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For the first time, the Vandal oil barge was equipped with three diesel engines in 1903, designed for navigation on rivers, which is considered the world's first motor ship. Her diesels had a power of 120 hp. and were propelled by screws using an electrical transmission, which included three electric motors and a generator.

In 1904, the Nobel company developed a new motor ship "Sarmat", which was a river boat. It was equipped with two electric generators and 180 hp diesel engines. each, however, the power transmission was intended only for maneuvering and reversing, while the rest of the time the movement of the propeller shafts was carried out using diesel engines. Both Vandal and Sarmat could carry up to 750 tons of cargo each.

Ship "Ural"

Russia also became the birthplace of the first diesel engine of a reversible type, capable of working in both directions. It was equipped with the "Lamprey", built in 1908. In the same year, the performance of the mechanical reverse device, which was installed on the ship "Thought", was tested. Also for the first time in the same year and again in the Russian Empire, local shipbuilders were able to build the world's first offshore tanker, called "Delo", which was supposed to work on the Caspian Sea. Its distinguishing feature was that this ship had two diesel engines, the total power of which was 1000 hp. (according to other sources - 2000 hp).

The most successful example of wheeled motor ships is the Kolomensky tugboat, soon renamed Mys. However, this experiment was not entirely successful: the paddle wheels were driven by a diesel engine, and for this the ship had to be equipped with a complex mechanical transmission, which often failed. Therefore, such ships soon sank into the past.

The first Russian ships:

• 1903 - ship "Vandal";
• 1904 - ship "Sarmat";
• 1907 - tug "Kolomensky";
• 1908 - motor ship "Ilya Muromets";
• 1908 - motor ship "Lezgin" (360 hp);
• 1908 - ship "Delo";
• 1910 - motor ship "Experience" (a wheeled motor ship capable of carrying up to 50 tons of cargo was used to transport flour);
• 1911 - wheeled ship "Ural", which became the first passenger ship in the world. Its engine power was 800 hp;
• 1912 - the ship of the cargo type "Engineer Koreyvo" with a power of 600 hp, which had a carrying capacity of 70 thousand pounds;
• 1913 - dry cargo ship "Danilikha" with a diesel power of 300 hp. and a load capacity of about 2000 tons;
• 1915 - the world's first tugboat "Moskvich", equipped with a horizontal engine.

The heyday of the era of ships

The beginning of the construction of motor ships abroad dates back to 1911 (Germany) and 1912 (Denmark and Great Britain) years. The first ship that managed to conquer the ocean was the Danish Zeeland, the construction of which was completed in 1911.

By the 1930s the projects of new ships and their construction began to be massive: for example, in 1930, according to the data given in the Lloyd's register, these ships accounted for 10% of the entire civilian fleet in the world. By 1974, this figure had risen to 88.5%.

Motor ships had a number of undoubted advantages compared to their steam predecessors: low fuel consumption, significant efficiency and high reliability, which distinguished diesel engines, the ability to carry a greater amount of various cargoes.

ship

A, m. A vessel with an internal combustion engine.

adj. motor ship, th, th.

New explanatory and derivational dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.

ship

m. Sea or river vessel driven by internal combustion engines.

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

ship

a vessel propelled by an internal combustion engine (diesel engine); the power of the main engine is transmitted to the propeller directly or through a gearbox. The most common type of self-propelled vessel.

Motor ship

a vessel propelled by an internal combustion engine; the most common type of self-propelled vessel. Power from the main marine engine of the T. is transmitted to the propeller directly or with the help of a gearbox, sometimes through couplings (mechanical, hydraulic, etc.). Earlier, diesel-electric ships were also called diesel-electric ships - ships with diesel main engines and electric power transmission to propulsion electric motors (see Electric ship).

T. were first built in Russia: for work on the river. Volga ≈ screw tanker "Vandal" (1903) with 3 engines with a capacity of 88 kW (120 hp) and power transmission to the propeller shaft, the tanker "Sarmat" (1904) with a mechanical drive of the propeller shaft, the wheeled tugboat "Thought" ( 1907) and others; for work on the Caspian Sea - the tanker Delo (1908) with 2 main engines with a total power of 735 kW (1000 hp). The first submarine with 2 four-stroke reversible internal combustion engines with a power of 88 kW each was the Russian "Minoga" (1908). Transport tanks appeared abroad in 1922, and the Zeelandia tanker was built in Denmark with two engines of 920 kW (1,250 hp) each. In 1913, out of 80 tons of the world's fleet, 70 belonged to Russia.

