brig has not been able to get out of the trap. In one night, severe frost shackled its victims, black magic entangled them in a network of gloomy icebergs. The ship was not equipped for such weather, and the crew, already battered from their encounter with the war galleon, had no warm clothing. The first days they lit the stove for days on end and wrapped themselves in blankets, carpets and canvas, and then at one moment the blizzard subsided, and when the sailors got out to the upper deck, the snowdrifts on it were already melting. The ship rocked slightly on the water, but the surrounding icebergs, caused by dark magic, were not affected by the sun's rays. Two more days have passed since then.

Straight ahead, Roberta noticed a small boat that had come from God knows where. Looking closer, I saw a man lying in it. The hilt of the rapier seemed to slide into the hand itself. Roberta, taking one more look at the boat, quickly headed to the poop deck. The tongue of the ship's bell began to sweep.

Six men in rain jackets came out sullenly onto the deck, shivering from the cold, with cutlass in their hands. Juzhel appeared first and looked around the empty deck with a dissatisfied look. Karnaukh came out next and whistled:

Brought a dead man.

Jacob, a pirate with a long thick beard, began to load the pistol just in case:

“Even dead people walk in such places,” he said, looking around.

Karnauh threw the rope with a whoop, the hook caught on the side, and the pirate pulled the boat towards himself. She went easily, and as she accelerated she hit the hull of the brig.

I’m freezing, of course,” Karnaukh said, blowing his nose.

“Take it upstairs,” Roberta ordered.

I don’t hear,” the pirate turned his other ear, “what?”

Roberta did not answer, she only nodded at the two robbers, who had already climbed into the boat and lifted the unconscious body by its blue hands. Leaning over the bulwark, Karnaukh grabbed the man by the dirty shirt, which had long since turned into rags, and pulled him up. The fabric burst and the body fell with a thud to the bottom of the boat, nearly capsizing it. The wounded torso was exposed, and emaciated skin appeared, painted in a variety of shades: from yellow to bright red. The pirates cursed rudely at Karnaukh, but he did not hear and shouted irritably:

Throw out this corpse!

“He’s still alive,” they shouted back, but Karnaukh again didn’t understand anything, he only thought that they were swearing at him and said with feeling:

Well, freaks!..

The pirate's strong fingers grabbed the body under the arms and pulled it sharply aboard. Karnaukh checked his pulse by touching his neck:

So he's alive! I've never seen anything like this before.

It would be a shame to bandage it,” Jacob said hesitantly from behind Roberta, “it’s a pity, the doctors decided.”

“Wait, wait,” said Juzhel, “what are you thinking?” You are not sailors if you have not heard such stories! This is the messenger of the devil himself, no less! Let us help - and he will drag us to the bottom!

Devil?! - Jacob tucked the pistol into his belt, - look around, the devil has already caught us! And this guy... also probably fell into a trap.

Shut up! - Juzhel barked, - this is a trick, he will destroy us!

“We’ll leave it on board,” Roberta decided.

Captain,” Juzhel cleared his throat. - The devil caught us, now he won’t let us go. And this is his servant. Not a man, but a demon. Haven't you heard such stories? He will kill everyone, and take a few who he likes to the bottom to serve the sea devil forever!

There was silence. The pirates looked at the wounded man with suspicion. He didn't have a single deep wound, just bruises, torn skin, and broken fingers. In the tattered rags one could discern the clothes worn by prisoners in any royal prison.

Let’s leave the poor guy,” Roberta decided.

Captain!.. - Juzhel shook with rage.

He is a victim, just like us. Take him to the cabin, treat the wounds! We are all in the same trap.

Jacob nodded to the other pirate, William, and they lifted the body and dragged it down. The others followed them, and only Roberta remained on the upper deck, thoughtfully looking at the rapier blade, covered with frost. Wrapping herself in a rain jacket, she rubbed her nose and cheeks, causing them to turn even redder.

The pirates went down to the cabin and, groaning, threw the body into a corner.

“Heavy, like a chest of gold,” said Jacob.

When was the last time we saw a chest of gold? - Juzhel grumbled. - Cursed be the day when my foot set foot on this vessel! Three months wasted! Everything is around the bush, but now we’re really stuck. What else was there to wait for?

Tell me what's on your mind? - Karnaukh sat down next to him.

Clear as day! It's time to change the captain!..

“Oh, Juzhel, you’re at the wrong time, two weeks ago,” Jacob said with annoyance.

Shut up! - Juzhel barked. - The time is right! A little more and we are dead.

Karnaukh furrowed his brow, listening intently, but couldn’t make out anything and, just in case, muttered:

Well, freaks!..

