This is part two in a two-part series. Read part one. 

The second main character of the story is a Russian general with an illustrious military career and shades of corruption hovering over his fame.

General Sergej Mihajlovich Brovtsyn appears frequently in Maltese contracts during the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829, through the agency of the Russian consul in Malta, Antonio Regnaud Carcas. He first took part in a contract by notary Charles Curry on January 4, 1829 and for the last time on September 12. The consul sometimes simply states he is acting on behalf of the Russian imperial fleet in the Mediterranean and sometimes appears as attorney of General Sergej Brovtsyn, intendant of the Russian imperial fleet. In some contracts, the consul styles himself chevalier.

All the contracts are signed on behalf of Brovtsyn and there is no indication that he was ever personally present in Malta during that period. The role of intendant of a military entity refers to the officer responsible for supplies and services. Many of the Maltese contracts cover the provisioning of the imperial squadron stationed in the official Russian naval base on the Greek island of Poros. The former Russian base is now better known as a nudist beach.

General Hans Karl von Diebtisch, who took over the overall command of the Russian forces in the latter part of the Russian-Turkish war.

With assistance from helpful friends in Russia, I managed to profile Brovtsyn, at least roughly. He was born in 1779 to an old aristocratic family. Some disturbing information about him is contained in a newspaper article by the journalist-historian Voronov of Radio Svoboda about the fire that ravaged the Russian warship Fere Champenoise in October 1831. Voronov attributes the fire to voluntary arson to destroy documents which proved the corruption rampant in the Russian Mediterranean fleet.

This exposé contains the following alarming passage about our Brovtsyn: “But who was the real beneficiary of the event (the arson of the warship)? Their names did not attract much publicity, however, Nicholas I had definitely got to know them. Obviously, they were the naval intendants responsible for the supply of the squadron in Malta and Poros. Who were they? According to old registers, the person in charge of the supplies of the squadrons in Malta and Poros was the state counsellor (5th Grade) Sergej Mihajlovich Brovtsyn.

“He was an interesting person, born in 1779, who graduated from the naval corps in 1795, served in the Baltic Sea and took part in several wars and maritime campaigns; in 1811, he was decorated with the Order of St George 4th class, for his services. In the 1812 war, he led the Tikhvin regiment in the Novgorod militia… Later on, he became High Intendant of the Mediterranean squadron and ended as Super-Intendant of the Black Sea navy. A much too important person to be involved in this scandal!” (taken from Vladimir Voronov’s Corruption in the Navy. Why Czar Nicholas I Could Not Cope With It, published in Sovershenno sekretno on June 4, 2016).

A painting depicting an episode of the Russian-Turkish war.

Brovtsyn’s long retirement petition to Czar Nicholas I details all the important turns in his life and his career, starting from his graduating in the naval corps in 1790. He underlines his participation in the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1812, in the Napoleonic wars and invasion of Russia, in the Prussian campaign and, finally, in the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829. Explaining how these campaigns had undermined his health, he hints to a transfer to the Baltic fleet or his outright retirement. He attached an eight-page chronological list of the positions he held. He died in 1852.

So far, no portraits of Regnaud Carcas or of General Brovtsyn have emerged.

The numerous 1829 ‘Russian’ contracts in the acts of notary Charles Curry fall roughly in two categories: those by which Maltese persons are hired to work for the intendant of the Russian navy based on Poros and those which charter vessels to carry provisions to that fleet during the war.

For some unclear reason, Brovtsyn scouted the labour market in Malta to recruit personnel for his personal service. The conditions of contracts of employment he entered into probably sounded standard in the Russian navy but have a strange moral twist to them. By the first one, signed on July 29, on the eve of his departure from Malta, Constatino Buhagiar entered the service of General Brotsvyn as his servant, for five years.

A manuscript poem written in 1814 by Ludovico Mifsud Tommasi in praise of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, dedicated to the first Russian consul for Malta, Antonio Regnaud Carcas. Photo courtesy of the Albert Ganado Collection

Buhagiar had to serve on board on the high seas, in Poros and to follow his employer in Russia should he be required to do so. He obliged himself not to gamble by playing cards, dice or any other unlawful games, nor frequent taverns or spirit shops. He undertook not to steal or pilfer from his employer any monies or other goods.

Banker and shipper Biagio Tagliaferro, one of the Maltese merchants contracted by the Russians to furnish their fleet in Poros, Greece.

On his part, the general undertook to provide Buhagiar with board, lodging and clothes and pay him two dollars a month. The contract would be automatically rescinded should the general not proceed to the war zone or to Russia. A salary of two dollars a month for overseas work was shamefully beggarly even by 1829 standards and confirms the destitution of the majority of the Maltese work force.

On the same day, Brotsvyn also contracted the services of Vincenzo Damas (or Damus?) to work as a servant, under the same conditions as Buhagiar. His no-go zone included places of bad reputation and his pay totalled five dollars a month. If the general did not require his services in Russia, he undertook to recommend him for employment by his friends.

A Malta Government Gazette reference to the Russian vice consul for Malta, Luigi Regnaud Carcas, Antonio’s son.

Two days later, Brovtsyn also employed Pietro Mifsud for five years, this time as a labourer and Saverio Rizzo as a cook, under the same conditions and restrictions as Buhagiar and Damas. He promised the labourer five dollars a month and the cook four dollars. Rizzo acknowledged he had received 24 dollars (colonnati) as six months’ payment in advance.

Far more numerous appear to be the contracts of freight entered into in Malta by Regnaud Carcas on behalf of the Intendant of the imperial Russian squadron. I include a very brief overview of these transactions, as the names and some details may be of value for the study of maritime trade in Malta.

We find the charter of the Brig New Tunis under Captain Giovanni Battista Mamo to take a cargo of coal to Poros, of the Brig Strangers, belonging to Biagio Tagliaferro, Emanuel Tagliaferro for the Brig Orient captained by Gioacchino Zarb, the vessel Pallavo under Giovanni Rosso, Simon Cussovich of the Brig Mystic, Giovanni Battista Schembri of the ship Superba under Captain Francesco Zarb, Giuseppe Caruana of the Brig Dum(?) captained by Baldassare Caruana, Luigi Schembri of the Brig Glory under Salvatore Isouard, Pasquale Casingena of the barque Matutina, Antonio Scopanich of the Brig Tilmzes, Paolo Eynaud of a brig, name illegible, under William Edwards, and, finally, Antonio Garrone and Giuseppe Mula of the Bombard Nostra Signora della Misericordia.

Regnaud Carcas entered into these charter parties in the short period between January 4 and September 12, 1829. He was the client that kept notary Curry busiest in 1829.

For a then-somnolent port like Grand Harbour, this witnessed quite brisk business which only a war could generate. Malta had terrible experiences from wars waged within its footprint but often benefitted handsomely when others waged wars away from its shores. Bellum tuum, vita mea: your war, my livelihood..

Acknowledgements

This article would not have been possible without the copious and generous input by Anthony Mifsud from the Notarial Archives and Maria Voeikova from St Petersburg. My immense gratitude.

A 19th-century Mediterranean brig. These were employed in the Russian-Turkish war to supply the Russian squadron in Poros, Greece with goods from Malta.