Shishelov Alexey Nikolaevich

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

Alexey Nikolaevich from the lighthouse dynasty. In total, he worked at the lighthouse for 29 years.

From the article “One Hundred and Fifty Steps to Heaven”

"...the boss is Alexey Nikolaevich Shishelov, who continues the family tradition. The head of the Tersko-Orlovsky lighthouse (on the Kola Peninsula) was his grandfather Pavel Alexandrovich. Then Alexey's father took over the baton. Nikolai Pavlovich Shishelov, who died not so long ago, worked at lighthouses all his life. First at the Tersko-Orlovsky, and then at Shoinsky. He passed it on to his son management of the lighthouse business, and with it a family tradition, a sense of pride and responsibility for an important maritime business.

In a word, lighthouse business is, as they say, in Alexey Shishelov’s blood. He was born at the Tersko-Orlovsky lighthouse in 1965, and spent his entire childhood and adult life at the Shoina lighthouse. Unless he was “absent” for three years for military service. To the navy, of course. He served on the destroyer "Desperado" as commander of the helmsman squad and participated in two long-distance Mediterranean campaigns. And after the Northern Fleet - again a lighthouse. He serviced the floating barriers, worked as a technician, and in 2005 took over command of the lighthouse from his father.

According to my first impressions, the lighthouse was in good hands. Wherever Alexei Shishelov and I looked during the excursion, there was almost exemplary, I would say, naval order everywhere. And I’ve probably never seen such clean, well-maintained engines as in a diesel engine anywhere. Everything here shines, like at an exhibition, ready for work. And the old sea clocks (lighthouses are also time keepers), which are more than half a century old, also fit perfectly..."

***

From Alexey’s story to the Mayachnik project.

"...my grandfather started working in 1936 at the Tersko Orlovsky lighthouse in 1941, my father was born, he was born at the lighthouse during the war, my grandfather was not taken to the front, they told him that he was already in the service, in 1965 I was born at the lighthouse, subsequently my father was transferred to the Shoina lighthouse on the Kanin Peninsula, where I worked with my family until 2010, in 2010 the lighthouse was closed, people were laid off, I was unemployed for 29 years worked at the lighthouse.

The lighthouse was repaired in 2007 according to the Norwegian program, and in 2010 it was destroyed, everyone broke it and left it to be ruined and plundered. I asked the authorities not to touch the lighthouse, we were all in excellent condition, we could work for 10-15 years without serious investments, only we paid salaries."

***

Fragment from the article "Just sand"

Lighthouse

While former lighthouse keeper Alexei Shishelov and I are climbing the dark spiral staircase 33 meters up, a heavy, damp fog silently descends on the village. The houses scattered in a huge sandbox seem to be covered by a large sheepskin, the gray sand merges with the gray sea, and the world around becomes uninhabitable.

Shoina is a place completely devoid of symbols. There is nothing here that would be greater than itself, that would speak of another life and that would give access to the outside world. Except for the lighthouse.

When you stand on the windswept platform at the top of the lighthouse, it seems that not the airport, not the pier, but the lighthouse is the only symbol of the big world and Shoina’s connection with it.

In fact, there is no longer a lighthouse in Shoine. Two years ago, Moscow decided that navigation off the coast of Kanin was poor, all ships were already equipped with GPS, and the lighthouse could be closed.

50 years before, local fishermen, barges with provisions, Nenets nomads, hunters lost in the polar night - all those for whom the word "GPS" is an empty phrase - went to the yellow light of the Shoina lighthouse.

The lighthouse was repaired shortly before its closure, in 2008. Under the program to support the ecology of the White Sea, the Norwegians bought new batteries and generators for all our lighthouses. Shoininsky also received a lens.

The lens looks like a huge iridescent diamond. It focuses the light so that it falls in sharp, thin rays, diverges over 60 kilometers and appears bright yellow, warm, piercing the darkness. It only shone for a year.

In October 2009, Alexey Shishelov and his wife, also a lighthouse keeper, received notice of dismissal. However, there was no order to turn off the lighthouse, the Shishelovs decided. And they continued to work.

They came to close the lighthouse only the next year. As Alexey recalls, the military who arrived for the lighthouse property tore out the generator cables, drained the electrolyte from the battery and offered to pull the generator out of the building by breaking through the wall with a tractor.

“And about the lens they simply said: let’s drop it from above - and to hell with it, let’s say - they carried it, they broke it,” recalls Shishelov. - Well, here we are a little bit in hand-to-hand combat...

In general, the beacons defended the lens.

For the last two years, the lighthouse has been quietly being destroyed: the plaster has fallen off, the metal railings have rusted, and there are traces of a crowbar on the doors. The former lighthouse workers repair everything they can themselves and make plans to restore the lighthouse.

The lighthouse was illuminated with an ordinary 500-watt light bulb. You can supply energy to it from the village generator, repair it yourself, and pay for the light bulbs by taking tourists on excursions. But the lighthouse belongs to the military. And those, seeing the demand, will offer to buy it.

I spent a long time trying to persuade Vladimir Kotkin to collect signatures from Shoinin residents for the restoration of the lighthouse, print an open letter and send a request to the Ministry of Defense to transfer the lighthouse to the village administration free of charge.

Semenych nods calmly. By law, the lighthouse is a federal facility. If the village council takes it on the balance sheet, Semenych will still face the same article for misuse of the budget.