Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 John Elton (?–1751) was a British shipbuilder and seaman who was initially involved in Russian-Persian trade but then antagonized the Russian court by helping the Persian shah to build maritime vessels.—Trans.
2 Jonas Hanway (1712–1786), a British merchant who worked for the British Russia Company in St. Petersburg and was sent to investigate Elton’s activities in Persia.—Trans.
3 An island that existed at the time in the Volga Delta. By the early twentieth century the waters of the Caspian Sea had receded, leaving what is now a small village called Vyshka.—Trans.
4 The reference is to two islands off the Absheron Peninsula in the Caspian Sea. Sviatoi was renamed Artem during the Soviet period and, as part of Azerbaijan, was renamed again in 1999 as Pirallahi. Zhiloi is now known by the Azerbaijani name of Chilov.—Trans.
5 Flat-bottomed Persian merchant vessels.—Trans.