Improvements of western Europe among his people. He was ready to seize

upon every occasion which could furnish any hint or suggestion to this

end.

The manner in which his attention was first turned to the subject of

ship-building illustrated this. In those days Holland was the great

centre of commerce and navigation for the whole world, and the art of

ship-building had made more progress in that nation than in any other.

The Dutch held colonies in every quarter of the globe. Their

men-of-war and their fleets of merchantmen penetrated to every sea, and

their naval commanders were universally renowned for their enterprise,

their bravery, and their nautical skill.

The Dutch not only built ships for themselves, but orders were sent to

their ship-yards from all parts of the world, inasmuch as in these

yards all sorts of vessels, whether for war, commerce, or pleasure,

could be built better and cheaper than in any other place.

One of the chief centres in which these ship and boat building

operations were carried on was the town of Saardam. This town lies

near Amsterdam, the great commercial capital of the country. It

extends for a mile or two along the banks of a deep and still river,

which furnish most complete and extensive facilities for the docks and

ship-yards.

Now it happened that, one day when Peter was with Le Fort at one of his

country palaces where there was a little lake, and a canal connected

with it, which had been made for pleasure-sailing on the grounds, his

attention was attracted to the form and construction of a yacht which

was lying there. This yacht having been sent for from Holland at the

time when the palace grounds were laid out, the emperor fell into

conversation with Le Fort in respect to it, and this led to the subject

of ships and ship-building in general. Le Fort represented so strongly

to his master the advantages which Holland and the other maritime

powers of Europe derived from their ships of war, that Peter began

Immediately to feel a strong desire to possess a navy himself. There

were, of course, great difficulties in the way. Russia was almost

entirely an inland country. There were no good sea-ports, and Moscow,

the capital, was situated very far in the interior. Then, besides,

Peter not only had no ships, but there were no mechanics or artisans in

Russia that knew how to build them.

Le Fort, however, when he perceived how deep was the interest which

Peter felt in the subject, made inquiries, and at length succeeded in

finding among the Dutch merchants that were in Moscow the means of

procuring some ship-builders to build him several small vessels, which,

when they were completed, were launched upon a lake not far from the

city. Afterward other vessels were built in the same place, in the

form of frigates; and these, when they were launched, were properly

equipped and armed, under Le Fort's direction, and the emperor took

great interest in sailing about in them on the lake, in learning

personally all the evolutions necessary for the management of them, and

In performing sham-fights by setting one of them against another. He

took command of one of the vessels as captain, and thenceforward

assumed that designation as one of his most honorable titles. All this

took place when Peter was about twenty-two years old.

Not very long after this the emperor had an opportunity to make a

commencement in converting his nautical knowledge to actual use by

engaging in something like a naval operation against an enemy, in

conjunction with several other European powers, he declared war anew

against the Turks and Tartars, and the chief object of the first

campaign was the capture of the city of Azof, which is situated on the

shores of the Sea of Azof, near the mouth of the River Don. Peter not

only approached and invested the city by land, but he also took

possession of the river leading to it by means of a great number of

boats and vessels which he caused to be built along the banks. In this

way he cut off all supplies from the city, and pressed it so closely

that he would have taken it, it was said, had it not been for the

treachery of an officer of artillery, who betrayed to the enemy the

principal battery which had been raised against the town just as it was

ready to be opened upon the walls. This artilleryman, who was not a

native Russian, but one of the foreigners whom the Czar had enlisted in

his service, became exasperated at some ill treatment which he received

from the Russian nobleman who commanded his corps; so he secretly drove

nails into the touchholes of all the guns in the battery, and then, in

the night, went over to the Turks and informed them what he had done.

Accordingly, very early in the morning the Turks sallied forth and

attacked the battery, and the men who were charged with the defense of