Catherine I of Russia Catherine I of Russia Catherine I (, born , later known as Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya; – ) was the second wife of Peter the Great and Empress of Russia from 1725 until her death. The life of Catherine I was said by Voltaire to be nearly as extraordinary as that of Peter the Great himself. There are no documents that confirm her origins. Said to have been born on 15 April 1684 (o.s. 5 April), she was originally named Marta Helena Skowrońska. Marta was the daughter of Samuel Skowroński (later spelt "Samuil Skavronsky"), a Roman Catholic peasant from the Polish–Lithuanian
Botik of Peter the Great every year on 30 August. The "botik" was used in many state ceremonies by later Russian monarchies. The boat appeared in a regatta during the 1745 wedding of Peter III of Russia and Catherine the Great. Wearing naval uniform, Empress Elizabeth escorted the "botik". Catherine had a boathouse built inside the fortress to house the "botik" in the 1760s. The boathouse became a major tourist attraction. In 1803, during the centennial celebration of St. Petersburg under Alexander I, the boat was featured in a flotilla on the Neva; it was referred to as the "grandfather of the Russian navy" a