Vin

INTRODUCTION

likely to be that of a sea officer of the time than theregular one in which the work has reached us.There is one interpolation of considerable length(two MS. pages), which also seems in its presentform to be the work of a copyist, whose handwritingdiffers a little from that of the transcriber of thegreater part of the book, principally in the shape ofcertain letters and in being rather clearer. As awhole, however, the writing leaves little to bedesired in the matter of clearness.

The literary style of the work resembles that ofa log-book, so much so, indeed, that it is reasonableto assume that it was ‘ written up' as the eventswhich it records occurred. It was completed in1724—at page 67 of the MS. the author mentions‘the present year, 1724'—and thus its story ends afew months before the date of Peter the Great’sdeath. Though the author describes himself merelyas ‘ A Contemporary Englishman,’ it is probable, orindeed nearly certain, that he was an officer in Peter’snavy. His familiarity, not only with the proceed-ings of the fleet and of individual ships, but also

omissions made good, and are to be found on the followingpages as numbered in the MS. itself : Pp. 2, 5, 11, 44, 59, 60, 61,63, 64, 67, 68 ; and smaller ones on MS. pp. 10, 13, 15, 16,26, 27, 31, 36 ; and three on p. 71. The corrections on MS.pp. 11 (omission rectified), 16 (number of guns), 26 (ditto), 27(‘ Revell ’ [sic] added), 36 (‘ in line of battle ’inserted), and 71 (twodates of dismissal, a name, and a date of death), are in a differenthand, probably that of the author himself. The last correctionon this page includes the date ‘ 1724,’ and was, perhaps, addedafter the copying out of the original MS. had been completed.

The lower part of the leaf containing MS. pages 23, 24 hasbeen cut off and a slip of paper pasted on in its place. In bind-ing the MS. the margins of several leaves have been cut away, aword at the end of a line being mutilated here and there.