The history of the Petrovsky Canal for ship entry into the dock begins in the spring of 1719. On March 18, at the house of Prince A. D. Menshikov on Vasilievsky Island, Peter I instructed Captain and engineer Edward Lane, an Englishman in Russian service, to start building a canal that was to run across the entire island. The western part of the canal was planned to be extended to the sea, the eastern part to end with a huge basin, with three slipways arranged on each side. The first piles were driven in as early as March 24. From Peter’s decree of May 8, 1719: “to begin the canal near the cathedral church of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle from the seashore to the docks, and to finish the docks and the sides of the canal as well.”

In 1719, more than 3,000 people worked on the “canal project.” By the end of the year, they managed to excavate earth 180 sazhen long, 15 sazhen wide, and 2 sazhen deep. In 1720, it was planned to deepen the dug section by another 2.5 sazhen. Construction of another section 270 sazhen long was contracted to Commissioner Kreksin. On May 18, 1720, Peter I inspected the canal works and ordered the entire canal construction to be handed over to Kreksin. He was provided with the necessary tools and three machines for pumping out water. The sovereign also ordered a description of all wooden structures hindering the work and instructed the “residents of those houses to dismantle their chambers.” On June 10, 1720, while on Kotlin Island, Peter I “verbally instructed” Kreksin on the sequence of further work. In 1721, the canal walls began to be reinforced with stone. In 1722, a “great tower above the canal” was laid. Overall supervision of the construction was carried out by the stolnik Samarin. Already in 1720, a conflict arose between Kreksin and Samarin: the stolnik suspected the commissioner of “misappropriation” of state funds and often delayed their payment; in response, Kreksin wrote a denunciation. The investigation, assigned by the emperor to General Prince Golitsyn, dragged on for several years. On October 5, 1724, the works on the construction of canals and docks on Kotlin were transferred to the Admiralty Board, which entrusted supervision of their execution to Vice-Admiral Sivers.

In 1732, a commission headed by Major General Lyuberas von Pott was formed to assess the condition of the canal. The commission proposed to build docks at the end of the canal and to abandon the construction of the lighthouse tower. The works resumed in September 1734 under the leadership of Lyuberas, who also completed the Kronstadt Canal. On July 30, 1752, on this day, the ceremonial opening of the canal took place in the presence of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna—she herself activated the lock mechanisms. On this occasion, Elizabeth bestowed upon him the insignia of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called and gave him 15,000 rubles. When he died, by the empress’s order, 2,000 rubles were issued for his funeral from the salary he deserved. Lyuberas’s successor, Korf, wrote to Bestuzhev in horror about the blunders, mistakes, and criminal negligence of his predecessor, hoping for his prosecution. However, Bestuzhev replied: “although these matters do incriminate him in conscience, without reliable evidence it is impossible to convict him of anything.”

The canal was named after Peter the Great. The length of the system from the mouth to the basin was 2.24 km; its walls and dams were made of hewn stone, reinforced with metal clamps and poured with a special cement mixture. The grandiose structure made an indelible impression on contemporaries.

Francisco de Miranda, a national hero of Venezuela, who visited Kronstadt at the end of the 18th century, wrote in his diary: “… we walked to the Great Canal of Peter I, which is one and a half versts long, 105 feet wide, and 38 feet deep. It is entirely faced with stone, with lock gates at certain distances from each other so that the part needed can be used, and small underground canals constantly replenish it with water. Here, 13 ships of the line can be built simultaneously and another five repaired, and apparently there is a small addition in the plan regarding the number; currently, only one 80-gun ship is under construction. I dare say, few structures in the world embody such a noble and majestic idea, striking the imagination at first sight, and therefore it is here that the figure of Peter the Great should rise, like the Colossus of Rhodes, on an appropriate pedestal.”

Sources:

https://www.citywalls.ru/house19680.html

https://petersmonuments.ru/russia/memorials/kanal-imeni-petra-velikogo-i-petrovskiy-dok-kronshtadt-s-peterburg/