In June 2011, Novatek, Russia's biggest non-state gas company, sent 60, 000 tons of gas condensate from Murmansk to the Chinese port of Ningbo aboard the MV Perseveranceon a three-week voyage.
His energetic meticulousness (passed on from our mother) and his breathtaking perseverance (passed on from our father) served only to magnify my awe of an older brother who everyone agreed was intended for great things, while most boys his age didn't look as though they were intended even to eat at a table with another human being.