If you happened to spot an old sailing ship with Russian lettering last week, sailing the Portage Canal, you weren’t seeing things. It was actually an 18th century tall ship replica, the Russian ship Pilgrim, that has been on an incredible journey, sailing from Petrozavodsk, in northwest Russia, to Alaska.

According to Russian state media, Sputnik, “they started their trip two years ago from Petrozavodsk in Russia’s Karelia region. On the way to the United States they visited Estonia, Finland, Denmark, overwintered in Germany and then continued the voyage through the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, and the Canaries and Caribbean Islands.” From there, they headed to Albany, New York, via the Hudson River, through all five of the Great Lakes, staying overnight on the Chassell side of the Portage Canal. That’s where Tanya Etelamaki snapped the first four photos of the ship as it docked on the long wall at the boat landing there.

The last photo was snapped by Taana Blom as the Pilgrim was heading to Houghton along the canal. I’m unclear if it actually sailed under the Portage Lift Bridge, as the map on the webpage about their voyage, in the Duluth News Tribune, shows their path as going around the tip of the Keweenaw.

Next stop for the Pilgrim after leaving the Keweenaw last week was in Duluth where they will lay over for a few weeks before taking her on a train to Seattle and then continuing on the last leg of their voyage to Alaska from there. The stop in Duluth will be a special one, as Duluth and Petrozavodsk, in northwest Russia, were established as sister cities in 1987, during the Cold War, when the nuclear threat hung over both superpowers.

You can read more about their journey, the sailors on the ship and having to remove their masts to make it through the bridges in Albany, New York, in the Duluth News Tribune article here: Duluth News Tribune.

Speaking of bridges, In The Keweenaw has a video of aerial footage over the Portage Lake Lift Bridge and Houghton. If the Pilgrim did go under the Lift Bridge, it would be neat to see photos or video of that, too!

I suppose it's possible they thought they couldn't make it under the Lift Bridge and didn't want to remove the masts once again.

Nice, nice, nice! And "two years"...wow, I hope
they weren't rush'n.

"… the Russian ship Pilgrim, that has been on an incredible journey, sailing from Petrozavodsk, in northwest Russia, to Alaska."

If they wound up in Portage Lake on the way to Alaska, then to crib a line from John Wayne:

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Quote:

«Ну, если ты собираешься на Аляску, Пилигрим, ты свернул не в ту сторону возле Лабрадора».

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I just love this epic trip of the Pilgrim, and a train ride across North America to boot. I really suggest people follow the links Mary provided. Further enclosed links will take you to a blog written in Russian, but Google will translate it for you.

I had a friend who, more than 20 years ago, make a portion of the same Great Lakes area journey. He bought a very used motor/sailor yacht of similar size on Long Island, NY. He then proceeded to sail it solo through the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes. Since he was bringing it to the metro area I live, which is on the Mississippi River, when he got to Chicago he went down the ship canal, then the Illinois River to the Mississippi River, again all by himself and this was before GPS. There are many man-made dikes in the river at the big bends (called "wing dams"), usually just under the surface. They are used to control the currents and avoid sand bars. You guessed it, he got within sight of his home port, hit one of these dikes and sank.

So the Pilgrim sailed via the Hudson River and the Erie Canal via Buffalo to Lake Erie, not via the Saint Lawrence Seaway . Okay, my mistook.

In that case, to crib a line from John Wayne:

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Quote:

«Что ж, если ты собираешься на Аляску, Пилигрим, ты свернул не в ту сторону на Карибах это левый поворот на Панамский канал.»

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That's gonna be one a LONG train ride from the Bering Sea back to Karelia.

These Russkie sailors plan to haul the "Пилигрим" by train from Duluth to Seattle? That'll be a pricey move.

Who can afford that (never mind building this ship and covering the enroute expenses at sea and at their various stops)?

These folks clearly aren't a bunch of Soviet era крестьяне (peasants); maybe latter day олигархи (oligarchs)?

Oh no, wait — they expect to fund that rail part of the trip, if not the rest of it with contributions???

They can go the <bleep> back to Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, Russia" and tell Putin to return Karelia to Finland!
(And he can also return the Crimea to Ukraine while he's at it.)

I prefer Trump's way of thinking; Let the Mexicans pay for it.

LOL!!