The Botik of Peter the Great ( Botik Russian for small boat ; also " St. Nikolai ") is a boat that was possibly built in the 1640s either in England or according to English blueprints by Danes in Russia. The boat originally belonged to the great uncle Nikita Ivanovich Romanov of Peter the Great or, according to other sources, was a gift from Elizabeth I of England to Ivan the Terrible around 1580 . The boat was rediscovered in 1688 by Peter the Great on the Ismailovo royal estate . It was renovated by Carsten Brandt and Peter learned to sail on it. From 1701 on it was exhibited in the Moscow Kremlin and in May 1723 it was brought to Saint Petersburg , where it was celebrated as the "father of the Russian fleet" and in a pavilion, from 1765 in its own boathouse ( Russian Ботный дом ) on the Peter-und- Paul Fortress was erected. From 1928 to 1940 the boat was in Peterhof Palace . Since September 1940 it has been housed in the Central Museum of the Naval War Fleet , where it can still be seen today.
construction
The single-masted boat is 7 m long and 2 m wide. It has a shallow draft and four miniature cannons. It was steered by a tiller connected to the rudder . Unlike other Russian boats of the time, you could cruise with it against the wind.
