Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

56BURNING OF STEAMER NICHOLAS I.

should perhaps never have undertaken this journey, had it not been for the steppes of Russia!

My carriage is already in the packet-boat : the Russians say it is one of the finest steamers in the world : they call it Nicholas the First. This same vessel was burnt last year crossing from Petersburg to Travemunde : it was refitted, and has since made two voyages.

Some superstitious minds fear that misfortune will yet attach itself to the boat. I, who am no sailor, do not sympathise with this poetic fear; but I respect all kinds of inoffensive superstition, as resulting from the noble pleasure of believing and of fearing, which are the foundation of all piety, and of which, even the abuse, classes man above all other beings in creation.

After a detailed account of the circumstances of the burning of the Nicholas I. had been made to the emperor, he cashiered the captain, who was a Russian, and who was quietly playing at cards in the cabin when the flames burst from the vessel. His friends however state in his excuse, or rather in his praise, that he was acquainted with the danger, and had given private orders to steer the vessel towards a sand-bank on the Mecklenburg coast, his object being to avoid alarming the passengers until the moment of absolute necessity arrrived. The flames burst out just as the vessel grounded ; most of the passengers were saved, owing chiefly to the heroic efforts of a young and unknown Frenchman. The Russian captain has been replaced by a Dutchman ; but he, it is said, does not possess authority over his crew. Foreign countries lend to Russia the men only whom they do not care