Brief Notes He was a navigator, a Corresponding Member of St.Petersburg Academy of Sciences, a vice-admiral. He directed world cruises on the ships "Diana" (1807-1809) and "Kamchatka" (1817-1819). On the Kurile isles, having been taken prisoner by the Japanese, he was in captivity (1811-1813). Since 1823 during his 8-year being a quartermaster-general of Fleet there were built more than 200 ships including first 10 steamships.