Read Ebook: Wonderful Development of Peter the Great's Pet Projects according to His Last Will and Testament. American Invention as an Aid to Russia's Grasp on Asiatic Territory. by Gannon W Peter I Emperor Of Russia Contributor

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WONDERFUL DEVELOPMENT

Peter the Great's Pet Projects,

ACCORDING TO

His Last Will and Testament.

AMERICAN INVENTION

AS AN

AID TO RUSSIA'S GRASP

ON ASIATIC TERRITORY.

BY W. GANNON.

NEW YORK: THE MARITIME REPORTER PUBLISHING CO., 15 WHITEHALL STREET. 1889.

PROGRESSIVE RUSSIA

ON THE

March to Constantinople.

AN AMERICAN INVENTOR THE ALLY OF THE MUSCOVITE.

Peter the Great may justly be credited with having been the greatest civilizer of his race. To him is due the credit of nationalizing his country and inaugurating vast industries, through the medium of the Ship. So far in advance of his time was he that his startling innovations and wonderful discounting of the arts of diplomacy must have endangered his head had he not been fortunate enough to have been born a despot.

Peter's last will and testament outlined the policy to be pursued by his successors, looking to the aggrandizement of Russia, and startling though its terms are in their selfishness, they are so thoroughly diplomatic that his successors have religiously lived up to their full meaning.

And so it comes to pass that the ever-advancing and constantly-tightening grasp of Russia on adjacent territory is alarming the Governments of the Old World and may, indeed, in the near future, somewhat concern ourselves. The Canadian Government is now urging Great Britain to erect defences on the Pacific Coast, for the reason that Russia, in pursuance of her peculiar policy, is enlarging her works and arsenal at Vladivostock, opposite British Columbia; and the initiative has already been taken by Great Britain in the erection of batteries in the neighborhood of Esquimault.

"SIGNS OF RUSSIAN PROGRESS.

"The completion of the Trans-Caspian Railway to Samarcand marks another stage in the Russian occupation of Asia. That city was the objective point of the earlier campaigns from Orenburg and the sea of Aral, which ended in the conquest of Khiva and Kokan and the establishment of Tashkend as the military headquarters, with railway connections northward. Bokhara was reduced to the condition of a protected province and Samarcand was virtually converted into a Russian centre of trade on the border of China. An interval of twelve years has elapsed, during which Samarcand, already within easy reach from Tashkend, has been gradually approached from the Caspian Sea. The Trans-Caspian Railway is now in operation from Michailovsk to Samarcand, a distance of 885 miles, by way of Askabad, Merv and Bokhara. This narrow-gauge system, built at a cost of ,000,000, gives Russia control of the commerce of Turkestan and completes the circuit of conquest on the borders of China, Afghanistan and Persia. In future military operations in Central Asia this railway, with the northern line running from Tashkend, will be a most useful base of transportation and supplies. Meanwhile, it binds together a straggling series of conquests separated by broad reaches of desert. It is already rumored in St. Petersburg that the Czar intends to visit during the summer the great Empire in Central Asia which the valor of his soldiers and the skill of his engineers have created. An imperial journey to Merv, Bokhara and Samarcand will illustrate the wonderful progress made by the Russians during the last twenty years in overrunning Asia.

"The Russian engineer who has completed the Trans-Caspian system is now to undertake a new and colossal undertaking. This is the trunk line through Central and Southern Siberia to the Pacific Ocean. Surveys have already been made for a railway from Tomsk to Irkutsk, and this line when finished is to be extended to Vladivostock, on the coast. As the Trans-Caspian now makes a close approach to Western China, the Siberian will complete the circuit of the Celestial Empire on its northern border. If the consent of the Chinese Government can be obtained, branches will be built from Irkutsk to Pekin, Shanghai, and other centres of population. Within five years it is expected that this gigantic enterprise will be accomplished and St. Petersburgh brought into direct communication with Vladivostock. The journey from the capital to the Pacific can then be made in a fortnight; and if Chinese markets can be opened to Russian traders, a marvelous change in the conditions of Asian commerce and intercourse will be effected."

And only a few weeks ago the same journal printed the following, as a sequel to the above:

"The announcement that Russia's Central Asia railroad system is to be greatly extended was to be expected. At present it reaches to Samarkand and already more than pays working expenses. Every branch or further extension of the main line will, of course, add materially to its traffic and its profits. It is now proposed to build a branch from the main line at Chardjui, on the Oxus, to Chamiab, and also to continue the main line onward from Samarcand to Tashkend. The latter would cross the Jaxartes; and thus the road would give direct communication with both the great rivers that flow into the Aral Sea, just at the head of navigation on them, and would connect the commerce of the Aral with that of the Caspian. Just beyond Tashkend begins a series of steppes adjoining those of Siberia, whither Russian colonists are flocking. The road thus promises to be of equal importance to commerce and to military strategy."

THE FIRST STEP.

The occupation of Asia, so long determined on by Russia, was a problem most difficult of solution. Many years were spent in devising ways and means to navigate the Aral Sea--the first thought being to transport machinery and material for the construction of steamers over the mountains--a project which was at length abandoned as impracticable.