The improvement of marine internal combustion engines—an increase in their efficiency, a reduction in mass and dimensions, an increase in reliability, and an increase in aggregate power—contributed to the replacement of steam engines for ships with steam engines. By 1930, the civilian fleet, according to the English Lloyd's Register of Shipping, had about 10% of T. According to the same source, by the middle of 1974 the share of T. had increased to about 88.5% (taking into account ships with a capacity of at least 100 registered tons ), and their capacity was 63% of the gross tonnage of the world's self-propelled fleet. Among the ordered and under construction to the con. 1974 ships with a deadweight of at least 2,000 tons of tons were about 83% in terms of the number of ships, or about 43% in terms of deadweight, and about 63% in terms of the power of the main engines.

Two-stroke, four-stroke, low-speed, medium-speed, and high-speed internal combustion engines are used as the main engines in trucks. In 1975, the maximum aggregate power of ship engines reached 36,300 kW (48,000 hp) on T-ferries. (Japan), the largest capacity of the installation is ≈2 ` 29,400 kW (2 × 40,000 hp) on container ships (Japan). With a high power of the main engines, turboships can compete with turboships. The auxiliary equipment of the T engine room includes air compressors and compressed air cylinders for starting engines, a system for cooling pistons and cylinders with outboard and fresh water, and equipment for cleaning and supplying fuel and lubricating oil to the engine at high pressure. The heat of waste gases from engines of medium and high power on the go is used to generate steam in a waste heat boiler; steam is used to generate electricity and other ship needs.

E. G. Logvinovich.

Wikipedia

Motor ship

Motor ship- a generalizing concept that describes the class of self-propelled ships, the ship's power plant is based on an engine that converts the energy of fuel combustion into mechanical, but is not a steamship. In the vast majority of cases, a diesel engine is used in the SPP of the ship. Ships whose power plant is driven by a steam turbine or gas turbine are also commonly referred to as motor ships, especially since the power plant of such ships often includes diesel engines. Thus, almost all self-propelled modern ships are motor ships, except for nuclear-powered ships, sailing ships, and ships using other energy sources.

Examples of the use of the word ship in the literature.

Teletskoye Lake is easily accessible by motor ship or by boat from Artybash, where they come by bus or passing car from Biysk.

Although nearby, everything is different - asphalt, three cinemas, an amusement park, a bay, Golden Beach, walking ships, buffets, pies at the station, ice cream on every corner, soda machines all over the city.

Just a week ago he sailed on a pleasure motor ship to Vasilsursk, a vacation began after exams at the school where he worked as a mathematics teacher, and suddenly you are at war.

Below Vinnovka, 3 km, there was then a green parking lot for tourist ships.

After the spring squally winds disperse the remnants of ice and the islands are dressed in greenery, elegant multi-deck ships- some from the Svir, others from Vytegra and Povenets.

And all sleepless seagulls soar behind, fly behind motor ship from Vytegra itself or Petrozavodsk, they circle in silence, without the usual daytime hubbub, as if they did not dare to violate the nighttime mystery of water and sky.

When ship moored to the pier, Vyacha, without a ladder, was the first to jump off the side and, waiting for his friends, took on an independent look.

I planned the parking lot for three hours so that the team ship could walk on the ground, the locals could buy goods and products from us, and we could buy taiga wild plants and fish from them for cheap.

Later, according to the memoirs of Ignatiev, I told about this defense on the radio, and then other participants responded: the captain of the towing ship Nikolai Lomakin of the Dnieper-Bug flotilla, now living in the city of Pinsk, war invalid Foma Zazirny from the city of Kanev, Cherkasy region, former anti-aircraft gunner, and now a locomotive depot mechanic in Novgorod Anatoly Pinchuk, former sergeant of the aviation unit, now a teacher from the village of Novaya Lyada, Tambov region Alexei Rusanov, a resident of Zaporozhye Vladimir Dubinsky, an engineer Igor Kislov from the city of Voronezh, etc.

It was the best passenger ship in the West Siberian River Shipping Company.

The distant polar island Novy, where motor ship Natasha rode, though not fabulous, but its history, its land - tundra, hills, rocks and treacherous sandbanks, its bays and fast-flowing rivers kept many secrets and mysteries.

big ocean ship went on a flight - to a distant polar island.

