The Adventures of Captain Wrong

The humorous story "The Adventures of Captain Vrungel" is the most famous and repeatedly republished work of the sailor and writer Andrei Sergeevich Nekrasov (1907-1987). The story was first published as a separate book in 1939. It was decorated with drawings by the artist and cartoonist Konstantin Pavlovich Rotov (1902-1959). Wonderful illustrations of this talented master are reproduced in this edition of the story.
Unbelievable stories of Captain Vrungel one would like to believe. One can immediately feel that the hilarious story about him and his friends was written by a man who knows the sea firsthand. And so it is. Andrei Sergeevich Nekrasov was born in 1907 He became a sailor at the age of nineteen, worked as a stoker, stoker and navigator, and later graduated from the Vladivostok Marine College. He transferred his impressions from sea voyages to paper. There was enough material. The writer recalled: "I caught cod in the Barents Sea ... stood difficult watches at the red-hot furnaces of the ship's stoker, beat walruses in the Bering Strait and fished for whales in the Pacific Ocean". The first stories of Andrei Sergeyevich appeared on the pages of the magazines "Murzilka" and "Pioneer". Nekrasov wrote for teenagers, talking about airplanes, cars, oceanology, electricity, but all this creativity went into the background after the publication in 1939 of his brilliant story about Captain Vrungel, who for millions of readers became a kind of "sea Munchausen". The prototype of Vrungel became an acquaintance of Nekrasov - Andrei Vasilyevich Vronsky, who liked to tell sea tall tales about himself. Nekrasov himself had a similar talent. In this case, he did not lie, but "poisoned", as they say at sea. In this regard, we recall a line from "Turkin" by Tvardovsky: "It is good when someone lies cheerfully and well. Andrei Sergeyevich possessed this talent in full measure. That is why his story about Vrungel never gets outdated. The first book edition of "The Adventures of Captain Vrungel" was decorated with illustrations by Konstantin Pavlovich Rotov (1902-1959). They are carefully reproduced in this book. At that time, light talented drawings of this artist with their clear confident lines were known to almost the entire reading Soviet public, because they regularly appeared on the pages of magazines "Crocodile" and "Ogonyok", in the newspapers "Pravda" and "Komsomolskaya Pravda". According to Rotov himself, he began to draw "since I can remember". Konstantin Pavlovich was educated at the Rostov Art School. He began to publish his works even before his graduation. Many people still remember Rotov's drawings for the story "Old Man Hottabych", the poem "Uncle Styopa", the fairy tale "The Three Little Pigs", the novel "The Golden Calf". Rothov worked selflessly, taking great pleasure in drawing. This creative fuse helped him to survive several years of camps, in which the artist fell on false charges of espionage. Even in such conditions Rogov continued to create. Returning to Moscow, Konstantin Pavlovich continued to draw not only for "Krokodil", but also for children's magazines "Veselye Kartinki" and "Young Technician".