l 4

THE RUSSIAN FLEET

but, dying about 1710, left the other imperfect. Twomore of equal force were also assigned to Mr.Brown.

The famous victory of Poltava on the 27th of June,1709, creating in the Tsar too great an opinion of hismilitary puissance, occasioned him in his war withthe Turk to commit the error so fatal to the lateKing of Sweden, in marching his army too far intohis enemy’s country without securing a retreat incase of necessity. The event of this inconsiderationwas the loss sustained after the battle of Pruth, 1 inthe subsequent capitulation ; wherewith the Tsar,being obliged to deliver up Asof and Taganrog,rendered all his naval armament on the river Donentirely useless. Some of the ships were sent toConstantinople, either sold or given to the Turks ;many burned by the Tsar’s order, and others stillremain at Taveroff under sheds to preserve themfrom the weather. 2 The equipment provided, espe-

1 The allusion is to Peter’s well-known campaign of 1711 onthe Pruth. The desperate condition to which he was then reducedis shown by the letter which he sent to the Senate : ‘ I informyou that I with all my army, through no fault or mistake, butthrough false information, being surrounded by forces four timesas strong, and cut off from all lines of supply, look forward -unless with special help of God—to nothing but completedestruction or captivity amongst the Turks. In the latter caseyou are no longer to look upon me as your Tsar and ruler, andare to do nothing which I tell you, even if I write it with my ownhand, until I reappear amongst you in my own person. Should Iperish, and authentic news of my death reach you, choose amongstyourselves the one most worthy to be my successor.’ TheTsar and his army were extricated from the position thusindicated by the treaty made at Hush. In accordance with itsterms Peter surrendered Asof and all his recent conquests in theregion near ; and undertook to level the lately constructed fortifi-cations of Taganrog, Kammenoi Saton, and Bogorodizk (Herr-mann, Gesch. russ. Staates, iv. pp. 270-1). His project of a BlackSea fleet was destroyed.

2 ‘ Quant a la flotille du Don, bloquee a Voroneje par l’absencede fonds d’eau suffisants, elle ne pourra etre utilisee en 1711 a la