The yacht Alter Ego will look for traces of the Brusilov Expedition, which vanished aboard the schooner St. Anna in the Arctic Ocean in 1914, RIA Novosti reports. The Alter Ego's mission is being conducted under the Arctic research project, In the Footsteps of Two Captains, which was initiated by the late polar researcher Oleg Prodan.

"This year's expedition will look for traces of the Brusilov Expedition under the Arctic research project, In the Footsteps of Two Captains. The initiative was advanced by polar researcher Oleg Prodan, who died in the Arctic in 2016," the Murmansk Port press service reports, citing expedition head Alexander Chichayev.

The expedition will research the areas near the Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land archipelagoes.

"Many people thought Captain Georgy Brusilov's ice-bound schooner drifted into the Greenland Sea. But the radio beacons which Prodan installed at the probable site of the expedition's demise have shown that the ice drifted both around the archipelago and among its islands. Therefore, we should look for the schooner St. Anna there as well. But first we will also set up radio beacons there to check Oleg Prodan's guess," Chichayev said.

The Alter Ego expedition also has a humanitarian goal: to bury the remains of the St. Anna crew, which Oleg Prodan's group found in 2010.

"These remains were deposited with the Russian Center of Forensic Medical Expertise. However, the bodies' identity could not be established reliably, and so it has been decided to return and bury them at the site they were found. Our goal is to inspect and prepare the site for the burial," Chichayev said.