Zhuzhel jumped up to answer, but was interrupted by the ringing of the bell. The pirates, grabbing their sabers, rushed onto the deck. There, under the piercing wind, following the tip of Roberta's rapier with their eyes, they saw a human figure approaching them across the ice. The pirates peered, but the silhouette was too far away. Roberta silently handed the telescope to Jacob. The fingers clenched the body, the robber turned his eye and screamed in fear. Jugel snatched the pipe from him and looked for himself.

The sea devil wants us dead,” he whispered.

The figure reached the edge of the ice floe, about twenty meters away from the ship, and now it was easy to see that this was not a person at all, but a yellowed skeleton, in dirty torn rags, tightly clutching a rusty sword. Behind his back he was dragging a torn standard, on which the symbols of the Crown could be discerned. Under such banners the cavalry of the monarch Theador the Third goes into battle.

Roberta took off her rain jacket. The pirate turned out to be wearing a silk white shirt and a gray short jacket. On her feet are black pants with ribbons at the knees and low boots.

The skeleton soared into the air, and the monstrous impact caused the ice to crack under its feet. A rusty saber whistled as it jumped. The dead man landed on the deck with such force that the ship shook and tilted.

Roberta grabbed the pistol, clicked the trigger, and the bullet blew off a couple of the skeleton's ribs, scattering into rotten crumbs. The dead man staggered, tripped over the ropes, but then an unknown force threw him forward. He rushed towards Roberta, raised his rusty sword, and a dull blade flashed. As if in a dance, the pirate’s boots counted three steps sideways, and with a short lunge she pierced the skull, which immediately shattered into pieces, like clay. The skeleton did not have time to fall - with dashing cries, the pirates rushed at him, the blades with a dull crunch shredded bones and rang piercingly, accidentally meeting each other. Fragments of bones scattered in splashes to the sides, and soon the skeleton turned into a shapeless heap.

Devilishness! - shouted Juzhel, - I’ve been swimming for so many years, but this is the first time!

“You don’t swim much,” Karnaukh blew his nose and wiped his fingers on his pants, “I’ve seen the dead.” They seem scary, but in reality, spit and they will crumble.

How a captain from St. Petersburg created a global aggregator for ships

Georgy Kozhukhovsky created the Anyships service to make buying a ticket for a ship or renting a boat as easy as calling a taxi. By starting the service in hometown, the entrepreneur is now scaling it worldwide

Georgy Kozhukhovsky

While walking around Venice at the beginning of 2017, Georgy Kozhukhovsky had difficulty getting on a water bus: not knowing the Italian language, he wandered the streets for a long time, tried to read signs to find out the routes, and the staff on board the ships themselves did not know English. “I missed the service a la Uber, only for boats: I opened the application, called a boat or bought a ticket and went,” recalls Kozhukhovsky.

Returning home, he began to develop such a service in his native St. Petersburg. He managed to raise 10 million rubles. investments, and for a month of work in May 2018 received 1.2 million rubles. revenue.

Meeting on deck

28-year-old Georgy Kozhukhovsky always dreamed of yachts and big water. In the first year of the Faculty of Geography of St. Petersburg state university he even started publishing a life-style magazine, Open Eyes, about boats, yachts, cars and fashion. True, he published only one issue - the crisis of 2008 struck. Then Kozhukhovsky took a different route - he purchased a used Bayliner 285 Cruiser yacht in installments for 2.5 million rubles. and received the license to operate small vessels.

He agreed with two berths at the Peter and Paul Fortress, hired a captain and began to carry tourists. We managed to pay for the yacht in the first summer season of 2010. However, the business soon had to be frozen: according to the new rules, any shipping company, even a very small one, had to have a license, but Kozhukhovsky did not have one. He was unable to quickly receive the document due to bureaucratic delays. Then he rented out the yacht to another company, and he got a job at the St. Petersburg media company PMI. She had her own ships where parties were held. The young captain took Zemfira, the Scorpions group, Philip Kirkorov and other celebrities around St. Petersburg on a fashionable yacht. At the same time, he founded the Numidal company and helped yacht owners he knew rent out. The company currently has eight light vessels, two of which it owns.

In June 2016, an acquaintance of captain Georgy Kozhukhovsky asked to replace him on the yacht and take the helm. The owner of the vessel turned out to be the co-founder of the Sela clothing holding Arkady Pekarevsky. In 2010, he sold his 45% of Sela to his cousin Boris Ostrobrod, bought real estate and opened the Aztec chocolate and marzipan factory. “Arkady and I got into conversation and made a pleasant impression on each other,” recalls Kozhukhovsky.