At that time ship Izyumov also leaned over in a peculiar way, so as not to fall, clutching someone's skirt with both hands.

The habitation module looked like a tiny cruise ship- a wide corridor with a string of doors and cozy cabins for two.

Learned nothing in 70 years I remembered last year's trip on a tourist motor ship along the Yenisei, a parking lot in the village of Kureika near the Arctic Circle, where Stalin served his tsarist exile in 1913-1916, a spacious building of the former leader’s museum, noticeably dilapidated, but not losing some pomposity, blindly gaping with empty openings of large windows.

Inventor: the firm "Association of the Nobel Brothers"
A country: Russia
Time of invention: 1903

At the beginning of the 20th century, significant changes took place in shipbuilding - steamboats, which have been widely used for a hundred years on all water transport routes, are being replaced by more advanced ships with.

The beginning of this important revolution was laid in Russia - it was here that the first reverse marine diesel engine was created and the world's first motor ships and were built. All these developments were initiated by one of the largest Russian firms, the Nobel Brothers Partnership. The Nobels were among the first to appreciate the importance of Rudolf Diesel's invention.

As soon as there were reports of his engine, Emmanuel Nobel began negotiations to purchase a license. The main thing that bribed Nobel in the new engine was that it could run on heavy fuel. In 1898, having paid huge money for those times (about 500 thousand rubles), Nobel received drawings of a 20-horsepower diesel engine.

After their careful study at the St. Petersburg plant of the company, many engine parts were changed as for constructive reasons, and, mainly, because it was decided to make the first engine run on oil, and not on kerosene. The difficulties of using petroleum fuel were not yet overcome anywhere in the world at that time.

The world's first oil-powered diesel engine was launched in 1899. He developed 25 horsepower and spent about a quarter of a kilogram of oil per hour per 1 horsepower. It was an important success, but the cherished dream of Nobel was the use of diesel as a ship engine.

At that time, skepticism about diesels was still widespread among many engineers. Most considered that these engines were not suitable as a drive for the movement of ships. The reasons for this were good enough.

Firstly, diesel engines did not have a reverse gear (reverse) and, installed on, could only rotate the propeller in one direction.

Secondly, it was impossible to start the first diesel engines at some extreme positions of the piston.

Thirdly, the operation of diesel engines was difficult to adjust - it was difficult to change the mode of their operation, for example, to reduce or increase the speed of the shaft, thereby increasing or decreasing the speed of the vessel.

These shortcomings, which were not of great importance for a stationary installation and the small size of a diesel engine operating under constant load, were a very significant flaw for a transport engine. The steam engine, which was widely used at that time, had an advantage over a diesel engine in this sense - reverse, changing the shaft speed and starting from any position were achieved on it without any difficulty. In this case, it would seem, was it worth messing with diesel at all? It turns out that it was worth it - elementary calculations convinced Nobel of this.

The great advantage of a diesel engine lies in its high efficiency and, consequently, in its economy. Since diesel engines required four times less fuel than steam engines of the same power, it was easy to imagine what great prospects such a reduction in the weight of fuel consumption opened up for shipping, both in commercial and especially in the navy.

Comparing an ordinary steam ship with a thermal ship designed for the same cruising range, it was easy to calculate that the second of them, equipped with a diesel engine, would be able to take a fuel supply four times smaller in weight, thereby increasing its carrying capacity. On the contrary, if the same amount of fuel is taken by both, then, obviously, the ship will be able to cover four times the distance than .

Of course, for a short cruising range, the difference between both types of ships was not so great, but with an increase in cruising range, the difference between a motor ship and a steam ship increased exceptionally. On a voyage of 10,000 miles with a carrying capacity of 1,000 tons, the ship could actually carry twice as much cargo as the same ship. For the conditions of Russian shipping, this was of tremendous importance, since it became possible, without resorting to loading additional fuel along the way, to travel a greater distance with one's own reserve.

There were other important benefits as well. For example, the ship was loaded with oil in bulk, while coal had to be loaded manually. True, the unprofitability of the steamship was compensated by the cheapness of coal fuel, but for Nobel, one of the largest oil magnates of that time, this aspect was not of significant importance.

Despite all the difficulties, Nobel ordered his engineers to start designing the first ship. In order for the new vessel to be able to maneuver, he ordered that the diesel engine be connected to the propeller shaft not directly, but through a transmission that allowed changing both the direction of rotation of the propeller and its number of revolutions.

