ress of storms.

Directly opposite to Portsmouth, and within this inclosed sea, is a
place where the water is just of the right depth, and the bottom of
just the right conformation for the convenient anchoring of ships of
war. This place is called Spithead, and it forms one of the most
famous anchoring grounds in the world. It is here that the vast fleets
of the English navy assemble, and here the ships come to anchor, when
returning home from their distant voyages. The view of these
grim-looking sea-monsters, with their double and triple rows of guns,
lying quietly at their moorings, as seen by the spectator from the deck
of the steamer which glides through and among them, on the way from
Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight, is extremely imposing. Indeed, when
considered by a mind capable of understanding in some degree the vast
magnitude and extension of the power which lies thus reposing there,
the spectacle becomes truly sublime.

In order to give Peter a favorable opportunity to see the fleet at
Spithead, the King of England commissioned the admiral in command of
the navy to accompany him to Portsmouth, and to put the fleet to sea,
with the view of exhibiting a mock naval engagement in the Channel.
Nothing could exceed the pleasure which this spectacle afforded to the
Czar. He expressed his admiration of it in the most glowing terms, and
said that he verily believed that an admiral of the English fleet was a
happier man than the Czar of Muscovy.

At length, when the time arrived for Peter to set out on his return to
his own dominions, the King of England made him a present of a
beautiful yacht, which had been built for his own use in his voyages
between England and Holland. The name of the yacht was the Royal
Transport. It was an armed vessel, carrying twenty-four guns, and was
well-built, and richly finished and furnished in every respect. The
Czar set sail from England in this yacht, taking with him the
companions that he had brought with him into England, and also a
considerable number of the persons whom he had engaged to enter into
his service in Russia. Some of these persons were to be employed in
the building of ships, and others in the construction of a canal to
connect the River Don with the River Wolga. The Don flows into the
Black and the Wolga into the Caspian Sea, and the object of the canal
was to allow Peter's vessels to pass from one sea into the other at
pleasure. As soon as the canal sho