As Captain Ross steered the barge around the Ups, the Russian Imperial standard was run up at the fore, and when the boat had passed by the guns of the handsome little frigate fired a royal salute.

I step off the barge and creep gingerly around the inner-tube as it bobs in the green-blue water.

The barge chugs around an island, the morning sun now coruscating brilliantly off the water's surface.