On 5 September, I got a message from Moscow that the Ensemble was to return home. I summoned Prof. Aleksandrov,

Aleksandr Vasilevich Aleksandrov, founder and artistic director of the Red (Soviet) Army Song and Dance Ensemble.

the Ensemble’s director, and Commissar Yurchenko from the Mariya Ulyanova in Southampton and informed them of the government’s decision. They were very disappointed, but nothing could be done.

Aleksandrov (and Milsky) stayed at the embassy, while Yurchenko went back to the Mariya Ulyanova. The first directive said: send the Ensemble to Murmansk. We took the Ensemble off the Mariya Ulyanova, brought it to London, and accommodated it temporarily on the Kooperatsiya. Meanwhile, the Mariya Ulyanova sailed to Le Havre to pick up the women and children waiting in Paris. Having done so, she was meant to return to London. Here, the Ensemble was meant to be divided more or less equally between the two steamers and head off homeward.

But no sooner had the Mariya Ulyanova reached Le Havre than we received a new directive: send the Ensemble via Gibraltar. All the plans had to be revised. Now the Mariya Ulyanova was to stay in Le Havre and wait for the Kooperatsiya. The transfer of passengers would take place not in London, but in Le Havre. The Kooperatsiya had to stock up with fuel and provisions in London for the 15–18 day voyage to Odessa.

We had just begun arranging the southern route when a new message came: cancel Gibraltar and send the ships to Murmansk again!

The route had to be remade, the preparations revised, and the plans drawn up from scratch. The Ulyanova sails to Gravesend. The Kooperatsiya meets her there, and that is where the reloading and transfer of passengers now occurs. We plan the departure from Gravesend for 10 September. On the morning of that day, the Kooperatsiya departs from London Bridge and moors at Gravesend. Alas, owing to unforeseen circumstances, the Mariya Ulyanova is nearly 24 hours behind schedule and arrives in Gravesend on the afternoon of the 11th. Then everything begins: the transfer of passengers, various formalities, loading the mail and two tons of gold sent by Mosnarbank [Moscow People’s Bank] to Moscow… The crews of the two steamers ask permission to go ashore to spend their foreign currency. The identification marks for Soviet ships that have just been established by the Soviet government need to be painted on the sides and the decks. The pilots need to be spoken to. Additional provisions need to be obtained for the Kooperatsiya, to supplement what was given in London. In short, dozens of assignments, formalities, demands and negotiations with the authorities – meaning that the steamers only cast off today at 5 p.m.

A curious detail. In addition to the endless formalities introduced in connection with the war (licences for fuel, provisions, etc.), and in addition to the chilly but polite sabotage on the part of the irritated British authorities, there was one further misfortune. The Hay’s Wharf loading company that has worked with us for many years now presented, in a state of panic and vexation, bills which had not been paid by Narkomflot and which dated back to 1936. It called in the law and arrested the Kooperatsiya! Curses! We settled this unexpected conflict with the greatest difficulty and freed the Kooperatsiya. Korzh had to call the Foreign Office, the Board of Trade, the customs office, the pilotage service, and some other institutions which, though unknown to me, are very important for seamen. He pleaded, insisted, argued and threatened them with ‘the Ambassador’s intervention’…

In the end, everything was settled. The Kooperatsiya and Mariya Ulyanova embarked on their long voyage. Both steamers have experienced pilots. The route is the following: through territorial waters from Gravesend to Aberdeen with pilots, and then, without pilots, across the North Sea toward Norwegian shores. To be on the safe side, the Kooperatsiya carries the eastern group and the Mariya Ulyanova the western group of the Ensemble. The steamers will sail together at a distance of half an hour. If one is unlucky, the other will help.

Bon voyage! Everything humanly possible has been done to guarantee the Ensemble’s safe return home. The rest depends on the captains’ skill and on luck.