The Standart

[Douglas]

Nena:

thanks for the great links about Standart.

Douglas

[Olga Maria]

[EmmyLee]

I'm curious about the route that the Standart took each year when the family traveled. So far, this is all the information I've found.

The Standart travel from the Baltic Sea  to the Black Sea via the Mediterranean Sea.  Check a map and you can see it clearly.

I see a very long trip through the Baltic, the North Sea, the Atlantic, the Mediteranean, then the Aegean, into the Black Sea. Was that the route? Sorry, still confused.

Does anyone know the stops that the Standart made along the way? I know they would stop in Finland and the Crimea, but where else might they have stopped for a bit, whether to take on more supplies or just visit? Also, when in the year did the family start their trip and how long did it last before returning home?

[Douglas]

As far as I know,  when the IF vacationed in the Crimea, the Standart made the trip without the IF onboard.  They would travel to their Crimea palace, Livadia, by train.

From there they might elect to sail to various nearby places for official visits, such as the one they made to Romania.  Summertime.

The trips to Finland were in the Fall generally.  They would visit various little islands in the Baltic sea,  villages and relatives in that general area.

The Standart did make an official visit to Cowes for yachting regattas.  On that occasion the British royal yacht Victoria and Albert stood by and they exchanged luncheon visits with their British relations.

The same was done for their German cousins at another time at the German port of Kiel.

[Robert_Hall]

I could be mistaken, but I do not think the family was on the Baltic to Black sea voyage. They normally used the Imperial Train from  St.P. and back, just used the yacht for cruises around the area. The now famous  Romania  visit was one of those stops.
 As for  stops on the former route, I do not know  how long the Standart  could sail  before needing  refuel and provisioning. Douglas probably does. But logic suggests  that  Barcelona  and perhaps  Greece ? I have read that various family members used this opportunity to  "hitch a ride" to various spots along the way,  perhaps Biariitz, Monte Carlo, etc. That way, they did not have to deal with N&A  and their brood.

[EmmyLee]

Interesting, Douglas and Robert. I'd forgotten that they would use the train often for their travels. Where was the Standart docked when not in use?

[morvilaRomanov]

It's impossible that Standart did the route that was mencionated because they never had passed by Iberian Penynsula (portugal and spain) and they wouldn't pass the atlantic and they wouldn't cross all Europe for just goes to the baltic for the black sea.

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

The trips to Finland were in the Fall generally.  They would visit various little islands in the Baltic sea,  villages and relatives in that general area.

I'm repeating the question Standart149 asked in another thread years ago: Does anyone know the exact location of the "Bay of Standart"? I.e. the IF's favourite anchorage among the Finnish Skerries, which they called so because they returned year after year and went onshore on a small island and set up a tennis court etc.  

Was it in the Bay of Vyborg or further west towards Kotka and Langinkoski? If anybody has the book Keisarit kesälomalla Suomessa / Kejsaren i skärgården, please look!

[Mike]

The "Standart Bay" is one of the skerries in Virolahti Bay. The tennis court and other leisure facilities were set up in Vatimenpohja, now known as Tilli. The Standart was usually anchored at Cape Purkuniemi, south of Tilli.

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

The "Standart Bay" is one of the skerries in Virolahti Bay. The tennis court and other leisure facilities were set up in Vatimenpohja, now known as Tilli. The Standart was usually anchored at Cape Purkuniemi, south of Tilli.

Thanks, Mike! How poignant that the Russian-Finnish border now goes through Virolahti Bay....

Unfortunately Panoramio doesn't have any photos from those exact locations, but it does have several from Virolahti Bay, which looks beautiful: Panoramio: Virolahti

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

I just learned from the Tillander-Godenhielm book about imperial awards that the IF, on the Shtandart, met with the the Swedish royal couple (Gustav V and Victoria of Baden, at least), plus both countries' respective foreign ministers at Pitkäpaasi, a group of a few small islands southeast of the Bay of Shtandart, the Bay of Virolahti (Vederlax in Swedish!) and the Pattso peninsula/island on the 23-24th of July 1912. Are there any photos from this meeting posted here on the forum?

I am also wondering if the IF ever visited the Island of Hogland (Гогланд / Suursaari) in the Gulf of Finland midway between Estonia and Kotka (location of Langinkoski), from where it can be seen looming very temptingly in the horizon:



Seems like I must get my hands on "Kejsaren i skärgården"!

[Mike]

Russian emperors appear to have never visited Hogland, otherwise this fact would be happily mentioned by commercial promoters who, a few years ago, had built a hotel on the island and offered boat and helicopter tours. Now this project is abandoned, and the tourist facilities have been taken over by the military. They are slowly building a radar station - the defense value of which seems to be next to zero. Probably another money laundering scheme so typical of today's Russian military.

[Constantinople]

Betweeen 1911 and 1913, the Imperial Family definitely would not have travelled on board the Shtandart due to the Itallian Turkish war and the Balkans War.  To get from the Baltic to the Crimea, the Shtandart would have had to pass through the Bosphorous and pass by the Ottoman capital of Constantinople.  Also given the well known designs on Constantinople by Imperial Russia, it would have been impolitic for the Tsar to visit Constantinople.  I know that one Grand Duke visited in 1899 but I dont know of any others.

[Constantinople]

here is an interesting video of the Shtandart that I found

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLM2MveFIPk&feature=related

[NAOTMAA Fan]

here is an interesting video of the Shtandart that I found

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLM2MveFIPk&feature=related

That was amazing, thank you!