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685 COXE’S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.
flate, mult be very advantageous, asin the gold there is fo much alloy, that a profit of
48 per cent. is gained, and in the filver of 37 *. ‘This ftate of the coinage renders
ulelefs the prohibition again{t the exportation, and produces the mifchievous effe& of
promoting the contraband introduétion of falfe coin from foreign countries.
Among the remarkable objects in the mint, the machine for ftamping the coin de-
ferves to be mentioned ; becaufe it was invented by Her prefent Majefty, and is el-
teemed an ingenious and fimple piece of mechanifm.
Within the fortrefs is a four-oared boat, fecured with great veneration, in a brick
building, and preferved as a memorial to future ages, of its being the origin of the
Ruffian fleet. Peter I. ufed to call it the Little Grandfire, and, in the latter part of
his reign, ordered it to be tranfported to Peterfburgh: it was conducted in folemn
proceffion, to excite the admiration of the people, and expofed to view that they might
compare the former condition of the marine, with the improved ftate in which he left
it. The hiftory of this little boat is worthy of notice; not only as it comprehends
the firft rife of the navy, but becaufe, during the courfe of the narrative, I fhall be
enabled 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 of
the water, and had the utmoft difficulty in furmounting this averfion ; on the contrary,
he always exprefied a ftrong attachment to that element. The boat, which has given
rife to this detail, was conftructed during the reign of Alexéy Michaelovitch, by Kar-
{tens Brandt, a Dutch fhipwright, whom Alex¢y Michaelovitch invited into Ruffia.
Peter, about the year 1691, accidentally feeing this boat at a village near Mofcow,
inquired of Timmerman, who taught him fortification, why it was built in a different
manner from other veflels? ‘Timmerman replied, it was a veflel contrived to fail
again{t the wind. Peter’s curiofity was.roufed by this intelligence, and Brandt being
inftantly {ummoned, repaired it without delay, provided a maft and rigging, and, having
launched it upon the Yaufa, failed in it, to the furprize and aftonifhment of the young
Tzar, who immediately embarked, and, under the direction of Brandt, foon learned
the management of the veffel.
Having repeated thefe experiments upon the Yaufa, as well as upon a neighbouring
lake, he ordered Brandt to build a yatcht | upon the banks of the Mofkva, which was
launched in 1691 ; and in which Peter failed as far as Columna. Animated with the
fuccefs of this expedition, he commanded the fame fhipwright to conftruct, upon the
lake of Periflaf, feveral {mall veflels carrying guns; in which the Tzar failed on the
8th of February, the 3d of March, and the sth of April, of the following year. On
the firft of May another veffel was launched, and on the gth Peter returned to Mofcow.
The death of Brandt feems to have interrupted the increafe of this little fleet ; but did
not prevent Peter from continuing his expeditions on the lake. Some extracts, from
General Gordon’s t Journal, will fhow the eagernefs with which the young monarch
purfued
x
* See Effai fur le commerce de Ruflie, c. x. where the reader will find an accurate ftate of the Ruffian
coinage, in which the difference of the prefent money from that of the former reigns is laid down, as I
was informed from good authority, with great exa¢inefs, p. 254, 255-
+ From hence I follow implicitly Muller’s Extra@ts from General Gordon’s Journal.
{ General Gordon, a native of Scotland, was born in 1635: having ferved with glory in the Swe-
difh aad Polifh armies, he entered into the Ruffian fervice in 1661, in which he continued to the end of
his 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 feyeral of his works, propofed to extraét and publifh all the cifgum-
ftances relating to Ruffia; but, to the great regret of all loyers of hiftory, has been prevented by
other occupations from carrying his defign into execution. I find, from Bachmeiter’s Ruff, Bl.
or
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