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Petersburg 14 Octr. 1780
You ask me what Docks there are in this Country, if by
Docks you mean, according to the true purport of the word,
Places for the reception of Ships to be repair'd or built, so
that they may float in & out of them, such are only at
Goustad. As to place for building Ships whereever there
is depth enough of water for navigation, and hard
Shore solid enough to support such Weights, Ships may
be built - but most probably you meant to know
in what Part of this Country Ships, and Those Ships
of War, are actually building at present or have lately
been built - besides Goustad - Petersburg - Archangel -
Waronitz, and Astrochan -
At Tagaurog, which is near Azoff, there were ten
or twelve Frigates, and Sloops built 1000d Versts up
the River Don, or rather on the River Chaper, which
emptys itself into the Don - These are in a condition
almost unfit for Service, and all Marine operations
seem to be stop'd in that part of the Black Sea, and
transferred to the New Town of Cherson, where the
fame of it's Importance drew me in my late Excursion
I found however every thing in its Infancy, or the
greatest part rather in Embrio. One Ship only of
64 Guns, & that only in it's Skeleton State, was all that as
yet got any thing of the figure of a Ship, besides the work
of this was so badly done, & had stood in that state so long
that it was a doubt whether it could be made to serve or not
Two other Keels were preparing, Timber was coming in, some
from Poland by way of the Dnieper, other Part a great distance by
Land. Then as many as they cou'd get were set to work, and every
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Identifier: | JB/540/005/002 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 540.
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1780-10-14 |
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