persistence and determination, qualities that shaped george’s character sydova.t a parochial school, he began working as an assistant and then as a clerk in a trading store, but his dream of becoming a sea captain forced him without. parents' blessing to run away to rostov-on-don to enroll in sailing classes. afterwards he sailed on merchant ships, then joined the navy. it is from this moment that such a sharp leap in his career, in his biography, probably begins. he goes to the city of st. petersburg, er, where, after several months of preparation, he takes external exams for the full course of the naval corps. at the admiralty, he worked on expeditions to the arctic ocean and the caspian sea, explored the mouth of the kolyma and studied the novaya zemlya archipelago. during the russo-japanese war of 1904-5 , he commanded minomoska in the amur bay, a man of honor, a devoted comrade and a responsible worker. this is how sidov’s colleagues knew him, but the most striking episode of his life was, of course, the expedition to the north pole. in 1909 there were alrea