In 1903, three 120 horsepower diesel engines were installed on the Vandal tanker barge, manufactured at the Sormovo plant and brought to St. Petersburg. Together with these diesel engines, three electric generators worked, generating current for three electric motors that rotated the propellers. By switching the windings on the Vandal, it was possible to change the mode and direction of rotation.

Tests of the new ship gave encouraging results, but in general such a drive system could hardly be considered successful and fraught with many inconveniences - first of all, it was expensive and uneconomical in terms of energy costs.

In the same year, Nobel bought a license for the Del Proposto propulsion system, which allowed more it is economical to use diesel as a ship engine. The principle of its operation was that in forward gear the diesel engine was directly connected to the propeller, and the electric transmission was used only for reverse gear and maneuvering.

This significantly reduced energy losses, because most of the time the screws received rotation directly from the diesel engine, and full power was not required for maneuvering and reversing. In 1904, the Sarmat oil tanker was equipped with this system. It was equipped with two diesel engines of 180 horsepower and two electric generators.

Each diesel engine was connected to an electric generator, and then through a coupling with a propeller, on which an electric motor was located. During the forward stroke, the diesel engine worked directly on the screw, and the generator and electric motor rotated, neither giving nor receiving current, like flywheels. When reversing, the engine began to work on an electric generator, which sent current to the electric motor and gave the propeller reverse rotation.

The results of the very first voyages of the Sarmat showed all the advantages of diesel installations on ships. Expenses oil against the same type of steamers (which worked on oil, not on coal) turned out to be five times smaller. At the same time, maneuvering and control did not deteriorate at all. Reports were published on the technical tests of the ship, and not only in Russia - the Sarmat became a celebrity.

However, the lack of a reverse still prevented the wide distribution of motor ships. Only in 1908 did the long-term search culminate in the creation of a reverse engine. As already noted, in a reverse engine it was necessary to have, firstly, a mechanism that switches the forward and reverse distribution elements, putting one into action and simultaneously turning off the others, and, secondly, a device for starting the engine in any position of the crankshaft shaft.

Of these two reverse elements, the first, that is, the mechanism for rearranging the distribution, was created quite easily: two cam systems were placed on the camshaft - one for the front and the other for reverse. By moving the entire system in one direction, the engine received distribution for the forward stroke, by moving in the opposite direction - for the rear.

Reversing the engine (transition from "full forward" to "full reverse") took 10-12 seconds. The device for launching, on the contrary, was the main and more difficult task, but it was also very successfully solved by Russian engineers at the Nobel factory. True, these diesel engines were not made for the ship, but for the Lamprey submarine launched in 1908, which thus became the world's first diesel submarine.

Diesels on the "Lamprey" were three-cylinder. The problem of getting out of the dead stroke was solved as follows: the transition from the operation of the system with air to work with oil did not occur immediately, but gradually - at first all cylinders worked with air, then one switched to oil, after it gave a working stroke, the second cylinder was transferred to oil and so on.

The timing and sequence of flashes in the cylinder brought the crankshaft out of any position. At the same time, speed control was achieved by reducing and increasing the oil supply. Thus, all the problems of creating a marine diesel engine were resolved. The second reverse engine was installed on the Akula submarine, and then Nobel began to equip his oil tankers with them.

After successful tests in Russia, diesel engines as ship engines began to be introduced around the world. At first, diesel engines were installed only on small ships, but in the second decade of the 20th century, a turning point occurred in marine shipbuilding. In 1911 and 1912, the shipyards in Germany and England began building several large ships.

In 1912, the first passenger and freight ship Zeelandia, with a displacement of 3200 tons and a carrying capacity of 7400 tons, left the stocks in Denmark. The whole world followed its first voyage from Copenhagen to London. It was soon calculated that the exploitation of the "Zeeland" gives 160,000 marks of savings per year compared with steamships of the same class. This decided the fate of the new mode of transport.

From Wiki

Motor ship- a generalizing concept that describes the class of self-propelled ships, the ship's power plant (hereinafter referred to as the SPP) of which is based on an engine that converts the energy of fuel combustion into mechanical, but is not a steamship. In the vast majority of cases, a diesel engine is used in the SPP of the ship. Ships whose power plant is driven by a steam turbine or gas turbine are also commonly referred to as motor ships, especially since the power plant of such ships often includes diesel engines. Thus, almost all self-propelled modern ships are motor ships, except for nuclear-powered ships, sailing ships, and ships using other energy sources.

