14. Read the text and answer the questions: 1. What happened in 1703, 1704 and in 1721? 2. What ships call at St. Petersburg’s port? 3. What cargo do ships carry? The Port of St. Petersburg

1. The coast of the gulf of Finland is closely connected with the history of our merchant marine. The first ship called at St. Petersburg in 1703. Since then a new port has begun to grow rapidly. In 1704 a big shipyard of the Chief Admiralty was founded in the city. In 1721 a galley (галерная) harbour was built.

2. At first the harbour was situated on the Spit of Vassilievsky Island. Later the port could not accommodate a great number of ships calling at St. Petersburg and the harbour was moved to the mouth of the Neva. In 1885 the Morskoy Canal leading to the entrance of the sea commercial port was constructed. The length of this canal is 15 miles. Today owing to its position in the mouth of the wide and deep Neva the port of St. Petersburg is easily approached by sea-going vessels as well as by coasters.

3. The ships registered at St. Petersburg call at many ports of the world. The port of St. Petersburg has a variety of cargo vessels. The cargo fleet includes modern ro-ro ships, container-carriers, dry cargo handling facilities and navigation equipment of the latest design, ensuring the safety of navigation. Ships carry machinery and equipment, metal goods, ore, cement and building materials, timber, paper, oil, grain, sugar and many other goods. They carry not only Russian cargo, but also that of foreign owners.

Grammar: Nominative Absolute Participial Construction Независимый (самостоятельный) причастный оборот
Functions	Examples	Translation
Обстоятельство времени или причи­ны (союзы: после того как, когда, так как)	The icebreaker having been built, the engineers began to design another ship.	После того как был построен ледокол, инженеры приступили к строительству другого судна.
Сопутствующее обстоятельство (только после запятой; союзы: а, и, причем)	The discussion began after the report, all the students taking part in it.	После доклада началось обсуждение, причем все студенты принимали в нем участие.

15. Translate the following sentences. Analyse them.

1. The old engines having been replaced (заменить) by new ones, the speed of the vessel increased. 2. When completed the design of the tanker was approved (одобрить) by engineers. 3. The cargo has been loaded aboard the steamer “Minsk”, part of the cargo being placed on deck. 4. New methods being introduced in our work, we can get better results. 5. The weather conditions being favourable, the ship was making 21 knots. 6. The ship safely reached the port having covered 700 miles. 7. The “Pobeda” landed some of the passengers in the port of Odessa. 8. Many ships have been built at this shipyard, some of them being designed for navigation in the Arctic Ocean.