: Listrigon fishermen, descendants of Greek colonists, live in the Crimean town of Balaklava and, despite the harsh weather conditions, fish, sometimes risking their lives.

Silence

In October, after the departure of summer residents, in Balaklava it becomes fresh, comfortable and homely businesslike. All the original Greek population of the city creeps out onto the street. Now all the interest of residents is focused on fish. Fishermen gather in coffee houses and an ataman is elected. At nine o’clock in the evening the city is falling into a dream, and nowhere else in Russia is there such silence as in Balaclava.

Near Balaclava is a mountain that looks like a fabulous monster. When looking at it, Homer’s verse about a narrow-necked Black Sea bay, in which Odysseus saw bloodthirsty listrigons, flashes through his mind.

Mackerel

Autumn is coming, the water is getting colder, and so far only a small mackerel fish is caught. Among fishermen, Jura Paratino, a short, strong, salted and tarred Greek of about forty years old, enjoys special respect. Jura is the bravest, most dexterous and most cunning among fishermen. Mackerel just thinks to go from Kerch, and already Yura knows where to put the plant.

The first longboat to come sells fish at the highest price. And Yura comes first. While it is being traded, the remaining longboats only enter the bay, trying to overtake each other, as fish prices are falling and falling.

After the arrival of the longboats, Jura enters the coffee house and treats everyone with a wide gesture. And the whole Balaclava unbearably stinks of fish.

Theft

In the evening, all the tables are occupied in coffee houses. Someone is playing something, someone is bored. Several fishermen leave the coffee house, as the bay is full of mullet. Dolphins, or, as they are called here, pigs, drove the fish into the bay and rush along the bay, devouring it. Fishermen set up their nets, although this is a crime: in the bay it is allowed to fish only for fishing.

Fishermen return to the coffee shop and catch roguish glances: they are not the only ones who hunt poaching.

Beluga

In winter, fishermen catch beluga. In huge boots, waterproof raincoats and leather pants, they go out on longboats to the open sea. Each chieftain has his secret places. For a long journey into the open sea, the assistant makes gear. The next day or every other day, the fishermen pull out the gear and, if they are lucky, bring the beluga.

Once a young fisherman, Vanya Andrutzaki, goes to sea in bad weather, which fishermen usually do not. First, several white whales come across, then fishing is worse, the hooks are empty. Suddenly, one of the fish caught in a shock. This is a good omen among fishermen - waiting for a girlfriend. Vanya immediately sees a huge fish in his turn and informs his artel of this, although a fishing tradition forbids warning of events. The fish swiftly rushes down and carries gear. The fishermen rush after her, the grappling hook sticks into Vana’s palm, the gears get mixed up, the boat rides along the waves, but Vanya completes his work.The artel sells fish at a good price, Balaklava fishermen go to Sevastopol, go for a walk there, and the glory of a real salty ataman is assigned to Vanya.

Lord's fish

Another salty chieftain Kolya Kostandi knows many legends. Once the catch was bad, but it had one small fish with two small spots on its sides, which was called Lord of the Day. If she is pulled out of the sea for a second, then she can no longer live. When Jesus was resurrected and no one recognized him, he came to his mother, who was frying fish. Mother said that he must work a miracle, then she will believe. Jesus took the fish with two fingers and the fish came to life. Since then, there have been two spots on the fish, a trace of the fingers of the Lord. It is also called Zeves fish.

Bora

When a bora, or a northeast, a fierce mysterious wind blowing trees and telegraph poles blows, fishermen do not go to sea - you can go missing. One of the fishermen, Vanya Andrutzaki, went out, despite the boron, and came back. For three days his longboat was scampering across the sea. After three days without sleep, food and drink, Vanya could not remember what happened to him. No one was sleeping in Balaclava, everyone was waiting for the fishermen to return.

Upon returning, the fishermen went to the coffee house, demanded wine and danced to the music like crazy. Sleeping off, they looked at their trip, as at a walk in Sevastopol.

Divers

Ships do not enter Balaklava Bay, but during the Sevastopol siege, the bay contained almost a quarter of the Allied flotilla. According to the legend of the Greeks, it is believed that only due to the staunchness of the Greek battalion Sevastopol lasted so long.Once, Nicholas I came here. To his greeting, “Great guys!”, The Balaklava battalion did not answer, and they explained to the surprised emperor that there were no guys here, only captains. And still, a good third of Balaklava residents bears the name Kapitanaki.

They say that here, seeking salvation from the storm, an English squadron with a lot of gold on board once sank. And suddenly, a huge, old-fashioned, unusually dirty Genoa ship entered the bay. The entire male population of Balaclava gathered on the pier, wondering who it is. The sailors turned out to be Italians. Rumor has it that they want to raise English ships. Nobody believes in the success of this, since many unsuccessfully tried to get sunken gold.

Among the Italians was a diver Salvatore Tram, who told outlandish things. How he went down to the bottom of the Bay of Biscay and met there with an electric ramp, how he saw dead sailors thrown overboard the ship, and how hallucinations happened with his relative.

The Italians lived on a ship and rarely went ashore. They had a polite, cold relationship with the fishermen. True, once the fishermen did the Italians a service - they rescued their small boat when he went into the sea in a storm.

With the help of a new apparatus Tram plunged into the water. The dive was successful, but when he returned, panting, with a black face from a rush of blood, Tram said that the ship was heavily sucked by the bottom, and it was impossible to lift it.

The Italians were about to sail, but then the day came for the baptism of the Lord.They greeted with applause the one who pulled a cross thrown from the priest out of the water.

Mad wine

By the end of September, grapes ripen in Balaclava. Young wine does not have time to settle in barrels, as it is bottled. If the next day after drinking, drink a glass of cold water, then the wine begins to seethe in the stomach, which is why it is called "mad wine".

After drinking wine, the fishermen have fun, dance and arrange tarantula fights. And in the evening they sit in coffee houses and mentally reiterate those words that are so often tattooed on their bodies: "God save the sailor."