This book tells about little-known pages of the glorious history of Russian northern seafaring and about the nature of the Arctic. The literary foundation of the narrative is based on a real event: a six-year wintering of the Mezen seal-hunters (zveroboi) on one of the uninhabited islands of the Grumant archipelago (Spitsbergen).
Aside from certain episodes—sometimes extraordinary—every adventure of the quartet of brave Russian people is not fiction and not even an exceptional case. Such incidents and dangers constantly accompanied the voyages of Pomor sailors—the first explorers and researchers of the unknown lands of the Arctic Ocean.
“Path to Grumant” is the first part of the work about Russian northern seafarers. If readers are interested in the opening chapters of how our people mastered the harsh “midnight lands,” and in the subsequent fate of the heroes of this book, they will find the continuation in the historical tale “Other Sails.”