INTRODUCTION

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The half worn-out boat which had attracted hisboyish attention he told his companions to regard asthe ‘ Little Grandsire of the Russian Fleet,’ a titlewhich has always been retained, for this interestingcraft has been preserved down to our own daysas a sacred monument of the foundation of theRussian Navy.

When Peter assumed the rank of Vice- Admiralit was with justifiable pride that he recalled whathad been done. He could well ‘ ask his comradeswhether, twenty years before, any of them everdreamt of winning a naval battle in the Baltic, andof living in a town built on soil conquered from theenemy.’

The spelling of the MS., as was to be expected,did not need to be modernised in many places.The commonest alteration made has been theerasure of the now obsolete final ‘ e.’ The forms‘ it’s ’ and ‘ ’em ’ for ‘it is ’ and ‘ them ’ have beenretained as belonging rather to style than spelling.The use of both ‘ Russ ’ and ‘ Russian ’ has beenretained also, as an interesting reminder of a timeof transition when the exact national appellation inEnglish was still undecided. As regards geo-graphical names, those of places on the coast—themajority—have been spelled as they are in TheBaltic Pilot , and The Norway Pilot , published bythe Hydrographer of the Navy. Well-knownnames like Moscow have been made to follow theusual form of the present day. Other Russianplace and personal names have been transliteratedfrom the Russian in accordance with the system