Page:The history of yachting.djvu/265

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THE HISTORY OF YACHTING
129

In 1723 the Czar ordered a grand Naval Review, and in June he sailed with his fleet from Revel to Cronstadt. When the fleet had assembled, the little boat in which he had first sailed on the Yause, and which he had caused to be beautifully decorated, was brought into the fleet on the deck of a galliot, and the admirals of the fleet were ordered to pay her their respects. The fleet then weighed anchor and stood into the haven, except the galliot, which remained outside. The Czar then made a visit with the admirals, and had his boat launched from the deck of the galliot, flying the Imperial standard. He christened her the Little Grandsire, as he regarded this boat as the father of the Russian Navy. He then ordered her manned by the three senior admirals and the chief surveyor of the Navy, Ivan Golovin; and, steering himself, he sailed into the haven, the whole fleet saluting with their guns. Then came a splendid banquet, and "the evening closed with merriment."

A few days later the Little Grandsire was taken to St. Petersburg and carefully laid away in the castle, where she is still preserved.

Czar Peter died in 1725, in his fifty-third year, and the thirty-sixth one of his reign.

In 1699 the first Eddystone Lighthouse was completed. This structure was built by Winstanley, who, with others, lost his life when the lighthouse was swept away by a severe storm, November 27, 1703. Rebuilt in 1708, it was finally burnt in 1755. In 1759 Smeaton completed the third Eddystone Lighthouse. For more than a century it stood, a