She was originally the Newfoundland seal fishery support vessel Beothic, renamed after Russian captain and polar explorer Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov in 1915.

Beothic was built in 1908–09 at Glasgow and was engaged as a support vessel in sealing until her sale to the Imperial Russian Ministry of Commerce and Industry in 1915.

In 1929 icebreaker Sedov went on the "High-latitude Government Expedition" to Franz Josef Land carrying Soviet scientists.

Her original goal was to sail to Henrietta, Zhokhow and Jeanette Islands, in the De Long group and carry out scientific research.

The purpose of the expedition was to find out if the Northern Sea Route could be used for regular shipping and to explore the complex Nordenskiöld Archipelago.