The Presidential Library spotlights the Admiralty Regulations of Peter the Great

300 years ago, on April 5, 1722, “by the command of the most pious sovereign Peter the Great, emperor and autocrat of all Russia”, the Regulations on the management of admiralties and shipyards and on the positions of the board of the admiralty and other all ranks acquired by the admiralty were issued. The unique edition of 1722 is available on the Presidential Library’s portal.

According to emperor, the Regulations, together with the Naval Charter of 1720, were to form a legislative framework covering all areas of naval activity at sea, in admiralties and ports.

However, its significance did not end there. The publication of the Regulations was not only a major event in the history of the Russian Navy, but also played an important role in the development of the economy of the Russian state. The maritime industry, like any other, needed well-organized accounting. And given the importance of the navy for the formation of the Russian Empire, accounting was necessary not only competent, but also comprehensive. “The board (Admiralty Board) should have strong supervision over the fleet, so that the fleet is always ready, and the servants do not forget their practice, for this reason it is necessary to equip the fleet every year after the ice breaks”, - the Regulations said.

So such items appeared in the nautical document as “Money should be ordered to be accepted by the Treasurer”, “Receipt and expense books to be stitched with a cord and printed”, “On the deduction for a medicine for a penny from the ruble”. Not a single one of the seemingly insignificant things was forgotten - even "boreholes" for cats in the barn doors were mentioned. Also the Regulations showed how the “Accountant Book” should be maintained. The entries were made in alphabetical order. On the left - the column "To be accepted, or debit", on the right - "Accepted: or credit". The need for “good maintenance of books of income and expenditure” was especially emphasized: “so that you can always see and know every day how much will come to the shops, and how much will come out of them”.

A special book should also be kept to account for the fulfillment of contracts with contractors.

The document made a great contribution to the development of the contract system. Item 15 was called "How to find contractors and negotiate with them". The mechanism was as follows: "tickets" (announcements) were written, which indicated the subject of the contract, as well as "from which date and at which place and where to come". These "tickets" were sent to the chief of police, "in order to nail them in convenient places, with drumming". The terms for posting information about state-owned contracts were also clearly formulated: “which materials are brought in the winter, about those to be published and repaired in a row in July, and which in the summer about those in November”.

The contractors who submitted their proposals were tried three times during the week to reduce the price. If the price still did not satisfy the customer, the auction continued for up to three weeks.

Aware of the importance of the development of industry, Peter took measures aimed at acquiring products, primarily of Russian production - it was necessary “to look at contracts and purchase materials, guns and ammunition, so that everything would be of its own state, except for those that cannot be found in your state perhaps, or there are, but useless”.

The fact that the Regulations were drawn up for the "administration of the admiralties and shipyards" did not mean that it was applicable to the activities of this department only. Literally a month after its publication, on May 11, 1722, a personal decree “On the drafting of the Regulations in all Colleges, following the example of the Admiralty” was issued. It began to be considered as a model.

The Admiralty Regulations, with some changes, retained the status of a legal act for eight decades and the reign of eight emperors. It was canceled only during the period of state reforms in the reign of Alexander I. Thus, the fate of the Regulations from the moment of its creation put it on a par with the most important documents of the era of Peter the Great which influenced the development of Russia for many years to come.