Classification

A ship, as follows from the definition, can be called almost any modern ship.

Motor ships can be divided according to their purpose:

• Passenger motor ships - includes passenger ships with both unlimited and limited navigation area, ferries, hydrofoils.
• Cargo ships - include ships for the transport of goods, for various purposes, such as tankers, dry cargo, container ships, ro-ro ships, car carriers, lighter carriers, timber carriers, ore carriers, etc.
• Fishing vessels
• Auxiliary vessels - such as icebreakers.
• Warships.

By sailing area:

• Unlimited.
• Limited sea navigation area.
• Mixed navigation (river-sea).
• Inland navigation area (lake and river).

By type of GEM:

• Diesel.
• Steam turbine (boiler turbine).
• Gas turbine (gas-turbine, gas-turbine-electric).
• Combined power plant - includes, for example, a gas turbine and a diesel engine.

• Single shaft.
• Two-shaft.
• Multi-shaft.

Device

The Nobels took an early interest in the invention of the engineer Rudolf Diesel. Already in 1898, Nobel acquired drawings of a diesel engine with a capacity of 20 liters. With. After several years of technical research, Nobel engineers managed to create a working marine diesel engine. Three such engines were installed in 1903 on the Vandal oil-loading river barge (built at the Sormovo plant and brought to St. Petersburg), which thus became the first motor ship in the world. Three diesel engines were installed on the Vandal, each with a capacity of 120 hp. with., which set the propellers in motion with the help of an electrical transmission, which consisted of three generators and electric motors. Such a complex drive scheme was chosen due to the unresolved problem of diesel reverse and speed control over a wide range.

In 1904, the Nobel company built the next motor ship, the Sarmat, also a former river tanker. He had two diesel engines of 180 liters. With. and two electric generators, but the power transmission was used only for reversing and maneuvering, and the rest of the time the diesels set the propeller shafts in motion directly. "Vandal" and "Sarmat" had a carrying capacity of 750 tons each.

The first reversible (which can work in both directions) diesel engine was also created in Russia. It was installed on the submarine Minoga built in 1908. In the same year, the design of the mechanical reverse device was tested on the ship "Thought".

In the same year, and again in Russia, the first offshore motor ship, the Delo tanker, was built, designed to operate on the Caspian Sea. It had two engines with a total capacity of 1000 hp. With. (according to other sources - 2000 hp). The Delo was a large ship, its length was 106 meters, its width was 15 meters, and its carrying capacity reached 4,000 tons.

Interestingly, along with screw motor ships, wheeled motor ships were also built: for example, the Kolomensky tugboat (later - Mys). However, such vessels were unsuccessful: a complex mechanical transmission was used to drive the paddle wheels with a diesel engine, which often broke down. Soon, wheeled ships were abandoned.

The first ships of Russia:

• 1903 - "Vandal"
• 1904 - "Sarmatian"
• 1907 - "Kolomensky"
• 1908 - "Ilya Muromets"
• 1908 - "Lezgin" (360 nominal forces)
• 1908 - "The Case"
• 1910 - "Experience" - a wheeled ship for the transportation of flour, with a carrying capacity of about 50 tons
• 1911 - "Ural" - a wheeled ship, the first passenger ship in the world, 800 nominal forces (burned down in 1916)
• 1912 - "Engineer Koreyvo" - a cargo ship with a capacity of 600 nominal forces and a carrying capacity of 70 thousand pounds. Built at the Kolomna plant
• 1913 - "Danilikha" - dry cargo ship, carrying capacity 2000 tons, power 300 nominal forces. Built according to the project of engineer N. V. Kabachinsky at the Sormovsky plant
• 1915 - "Moskvich", the world's first tugboat with a horizontal engine

In addition to large ones, some of which are noted in the list, they were built or converted into motor ships and small vessels. By 1914, there were already about two hundred of them on the Volga, and the number of large ships was 48 (passenger and cargo-passenger - 16, cargo - 12, tugboats - 20). Thus, within a very short time, the Russian industry mastered the production of motor ships. The experience gained made it possible to move from experimental single ships to serial production. In 1907, the Kolomna Plant began building a series of passenger motor ships with a screw drive (the customer was the Kavkaz and Mercury joint-stock company). The first ship of the series, which was named "Borodino", was ready by 1911. The construction of a series of such motor ships continued until 1917, a total of 11 motor ships were built. The most durable ships of this series, "Uritsky" (originally - "Tsargrad"), "Paris Commune" (originally - "John the Terrible") and actually "Memory of Comrade. Markin" (originally "Bagration") - worked on the Volga until 1991.

