xviii INTRODUCTION

serious measures for the formation of a naval forcesuitable for employment in the operations in thesouth which he was about to undertake. By themiddle of 1692 a flotilla of small vessels had beenconstructed, by the help of skilled shipwrightsengaged in Holland. With these men Peter closelyassociated himself, learnt to speak their language,and acquired no small practical acquaintance withtheir art. Impatient to test his acquirements on awider stage, he went to Archangel in 1693, andthere obtained his first experience of the sea. Withhis own hands he laid the keel of a large vesselat Archangel. He visited that place again in thefollowing year, and made, to the fortress-monasteryof Solovetski, a voyage during which he learnt whatit was to be at sea in a gale of wind. It is significantthat as early as September of that year (1694),Peter’s Genevese favourite, Francois Le Fort,wrote of the Tsar’s intention of having ships inthe Baltic.

The resumption of hostilities against the TartarsIn 1695 was intended less as a war against them thanagainst their protector the Porte. The campaignwas not successful, and the necessity of a navalfactor in the composition of the expeditionary forcewas demonstrated. Peter’s aquatic proclivities thusobtained early justification. For the operations whichwere to be renewed in 1696 a large flotilla was pro-vided. Peter served in it as captain of a galley, andsenior officer of the Van division. This time Azofwas taken, and Peter formed the design of establishinga fleet on the Black Sea. The execution of thisdesign was begun, and was carried so far that a