ABSTRACT
Sergei Ivanovich Pleshcheev, a Russian naval captain, commanding a 64-gun ship, pressed Samuel Bentham (SB) to travel with him to St Petersburg. SB tried out on Count Chodkiewicz a very advantageous plan of commerce by the Black Sea with other countries as well as between Poland and Russia. The Russian fleet was not to be commanded as a single unit but to be subdivided. The destination of this fleet is now declared. It is to be divided into three squadrons, each consisting of five of the line and two frigates, one squadron is to cruise in the Mediterranean, one in the Channel and the third in the North Sea. Their object is said to be the protection of the trade but perhaps the real and more reasonable one is to exercise their men, and to make a show as a maritime power.