Outside of Russia, motor ships began to be built in 1911 in Germany and in 1912 in Great Britain and Denmark. The Danish "Zealand" (Sealandia), launched in 1911, became the first ocean-going ship. This ship was very successful: in the first twelve years of service, engine repairs had to be carried out only once. Zeeland worked until 1942.

Motor ships became quite massive by the thirties (according to the Lloyd's register, in 1930 they accounted for 10% of the world's civilian fleet), and by 1974, according to the same source, they already accounted for 88.5% of the world's civilian fleet.

Compared to steamships, motor ships had the following advantages: higher efficiency, lower fuel consumption (and, consequently, greater carrying capacity and greater power reserve), higher engine reliability.

Sources

• K. V. Ryzhkov."One Hundred Great Inventions", Moscow, "Veche", 2002. ISBN 5-7838-0528-9
• Encyclopedia of ships. "Polygon", "Ast", Moscow - St. Petersburg, MCMXCVII. ISBN 5-89173-008-1

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An excerpt characterizing the ship

The next day after the departure of his son, Prince Nikolai Andreevich called Princess Marya to him.
- Well, are you satisfied now? - he said to her, - quarreled with her son! Satisfied? All you needed was! Satisfied?.. It hurts me, it hurts. I'm old and weak, and you wanted it. Well, rejoice, rejoice ... - And after that, Princess Marya did not see her father for a week. He was sick and did not leave the office.
To her surprise, Princess Mary noticed that during this time of illness, the old prince also did not allow m lle Bourienne to see him. One Tikhon followed him.
A week later, the prince came out and began his former life again, with special activities engaged in buildings and gardens and ending all previous relations with m lle Bourienne. His appearance and cold tone with Princess Mary seemed to say to her: “You see, you invented a lie to Prince Andrei about my relationship with this Frenchwoman and quarreled with me; and you see that I don't need you or the Frenchwoman."
Princess Mary spent one half of the day at Nikolushka's, following his lessons, herself giving him lessons in Russian and music, and talking with Desalle; the other part of the day she spent in her half with books, with the old nurse, and with God's people, who sometimes came to her from the back porch.
Princess Mary thought about the war the way women think about war. She was afraid for her brother who was there, she was horrified, not understanding her, before the human cruelty that forced them to kill each other; but she did not understand the significance of this war, which seemed to her the same as all previous wars. She did not understand the significance of this war, despite the fact that Dessalles, her constant interlocutor, who was passionately interested in the course of the war, tried to explain his considerations to her, and despite the fact that the people of God who came to her all spoke with horror in their own way about popular rumors about the invasion of the Antichrist, and despite the fact that Julie, now Princess Drubetskaya, who again entered into correspondence with her, wrote patriotic letters to her from Moscow.
“I am writing to you in Russian, my good friend,” Julie wrote, “because I have hatred for all the French, as well as for their language, which I cannot hear speak ... We are all enthusiastic in Moscow through enthusiasm for our adored emperor.
My poor husband endures labor and hunger in Jewish taverns; but the news I have makes me even more excited.
You heard, right, about the heroic feat of Raevsky, who embraced his two sons and said: “I will die with them, but we will not hesitate! And indeed, although the enemy was twice as strong as us, we did not hesitate. We spend our time as best we can; but in war, as in war. Princess Alina and Sophie sit with me all day long, and we, the unfortunate widows of living husbands, have wonderful conversations over lint; only you, my friend, are missing ... etc.
Mostly, Princess Mary did not understand the full significance of this war because the old prince never spoke about it, did not recognize it, and laughed at dinner at Desalles, who spoke about this war. The prince's tone was so calm and sure that Princess Mary, without reasoning, believed him.
Throughout the month of July, the old prince was extremely active and even lively. He also laid a new garden and a new building, a building for courtyards. One thing that bothered Princess Marya was that he slept little and, having changed his habit of sleeping in the study, every day he changed the place of his lodging for the night. Either he ordered his camp bed to be made up in the gallery, or he remained on the sofa or in the Voltaire chair in the living room and dozed without undressing, while not m lle Bourienne, but the boy Petrusha read to him; then he spent the night in the dining room.
On August 1, a second letter was received from Prince Andrei. In the first letter, received shortly after his departure, Prince Andrei humbly asked for forgiveness from his father for what he allowed himself to tell him, and asked him to return his favor to him. The old prince answered this letter with an affectionate letter, and after this letter he alienated the Frenchwoman from himself. The second letter of Prince Andrei, written from near Vitebsk, after the French had occupied it, consisted of a brief description of the entire campaign with a plan drawn in the letter, and of considerations about the further course of the campaign. In this letter, Prince Andrei presented to his father the inconvenience of his position close to the theater of war, on the very line of movement of troops, and advised him to go to Moscow.
At dinner that day, in response to the words of Dessalles, who said that, as he heard, the French had already entered Vitebsk, the old prince remembered Prince Andrei's letter.
“I received it from Prince Andrei today,” he said to Princess Marya, “didn’t you read it?”
“No, mon pere, [father],” the princess answered frightened. She couldn't read letters she hadn't even heard about receiving.
“He writes about this war,” said the prince with that contemptuous smile that had become accustomed to him, with which he always spoke about a real war.
“It must be very interesting,” Desalles said. - The prince is able to know ...
– Ah, very interesting! said m lle Bourienne.
“Go and bring it to me,” the old prince turned to m lle Bourienne. - You know, on a small paperweight table.
M lle Bourienne jumped up happily.
“Oh no,” he yelled, frowning. - Come on, Mikhail Ivanovich.
Mikhail Ivanovich got up and went into the study. But as soon as he left, the old prince, looking around uneasily, threw down his napkin and went himself.
“They don’t know how to do anything, they mix everything up.
While he was walking, Princess Mary, Dessalles, m lle Bourienne and even Nikolushka looked at each other in silence. The old prince returned with a hasty step, accompanied by Mikhail Ivanovich, with a letter and a plan, which he, not allowing anyone to read during dinner, put beside him.

