KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Skipper Vasili I. Sviridenko, the Pallada’s Master of Sail, and his crew, disembark in Kodiak Wednesday morning. The ship will be here until late Saturday. Tours are available from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday. Brianna Gibbs/KMXT photo
The OK from customs took a bit longer than expected, but around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, the captain of the Russian ship, Pallada, and his fellow shipmates stepped onto Pier 2 in Kodiak. KMXT’s Brianna Gibbs has more.
(cold open)
— (Pallada 1: :09 sec "Let’s give a big Kodiak welcome to the crew…Cheering.")
Kodiak Harbor Master Marty Owen welcomes the crew of the Pallada.
It was the first time the crewmembers had stepped on land in 21 days, since their departure from Vladivostok. The crew was greeted by a number of Kodiak dignitaries and presented with a traditional loaf of bread and bowl of salt from Kodiak historian and Russian descendent Dawn Black.
— (Pallada 2: :20sec "This is a traditional Russian greeting … in Russia.")
Members of Saint Innocent’s Academy, a private Russian Orthodox school in Kodiak, greeted the ship with dancing and music, and according to Seraphim Klinefelter, an honest attempt at a welcome signs for the crew.
— (Pallada 3: :29 sec "There is kind of a funny story … Presentation had begun .")
But the translated "Kodiak to hello welcome" didn’t stop the dozens of cadets from lining up along the railing of the ship and singing to the welcoming crowd standing on the pier.
— (Pallada 4: :15 sec "Russian singing.")
Kodiak resident Thelma Johnson who, like many in colonial Russia’s first capital, has Russian heritage, got a special treat when the cadets discovered it was her 90th birthday and sang to her as she watched from shore.
— (Pallada 5: :11sec "Russian singing.")
— (Pallada 6: :07sec "It was beautiful they sang to me… I wish I understood it.")
The crew of more than 100 cadets from two universities in Russia will be in Kodiak until Saturday. Their time on the Pallada is part of practical schoolwork that they must complete to earn their degrees. Natalia Borodina is the head of the English department at the university in Vladivostok and is on board the Pallada as the education and information mate of the captain.
— (Pallada 7: :54sec "On board we have two groups … 20, about that.")
The cadets and crew will leave the ship in shifts of 50 over the next three days and explore Kodiak. There will also be an open house, dinner and concert onboard the ship.
This is the second time the Pallada has called on Kodiak since it was built in Poland. The first was more than 20 years ago. Borodina said only one current crewmember, the chief radio officer, was onboard the Pallada the first time it came here.
In Kodiak, I’m Brianna Gibbs.
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