Kazarskii, Aleksandr Ivanovich

Born 1797; died June 16, 1833, in the city of Nikolaev. A hero of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29, naval captain first class (1831).

Kazarskii joined the navy in 1811 and was promoted to officer rank in 1814. He served in the Danube Military Flotilla and in the Black Sea Fleet and distinguished himself in 1828 during the capture of Anapa and Varna. Commander of the 18-gun brig Merkurii in 1829, on May 14 he accepted unequal battle with two Turkish battleships, armed with a total of 184 guns. After a four-hour battle he forced the enemy to stop the pursuit, inflicting heavy damage on the ships. For this act of bravery Kazarksii was promoted to captain second class, appointed aide-de-camp to the tsar, and awarded the Order of Saint George Fourth Class. Kazarskii commanded a frigate in 1829 and was in the retinue of Nicholas I from 1831 to 1833. In 1834 a monument was erected to him in Sevastopol* with the epitaph “Example for Future Generations.”