Little Peter hated water: every time he passed over a bridge he trembled with fear. But when little Peter grew up to be Peter the Great he fell madly in love with water. Last week that love bore ironic fruit.
A few years after he became Tsar, Peter began to woo the sea. He learned on a Russian lake how to trim a sheet and ease a tiller. Later he went to Holland disguised as Peter Mikhailov, able-bodied seaman, there took a job in shipyards and learned how to warp gnarled oak into clean ship shape with his own hands....
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
