82
THE RUSSIAN FLEET
List of the Ships
in
a condition to go to Sea this
Year.
Ships
Hango Head .
Guns
90
Ships
Britannia
Guns
52
Lesnoy
90
Randolph
52
Fredrikstadt
90
Pearl
52
North Eagle
80
Egudel .
52
Marlborough .
70
Ormonde
52
Neptunus
70
Varakiel .
52
St. Alexander .
70
Uriel
52
Isaak Victoria .
64
L’Esp^rance .
44
Moscow .
64
Arundel .
48
Ingermanland .
64
Wachtmeister .
44
Slutelburg
64
Raphael .
40
Revel
64
Samson .
32
Devonshire
60
pink , Alexander
24
Katharina
60
New Kronslot .
16
Several ships
more this year were condemned
unfit for service
; and
the latter end
of this
summer the fortifications on the avenues of Kronslotwere finished ; and now this place was first accountedimpregnable. In the winter more advancements[were] made among the officers of the fleet than any-one year before ; but they generally fell to the shareof the Russ. The Admiralty College having con-tracted for a considerable quantity of Spanish salt,the same was imported and applied to the seasoningof the parts 1 observed to be so soon decayed lastyear. This was the Tsar’s expedient, upon a sup-posal that a proper application of salt would hardenthe timber and plank, and prevent the mouldy damp-ness engendered by the fresh water and hard frosts.
Captain van Werden arrived from Astrakhan,whither he had been sent in 1717 with severalother officers, to make discoveries on the CaspianSea, so little known to Europe. He perfected anaccurate chart, the best now extant, of the rivers,roads, and harbours ; and it is conjectured this con-
1 Of the ships. See ante^ p. 73.