Russia's Kruzenshtern sailing ship has arrived at the Port of Vancouver for the opening of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Russia's Kruzenshtern sailing ship has arrived at the Port of Vancouver for the opening of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
The tall ship has a crew of some 200 students from Russia's Baltic Academy and other fishery academies and will become an "additional office" for the Russia House in Vancouver during the Games.
The ship will be used for official meetings and receptions, and excursions on the vessel will also be available to the public.
The ship left its home port in Russia's exclave city of Kaliningrad on December 1 with maritime students and staff, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, plied the Panama Canal and then took her course north along the Pacific West Coast of the United States, finally reaching Canada's Port of Vancouver on February 10.
The Kruzenshtern's International Trans-Atlantic Expedition is dedicated to the 65th anniversary of victory in World War II.
The expedition is also is the vessel's third round the globe voyage.
During the first stage of the expedition, which began in April, the ship covered 13,700 nautical miles, and visited seven countries and 12 ports.
The ship was given to the Soviet Union in 1946 by Germany as part of World War II reparations, and was renamed in honor of a Russian admiral of German descent, Johann Krusenstern (1770-1846), who performed Russia's first round the world trip.
Since the 1970s, the ship has been used as a training vessel for naval cadets.
