Page 67 - Журнал Sozvezdye Review - «СОЗВЕЗДИЕ» #37

the navigation of 1707 was completed without any inci-
dent. In the spring of 1708, Elizarium Ysbrants passed
away in Vologda on the way to Arkhangelsk, follow-
ing which the Arkhangelsk Admiralty was placed in
the hands of Dvina Voivode, P. A. Golitsyn, and later
to his successors.
In the spring of 1708, master shipwright Wiybbe
Gerens laid down two 32-gun frigates that weren’t com-
pleted until 1710. This is how the Secretary of the Aus-
trian Ambassador to Moscow, Otto Anton Pleyer, de-
scribed the state of things on the Arkhangelsk ship yard
in his report to the Austrian emperor: “They have more
than enough for building ships. As other foreigners
continue to ship cargoes from Moscow to other coun-
tries, the local shipyard doesn’t hesitate to build more
ships and it builds them fast.”

New ships
In 1710, two newly built frigates, St. Paul and St.
Peter (built 1709, Captain Bence,) and smaller frigate
St. Elijah (built 1703, Captain-Lieutenant Boise) set
sail from Arkhangelsk to St. Petersburg. Leading that
squadron onboard the St. Paul was Captain Abraham
Rees. That voyage ran around Scandinavia and was the
first in a series to be made over the next century and
a half.
Over the seven years of its operation, the Saint Eli-
jah become obsolete as a warship. In orders sent to Cap-
tain Reis, the Saint Elijah figured as a transport. Fate,
however, had a different plan for it. Caught in heavy
storm, her sister ship St. Paul lost her mast and returned Later in March, for the purpose of preparing the
to Arkhangelsk on August 18, 1710, while St. Elijah and squadron for its voyage Arkhangelsk welcomed I. A.
St. Peter safely reached Copenhagen, having captured Sinyavin. From his report to Peter I, it follows that the
along the way a Swedish galliot loaded with timber. tsar had planned the squadron to include the Royal
In the autumn of that year, the two ships continued Transport and the Swedish trophy snow. However, as
their cruiser warfare mission by seizing another gal- we read in the report, the Swedish snow had rotted bad-
liot, loaded with salt, on their way to Kattegat. Its crew ly and the Royal Transport lost its masts. Dismantled
survived thanks to the proximity to shore. The one to for storage, the masts were, according to I. A. Sinyavin,
operate those two frigates in Copenhagen was the Rus- “to be found nowhere for, I reckon, they must have gone
sian envoy V. L. Dolgorukov. In the following year, they at high tide.”
seized more Swedish private and merchant ships. Cap- The squadron finally left Arkhangelsk on Au-
tain Abraham Rees (St. Paul) returned to Denmark af- gust 24, 1715. Led by I. A. Sinyavin, it consisted of
ter his ship was repaired to lead his squadron to Riga four new 52-gun ships – Uriel (captain I. A. Sin-
in the autumn. yavin), Salathiel (captain Vitus Bering), Varahiel
In March 1711, the Arkhangelsk Admiralty offi- (captain Bence), Yagudiel (captain Den) – and the
cially appoints outlander Wiybbe Gerens master ship- tsar’s yacht Royal Transport. The Uriel and the Sal-
wright. Gerens, who had by that time built two frigates athiel didn’t arrive in Copenhagen before the end
in Arkhangelsk, brought his son, Peter, with him. In the of November “after an immensely difficult jour-
same year, the Admiralty appoints to the post of crew ney.” The Varahiel got damaged and had to call at
master Fyodor Andreevich Bazhenin. In 1712, Wiyb- the Norwegian port of Flekern for repairs before
be Gerens laid down three 50-gun ships at Solombala it reached Copenhagen in the spring of 1716. The
shipyard. He expected its hulls to be completed by July Royal Transport crashed near Gothenburg. The
1713 or even earlier. On August 3, 1713, Wiybbe Gerens Yagudiel received a heavy leak and had to return
died, and the work was continued by his son, who laid to Arkhangelsk. She resumed her voyage on Octo-
down two more vessels. In 1713, two newly built frig- ber 17 but received another leak and didn’t get far-
ates, Archangel Gabriel and Archangel Raphael, were ther than the port of Ramsund near Minal Island.
launched and set sail, on September 17, to the Baltic, led The Yagudiel can be called the illest-fated ship ever
by Captain Simson. The Archangel Michael joined the built in Arkhangelsk: 36 of its sailors died during
campaign as late as August 7, 1714 under the command the campaign and 48 got seriously ill.
of Captain-Lieutenant Cramer. Ship construction continued at the shipyards of
The document submitted by shipwright Peter Wiyb- Arkhangelsk Admiralty until 1715. Never again was a
be in the autumn of 1713 states that he enlarged the warship built in Arkhangelsk during Peter’s life for the
dimensions of the four ships that were supposed to be Baltic Fleet or for the city.
built according to the design of all previous ships: the It is believed that Arkhangelsk built a total of fifteen SOZVEZDYE #37
two ships built in 1713 were “two feet larger and had the naval ships between 1693 and 1715 (seven warships, sev-
length of 129 feet” and the two other ships of 1714 were en frigates, one yacht). However, as noted by F.F. Vese-
130 feet long and had 52 guns. lago, “for ships of larger ranks, the figures are undoubt-
In February 1715, shipwright Peter Wiybbe received edly correct; for smaller ones, they are approximate.” история
the instruction to alter the design of four new ships “for Our estimate suggests that Arkhangelsk commissioned history
their powder room to be located in the bows, not in the a total of more than 40 vessels of different purpose in
afterbody, and their galley rooms on the foredeck, not those years. It is impossible to give the precise figure
in the hold.” In March 1715, the tsar ordered “all newly now, since no information has been found yet as to how
built ships be loaded with as much rye as possible in- many ice-boats had been built for built for and sent to
stead of ballast.” the Baltic. 65