The history of the schooner "Kodor" - the main sailing ship of Soviet cinema
This beautiful sailing ship is known by different names: “Secret”, “Hispaniola”, “Scorpio”, “Duncan”, “Pilgrim”. Many people don’t even realize that all these ships in everyone’s favorite Soviet films were “played” by the same schooner “Kodor”. She was a real movie star for many years until she tragically died in a fire near the Baku embankment.
A schooner is a sailing vessel that has at least two masts with forward sails. At the same time, the sailing equipment of schooners can be different. Sailors distinguish between gaff, bermuda, jib, topsail and topsail. These are beautiful sailing ships, widely used until the mid-20th century for a variety of purposes, from fishing to scientific research.
The schooner "Kodor" was built in 1947 in Finland by special order of the Ministry of the Navy. The Finns created this ship to pay for reparations due to the Union following the Second World War. The ship was named after the Kodor River in Abkhazia.
The Kodor was not the only sailing ship built by the Finns as part of reparations. From 1946 to 1953, Finland launched 102 of these sailboats. It is difficult to explain such a passion for sails in the mid-20th century. "Kodor" became one of the most serious projects. This is a three-masted schooner with a displacement of 500 tons, a length of 39.4 and a beam of 9.5 meters. Its height from the waterline, but the tops of the masts is 58 meters.
The schooner received a gaff sailing rig with a sail area of 834 square meters. m. Additionally, the ship had an internal combustion engine of the Bolinder system with a power of 300 hp. With. The maximum speed of the Kodor under sail was 10 knots or 18.5 km/h. A crew of 15 people was required to operate the schooner. Up to 50 cadets could also be accommodated on board.
The beginning of Kodor's career was not at all romantic. The vessel was used as a collector of catch from small fishing vessels in the Baltic Sea. The schooner also carried out tasks of supplying fishermen with food and equipment. But the ship did not remain in the fishing fleet for long. It was transferred to the Leningrad Naval School as a training sailing ship. The gaff rig was replaced with Bermuda rig, which is easier to operate.
From 1957 to 1970, the training ship Kodor plied the waves around Europe. The schooner visited the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and 11 seas. During this time, more than 3 thousand cadets of the naval school managed to take a course on it. In 1971, “Kodor” was recruited to play the role of the galleot “Secret” in the famous alumni celebration “Scarlet Sails” in Leningrad. The debut was successful and the ship delighted teenagers and their parents until 1979.
And then “Kodor” became a movie star. Everyone remembers the 1982 film based on R. L. Stevenson's novel Treasure Island. The sailing ship brilliantly played the role of the three-masted schooner Hispaniola. For this purpose, ancient cannons were delivered to the ship, and the cadets were dressed as sailors and pirates. In the same year, "Kodor" was included in another adventure film - "Arabella, the Pirate's Daughter."
Despite the fact that the schooner looked quite vintage, in fact it was a fairly modern vessel. Because of this, problems sometimes arose that had to be solved using ingenuity. For example, in Treasure Island there is a scene where Jim, played by Fyodor Stukov, steals the Hispaniola from pirates and stands at the helm.
The ship's wheelhouse was full of modern equipment that could not be hidden. Then the steering wheel was simply removed and installed on the deck. While Jim was turning the steering wheel, not connected to anything, in the fresh air, in the control room the ship's captain was controlling it with an adjustable wrench.
In 1983, the Kodor was donated to the Baku yacht club and the schooner ended up in the Caspian Sea. She participated in water sports festivals and simply decorated the capital of the Azerbaijan SSR until 1985. Then the filmmakers again remembered the actor-ship. The next film with her participation was the serial film “In Search of Captain Grant”, based on the novel by Jules Verne “The Children of Captain Grant”.
After some alterations, the schooner Kodor became the yacht Duncan. To do this, guns were reinstalled on the ship, name plates were replaced, and most importantly, a fake chimney was installed from which smoke could be released. A superstructure with a false steering wheel was erected in front of the chimney.
After filming was completed, the schooner was returned to its original form and delivered back to Baku. But she was not in her home port for long. In 1986, the film studio needed it again. Now “Kodor” was to portray the whaling ship “Pilgrim” in the feature film “Captain of the Pilgrim” based on Jules Verne’s novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain.”
This was the schooner's last voyage. After that, she never left the Baku pier again. They wanted to transfer the Kodor to the Naval School, but difficult times came in the country. The educational institution could not take on the maintenance of the sailboat. The city council also failed to cope with this. As a result, it was decided to turn the schooner into a floating restaurant.
For many years, the legendary ship delighted Baku residents and city guests with excellent cuisine and exotic surroundings. But it was painful for the sailors to see how a still strong sailing ship with an interesting history turned into a catering establishment. There were even rumors that some desperate people even planned to hijack the Kodor.
No, not to become pirates of the Caspian Sea. Allegedly, the sailors were going to crash the schooner on the rocks of Nargin Island. In this sad place there is a ship cemetery of the Caspian flotilla. Near the island lie the remains of warships from the Second World War. But things did not go to such an extreme.
One August night in 1999, a fire broke out on a restaurant schooner. Whether it was an accident or a deliberate arson, no one knows. During the night, "Kodor" completely burned down, despite the efforts of firefighters and their volunteer assistants. From the glorious ship, a favorite of children, several large fragments remained, which were soon disposed of.