to San Francisco," Vinokurov said.

He acknowledged that decisions of this nature are not usually made by ship captains, but by their owners, probably the Russian Maritime State University in Vladivostok. Though Vinokurov did not say so, the school was probably following government orders.

No one to welcome

It all came as a complete surprise to people on board two sailing schooners that went out to meet the Nadezhda on Friday morning. Some were from the local Russian community, and some were of Polish descent, there to honor the ship, which was built in the famous Lenin shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, in 1961.

"We were all very disappointed," said Sarah Sweedler, executive director of the Fort Ross Interpretive Association, who was aboard a schooner waiting to greet the Russian ship.

After a three-dayvisit to San Francisco, the Nadezhda had planned to sail to Bodega Bay, anchor outside the harbor and ferry some crew members ashore. They would then be taken by bus to Fort Ross, an outpost established by Russians in 1812.

The Nadezhda was to be the second Russian sailing ship to visit San Francisco this year. This summer, the sail training ship Pallada called at San Francisco without incident.

It was not clear whether other Russian-flag ships might be affected when visiting U.S. ports.

When last heard from, the Nadezhda was 100 miles off the California coast, heading south. A planned visit to Honolulu later this month was also canceled.