Foreign Corn Ports — RigaThe Illustrated London News, May 15, 1847

The breakup of Baltic Sea ice opens the ports of Rīga and Cronstadt for the shipping season

Cronstadt is situated on the island of Kotlin in the Gulf of Finland, about 20 kilometers from St. Petersburg. Cronstadt was the commercial harbor for St. Petersburg through to the late 1800's. Look for references to the pontoon bridge and spring floods along the Duna (Daugava). Courland refers to Kurzeme. Biela—Biela Russia—refers to White Ruthenia, which corresponds roughly to today's Belarus.

A verst, a unit of measure used widely in eastern Europe, is 500 sagene, which was standardized by Peter the Great to 3,500 feet (at 1 sagene = 7 English feet), or just over a kilometer.

FOREIGN CORN PORTS.—RIGA.

RIGA and CRONSTADT, have, of late, attracted very considerable attention. Their condition, at this period, is annually a point of interest; but, at the present season of scarcity, it acquires additional importance; for, the opening of the navigation of the great rivers upon which these ports are situated, promises, this year, to be attended with unusual results. Advices from St. Petersburg to the 21st of April state :—

"We just hear that the ice has commenced to break up at within five versts of the source of the Neva, and we may consequently expect the same event here in about a week. In a fortnight from that time the shipping generally commences at Cronstadt." Regarding the exchange it is observed:— "Although our present rates of exchange, on account of the little business doing, may go somewhat lower, still we are of opinion that, as soon as the shipping commences, they will rise again."

"From Riga we learn that the last accounts from Biela state, that on the 13th of April the ice had broken up, and that more than 800 barques were in readiness to sail for Riga as soon as the river should be sufficiently clear.

"Advices from St. Petersburg, to the 26th of April, state a recurrence of winter weather. The grain market was, nevertheless, firm, rye in particular being in good demand. From Riga, under date the 29th of April, the exchange is quoted 39 5-16. Both flax and grain were firm, and the hemp barks were daily expected. The mass of floating ice in the bay still prevented the entrance of ships."

RIGA, owing to its advantageous situation, near the mouth of the Duna, about seven miles above its entrance into the Gulf of Riga, has a very extensive trade; being, of the Russian towns on the Baltic, in this respect second only to St. Petersburg. The exports consist of the great staple articles of Russian produce, corn, timber, flax, hemp, linseed, tallow, Russia leather, and sail-cloth. Riga wheat is inferior to that of Danzig. Two descriptions are shipped—one the growth of Russia, the other of Courland; the last is the best, being larger bodied, and of a brighter colour, than the Russian; still, it makes but in different flour. Oats are of good quality, and are largely exported. The mast trade is extensive; and wainscot logs are much exported to England, and are very superior. The trade is chiefly carried on by foreign merchants, particularly by the English.

The river is wide, the port very spacious and secure; and the merchantmen come up to the quays. In summer, a bridge of pontoons, loosely attached to piles, and rising and falling with the tide, is laid across the river: this bridge is 40 feet wide, and 2600 feet long, and is a pleasant and fashionable promenade.

The town is surrounded with ramparts and bastions: it has a strong citadel, and is otherwise well fortified, so that it is considered one of the most important bulwarks of the Russian empire. It has about 4000 houses, 1000 of which are of stone; there are 14 churches, and an Imperial palace, arsenal, and several other public buildings. It has suffered several times by fires and inundations; to the latter it is much exposed, by the banks of the river being very low. Thus, at the breaking up of the ice in 1814, 400 houses were swept away with their inhabitants, together with immense quantities of timber, and 80 vessels laden with hemp.

The numerous ships in the river, the bustle in the streets, and the well-stocked warehouses and shops, are indications of the extensive trade of which Riga is the centre. Our view of the Port, is from a painting in the possession of a City merchant, obligingly proffered for engraving in our series of "Foreign Corn Ports."

CRONSTADT (" The Town of the Crown,") the companion subject, is a town, fortress, and port, in the Russian Government of St. Petersburg, from which city it is about thirty-one miles distant. It is built at the south-eastern extremity of Cotlin-Ostrof, an island in that part of the Gulf of Finland, called the Bay of Cronstadt, about sixteen miles from the mouth of the Neva. At the entrance of the harbour, on an island opposite the citadel, lies the fortress of Cronschlott, built by Peter the Great, who termed it his window of Europe.

Besides its importance as the great naval station of the Russian fleet, Cronstadt is the harbour of St. Petersburg. All vessels proceeding to that port are searched there, and their cargoes sealed; and such as are too large for the shallow waters of the Neva unload their cargoes at Cronstadt, and transport them in smaller craft.

There are three harbours; but vessels are detained a great part of the year by ice in the Bay of Cronstadt, which usually prevents them from entering after the end of November, or leaving before the end of April, or sometimes even later. Peter the Great decreed an annual prize of 1000 roubles to the first vessel that should arrive at Cronstadt on the breaking-up of the ice. The passage is a dangerous one; and in making it, some years since, an English steam-boat is stated to have been lost.

