In 1808 and 1809, a large number of Russian sailors, along with some Russian cavalrymen, passed through the naval hospital at Haslar near Portsmouth. The story of how they got there and how they eventually returned to Russia constitutes a fascinating and little-known chapter in the Napoleonic wars, one that took Russian sailors on a five-year journey from Kronstadt in Russia (near St. Petersburg) to fight French in the Adriatic Sea and Turks in the Aegean before surrendering to the British in Portugal. The story spans a period of Russian military activity in the Mediterranean, initiated by a mentally unstable Tsar and concluded on a raft in the middle of the Niemen River near the town of Tilsit.
This booklet tells that story.
By Eric C Birbeck MVO and Robert Goetz
