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TheBotik of Peter the Great (also calledSt. Nicholas) is a miniaturized scaled-down warship discovered byPeter the Great at the royalIzmaylovo Estate in 1688. It was restored by Karshten Brandt, and Peter learned to sail using the boat on waters nearMoscow. It was stored in theKremlin of Moscow by Peter and later enshrined inSt. Petersburg. Peter continued to use it in state ceremonies and ordered that the boat be sailed down theNeva River on 30 August of every year. It was used in state ceremonies of later Russian monarchs, including the wedding ofCatherine the Great andPeter III of Russia, as well as the centennial celebration of St. Petersburg. Catherine built aboathouse in the 1760s to store it.
The boat became less important under Soviet rule, along with other objects from theRussian Empire; however, patriotism during the outbreak of theSecond World War led to a renewal of the importance of Peter the Great and thebotik along with him. The boat was moved by the Soviets to theCentral Naval Museum where it remains today. In 1997, the boat left Russia for the first time to be displayed at theWorld Financial Center.
Thebotik (small boat) was constructed, either in England or byDanes in Russia using an English design, in the 1640s,[1] and was then called theSt. Nicholas.[2] The boat originally belonged toPeter the Great's grandfather;[3] an earlier theory held that the boat was a gift fromQueen Elizabeth toIvan the Terrible in the 1580s.[4] It is the last remnant of the fleet of wooden boats maintained by Peter's father,Alexis; the rest rotted from neglect or were destroyed during the rebellion ofStenka Razin.[5]
The boat has ashallow draft and a singlemast; it measures 7 metres (23 ft) by 2 metres (6 ft 7 in).[1] It was steered using atiller connected to arudder attached to thesternpost.[1] It also has four miniature cannons.[4] Unlike Russian vessels of the time, the boat was designed with the ability tosail against the wind.[6]: 34
The boat was rediscovered at the RoyalIzmaylovo Estate in 1688 by Peter the Great, then aged about sixteen.[1] The derelict boat was pulled from a pile of debris in either a barn or a storeroom.[4] Peter asked Franz Timmerman, a Dutch seaman, what advantage the newly discovered boat had over Russian boats.[1]: 41–42 Timmerman responded that the boat could sail with or against wind and at Peter's direction sought out another Dutch seaman, Karshten Brandt, to restore it.[1]: 41–42 Peter learned to sail the ship on waters nearMoscow.[1]: 42 [3]
In 1701, Peter had thebotik stored in theKremlin'sDormition Cathedral.[1][7]: 178 Peter referenced the boat in a draftpreface to his 1720Naval Statute.[1] The published preface was written by ArchbishopFeofan Prokopovich who wrote that "thebotik served him not only as a childhood pastime, but became the cause of his building a navy, as we now see with wonder"[1] and illustrated this with themetaphor, "great oaks from little acorns grow".[7]: 22 In September of the same year, Prokopovich gave a "Sermon in Praise of the Russian Fleet" where he stated that the boat was "to the navy what the seed is to the tree"[1] and that the boat was "worthy of being clad in gold".[7]: 178
Peter the Great ordered that the boat be displayed in the Kremlin in 1722 in honor of thePeace of Nystad.[1] His botik was placed outside theDormition Cathedral, Moscow.[8] It was moved from there to theAlexander Nevsky Monastery in May 1723.[1][3] Peter sailed the boat down theNeva River on his birthday, 30 May 1723, along with a convoy of yachts and other ships of the Admiralty.[1] In August of the same year, Peter sailed the boat in aregatta of theBaltic Fleet from St. Petersburg toKronshtadt.[1] The boat was placed in thekronverk of thePeter and Paul Fortress on aplinth, inscribed with the words "From the amusement of the child came the triumph of the man".[1][3] After the boat took part in ceremonies on the third anniversary of the Peace of Nystad, 30 August 1724, Peter ordered that it be sailed or rowed to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery every year on 30 August.[1]
Thebotik was used in many state ceremonies by later Russian monarchies. The boat appeared in a regatta during the 1745 wedding ofPeter III of Russia andCatherine the Great.[1] Wearing naval uniform,Empress Elizabeth escorted thebotik.[1] Catherine had a boathouse built inside the fortress to house thebotik in the 1760s.[1][3] The boathouse became a major tourist attraction.[1] In 1803, during the centennial celebration of St. Petersburg underAlexander I, the boat was featured in a flotilla on the Neva; it was referred to as the "grandfather of the Russian navy"[9] a name originally given to it by Peter I.[1]
In 1872, the boat was brought to Moscow in a cortege led by a brother ofAlexander II of Russia for the bicentennial celebration of Peter's birth.[1] It was received by a101-gun salute and displayed in the great Moscow fair.[1]
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The importance of the boat, like most other memorials fromImperial Russia, was reduced in the early Soviet era.[1] Guidebooks toLeningrad at the time did not reference the boat.[1] The boat was moved toPeterhof in 1928 and remained there untilWorld War II.[3] During the outbreak of World War II, patriotism related to Peter the Great resurfaced.[1] He was referenced as conqueror of Germans and the founder of what became theSoviet Navy.[1] The importance of the boat increased with him, and it was moved to theCentral Naval Museum of theSt. Petersburg Bourse in September 1940.[1][3]
The boat made its first foray outside Russia in 1997 when it was displayed in theWinter Garden Atrium of theWorld Financial Center inNew York City.[4] While being displayed as part of the "St. Petersburg: A Cultural Celebration" festival, the boat was attended to by twopreservationists.[4] The preservationists attempted to identify the species ofoak used in the boat so that the country of origin could be determined in addition to scraping off dirt and patching cracks.[4]
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