The population of the town in summer exceeds 40,000 individuals, of various nations, of these, next to the Russians, the English are the most numerous.

The breaking-up of the ice of the Neva, and the white winter of St. Petersburg, are thus picturesquely described in the "Life of a Travelling Physician:"—

"The river takes its rise from the Ladoga, thirty miles distant from the town; and, as the stream is very rapid as it rises from the lake, so it is at this point that disintegration of the ice first commences. This event is telegraphed from the fortress of Schlusselberg, situated at the mouth of the river. The dissolution of the body is gradual; an isolated mass of ice loosened from its holds is carried down the stream, and, pressing against a resisting mass, forces it also to yield; as the floating particles increase from above, the pressure becomes greater and the resistance less, and a channel is formed in the centre of the stream, for there the current is strongest, and this becomes freed long before the sides of the river. An impediment to the speedy dissolution of the whole mass is frequently afforded by the roads which cross the river, and which, being covered by a mixture of sand and snow trodden down, do not feel the sun's influence like the rest of the surface. Hence, a piece of ice half a verst long will not force its way through them, so firm is the resistance which they offer, and it becomes necessary to saw the roads through. It is not uncommon to see people walking along these roads when all above and below them is a mass of floating ice. The whole of this process is often the source of great amusement. If the weather be warm and fine, the quays are crowded with people amusing themselves with the sight of this disintegration of the mass; all eyes are directed towards the bridge, where the people and carriages throng; many get out of their vehicles and walk over, hurry through their business on the opposite side, anxious to retrace their steps before the bridge has swung away. A trifling circumstance may hasten or retard this event. When least expected, away it swings, and gain and loss are counted.

"It is beautiful to witness the breaking up of a field of solid ice, which is in a semi state of decay. A large wedge comes down upon it, perhaps part of a road insinuates itself into it, and, breaking it through, throws up its fluted spiculae on each side in a thousand spangling forms. It is curious, also, to see the various things which float down with the large pieces of ice. Boats stranded in the ice as they attempted to cross in the autumn; enclosures of rails made for the washerwomen; stacks of hay, suddenly carried away from the river's side; an unfortunate cow, plenty of dogs, all travelling gratis down the stream. I have seen a flock of geese, standing upon a floating island, pass through the centre of the town before they took wing.

"A few hours suffice for the transit of the river ice into the gulph, for this takes place previous to the breaking up of the Ladoga. As soon as the river is clear, so that boats may cross, a cannon announces that the governor of the fortress has crossed: an ancient custom. Previous to this cannon shot no private boat can ply. As soon as the signal is given, the stream is covered over with boats of all sizes.

"This is the moment to see the Neva in all its glory-cleared of ice, and no bridges in the way to detract from its magnitude. It has the appearance of a large lake divided by an insular jet of land into two great branches. It flows slowly but majestically along, and its pure crystal stream reflects the dazzling sunbeam which plays upon its surface.

"The view of Petersburg from a balcony of the English quay, which takes in many of the public buildings, and the splendid stream flowing through the centre of one of the finest cities in Europe, must be seen at this time to be duly appreciated. It is magnificent!

"The next financial operation consists in laying wagers upon the arrival of ships in Cronstadt. This is another very uncertain speculation, and seldom takes place for some days, or even weeks after the departure of the Neva ice. There is no tide, no current in the gulf, so that the ice remains quiescent, till it is partly dissolved by heat and rain, or completely shivered to atoms by waves and wind. Large masses era often drifted on the shores.

"Till this be accomplished, no ships can arrive; and the average term of their entering Cronstadt is about the fifth of May. Then the season, to use the factory term, commences. The navigation of the Baltic at this season is by no means safe nor comfortable. Ships leave England at various periods, and, if the winds are favourable, may arrive at the edge of the ice in the gulf, and remain starving there with cold for a fortnight before they can come into port. When the ice does begin to move, they are often in great danger, for they must drift at the good pleasure of the floating ice. The rudder is of no avail, and the sharp ice sometimes cuts them through, and they founder.

"This may occur even more frequently in the autumn, when the ice is more hard and solid. Ships arrive within various distances of the port, when their progress is impeded by the discovery of a field of ice. Here they must remain till the following spring, unless some hurricane shall again break up the ice and allow them to proceed. It does occasionally happen that tile first winter ills, salves, and a second commences. When fairly fixed at the edge of the ice, there they must remain, if no such extraordinary circumstance chance to free them. If ships are thus arrested within a mile of Cronstadt, a contract is formed with workmen to cut canals and tow them into port. The ship Archangel was caught and fixed in the ice seven versts below Cronstadt. A canal was sawed through at the expense of £150 sterling. She had a valuable cargo. A ship which had accompanied her on her voyage was cut through by the ice and foundered. Such are the inconveniences of navigating the Baltic early and late in the season."

Our Illustration is from a Drawing by M. Manuel, the Russian artist.