Marquis's puddle with a maritime character
Marquis's Puddle is an ironic, folklore and simply colloquial name of the Neva Bay — part of the Gulf of Finland from the mouth of the Neva to Kotlin Island, or the entire Gulf of Finland.
Marquis de Traverse, unwittingly presented his title to the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland.
It originated in the first third of the XIX century among the officers of the Baltic Fleet. It comes from the title of the then (1811-1828) Minister of the Navy of Russia, Marquis Jean-Baptiste de Traversay, a French emigrant in the Russian service, under whom long-distance sea voyages almost ceased, and the fleet sailed no further than Kronstadt. The Naval Minister, who was formerly the commander of the rowing fleet of the Russian Empire and received combat experience in the cramped conditions of the Finnish skerries, considered the shallow depths and closeness of the Neva Bay necessary conditions for combat training. In addition to natural constraints, the Russian fleet experienced monetary constraints during the Traverse, which also caused the nearness of its voyages.