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THE RUSSIAN FLEET

The Swedes hindering the victualling of the Russiangarrison in Viborg this summer necessitated an earlysupply in the spring. The ice in the river Neva, bySt. Petersburg, usually breaks up between the 5 thand 15th of April; in 8 or 10 days more descendsthe ice from the Ladoga Lake ; and by the latter endof the month the river is perfectly free : but then theGulf of Finland is seldom clear for ships’ passage tillthe 10th of May; and I have known ships stoppedat Hogland, in the narrowest part of the Gulf, onthe 13th of May. All requisite provision was madeduring the winter to proceed with the first open

Kommandeur. Apparently it was not known in our Navy till theearly part of William III.’s time, when it was spelled both Com-mandore and Commadore. In Swedish the spelling is Kommendor ,and in 1702 a Kommendor Karl Gustaf Loschern (von Hertsfeld)is mentioned. In a list of 1735 given by Backstrom ( SvenskaFlottans Historia , Stockholm, 1884, p. 426) the rank is so desig-nated ; but more recently, and at present, the official Swedishdesignation is Kommendor-Kapten. It has never been a permanent(or substantive) rank in the English service. In 1750 it wasdefined (E. Chambers’ Cyclopædia) as the title of ‘an Under-Admiralor officer commissioned by an Admiral to command a squadronof ships in chief.’ The suggestion is that the designation was notrecognised by the Admiralty. There is reason to believe thatneither ‘ Commodore ’ nor ‘ Commander ’ as a present titulardesignation has anything to do directly with the verb ‘com-mand ; ’ but that both are derived from ‘ commend ’ after thesetwo verbs, notwithstanding their original identity, had been sofully differentiated from one another as to have acquired distinctmeanings. In the old designation of the naval grade, just belowthat of post-captain, viz. ‘ Master and Commander,’ the last worddid imply command, the officer so designated being both thenavigator and the captain of the ship. ‘ Commander ’ as nowused—and ‘ Commodore ’ as a form of it—seem to be derivedfrom ‘ commend ’ through commendatio, in commendam, &c., inconnection with the holding of benefices. ‘ Commanderies ’ ofthe militant religious orders were essentially benefices, and notdefinite areas of military command. It is to these, and not toany exercise of military authority, that the dignity of KnightsCommanders of the Bath, St. Michael and St. George, &c., refers.(See New English Dictionary)