But a solution was at hand. In the year 1860 a novel system for the construction of vessels was introduced in Great Britain by an American, through whose efforts a Company was formed and an extensive factory established at Liverpool. This Company, on proof of the value of its system of construction, secured a contract with the British Government to construct a number of steamers for the East India Company of Bengal--Moorshedaba.

As an evidence of the financial solidity of this company, and the class of men who invested their capital in that concern, it may be mentioned that Sir Charles Manby, the great English civil engineer, was President, while such men as Sir Robert Stephenson, President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and John Hamilton, also well-known as an eminent engineer, were members and stockholders. The entire capital and membership of the Company belonged in London--Liverpool simply being selected as a factory site.

The steamers under course of construction by this Company were 150 and 200 feet long, built on the new system of

CORRUGATED GALVANIZED IRON,

DISJOINTED AND TRANSPORTED IN SECTIONS,

being so arranged that they could be set up and taken apart with the utmost celerity, and without the aid of more than passable shipbuilding or mechanical knowledge. This unique and valuable system of ship construction was invented by Joseph Francis, an American born, and justly celebrated as founder of the United States Life-Saving Service, for which, at a late day, he received the

THANKS OF CONGRESS AND IS TO RECEIVE A GOLD MEDAL.

Information of this system of construction reached Russia after its value had been proved by the American, English, French, Austrian and German Governments, and Mr. Francis was invited to visit that country, where he was received by the Emperor.

In 1860, Admiral Boutakoff, of the Imperial Russian Navy, was ordered by the Emperor to proceed to Liverpool and examine the system of construction, with a view to its applicability to service on the Aral Sea, in Asia, and report as to its utility. From documents placed in possession of the writer, he is enabled to present a copy of the Admiral's Report, as follows:

"LIVERPOOL, 15th November, 1860.

"HONORED SIR: I have sent to the Scientific Committee of the Marine Ministry, with my reports of the 15th and 17th of October, for publication in a marine journal, a short article concerning the corrugated iron steamers. In addition to information therein contained, I would state that it is my conviction that for our rivers, which are from year to year getting more shallow, there cannot be built a more suitable steamer than the above. In the discharge of my duty, I communicate to you the result of the trials which have been made at the Liverpool factory.

"The corrugation of sheets of iron is effected, as may be known to you, crosswise and not lengthwise, and the sheets of the hull are riveted together by lapping one upon the other, corrugation upon corrugation, and a double row of rivets put in.

"The sheet broke at one row of rivets after having placed upon it 188 slabs, or 160 poods of fourteen pounds each ; after this test a whole sheet of the same measure was placed upon the blocks, and it bent after 199 slabs or 170 poods, had been placed upon it.

"Finally we took a plain sheet of iron the same measure, not corrugated, and it bent and fell from the blocks after ten slabs had been placed upon it. I believe that such results settle the question in regard to the local strength which corrugation imparts to iron and its adaptation in the construction of vessels.

"With sincere regard,

"ALEXANDER BOUTAKOFF.

"To ADMIRAL ARKASS."

On a call from the Russian Government, the inventor submitted photographs and drawings of the steamers constructed by the Liverpool Company, addressed, according to instructions, to the Grand Duke Constantine.

After some little necessary correspondence, shorn of all diplomatic red tape, a contract was entered into between the Imperial Government and Mr. Francis, for the construction of a fleet of light-draft steamers, to be pushed to completion rapidly as possible. The result was that, ere the year 1862 had passed, steamers, fully engined, and ready for service, were erected at the Liverpool factory, and taken apart again for shipment. These vessels were 150 to 200 feet in length, built on similar lines to vessels already constructed by the Company. When the steamers had been put together, tested and again set up at the factory, they were boxed for shipment, in sections, both hulls, floating dock and machinery, when they were ready for

THE STRANGEST ROUTE EVER TRAVERSED BY SHIP.

From Liverpool they went first to St. Petersburgh--thence to Moscow--on to Nijni Novgorod--across the Volga--over the Ural Mountains--to the Aral Sea, in Asia--where they were at length unboxed, the sections once again put together and, lo, a

PROUD FLOTILLA GRACED THE ARAL,

upreared as if by magic hands. This was the initiative in Russia's grandest Dream of Empire. These vessels had crossed the Aral barrier, and swooped down like things of life on the insulated sea, the inhabitants of whose shores fondly dreamed they dwelt secure in Nature's fastness. Impossible would it have been to transport vessels in their entirety over the rugged heights, and deadly impracticable would it have been to attempt their construction on the Aral seaboard, in full view of an alert and suspicious people.

Here it may be well to introduce three letters, the originals of which are in possession of the writer, and which are fully corroborative of the preceding statements.

"I beg leave to present to Your Imperial Highness lithographs of the two corrugated galvanized iron steamers, built at Liverpool for the Syr Dariah River, under the supervision of Captain A. Boutakoff, of the Russian Imperial Navy.

"The two steamers, together with one barge and a lifting dock, are finished, ready for shipment. Captain Boutakoff left Liverpool March 25 .

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