"Anchor" is a symbolic sign installed in memory of the pier located here, of the former navigation on the Sož River. It is located on a high steep bank where the Pronia River flows into the Sož.

The memorial sign "Anchor" did not accidentally appear in Slaŭharad. It is a memory of the distant romantic past, of ships, rafts and barges floating on the Sož River.

The Sož River has been navigable for a long time. The fact that Prapojsk was a port city is evidenced by a special anchor sign on the maps of the XIX century and the image of an anchor on the old coat of arms of the city. In the nineteenth century, navigation on the Sož River began from the town of Kryčaŭ, Čierykaŭski county, and the rafting of the forest began from the village of Marcinaŭka, Mscislaŭski county. The structure and dimensions of the vessels were the same as on the Dniepr. A passenger steamer ran daily between Homieĺ and the town of Chaĺč. Since 1858, constant sailing began on the steamer line from Homieĺ to Prapojsk. It was served by private steamers with the names "Mir", "Resolute", "Business", "East", "Pronia", "Biesiadź", "Chicago". These vessels in 1910 conducted 265 passenger sailings, during which they transported almost 44 thousand people, 57 times towed barges with various cargoes. In addition to steamers, non-steam vessels – barges, berlins, boats – sailed along the Sož.

In the first half of the twentieth century, the ships that sailed past Prapojsk (since 1945 Slaŭharad) changed. Sailing boats were replaced by wheeled steamers, then screw ones. Hydrofoils also went on the river. The spirit of the new era was reflected in the names of the ships. Passenger boats that went on local routes in the 60s of the twentieth century were called "Crab", "Lighthouse", "Dniapro", "Swift", " Ipuć", "Sož". The last steamers seen on the river were called "Red Star", " Isačanka", "Communist", " Jakub Kolas". The hydrofoil vessel, a rocket, bore the proud name – "50th anniversary of the Central Committee of the CPB". In the 1980s, the pier in the city was closed.

The Prapojskaja pier took the first place in timber rafting in the Mahilioŭskaja province. At the end of the 19th century, 116 rafts with forest material were rafted annually towards Homieĺ and further to Ukraine.

In Soviet times, barges with timber were sent from here to Ukraine, and Slaŭharad grain was sent to Homieĺ for processing at the "Mill".

According to local historians, the anchor installed in Slaŭharad was not used on any vessel, but namely when rafting timber on rafts. In 1983, employees of the Slaŭharad Sports School Anatoli Dzmitryjevič Savietaŭ and Uladzimir Vasiĺjevič Uciatkin, together with students of the rowing section, pulled the anchor ashore and took it to the section building on two boats. The anchor stood there until 1989. In the 90s of the twentieth century, during the reconstruction of the slope and the creation of the site where mass celebrations are held today, it was used in the construction of the Anchor sign. The initiator of the installation was Viačaslaŭ Barysavič Hutaraŭ, at that time the head of the Slaŭharad RCM. A native of Slaŭharad land, he is interested in the history of his native land and has put a lot of effort into the appearance of a memorial sign in the city.

Publication date: 10.08.2023.

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