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The Russian Navy in Trieste

During the Wars of the Revolution and the Empire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2017

D. Fedotoff White
D. Fedotoff White*
Affiliation:
Philadelphia, PA.
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Extract

The Lookout at the citadel perched above Trieste had trained a long telescope on the squadron of ships beating up the bay under full sail. Despite the clear light of the Adriatic summer morning, the lookout's practiced eye was unable to make out as yet the design and the colors of the flags flying from the gaffs of the large frigates he was observing. But even at that distance he could clearly see the prominent steeving of their bowsprits, and that the masts were set at nearly equal distances. He gave another look to the small squadron, and went to make his report to the corporal on duty.

Soon the rigid arms of the citadel's telegraph began to wigwag jerkily to the batteries on the mole the message that three Russian frigates of Count Voinovitch's squadron were making for the harbor. These ships were well known at Trieste, as they had refitted there during the stormy months of the preceding winter of 1799–1800. The squadron was then assigned to the task of blockading from the sea the fortress of Ancona, occupied by a French garrison. It also helped the raw Italian levies, which besieged Ancona from land, under the command of general Lahoz, whose troops were reinforced by a few hundred Russian and Turkish marines and seamen.

Type
Articles
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 6 , Issue 3-4 , December 1947 , pp. 25 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1947

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References

1 List of Admiral Ushakov's squadron in Materialy dlia Istorii Russkago Flota (St. Petersburg, 1902), XVI, 415; hereafter referred to as Materialy.

2 Miliutin, D. A., Voina Rossii s Frantsiei 1799 goda (St. Petersburg, 1853), V, 232 Google Scholar.

3 The Hon. George Keith Elphinstone, second son of Lord Elphinstone, who was created Lord Keith for his services in 1797 at the Cape of Good Hope.

4 Nelson had resigned his command and wanted to return to England.

5 The principal authority for this episode is the Autobiography of Miss Cornelia Knight (4th ed.; London, 1861), Vol. I. This source was quoted by several writers on Lord Nelson and his epoch including Carola Oman in her Nelson (New York, 1946), pp. 390–396.

6 Knight, op. cit., I, 150; “We had to pass within a mile of the advanced posts of the French army,” ibid., p. 320.

7 Ibid., pp. 321, 322.

8 Ibid., p. 151. Also an imperial order, declared by Count Kushelev on February 2, 1801, Materialy (1904), XVII, 5.

9 Knight, op. cit., p. 322.

10 Bowen, Marjorie, Patriotic Lady (New York, 1936), pp. 274, 275Google Scholar. For Voinovitch see Obstchii Morskoi Spisok (St. Petersburg, 1890), III, 317.

11 Knight, op. cit., p. 321. Miliutin, op. cit., V, 192, 193.

12 Knight, op. cit., pp. 322, 323.

13 Knight, op. cit., p. 151. Bowen, op. cit., p. 275.

14 Knight, op. cit., pp. 322, 323.

15 Lady Lcnanton (Carola Oman) wrote me on April 9, 1947, from Bride Hall, Welwyn, England: “I hope that when you publish your article you will mention the statement of Lady Nelson that in April 1790, after the first 30 months of his five-years unemployment, Nelson considered offering his services to the Imperial Russian Navy. This fact was communicated by Lady Nelson to Messrs. Clarke & M'Arthur, biographers, but they omitted the information, printing only the rest of the paragraph. This has therefore never been printed until I did so, from the original document, for which the reference is Llnjattock M.S. ‘Nelson Papers’ V. (Nelson Museum, Monmouth). These portfolios of miscellaneous documents are unbound and unindexed so I can give no folio number. Lady Nelson's words are, ‘He once spoke of the Russian service.’”

16 Bronevskoi, V., Zapiski Morskago Ofitsera (St. Petersburg, 1818), I, 65, 66Google Scholar.

17 Johnston, R. M., The Napoleonic Empire in Southern Italy and the Rise of the Secret Societies (London, 1904), I, 65–70, 73–75Google Scholar. Veselago, F., Kratkaia lstoriia Russkago Flota (St. Petersburg, 1895) II, 329 Google Scholar.

18 Veselago, op. cit., p. 329.

19 Thiers, M. A., Historie du consulat et de l'empire (Paris, 1947), VI, 334 Google Scholar.

20 Ibid., pp. 413, 414, 450, 451.

21 Ibid., pp. 452, 453. Veselago, op. cit., pp. 330–332.

22 Bronevskoi, op. cit., I, 307, 311 ff.

23 Ibid., pp. 312, 313. The episode is described according to Bronevskoi's testimony. There is also a brief reference to it in Veselago, op. cit., p. 330. Sentences in quotes are close translations of words given by Bronevskoi, as actually spoken by Seniavin or the Austrian officials. Very likely, these speeches are somewhat along the lines of Thucydides’ orations.

24 Veselago, op. cit., pp. 331–335.

28 Ibid., pp. 335, 336. Bronevskoi, op. cit., III, 175.

28 Veselago, op. cit., p. 336. Bronevskoi, op. cit., III, 175, 176.

27 Veselago, op. cit., p. 339. Bronevskoi, op. cit., III, 260.

28 Bronevskoi, op. cit., III, 261.

20 Ibid., p. 262.

30 Ibid., IV, 208.

31 Vandal, Albert, Napoléon et Alexandre I (Paris, 1898), I, 271, 301, 302, 347Google Scholar; also instruction to de Caulaincourt, dated November 12, 1807, p. 513.

32 Ibid., pp. 295, 296.

33 Ibid., pp. 128, 129. Bronevskoi, op. cit., III, 181, 182; IV, 269, 270.

34 Bronevskoi, op. cit., IV, 270, 271.

35 Ibid., IV, 249–257.

36 Ibid., pp. 249, 250.

37 From now on the word “commodore” is used to denote a captain commanding a squadron of ships under the broad pendant.

38 Ibid., pp. 251, 253.

39 Ibid., p. 253. Vandal, op. cit., II, 101–106.

40 Bronevskoi, op. cit., IV, 237–249.

41 Ibid., pp. 254, 255.

42 The Cambridge Modern History, IX, 54.

43 Bronevskoi, op. cit., IV, 254, 255.

44 See plan in Bronevskoi, op. cit., Vol. IV, between pp. 192 and 193.

45 Ibid., IV, 254.

46 Ibid., pp. 254, 255.

47 Ibid., p. 255.

48 Ibid., pp. 255, 256.

49 Ibid., pp. 256, 257.

50 Ibid., p. 257.

51 Thiers, op. cit., X, 406–438. Bronevskoi, op. cit., IV, 257.

52 Bronevskoi, op. cit., pp. 257, 258.

53 Ibid., p. 258.

54 Vandal, op. cit., II, 88.

55 See plan mentioned under note 44. The possibility of an interpretation of Napoleon's suggestions regarding the removal of the squadron to Ancona and of the decommissioning of the ships different from that advanced by Bronevskoi should not be left out of consideration. His book was published at the height of Russia's hatred for Napoleon.

56 Bronevskoi, op. cit., IV, 260.

57 Ibid., pp. 260–262.

58 Ibid., pp. 262, 263.

59 Ibid., pp. 263, 264.