1991 — The first stage of the “Havorn I Austerveg” expedition

Vikings on the East Way

Date: July-August 1991
Route: Oslo (Nor) — Stockholm (Swe) — Tallinn (Est) — St.-Petersburg (Rus)

On 30 of June the Norwegian-Russian expedition “Havorn I Austerveg” started from Oslo under the UNESCO flag. The participants of the expedition are the Viking ship Havorn and the Russian ship Nevo which was built in the Middle Age ships style on the shipyard of the polytechnic institute in St.-Petersburg. The crew of the ships was represented by members of the “Viken” Association (research of the ancient coastal cultures and nations), “Nature and the Youth” organization from Norway and ecological Swedish organizations. Two Smolensk people from the Viking-Nevo club — Sergey Suhoruchenkov and Nikolay Zaitsev — were in the crew of the Nevo ship. Two more Vikings — Yulia Polyakova and Maxim Suhoruchenkov — joined the crew in Tallinn.

The expedition which started very hopeful was fated not to over. The next day after arriving to St.-Petersburg the developments of August 19, 1991 took place. The way to St.-Petersburg was blocked by the submarines near Kronshtadt. That is why the Norwegian ship Havorn went to Helsinki and the Russian ship Nevo anchored in the navy yacht-club.