The Standart

[Douglas]

here is an interesting video of the Shtandart that I found

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

The first few seconds of this video are actually a very rare clip of the Polar Star [starboard side - steaming].  The rest of the film is onboard Standart.  Here is a scene showing the Tsar and Heir taking a sample of the sailors food.  This was a daily ritual, showing that the sailor's food was good enough for the Tsar.  Cool Vid.

[Mike]

The daily sampling of the enlisted men's lunch by the highest officer present was done in every army and navy unit as part of the service regulations.

[Douglas]

If you enjoy old films of the Imperial yachts, you will like this short clip.  It's new to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzNoR4NGX-s

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

More Bay of Shtandart-related stuff in this review  of the amazing book about the Finnish summer cruises. It also has detailed maps of the area.

[rgt9w]

According to Spiridovitch's account of the Standart running aground while navigating the fjords, the court photographer Hahn was aboard. Did he happen to take any photographs of the incident? Given the complexity of photography at the time and most likely having to leave his equipment behind, it is unlikely, but I thought I'd ask.

[rgt9w]

I found a partial answer to my earlier question. In further reading Spiridovitch's account, both he and Court photographer Hahn took pictures of the shipwrecked Standart. Has anyone seen these photographs?

[Sarushka]

From page 129 of Spiridovitch's original French edition:



There may be another photo from the accident in Desyat' Let na Imperatorskoi Yakhte Shtandart.

[nena]

Another one:



'Shtandart' on the stones/shores/fjords of the island Gransher, August 1907'.

[rgt9w]

Thank you Sarushka and Nena for posting the photographs.

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

the island Gransher

Граншер is Granskär (= Spruce Skerry) in Swedish / Latin letters. :-)

If the Granskär in question is the one directly off the Hanko/Hangö Peninsula, I think that's a bit strange, as Shtandart according to "Kejsaren i skärgården" first had passed Hangö to go to Högsåra (home of Alexander III's fishing buddy "Kejsar-Fina / Imperial Fina" further west for a brief stop, and then went eastwards again, because NII wanted to see the site of the 1714 Russian-Swedish Naval Battle of Rilax/Rilahti/Hangö Udd/Гангут, the first major victory of the Russian navy. A possible explanation is that NII wanted to start his "sightseeing" directly off Hangö, where the Russian and Swedish forces had met in 1714 and follow how the Russian fleet had forced the Swedes to retreat around Hangö and into the bay of Rilax. NII did get to see his battle site, because the IF continued onboard "Alexandria".

According to "Kejsaren i skärgården", many subjects who were opposed to NII's rule sent postcards showing Shtandart (the "imperial ship of state") on ground, in fits of skadefröjd (i.e. Schadenfreude in Swedish). The official inquest proved that the secrecy concerning the IF's cruises was an important reason for the accident. Even the map was secret and had not been given to the captain! Pro-Tsarist Russian newspaper railed against both Socialists, terrorists, Finns in general and the responsible pilot Blomquist and his Finnish collegues. The regime used the accident as an excuse to try to Russify the Finnish pilot service. The real reason was that the Finnish pilots' loyalty was essential for keeping the Germans out of the Gulf of Finland in case of war. And the Russian government's suspicions were right. (Or they made them come true, through their own retrenchment of Finnish autonomy!) In 1917 the Finnish pilots did welcome the Germans as liberators and guided them through Finnish waters.

[PAVLOV]

May I ask the following questions please ?
 
Why was the Standart taken all the way to the Crimea, if the Imperial family had so many palaces to live in ?  Surely not for accommodation ?
Did any member of the Imperial family ever travel on the long journey through the Mediterranean to the Crimea ? Or only from Sevastopol to Yalta ?

[Douglas]

May I ask the following questions please ?
 
Why was the Standart taken all the way to the Crimea, if the Imperial family had so many palaces to live in ?  Surely not for accommodation ?
Did any member of the Imperial family ever travel on the long journey through the Mediterranean to the Crimea ? Or only from Sevastopol to Yalta ?

For convenience and safety to visit family relatives in the area. 

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

I think it would have been a great idea to take an extended holiday from St. Petersburg to Yalta - Baltic Sea, through the North Sea and English Channel to the Atlantic Ocean and then the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea through the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus....
They could have paid mini-state visits to Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Britain, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal and Spain.
And then, Italy, Yugoslavia Greece, Egypt, Palestine, Turkey Bulgaria and Roumania....
A lot of 'good will' could have been "spread around" by such a trip!!

Larry

[Robert_Hall]

Did they use it for the visit to Romania as well?

[Douglas]

Did they use it for the visit to Romania as well?

Yes they did.  That was the infamous time  that someone proposed that one of the Russian Grand Duchess might be a suitable wife for the Romanian crown prince.  She wasn't impressed by him and was actually offended by the suggestion. By looking at photographs of him, I can understand.

The same afternoon, Alexandra left the Romanian palace in disgust .