Евгений Гвоздев – ein russischer Seefahrer, Entdeurer und Reisender.2 Fotos

Evgeny Gvozdev
Russian seafarer, explorer, and traveler

The interrupted journey of a 74-year-old solo adventurer

This renowned Russian seafarer and traveler was the first Russian captain to complete a solo round-the-world voyage in 1996 aboard a small recreational dinghy. In 1999, he undertook another such voyage, but in 2008, he lost his life at sea during one of these expeditions.

Evgeny Alexandrovich Gvozdev was born in 1934 in the Belarusian city of Pinsk. His father was taken away in 1937 and never returned from Stalinist prisons. Evgeny grew up with his mother, but she died during the Great Patriotic War while a bombing struck their home. He then lived with a distant relative.

After graduating from a maritime school in Astrakhan, Gvozdev began working on ships, serving as a marine engineer for over three decades.

In the late 1970s, he began his yachting career, building his first boat himself—a one-deck vessel constructed from an old sailing ship that had been decommissioned. He named it “Getan,” combining the names of himself and his family: Evgeny (GET), his wife Tatyana (T), their son Alexander (A), and daughter Natalia (N). With this boat, he crossed the Caspian Sea multiple times.

On July 7, 1992, Gvozdev set off on his first round-the-world voyage aboard the small 5.5-meter-long ship “Lena.” This journey was groundbreaking, as no one had ever done such a thing before in a vessel of this size. The voyage was dangerous: in August 1995, he was attacked by local pirates off the coast of Somalia and nearly killed.

He successfully completed the voyage on July 19, 1996.

On May 17, 1999, Gvozdev embarked on his second round-the-world voyage, this time aboard the 3.7-meter-long boat “Said.” This vessel later became known as the smallest sailboat to ever cross the Magellan Strait. For the past three years before this journey, he had spent preparing and repairing his ship.

At the age of 65, Gvozdev began his third round-the-world voyage on September 19, 2008, aboard the new 5.5-meter-long boat “Getan-2.” Unfortunately, this journey ended tragically. In October, he successfully crossed the Black Sea, but in late November, he encountered a severe storm off the coast of Italy. Contact with him was lost on December 1, and his body was found on a beach in Italy on December 2.

Thus came to an end the life of this brave Russian seafarer who brought honor to Russian yachting around the world.In memory of him, his boat “Lena” is displayed at the “Admiral” yacht club in Moscow, and his “Said” boat is on display in a school in Machachkala where he used to live.Interestingly, Evgeny himself admitted that he had always been afraid of the sea, but it was precisely this fear that drove him to venture out into the ocean time and again. Had his last voyage been successful, he likely would have continued on. Unfortunately, this did not happen.

Evgeny’s friends knew that, despite being a true seafarer at heart, he dreaded leaving the land. Thus, his death at sea fulfilled his ultimate wish to die in the place where he loved so much.

"We men must do something in life that we can be proud to tell about: climbing Mount Everest, planting a garden, curing a disease, writing a book—anything meaningful and useful," Evgeny used to say.