P. 79: “That portion of Nikolaiev which we saw was built on high ground close to the river. This town was once a place of consequence; but its commer-
P. 80: cial prosperity must have been sapped by the rivalry of Odessa. Line-of-battle ships are still built here, and I had read in the papers of one having been launched soon after the battle of Sinope, and named in honour of that exploit; but I much doubt the truth of the report, as there did not appear to be any activity in the dockyard, and I saw the ribs of a large man-of-war, which would have taken more time to erect than had elapsed since the other was said to have been completed. I only saw at Nikolaiev a small steamer under repair. It took us about half an hour to sail across the river. We passed six Russian men-of-war moored across the stream below the town; higher up there was a small Government schooner, and closer to the shore two Austrian merchantmen. This Russian squadron consisted of some frigates and corvettes in an efficient state, if we may judge from their appearance aloft. They carried the ordinary Russian flag, which consists of three colours, white, blue, and red, horizontally, and not that usually borne by men-of-war.(1)
p. 81: The Imperial ensign is white, with a blue diagonal cross extending from corner to corner. I imagine that the squadron lying at Nikolaiev had not its full complement of men, and that this was the reason of its flying the national colours instead of the Imperial flag, which was carried by the schooner.” Note 1. Original footnote. The Dutch flag has precisely the same colours, but the order is different, having the red first, white next, and the blue at the bottom. The Christians of Turkey say that the Russians place the red below, in order to imply that they keep the Turks under.
Source
Alfred Royer, Royal Navy. The English prisoners in Russia. A personal narrative of the first lieutenant of HMS Tiger. London, 1854, 3rd edition.
