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Potemkin
Potemkin, more properly Kniaz Potemkin Tavricheski, a Russian battleship of the Black Sea Fleet. She was named after Prince Potemkin, the commander-in-chief of the Black Sea Fleet under whom the naval officer John Paul Jones served in 1788. The Potemkin was the scene, in June 1905, of a famous mutiny, the ostensible reason for it being bad meat brought on board to be made into borscht, which the men refused to eat. The ship's commander, Giliarovsky, considering this refusal amounted to mutiny, and acting in accordance with an old Russian naval custom, ordered that a number of men should be selected at random, covered with a tarpaulin, and shot. The men selected to do the shooting refused to fire. This account was later denied by officers of the ship who survived the mutiny, but one rating named Vakulinchuk was undoubtedly shot by Giliarovsky, whereupon Giliarovsky, the ship's captain, the chaplain, and four other officers were killed by the crew. When the Potemkin returned to Odessa, Vakulinchuk's body was exhibited to the crowd ashore and rioting followed, some 5,000–6,000 people losing their lives mainly during the famous charge of mounted Cossacks down the Richelieu Steps. After meandering round the Black Sea in search of support the battleship was scuttled by her crew in shallow water off Constanza, but was later raised and refitted. She was broken up after the First World War (1914–18).
The mutiny is the subject of the Soviet film Bronenosets Potemkin (The Battleship Potemkin) which was made in 1925. It is now part of cinema history, although the ending, showing the Russian fleet rallying to the Potemkin's leadership, is pure fiction. |
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Cite this article
"Potemkin." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Potemkin." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-Potemkin.html "Potemkin." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-Potemkin.html |
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Potemkin
Potemkin transliteration of the name of Grigori Aleksandrovich Potyomkin, a favourite of Empress Catherine II of Russia, who reputedly gave the order for sham villages to be built for the empress's tour of the Crimea in 1787.
Potemkin was the name of a battleship whose crew mutinied in the Russian Revolution of 1905 when in the Black Sea, bombarding Odessa before seeking asylum in Romania. The incident, commemorated in Eisenstein's 1925 film The Battleship Potemkin, persuaded the tsar to agree to a measure of reform. |
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Cite this article
ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Potemkin." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Potemkin." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Potemkin.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Potemkin." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Potemkin.html |
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Potemkin
Potemkin •grimalkin • lambkin • napkin • gaskin
•lambskin • catkin
•Larkin, parkin
•calfskin • sharkskin • welkin
•Potemkin • Jenkin • redskin
•bearskin • snakeskin • Deakin
•sealskin • sheepskin • chicken
•limpkin • pipkin
•griskin, siskin
•pigskin • spillikin • ramekin
•manikin, mannequin, pannikin
•minikin • larrikin • Zworykin
•wineskin • bodkin • Hodgkin
•Donkin
•Algonquin, Tonkin
•Hopkin
•Kropotkin, Watkin
•walk-in • foreskin • doeskin
•moleskin • goatskin • oilskin
•coonskin • wolfskin • Pushkin
•bumpkin, pumpkin
•buskin, Ruskin
•buckskin • deerskin • baldachin
•manakin
•firkin, gherkin, jerkin, merkin, Perkin
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Cite this article
"Potemkin." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Potemkin." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-Potemkin.html "Potemkin." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-Potemkin.html |
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