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The article discusses
Riga and Cronstadt. Cronstadt is situated on the island of Kotlin in the Gulf
of Finland, about 20 kilometers from St. Petersburg. Cronstadt was the
commercial harbor for St. Petersburg through to the late 1800's. Look for
references to the pontoon bridge and spring floods along the Duna (Daugava).
Courland refers to Kurzeme. Biela--Biela Russia--refers to White Russia, which
would roughly be today's Belarus.
A verst, a unit of
measure used widely in eastern Europe, is 500 sagene, which was standardized by
Peter the Great to 3,500 feet (at 1 sagene = 7 English feet), or just over a
kilometer.
FOREIGN CORN
PORTS.--RIGA.
RIGA and CRONSTADT, have, of late,
attracted very considerable attention. Their condition, at this period, is
annually a point of interest; but, at the present season of scarcity, it
acquires additional importance; for, the opening of the navigation of the great
rivers upon which these ports are situated, promises, this year, to be attended
with unusual results. Advices from St. Petersburg to the 21st of April state
:--
“We just hear that
the ice has commenced to break up at within five versts of the source of the
Neva, and we may consequently expect the same event here in about a week. In a
fortnight from that time the shipping generally commences at Cronstadt.”
Regarding the exchange it is observed:-- “Although our present rates of
exchange, on account of the little business doing, may go somewhat lower, still
we are of opinion that, as soon as the shipping commences, they will rise
again.”
“From Riga we learn
that the last accounts from Biela state, that on the 13th of April the ice had
broken up, and that more than 800 barques were in readiness to sail for Riga as
soon as the river should be sufficiently clear.
“Advices from St.
Petersburg, to the 26th of April, state a recurrence of winter weather. The
grain market was, nevertheless, firm, rye in particular being in good demand.
From Riga, under date the 29th of April, the exchange is quoted 39 5-16. Both
flax and grain were firm, and the hemp barks were daily expected. The mass of
floating ice in the bay still prevented the entrance of ships.”
RIGA, owing to its
advantageous situation, near the mouth of the Duna, about seven miles above its
entrance into the Gulf of Riga, has a very extensive trade; being, of the
Russian towns on the Baltic, in this respect second only to St. Petersburg. The
exports consist of the great staple articles of Russian produce, corn, timber,
flax, hemp, linseed, tallow, Russia leather, and sail-cloth. Riga wheat is
inferior to that of Danzig. Two descriptions are shipped--one the growth of
Russia, the other of Courland; the last is the best, being larger bodied, and
of a brighter colour, than the Russian; still, it makes but indifferent flour.
Oats are of good quality, and are largely exported. The mast trade is
extensive; and wainscot logs are much exported to England, and are very
superior. The trade is chiefly carried on by foreign merchants, particularly by
the English.
The river is wide, the
port very spacious and secure; and the merchantmen come up to the quays. In
summer, a bridge of pontoons, loosely attached to piles, and rising and falling
with the tide, is laid across the river: this bridge is 40 feet wide, and 2600
feet long, and is a pleasant and fashionable promenade.
The town is surrounded
with ramparts and bastions: it has a strong citadel, and is otherwise well
fortified, so that it is considered one of the most important bulwarks of the
Russian empire. It has about 4000 houses, 1000 of which are of stone; there are
14 churches, and an Imperial palace, arsenal, and several other public
buildings. It has suffered several times by fires and inundations; to the
latter it is much exposed, by the banks of the river being very low. Thus, at
the breaking up of the ice in 1814, 400 houses were swept away with their
inhabitants, together with immense quantities of timber, and 80 vessels laden
with hemp.
The numerous ships in the
river, the bustle in the streets, and the well-stocked warehouses and shops,
are indications of the extensive trade of which Riga is the centre. Our view of
the Port, is from a painting in the possession of a City merchant, obligingly
proffered for engraving in our series of “Foreign Corn Ports.”
CRONSTADT (" The
Town of the Crown,") the companion subject, is a town, fortress, and port, in
the Russian Government of St. Petersburg, from which city it is about
thirty-one miles distant. It is built at the south-eastern extremity of
Cotlin-Ostrof, an island in that part of the Gulf of Finland, called the Bay of
Cronstadt, about sixteen miles from the mouth of the Neva. At the entrance of
the harbour, on an island opposite the citadel, lies the fortress of
Cronschlott, built by Peter the Great, who termed it his window of Europe.
Besides its importance as
the great naval station of the Russian fleet, Cronstadt is the harbour of St.
Petersburg. All vessels proceeding to that port are searched there, and their
cargoes sealed ; and such as are too large for the shallow waters of the Neva
unload their cargoes at Cronstadt, and transport them in smaller craft.
There are three harbours;
but vessels are detained a great part of the year by ice in the Bay of
Cronstadt, which usually prevents them from entering after the end of November,
or leaving before the end of April, or sometimes even later. Peter the Great
decreed an annual prize of 1000 roubles to the first vessel that should arrive
at Cronstadt on the breaking-up of the ice. The passage is a dangerous one; and
in making it, some years since, an English steam-boat is stated to have been
lost.
