Details of the recovery of Stalin’s personal boat from Lake Ritsa: it lay at a depth for half a century

The history and parameters of the vessel are one big mystery

In the small Republic of Abkhazia it is a big sensation. An old boat was raised from the bottom of Lake Ritsa, on which Comrade Stalin himself took boat trips.

Information about the rescue of a historical rarity was published by Sputnik Abkhazia. The initiator of such a technically difficult operation was local businessman Daur Chamagua. He told the journalist that he heard about this boat from his father. Allegedly, this boat was produced back in the 1930s – 1940s. And it sank about 60 years ago as a result of a collision with a coastal rock.

“The boat was at a depth of about 12 meters on the right bank of the lake… We had to put in a lot of effort and money to pull it out. It took us two months to do this,” Chamagua said. Then the entrepreneur-enthusiast explained that the pleasure craft was lifted from the bottom with the help of several special inflatable cushions, which were borrowed from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and large chambers added to them from a KrAZ truck. Then the “drowned man” was pulled to the shore with metal cables attached to SUVs.

Chamagua also reported that the length of the craft is about 8 meters, and the width is about 3. The condition of the boat is quite dilapidated: “…already rotten.” There are no inscriptions or markings on the sides.

What is the further fate of this relic is not yet known. Its rescuers plan to restore the boat, and then, perhaps, make it one of the local historical attractions.

Help “MK”:

The “Pearl” of Abkhazia, mountain lake Ritsa, stretches for almost 2.5 kilometers. Its maximum width is about 870 meters, and its maximum depth exceeds 110 meters.

Soon after the end of the war, construction of a country residence for Stalin began on the shore. The special facility, designated “State Dacha No. 5,” was ready in July 1947. Since then, the “father of nations” came here every year until 1951 and spent from several days to a month on vacation.

One of the “owner’s” entertainments was boat trips. Boats were brought to Ritsa for them – for Joseph Vissarionovich himself with his guests and for the accompanying security.

What kind of vessel was fished out from the bottom of the Abkhazian lake today? A specialist in the history of shipbuilding, Dmitry Mazur, shared his comments with the MK correspondent.

– To be honest, the photograph that illustrates this news from Abkhazia does not really “fit” with the story of the enthusiast himself. He mentioned the dimensions of the boat: 8 meters long, 3 meters wide. However, the image convinces us otherwise. Eight meters long – still back and forth, one can agree that it is close to this (you can’t say for sure, since the photo does not show the whole boat). But a three-meter width is a clear exaggeration. Judging by the picture, this size is closer to one and a half meters.

Having looked through the reference books, we can conclude that, most likely, we are looking at the remains of the semi-glider NKL-27. This boat was designed back in 1934. The vessel, weighing almost one and a half tons, designed for 5 people, was just over 7 meters long and about 1.5 meters wide. In the bow there was a specially modified engine from a GAZ-AA lorry with a power of 50 “horses”, which allowed the boat to accelerate to 35 km/h. The entire “twenty-seventh” is made of wood. The body set consists of ash and pine parts. The outer skin is made of curved pine boards about a centimeter thick, and the deck at the bow and stern is made of thick plywood with special impregnation.

I came across information that in 1947, when Stalin’s new dacha No. 5 was ready, two NKL-27 boats were delivered to Lake Ritsa. And besides them, there are also a couple of service gliders for security officers.

In general, NKL-27 was produced in the USSR for the needs of sailors and border guards. But these “government” specimens that were brought to Lake Ritsa were, of course, luxurious in design. Most likely, the cockpit (salon) was decorated with valuable types of wood, including teak wood, which has long been popular for this purpose, brought from South Asia. Surely there were comfortable soft seats installed, metal arches for pulling a waterproof rubberized awning… The sides of each of the boats above the waterline were painted white, and the lower part was red.