As soon as summer comes to Russian cities, all residents have an irresistible desire to relax, get away from the dusty and noisy metropolis, and become closer to nature. Someone goes to a country house, and someone goes to the river for a hike, completely breaking away from civilization. If you are an adherent of comfort, then such options are unlikely to appeal to you.

It is better to consider the possibility of a river cruise, where you can enjoy the natural splendor and fresh river air in comfort. Everyone is free to choose the degree of comfort based on their material capabilities and taste preferences. The main thing is that such a vacation will not make you bored, because the constant change of landscapes and cities will make your vacation interesting and eventful.

In addition, with the expression "river cruises" we are used to associate only cruises on the rivers of Russia, but this is far from all: there are various cruises on the rivers of Europe, North and South America, as well as cruises on the rivers of exotic Asian and African countries.

River cruises in Russia

A huge number of waterways, here and there crossing the vast expanses of Russia, provide a wide variety of possible river cruises. The duration of the river trip can be different - from a short trip for three days to a long trip for 24 days.

The excursion direction, of course, depends on the point of your departure. The most popular routes departing from Moscow are Uglich, Tver, Konstantinovo. Such a walk takes an average of two to three days and is usually organized on weekends and holidays. A week-long boat trip from Moscow can be made to Kostroma, Yaroslavl or Gorodets. A popular short river cruise departing from Nizhny Novgorod is the Makaryevsky Monastery.

River cruises in Europe

River trips across Europe among tourists are not uncommonly popular. This is primarily due to the fact that in this way you can see a large number of European cities, while spending a minimum of effort. However, this pleasure will not be cheap. Unfortunately, not all possible routes and destinations of European cruises are known in Russia, some you can only order on the spot. However, when planning a river holiday in European countries, it is better to take care and book a tour in advance, because because of their popularity, tours sell like hot cakes.

European river navigation for tourists from Russia is traditionally opened by cruises on the May holidays. The most popular routes for such trips are the rivers Seine and Rhone, Rhine and Danube, Elbe and Oder, as well as the rivers of Spain and Portugal.

River cruises to exotic countries

If you don't know where to choose between a river cruise and a vacation in an exotic country, you can simply combine these destinations. A variety of river routes are available for tourists, both in Southeast Asia and in South America.

As for Asia, the most popular river arteries here have long been the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Mekong. Unfortunately, the comfort and quality of services provided during the cruise often leaves much to be desired.

However, these minor shortcomings are fully compensated by the saturation of the program, the bright color of Asian countries and the huge cultural and historical value of local attractions. Often, cruise ships are styled according to a particular era, which correlates with the main theme of excursions along this route.