COXe’s TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.

688

(late, muft be very advantageous, asm the gold there is.fo much alloy, that a profit of48 per cent, is gained, and in the filver of 37 *. This ftate of the coinage rendersulelefs the prohibition againft the exportation, and produces the mifchievous effect ofpromoting the contraband introduction of falfe coin from foreign countries.

Among the remarkable' objects in the mint, the machine for {lamping the coin de-ferves to be mentioned ; becaufe it was invented by Her prefent Majefty, and is ef-teeined an ingenious and dimple piece of mechanifm.

Within the fortrefs is a four-oared boat, fecured with great veneration, in a brickbuilding, and preferved as a memorial to future ages, of its being the origin of theRuffian fleet. Peter I. ufed to call it the Little Grandfire, and, in the latter part ofhis reign, ordered it to be tranfported to Peterfburgh : it was conduced in folemnproceffion, to excite the admiration of the people, and expofed to view that they mightcompare the former condition of the marine, with the improved ftate in which he leftit. The hiftory of this little boat is worthy of notice; not only as it comprehendsthe firft rife of the navy, but becaufe, during the courfe of the narrative, I final! beenabled to point out fundry errors advanced by feveral hiftorians of Peter the Great .

There is not the leaft foundation for the report that Peter was naturally afraid ofthe water, and had the utmofl difficulty in furmounting this averfion : on the contrary,he always expreffed a flrong attachment to that element. The boat, which has givenrife to this detail, was conftrudted during the reign of Alexey Michaelovitch, by Kar-flens Brandt, a Dutch fhipwright, whom Alexey Michaelovitch invited into Ruffia.Peter , about the year 1691, accidentally feeing this boat at a village near Mofcovv,inquired of Timmerman, who taught him fortification, why it was built in a differentmanner from other veffels ? Timmerman replied, it was a veffel contrived to failagainft the wind. Peter ’s curiofity was roufed by this intelligence, and Brandt beinginftantly fummoned, repaired it without delay, provided a maft and rigging, and, havinglaunched it upon the Yaufa, failed in it, to the furprize and aftonifhment of the youngTzar , who immediately embarked, and, under the direction of Brandt, foon learnedthe management of the veffel.

Having repeated thefe experiments upon the Yaufa, as well as upon a neighbouringlake, he ordered Brandt to build a yatcht f upon the banks of the Mofkva, which waslaunched in 1691 ; and in which Peter failed as far as Columna. Animated with thefuccefs of this expedition, he commanded the fame fhipwright to conftruft, upon thelake of Periflaf, feveral fmall veffels carrying guns ; in which the Tzar failed on the8th of February, the 3d of March, and the 5th of April, of the following year. Onthe firft of May another veffel was launched, and on the 9th Peter returned to Mofcow.The death of Brandt feems to have interrupted the increafe of this little fleet; but didnot prevent Peter from continuing his expeditions on the lake. Some extrafls, fromGeneral Gordon’s f Journal, will lhow the eagernefs with which the young monarch

purfued

* Sec Effai fur le commerce de Ruffie, c. x. where the reader will find an accurate ftate of the Ruffiancoinage, in which the difference of the prefent money from that of the former reigns is laid down, as Iwas informed from good authority, with great exa&nefs, p. 254, 255.

f From hence I follow implicitly Muller’s Extra&s from General Gordon’s Journal,j General Gordon, a native of Scotland , was born in 1635: having ferved with glory in the Swe-difh and Polilh armies, he entered into the Ruffian fervice in i66r, in which he continued to the end ofhis life. His journal, in the Englifh tongue, is now in the archives at Mofcow, and has never been printed.Muller, who made great ufe of it in feveral of his works, propofed to extraft and publifh all the circum-ftances relating to Ruffia ; but, to the great regret of all loyers of hiftory, has been prevented byother occupations from carrying his defign into execution. I find, from Bachmeifter’s Ruff. Bibb