The population of the town
in summer exceeds 40,000 individuals, of various nations, of these, next to the
Russians, the English are the most numerous.
The breaking-up of the ice
of the Neva, and the white winter of St. Petersburg, are thus picturesquely
described in the “Life of a Travelling Physician:”--
The river takes its rise
from the Ladoga, thirty miles distant from the town ; and, as the stream is
very rapid as it rises from the lake, so it is at this point that
disintegration of the ice first commences. This event is telegraphed from the
fortress of Schlusselberg, situated at the mouth of the river. The dissolution
of the body is gradual; an isolated mass of ice loosened from its holds is
carried down the stream, and, pressing against a resisting mass, forces it also
to yield ; as the floating particles increase from above, the pressure becomes
greater and the resistance less, and a channel is formed in the centre of the
stream, for there the current is strongest, and this becomes freed long before
the sides of the river. An impediment to the speedy dissolution of the whole
mass is frequently afforded by the roads which cross the river, and which,
being covered by a mixture of sand and snow trodden down, do not feel the sun's
influence like the rest of the surface. Hence, a piece of ice half a verst long
will not force its way through them, so firm is the resistance which they
offer, and it becomes necessary to saw the roads through. It is not uncommon to
see people walking along these roads when all above and below them is a mass of
floating ice. The whole of this process is often the source of great amusement.
If the weather be warm and fine, the quays are crowded with people amusing
themselves with the sight of this disintegration of the mass; all eyes are
directed towards the bridge, where the people and carriages throng; many get
out of their vehicles and walk over, hurry through their business on the
opposite side, anxious to retrace their steps before the bridge has swung away.
A trifling circumstance may hasten or retard this event. When least expected,
away it swings, and gain and loss are counted.
It is beautiful to
witness the breaking up of a field of solid ice, which is in a semi state of
decay. A large wedge comes down upon it, perhaps part of a road insinuates
itself into it, and, breaking it through, throws up its fluted spiculae on each
side in a thousand spangling forms. It is curious, also, to see the various
things which float down with the large pieces of ice. Boats stranded in the ice
as they attempted to cross in the autumn; enclosures of rails made for the
washerwomen ; stacks of hay, suddenly carried away from the river's side ; an
unfortunate cow, plenty of dogs, all travelling gratis down the stream. I have
seen a flock of geese, standing upon a floating island, pass through the centre
of the town before they took wing.
A few hours suffice for
the transit of the river ice into the gulph, for this takes place previous to
the breaking up of the Ladoga. As soon as the river is clear, so that boats may
cross, a cannon announces that the governor of the fortress has crossed: an
ancient custom. Previous to this cannon shot no private boat can ply. As soon
as the signal is given, the stream is covered over with boats of all sizes.
This is the moment to
see the Neva in all its glory-cleared of ice, and no bridges in the way to
detract from its magnitude. It has the appearance of a large lake divided by an
insular jet of land into two great branches. It flows slowly but majestically
along, and its pure crystal stream reflects the dazzling sunbeam which plays
upon its surface.
The view of Petersburg
from a balcony of the English quay, which takes in many of the public
buildings, and the splendid stream flowing through the centre of one of the
finest cities in Europe, must be seen at this time to be duly appreciated. It
is magnificent!
The next financial
operation consists in laying wagers upon the arrival of ships in Cronstadt.
This is another very uncertain speculation, and seldom takes place for some
days, or even weeks after the departure of the Neva ice. There is no tide, no
current in the gulf, so that the ice remains quiescent, till it is partly
dissolved by heat and rain, or completely shivered to atoms by waves and wind.
Large masses era often drifted on the shores.
Till this be
accomplished, no ships can arrive; and the average term of their entering
Cronstadt is about the fifth of May. Then the season, to use the factory term,
commences. The navigation of the Baltic at this season is by no means safe nor
comfortable. Ships leave England at various periods, and, if the winds are
favourable, may arrive at the edge of the ice in the gulf, and remain starving
there with cold for a fortnight before they can come into port. When the ice
does begin to move, they are often in great danger, for they must drift at the
good pleasure of the floating ice. The rudder is of no avail, and the sharp ice
sometimes cuts them through, and they founder.
This may occur even more
frequently in the autumn, when the ice is more hard and solid. Ships arrive
within various distances of the port, when their progress is impeded by the
discovery of a field of ice. Here they must remain till the following spring,
unless some hurricane shall again break up the ice and allow them to proceed.
It does occasionally happen that tile first winter ills. salves, and a second
commences. When fairly fixed at the edge of the ice, there they must remain, if
no such extraordinary circumstance chance to free them. If ships are thus
arrested within a mile of Cronstadt, a contract is formed with workmen to cut
canals and tow them into port. The ship Archangel was caught and fixed in the
ice seven versts below Cronstadt. A canal was sawed through at the expense of
£150 sterling. She had a valuable cargo. A ship which had accompanied her
on her voyage was cut through by the ice and foundered. Such are the
inconveniences of navigating the Baltic early and late in the
season.
Our Illustration is from a Drawing by
M. Manuel, the Russian artist.
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