A superb portrait of Petr Petrovich Shirshov (1905-1953) - hydrologist, Doctor of Geographic Sciences (1937), Full Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1939). He was a participant of the expeditions aboard the vessels "Sibiryakov" (1932),"Chelyuskin" (1935), "Krasin" (1936), researcher at the first Soviet drifting station North Pole-1 (1937-1938), Director of AARI (Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute) (1938-1939), Deputy Chief of GlavSevMorPut (Arctic Ocean Sea-lane Administration) (1939-1942), Commissioner of the State Committee of Defense (1941), Minister of the Marine Fleet of the USSR (1942-1947), founder and Director of the Institute of Oceanology of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1945-1953). P.P.Shirshov was awarded 3 Orders of Lenin, 2 Labour Red Banner Orders, the Red Star Order and medals. A card issued to commemorate the honour of being made a Hero of the Soviet Union (1938).