Related
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 97 storme, wee could not gett over to Embden
186 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1697 put out the white flag
1678] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 107 delivered to Gordon.
110 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 I gave up my petition
116 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 a third, on the way to Konigsberg
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 99 I went to Altenaw and heard devotion
170 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1690 delighted that he made the Boyars
1686] DIAEY OF PATRICK GORDON. 113 I gott our landlord to conduct
42 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1661 misfortune
98 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1667 poles to keep off the ice.
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
98 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1667
poles to keep off the ice. So wee continued working the whole night, and,
notwithstanding all wee could do, at day light wee had a mountaine of ice
gathered befor us, much higher as our boyesprit, which wee could not gett
our selves cleared of till after midday, notwithstanding the storme and wind
was much abated. Towards evening wee gott up as farr as Brunsbottel, and
because of the contrary wind, were forced to anchor there againe, and stay
till the next day about noone. Then, with a great deale of labour, wee gott
up to Gluckstat, where I went immediately ashore and tooke up a lodging,
intending to go by land to Hamborg. In the evening, Mr. Deeve, with our
baggage, came also ashore.
Haveing hired a great waggon with four horses, haveing in company a
sea captaine, and another captaine with his wyfe, and it being very cold, wee
caused a great deale of straw to be put into the waggon, which, on the way,
gave occasion of laughter and loss, for the captaines wyfe, sitting on a
bench with her husband. In the midle of the waggon, and haveing a pott
with coales, in a woodden case, as the fashion is, the straw tooke fyre, so
that wee had enough ado to gett from the waggon. Yet, whilst her husband
and the other captaine were strlveing to dampfe or stifle it with their hatts
and clocks, I had leasur to throw out our clockbags, which were behind us
in the waggon ; yet I had some holes burnt in my new Ferendine clock,
and Mr. Deeve had a litle bagge with stockens and other things, to the
value of fifteen or twenty reichs dqllers, burnt. But the two captaines clocks
and hatts were utterly spoiled ; and what harme the woman had, was only
fitt for her husband to enquire. Towards night, wee came to Hamborgh,
I going to my old quarters to lodge, where I was very welcome. Here to
my grieffe, I was informed that the ballet was the fourth.
Collonell Gordon Steelhand, haveing notice of my being come, came to
me, and afterwards Mrs. Cambridge, who brought me a packet of letters
from Russia, from Mr. Brian, dated in Mosko . . . January, 1667 ;
from my wyfe and mother in law, of the same date, and of the seventeenth
December, 1666. Received letters from ]\[r. Andrew Hay, with a letter to
the Elector of Brandeburg, and ane other to Duke Boguslaw Radzivill, in
favour of Collonell Bocklioven, both under scale volant from Prince Rupert,
of whose recovery I had also the glad newes, dated London, tlie thirteenth of
February. Received letters also from Sir John Hebdcn, and his son the
Bquiie.
Gordon was brought up and remained a lifelong Roman Catholic, at a time when the Church was being persecuted in Scotland. At age of fifteen, he entered the Jesuit college at Braunsberg, East Prussia, then part of Poland. In 1661, after many years experiences as a soldier of fortune, he joined the Russian army under Tsar Aleksei I, and in 1665 was sent on a special mission to England. After his return, he distinguished himself in several wars against the Turks and Tatars in southern Russia. In recognition of his service he was promoted to major-general in 1678, was appointed to the high command at Kiev in 1679, and in 1683 was made lieutenant-general. In 1687 and 1689 he took part in expeditions against the Tatars in the Crimea, being made a full general. Later in 1689, a revolution broke out in Moscow, and with the troops under his command, Gordon virtually decided events in favor of Peter the Great against the Regent, Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna. Consequently, he was for the remainder of his life in high favor with the Tsar, who confided to him the command of his capital during his absence from Russia. In 1696, Gordon's design of a "moveable rampart" played a key role in helping the Russians take Azov. One of Gordon's convinced the Tsars to establish the first Roman Catholic church and school in Muscovy, of which he remained the main benefactor and headed the Catholic community in Russia until his death. For his services his second son James, brigadier of the Russian army, was created Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1701. At the end of his life the Tsar, who had visited Gordon frequently during his illness, was with him when he died, and with his own hands closed his eyes. General Gordon left behind him a uniquely detailed diary of his life and times, written in English. This is preserved in manuscript in the Russian State Military Archive in Moscow. Passages from the Diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries (1635–1699) was printed, under the editorship of Joseph Robertson, for the Spalding Club, at Aberdeen, Scotland, 1859.