Related
1666] DIARY OF PATEICK GORDON. 81 mariners aud souldlers
82 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1666 thought fitt to conforme myself...
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 87 Dined by Mr. Carril his father
76 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1666 the cart was ready
66 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1666 wee had from Plesko
1661] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 33 sence of the King
174 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1692 be restored. As for Harie Gordon
1666] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 59 account, to banish the English
1678] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 107 delivered to Gordon.
80 DIARY OF PATIIICK GORDON. [1666 er 28. A lltle vaclit arrived with some merchandise from England
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
80 DIARY OF PATIIICK GORDON. [1666
er 28. A lltle vaclit arrived with some merchandise from England, whereof
getting notice, I gott my landlord to go for the captainc, with whom I
agreed, and hired his yacht to Dover for sixty crownes, on these conditions,
that as many passengers as should go, should agree with and pay me for their
passage, any goods or merchandise should pay him for fraught, that he
should not go a capeing* on the way, nor do any violence to any, but go
streight to Dover.
I knowing that there were many in Bruges waiting for a convenient
passage to England, sent by an express letters to the English resident, Mr.
Glanvile, to Mr. Skein, Mr. CoUison, and to the yong ladyes in the Nunnery,
showing them the convenience, and that any who would go, should come
the next day, without faile, for upon the Sunday wee must be gone. This
)er 29. brought some people downe, especially some Hamburger merchants, with
their wives, who payed me the halfe of all I had agreed for, and I was very
glad to gett that. I writt to Mosko to my wyfe and ffi-iends, and to the
Russ chancellour Almais, by the way of Haraborg, addressed to Mr. Cam-
brige there.
)er 30. Wee went aboard immediately after midday, the mariners being all
drunk, and the captaine not sober. So displaying the Kings collours, wee
sailed downe the river, but were not farr gone, when a ship sailing along by
the shore alarumed us ; for she, perceiving the Kings collours flying, and
thinking us to be a caper, turned towards us, and cast anchor Avithin the
buyes. Befor she cast anchor I did not know what to think of it, and our
captaine gave orders to have all in readines, he haveing about thirty men
aboard and foure litle pieces of cannon. So they haled out of a chest their
rusty muskets, and charged the pieces, but how soone I saw them cast
anchor, I knew they, for fear of us, came in for shelter within the buyes,
and so I told the captainc that he should offer no violence, putting him in
mynd that it was in a neutrall place, and of our agreement. But the
* [Capeing, that is, privateering. Sir James Regencie, when war was betuixt us and France
Turner speaks, in Ki.oG, of escaping ' a great and Spain ; l)ut notliing lilvc this wliicli began
many Spauisli capers at sea '—(Memoirs, p. in ICC-t, which grew to that iiicreaihle height
119) Pepys, in 1G67, relates how 'a little of advantage to the owners untreikers, that
East Indiaman' was ' snapt by a French caper.' never nation heirtofor took riclier pryzes, nor
(Diary, vol iv., p 15) Gordon telU in the mo of them, then the Scots capers, who l)ec:'.ino
same page how the vessel in ^^ liicli he crossed famous lor iheir activity and cunning diligence
the channel was mistaken for 'a caper ' 'Some in the trad^.'— (.Fountainhall's Uistoncal Ob-
caping,' says Sir John Lauder, ' there was in serves, p. 261 )]
King James his minority, and Queen Marie "s
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.