SS Chelyuskin , a Soviet steamship sent out on an expedition to navigate through polar ice along the Northern Maritime Route from Murmansk to Vladivostok , has became ice-bound in Arctic waters during navigation . It was caught in the ice fields in September. After that it drifted in the ice pack before sinking on February 13 , 1934, crushed by the icepacks near Kolyuchin Island in the Chukchi Sea . The crew managed to escape onto the ice and built a makeshift airstrip using only a few spades , ice shovels and two crowbars , which helped in the rescue of the crew . Fifty three men walked over the ice with stores on husky sleds . Photo shows ; Members of the expedition looking at a rescue plane as it makes a pass over the camp . 24 March 1934