Arkady Pekarevsky (Photo: Askhat Bardinov for RBC)

He remembered this acquaintance in Venice, when he decided to create an aggregator for ships: “I had the phone number of a billionaire. I thought: I’ll try, whatever the hell, I’ll offer him an idea for a business.” Pekarevsky liked the idea and invested 10 million rubles in the project. “There is such a concept as the “soul of an entrepreneur.” All my adult life I have been creating something new, and I had a desire to create a service that would be convenient for people and that could reach the international level,” explains Pekarevsky. He received 50% in the new company Eniships LLC. Kozhukhovsky invited the owner of the Topfaces.com dating service, Dmitry Borodin, to play the role of technical director, offering 5% of the company.

The partners chose the name of the project together. Kozhukhovsky wanted to give the aggregator the name Allships. Pekarevsky suggested calling it differently - Anyships - by analogy with the service for purchasing airline tickets Anywayanyday. As it turned out, the Anyships.ru domain was cheap - only 2 thousand rubles. “For me, this was a sign that the project needed to be developed,” says Pekarevsky.

Income from water

According to the commercial director of the Moscow company Rivertickets.ru Ivan Bochurin, the market river transportation Moscow and St. Petersburg have more than doubled over the past two years, mainly due to an increase in the number of tourists. For example, recently there have been a lot of tourists from China and Iran among our clients. In 2015, there were 700 thousand passengers in Moscow river transport, and in 2017 - already 1.5 million. In total, last year in Moscow and St. Petersburg, 2.5 million tickets worth 600 million rubles were sold, Bochurin calculated. In 2018, the market should continue to grow thanks to the World Cup. ​But this business is not yet developed enough, especially in the regions. “We have only 1,000 ships in St. Petersburg. Only about 600 ships sail along the Moscow River, 120 in Kazan, and about 80 in Sochi,” Kozhukhovsky cites his data.

Tickets for ships are sold either by the shipping companies themselves, or travel agencies. The capital already has a large ticket aggregator - the company Rivertickets.ru, which sells tickets for 70% of ship routes. According to Bochurin, now the company has gone further - it trains staff of small companies that own one or two ships, organizes routes and hires cashiers who sell tickets at the pier.

“Most aggregator sites work with two or three shipping companies, but we immediately decided to sell tickets for any water transport online all over the world,” says Kozhukhovsky. “With the ability to see the ship itself and how it sails along the route, in real time, with a schedule and cost.”

Clients in a notebook

The development of the Anyships service took more than a year; the site was launched only in May 2018. By July, the developers promise to launch a mobile application. Now the site is searching for ships and excursions. You can see on the map which route the ship will take, where it is currently located, departure schedules, prices and available seats.

Anyships has a staff of 28 people. Half of them are developers, half are employees who are responsible for connecting partners. The main salesman is Kozhukhovsky himself. At first, he talked with representatives of all 40 shipping companies in St. Petersburg, many of them knew him personally. “We talked to shipowners and found out what they were missing. Most often, they complained that it was inconvenient to keep records about clients: some wrote down information in notepads, others entered data into Excel. Assign a captain to order, indicate how much fuel is needed for the flight, who is working tomorrow, which tour guides - we decided to automate this part of the process,” says Kozhukhovsky.

If for clients the Anyships website looks like a ticket aggregator, then for ship owners it is, in fact, a specialized CRM system for water transportation. It contains information about orders formed for the near future, routes, location of ships, who operates them, and how much fuel is on board. Information on sold tickets is automatically updated in real time.

The first company to connect to the system was Minherz & Co. - it has several ships and berths near the Peter and Paul Fortress and Nevsky Prospekt. Then Astra Marine, which owns several Meteors plying between St. Petersburg and Peterhof, and other ships, got involved. To date, 25 companies in St. Petersburg have connected to the system. Anyships.ru commission ranges from 5 to 35% depending on sales volume. Among the partners is Arkady Pekarevsky - he rents out his yacht Azimut 55.

A representative of Minherz & Co. confirmed that the company had already concluded an agreement with Anyships.ru, but refused to say how many tickets had already been sold: “It’s only the beginning of the season, we haven’t realized it yet.” CEO of a shipping company Scarlet Sails» Dmitry Nechaev said that he is testing the Anyships.ru system, but is not sure that he needs it - the fact is that the company is developing its own reservation system, because “it does not want to be someone’s hostage.”

Georgy Kozhukhovsky and Arkady Pekarevsky (Photo: Askhat Bardinov for RBC)

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Kozhukhovsky’s goal is to automate the purchase of tickets and ultimately reduce the number of employees who work at the piers. “Now the client first comes to the ticket office, where he pays for the ticket, then they tear off a ticket for him at the pier. Everything happens manually, and companies cannot track sales online,” he explains.

