Although the yacht was wrecked, we lost nothing, neither did the Emperor, for he was insured to the full, and we received an order to make another of precisely the same size. The underwriters, as soon as they heard of the accident, sent out a clever fellow, Captain Farr, who, upon arriving at the spot where the vessel was stranded, found that she had not received much damage; he, therefore, finding that the season was too far advanced to take her back to England, or even to get her into any Baltic port, at once weighed her and then sank her in deeper water in order that she might be protected during the winter. In the spring he returned, weighed her again, and took her to Revel, where he repaired the trifling damage she had received, then returned with her to England, calling at Hamburg on his way, and from thence she made a quicker voyage that had ever been made before. I saw her in the East India Dock, and she looked quite new; and unless I had known I should never have supposed that she had been stranded, and been a whole winter under water in the Baltic. She afterwards sold, I think, for 9000l., having originally cost 14,000l.; and as the insurers had been paid nearly 4000l. for the original insurance, the underwriters scarcely lost anything. Thus we gained considerably by the accident, having to make two yachts instead of one, and neither the Emperor nor the underwriters lost anything.
Leaving St. Petersburg I started for Moscow, traversing 400 miles of most uninteresting country in an open droschky, drawn at the rate of 10 miles an hour—as I paid liberally—by four horses abreast. The only noticeable place I passed through was Novogorod, a considerable town, with a good deal of activity, and apparently an extensive trade. Here the two great water-carriage systems met, connecting the Baltic with the Black Sea, and also with the Caspian. The canals were crowded with vessels laden with the products of the East and West; natives from the East clad in their flowing garments, Tartars, with their bows and arrows, Cossacks from the Don, Armenian, Greek, and Turkish merchants, and the never-failing Jew, English, French, and Germans, all mixed together, and carrying on their particular business, formed a very amusing and busy scene. I contrived to get a tolerable dinner there, the only one deserving of the name since I left Petersburg; I devoted two or three hours to looking over the canal-works, which, for that time, were not badly executed, but the town contained nothing remarkable.
On reaching Moscow, what struck me most was the Eastern appearance of the inhabitants, particularly when compared with the extremely modern look of the town itself. The Kremlin, of course, I need not describe. I visited the celebrated Riding House, which is 1200 feet long, covered by a wooden roof, of the single span of 240 feet; it is without doubt the finest and largest shed in the world, and a splendid piece of carpentry, well worth going some distance to see. It is frequently used for reviewing troops in unfavourable weather, and it is said that ten thousand men can go through their exercises under its shelter.
On my way from Moscow to Warsaw I had no idea that this great road—one of the principal in Russia, and, upon the whole, not through an unproductive country—I should find so totally unprovided with anything for the accommodation of travellers. In those days I certainly did not expect much, and having travelled in more barbarous countries, I could submit cheerfully to a good deal; but I certainly did not expect that it would be so bad as I found it, and therefore I carried little with me, contrary to my usual practice. This I certainly repented of, for our fare was most miserable; if we got eggs, butter, cheese, and bread, we thought ourselves lucky, though sometimes we got better provisions; however, perhaps it was well, for although ill when I started, I began to get better, and slept soundly. My man Weiss consoled himself with plenty of vodki, and considering the rough fare we got I could not altogether blame him. We passed Smolenski, and a very poor place it was; there was nothing like an hotel, nor any accommodation for travellers. Although seventeen years had elapsed since the invasion of the French in 1812, the remains of the fire and battle which took place when the French captured it were still very visible. When we entered Poland cultivation appeared to be carried on more extensively and with greater skill, and the people seemed more intelligent; we passed several large proprietors’ houses.
At Warsaw I attended a review of the garrison, in the Great Square, in honour of the recent victories of the Russians over the Turks. It consisted of about twelve thousand men of all arms, commanded by the Grand Duke Constantine, the Viceroy. I never saw finer troops in my life, nor any that manœuvred better. Before the review mass was said in their midst, and when Te Deum was sung by the whole of the men—and they sang it with great skill—the effect was very fine, and was rendered still more so by a salvo of one hundred and one guns, fired from the forts.
I returned rapidly through Germany, and reached home after an absence of sixty-five days, during which period I had travelled nearly thirty nights.
I immediately visited London Bridge, and found everything going on well. In fact, during my absence my brother George had diligently looked after my business as well as his own.
My brother George married the only daughter of Sir John Jackson, Bart., in June 1828. I had then taken a house for myself, No. 15, Whitehall Place, where my two younger brothers, Matthew and James, lived with me for about a couple of years.
At this time, as a bachelor, I saw a good deal of society, and made acquaintance with most of the celebrated scientific men of the day, also the leading literati, artists, painters, and sculptors. In fact, when I could tear myself away from my business I passed my time most agreeably and profitably in that distinguished society. I numbered amongst my acquaintance Sir H. Davy, Dr. Young, Wollaston, Dawes, Gilbert, Sir A. Cooper, Sir D. Home, Laurence, Greene, Playfair, Leslie, Whewell, Peacock, Hopkins, Liston, Barlow, Irving, Bailey, Colby, Parley, Sedgwick, Greenough, Delabeche, Meecham, Lyell, Brande, Faraday, Christie, Allen, Pepys, Sir James M’Intosh, W. W. Scott, J. W. Croker, J. Barrow, Sir S. Raffles, Marsden, Sir F. Chantrey, Sir T. Lawrence, Turner, Calcott, Stansfield, Behnes, Chalon, Sir A. M. Shee, Eastlake, Varley, Martin, Philips, Theodore Hook, Samuel Rogers, Southey, Robert Brown, Hallam, Sir A. Alison, Sir J. Parry, Sir J. Franklin, Sir John Ross, the late Sir J. Lubbock, the late Admiral Fitzroy, Professor Owen, and many others, and last, not least, Mrs. Somerville. Amongst foreigners—Humboldt, Laplace, Cuvier, Arago, Pring, Gerard, Cardinal Mezzofauité, Mailenette, Wree-Viking, and Von Breek.