Anything can happen at work. And what you would not expect. For example, this is what happened to me in 1958.
Heavy crane
I, a young specialist, a mechanic of the Kamchatrybstroy construction trust, was given the task to drive an excavator from Seroglazka to the area of the Bogorodskoye Lake bay.
The city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky stretches for tens of kilometers on the hills along the huge Avacha Bay. Construction sites were located in different parts of the city, and we sometimes used self-propelled barges to transport heavy construction equipment. After all, the undercarriage of the machines is not designed for long-term movements: the bronze bushings of the road wheels wear out, and the drive chains break. Our office had on its balance the so-called tyulkin fleet: three self-propelled barges and two boats.
So, I made a request and received a barge to transport an excavator. The weather was good, and in the afternoon we approached Seroglazka. It was necessary to find a suitable place without large stones so as not to break through the bottom of the barge and get as close to the shore as possible. We managed to do this only on the fourth attempt: underwater boulders prevented us from approaching the coast. The barge crawled onto them with a rattle, and we had to look for the “soft bottom” elsewhere. Finally, the OM-202 excavator, weighing about 20 tons, drove onto the barge, and we set off on a journey along Avacha Bay. Late in the evening we moored to the pier in the Bogorodskoye Lake bay and went home. We decided to unload the excavator tomorrow morning.
No mysticism
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In the morning I was met by an excavator with an assistant. They excitedly reported that they could not find the excavator barge. We hurried to the pier, but could find nothing. Morning fog swirled over the surface of the bay, and nothing reminded that there was a barge here in the evening. We racked our brains trying to figure out what was the matter: who stole the excavator and the ship? Pirates, Japanese, aliens? In those days, Kamchatka was a closed area - it was possible to get to this region only with special passes.
The fog began to thin out. Suddenly someone shouted:
- Look!
And then we saw the smooth bottom of our self-propelled barge, which almost merged with the surface of the water about seventy meters from the pier.
Later it turned out that the barge received minor damage while loading the excavator, which we did not notice. At night, water was gradually drawn into the hold. Under the weight of the load, the roll increased and, finally, the barge capsized. The excavator slipped off the deck and drowned, and the barge, freed from its cargo, freely drifted from the pier, kept afloat. Yes, only with the bottom up!
Diver's feat
An epic began: it was necessary to find a floating crane, divers. We turned to the military unit, which was based here, on the Bogorodskoye Lake. The sailors gave a brigade of divers. We also found a floating crane. The excavator was lying under water on the roof, upside down. The diver had to work hard: in the muddy water, almost by touch, wind slings under the tracks. We managed to save the equipment.
After lifting the excavator, our machine operators decided to <thank the divers. This case was celebrated right on the pier. The assortment of wine and vodka products at that time was limited to bottles of alcohol at 5 rubles 87 kopecks. True, there was an embarrassment. The guys slightly exceeded the norm, and it seemed to one diver the feat of lifting from the depths of a 20-ton machine was not enough. He decided to prove that he does not freeze in Kamchatka waters, and jumped off the pier. He was immediately caught. The bosses did not appreciate the diver's feat, and instead of being rewarded for his recent work, he received an outfit out of turn. Then I also got a reprimand - the first of sixteen, which I had to receive in 14 years of work in Kamchatka.
Georgy KALININ, St. Petersburg