UNDER PETER THE GREAT

9

upon the surrender the Tsar came aboard, andfinding the mate alive that commanded the boats,ordered care to be taken of his wounds, and whenhealed persuaded him to enter into his service.His name is Charles van Werden, an ingeniousman, since gradually advanced, and now one of theTsars favourite captains ; and will be farther men-tioned in the sequel of this story. This was thefirst vessel of force the Tsar ever had on the Baltic,and though a trifle in itself, yet falling so luckilyinto his hands he received it as a good omen ; inter-preting it a peculiar direction of Providence infavour of his maritime undertakings.

III ; FOUNDATION OF ST. PETERSBURG ANDBEGINNING OF THE RUSSIAN BALTICFLEET.

Hereupon the Tsar took a resolution to buildSt. Petersburg. A plan was drawn and approved ;storehouses erected and a yard gradually formed,inclosed with a ditch and palisades to prevent theincursion of an enemy : Vice-Admiral Cruys withseveral officers and seamen from Voronezh to settlethere ; and the castle or citadel, a regular fortifica-tion of 6 bastions and a crownwork, carried on by avast number of hands, as the season of the yearpermitted. The Tsar also commanded a settlementto be made on the Island Retusari, in the Russ,Kotlina Ostrov, 1 now generally known by the name

date is July -|f, 1702 ( Gesch. russ. Staates , iv. p. 137). TheSwedish naval historian P. O. Backstrom (Svenska FlottansHistoria, Stockholm, 1884, p. 170) and his countryman Mankell(Studier ofver Svenska Skdrgards-Flottans Historia , Stockholm,18Z3, p. 15) agree in giving July 11, 1702 as the date.

1 Baltic Pilot , ii. p. 295 ; Vsevolojsky, Dictionnaire Geogra-phique , &c., Moscou, 1823. The MS. has ‘ Coding Oustra.' (Seep. 7, note.)