Some companies that have connected to Anyships already use an automated ticket verification system. No ticket office is needed, and the employee at the pier uses a mobile app to scan the QR code of the ticket purchased online from Anyships, just like in a movie theater. Every five seconds, the mobile application synchronizes with the database and sends information to the server. Shipowners see the loading of their vessels online and can change their pricing policy. In the near future, Anyships plans to install turnstiles on the berths - then people will not be needed at all.

It is usually unprofitable for the shipowners themselves to sell tickets at the berths: they are often located in places far from public streets, and they also have to hire promoters-barkers who invite tourists to buy tickets for a river cruise. There is no electricity at some berths, and companies are forced to use diesel generators to operate ticket offices.

On the high seas

The main problem of the water transportation business is seasonality, but Kozhukhovsky believes that he has found a solution. “When the season ends in St. Petersburg, it begins in United Arab Emirates“says the entrepreneur. Having started in his hometown, he plans to earn money abroad. Expansion into some countries has already begun.

In 2018, Anyships hired representatives in 18 countries, including France, Italy, Spain, UAE, Israel and Cyprus. These are mostly former compatriots and professional translators - Kozhukhovsky and Pekarevsky find them through mutual friends. Representatives communicate with shipowners and offer them cooperation. As in St. Petersburg, the company works with shipping companies and owners of yachts and boats. According to Kozhukhovsky, about 80 companies and 200 individuals have already signed preliminary agreements (in total there are 3 thousand vessels in the database). Sales have not yet started, as the service is being translated into local languages. According to Kozhukhovsky, shipowners abroad, as a rule, are ready to cooperate, because for them “this is an additional influx of tourists, and it will not hurt anyone.”

France and Italy already have online databases of charter boats, but these are mainly sailing and motor yachts, which are rented out for long term. Tickets for ferry boats or local trams are often not sold online at all. Kozhukhovsky is convinced that a company that makes the process of buying tickets and renting pleasure boats simple and universal will be able to capture this entire market.

In May 2018, the company earned 1.2 million rubles from commissions. She spends about 1.5 million rubles on office maintenance and software development. per month. They expect to be in profit based on the results of the first season. “To be honest, we are moving blindly, solving problems as they arise. I call this playing from sight,” says Arkady Pekarevsky.

View from the outside

“It will be easier for companies to survive”

Svetlana Goncharova, Deputy General Director of Mosturflot

“Anyships definitely has its advantages. Such an aggregation IT system can be useful for tourists who are used to planning their trip on their own. And for us, a company that works on a traditional model with tourist groups, such a tourist is interesting, because usually he does not come to us.

If the aggregator makes it possible to reduce costs, for example, by reducing personal communication with the client, then this will also be a plus. When we didn't have an online booking and sales system, customers would talk to a call center. A considerable number of employees worked there. As soon as we started using online booking and abandoned the call center services, we solved several problems: we got rid of the mistakes of not very highly qualified employees and responses that were given with a long delay - this factor is very annoying for tourists. True, it was not possible to significantly reduce costs, since maintaining a reservation system is not much cheaper than call center services.

Companies using automated systems will have an easier time surviving: they will be able to quickly change prices if demand grows. For example, now we cannot do this quickly, and it is not always possible to predict demand.”

“Tourist Ubers don’t work well.”

Managing Partner of Leta Capital Alexander Chachava

“I think that the prospects for this project are not very bright, and in St. Petersburg there are none at all. Navigation there lasts three months, and maybe hundreds, but not thousands or millions of people own boats. Tourist Ubers, as practice shows, generally work poorly, because attracting a user is expensive, while the profit is low: the tourist comes and leaves, he does not use the service regularly.

If we talk about maritime transport, then it is also not used regularly anywhere - probably only in Venice. Ordinary St. Petersburg residents don’t ride trams either. This will not work the same way as with taxi aggregators; there is no such thing in any city. large quantity potential customers who would use the service daily.”

Boarding crew(boarding party) - a specially trained group (part of the personnel), equipped with special boarding equipment (pistols, sabers , cats, axes), the main task of which is to conduct hand-to-hand combat during boarding, as well as the coupling of ships for the transfer (reception) of cargo.

On vintage pirate ships quartermaster(quarterdeck master) was called the first deputy captain, who was also the commander of the boarding team. In the event of the death or removal of the captain, he was the first candidate to occupy the vacated position.

John Silver on the Walrus at Flint's (in the novel Scottish writer Robert Stevenson Treasure Island) performed the duties of a quartermaster.

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Notes

Literature

• Naval Dictionary / Ch. ed. Commander-in-Chief of the Navy fleet admiral V. N. Chernavin. - M.: Military Publishing House, 1990. - 511 p. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN 5-203-00174-x.

Excerpt characterizing the Boarding Party