In 1818, a rich and enterprising Astrakhan resident D.P. Evreinov delivered a steam engine to St. Petersburg, at the Berda plant; Other parts of the steamship engine were ordered from abroad, and the thus folded, rather weak, although at the same time cumbersome, steamship set off along the Volga to Astrakhan. But the new machine, which somehow moved up and down the river without sails or oars, had some kind of chimney with an always-burning stove that emitted a mass of black smoke, was treated with dissatisfaction by the population of the Volga region for a long time. It was not easy to gain the sympathy of the “damn bad guy.” And besides, the very imperfection of the design of the steamships, both this one and the three subsequent ones, built by Evreinov, made itself felt. Cars were constantly deteriorating; in cases of serious damage, the master had to be discharged from St. Petersburg; The ships made their way slowly and carried little cargo; there was no reason to establish marinas and firewood warehouses. And then a new Frenchman, unceremoniously using the invention of the Russian self-taught Kulibin, rigged horse guides, in comparison with which Evreinov’s steamships turned out to be practically untenable, and Evreinov went bankrupt. By the way, they remembered the chimney, and the black smoke, and the “damn mess”; They realized that the heating vessel needed a lot of wood, that it would scare the fish and take away bread from the working people... In a word, the shipping company's career seemed to be ruined for a long time. However, all this did not help, 15 years later, pomfschik Somov set off along Evreinov’s fleet to the steamship enterprises; In 1884, the first, entirely Russian, steamship “Vyksa” was built in Nizhny Novgorod. Two years later, another ship appeared, belonging to a certain Armenian from Astrakhan. Both of these ships were not superior in their perfection to the Evreinovsky ones. By the way, back in the time of Evreinov, namely in 1828, a steamship company was founded on the Volga, Kama and Kasshi Seas; but it can only be mentioned for the sake of accuracy, since it managed to disappear from the face of the earth before it declared its existence with a real steamship announcement. As for the short journey along the Volgf of Emperor Alexander T, who traveled this route from Simbirsk to Samara, the government “tardkot” served for this journey, through which the then administration maintained guards along the Volga. What this guard with its crew was like in normal times, in the above-mentioned Imperial fleet, is given a clear understanding of the words dedicated to it by one of the authors who wrote about the Volga and Volga shipping *); “The guard crew differed from the Volga robbers only in that they robbed people on a legal basis, and also observed the necessary formalities.”
In 1842, the steamship Sokol, owned by Colonel Sokolovsky, appeared on the Volga. This steamer was already significantly different from its previous ones of the Jewish-Somov type; very well finished, with relatively significant amenities, it made unhindered voyages from Nizhny to Astrakhan and back, spending no more than 10 days on the entire journey from top to bottom, instead of the previous 8-4 weeks that every Jewish steamship needed.
*) G. P. Demyanov, guide to the Volga$.
In 1848, the foreigner Kaili founded the “Volga Steamship Company.” The first steamship of the Volga Society began making voyages along the Volga in 1846 and, thanks to its excellent design for that time, began to have such rapidly developing success that, two years later, the company launched two more similar steamships, Hercules and Sameon, onto the Volga. Needless to say, from then on the company became firmly established and moved forward quite quickly; the newest steamships of the society, like the “Boyarin” and “Boyarynya”, as well as the American type “Empress” and “Empress”
they leave nothing to be desired - neither in their design, nor in the amenities and self-care that passengers enjoy on them.
In 1849, the shipping company “Mercury” was formed, which is now called “VCaucasus and Mercury”. In 1876, this company launched the first gigantic steamship of the American type “Alexander P” onto the Volga, the luxury of its decoration and complete comfort surrounding the passenger, surpassing everything that a person can imagine, having never made a long trip along the Volga. Behind the Alexander P, a similar steamship of the same type appeared on the Volga, and then the rest of the steamships of the Caucasus and Mercury company. Some of them are called light (lučice—“Alexander P\,” others, like, “Vladimir Monomakh,” “St.