Russian Frigate to Sail Round the World

The Nadezhda (Hope) frigate of the Far Eastern state maritime university, which sailed out of Vladivostok today, is to circum-navigate the globe. (Vladivostok is a Russian Far Eastern port on the western coast of the Sea of Japan -- Ed.) This voyage is devoted to the 200-th anniversary of the first-ever Russian world cruise that involved the Nadezhda and Neva sailing ships under the command of great Russian sea-farers Ivan Kruzenshtern and Yury Lisyansky.

The current voyage is to last for about a year, with some 100 third-year cadets from the university's ship-navigation department visiting more than 20 foreign sea-ports. Their list includes Pusan, Singapore, Colombo, Aden, Gibraltar, London, Rio de Janeiro, Tahiti and Hong Kong.

In May 2003 world-cruise participants will become guests of honor at festivities devoted to the 300-th anniversary of St. Petersburg, also attending a large-scale international sailing-ship regatta.

The cadets will study during their voyage, with both ships showing the Russian flag in different countries of the world. Plans are also in place to study the World Ocean's waters, as well as the influence of its processes on the global climate.

All research will be conducted with the help of up-to-date technologies, involving leading scientists from the Far Eastern department of the Russian Academy of Sciences.