CHAPTER VII.

THE RUSSIAN NAVY.

Its origin under Peter the Great—Early victories of the Varangians, or Normans, and Cossacks—Row-boats more useful in the Baltic than large vessels—The navy under Catherine II.—English instructors—Difficulty in manning the fleet—No mercantile navy—Organization of the Russian fleet—No marines—Oak for navy—Food of sailors—Russian vessels on foreign stations—Only one Russian foreign merchant—Greek influence diminished in 1844—“The Twelve Apostles”—“The Teredo Navalis”—The Affair of Sinope—The Paixhans shell system—General observations 83