Shipyard named after 61 communard. The Kazarsky case - 2
Captain 1st rank Alexander Ivanovich Kazarsky was traveling to Nikolaev. A brilliant officer, a hero of the war, and now the adjutant of the emperor, he now had to fulfill the duties of an auditor in the vast economy of the Black Sea fleet. In terms of risk and danger to life, his task could be compared with the mission of Lieutenant Ilyin in the Chesmensky battle.
Like the famous brander commander, Kazarsky had to penetrate the hostile environment and to put his test a decisive effective blow to the embezzlers. Ilyin fought against the Turks, while Kazarsky was to face a “battle” with persons dressed in the same form as he. On the night of Chesme Victoria, Lieutenant Ilyin was greeted with musket salvos, the captain of the 1 rank was waited by the politely polite faces of “business people” in epaulets. And while no one knew what was ahead: victory or defeat. Dust on the May steppe postal - Alexander Ivanovich Kazarsky went to Nikolaev. It was the late spring of 1833.
Admiral Shore Brotherhood
While emperors and ministers were changing in high state orbits, and the next and victorious war with the Ottoman Empire was swept by the nearby thunderstorm, the shipyard at Ingule lived its measured shipbuilding life. Prescriptions and circulars came from St. Petersburg, reports about new ships and new expenses flew in the opposite direction with courier speed. Moreover, the power and quantitative composition of the fleet did not increase as avalanche as the volume of funds requested for this.
Private capital from Odessa and Kherson was attracted to the shipbuilding business, which soon gave a well-known flavor to everything happening. Business people, such as, for example, the Odessa merchant Michel Sholomovich Silver and Kherson entrepreneur Markus Varshavsky successfully integrated into the existing order. Paraphrasing a quote from the unfading Golden Calf, one can say that "several private joint-stock companies were feeding around the Admiralty."
Entrepreneurs were assisted at the highest fleet level. Yulia Mikhailovna, the civilian wife of the Black Sea Fleet Chief Commander, provided invaluable assistance in creating a relaxed business environment, helping to make the right acquaintances. However, the efforts of this uncommon and energetic woman could not be so effective, if she did not have like-minded people from among the direct subordinates of Aleksei Samuilovich Greig.
Rear-quartermaster Navy Rear Admiral Nikolai Dmitrievich of Crete stood out as an impressive figure against the background of other people and characters. Through him, a huge list of issues of a financial and material nature was resolved, and the queue of bureaucrats and contractors inspiring respectful lines lined up to his office. The most serious papers were certified with the signature of Nikolai Ivanovich, therefore it was highly valued and costly - in the truest sense of the word.
Rear Admiral of Crete was a Greek by birth. His father, like many sea rebels, left his homeland after the end of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768 – 1774. He was born in Crete, so the son received a corresponding "geographical" surname. The young Nikolai of Crete was assigned to a specially created cadet corps for foreign co-religionists, became a midshipman in 1794, and a midshipman in 1796.
Of course, the young man was assigned to serve in the Black Sea Fleet. Cretan served on different ships, took part in the Mediterranean campaign of the Russian-Turkish war 1806 – 1812. It so happened that Aleksey Samuilovich Greig, appointed as the Chief Commander of the Black Sea Fleet and Ports in 1816, noticed an able and, most importantly, executive officer.
Gradually, the Commander-in-Chief brings Cretan closer to him. By 1827 year, that is, before the start of the Russian-Turkish war 1828 – 1829. Nikolai Dmitrievich was a special-assignment officer under Greig and out of turn was given the rank of captain of the 1 rank. Evil tongues, however, in a low voice, claimed that his successful and promising career under Vice Admiral Greige of Crete was bound to friendly relations with Julia Mikhailovna. The most courageous commentators and commentators of the social life of provincial Nikolayev convinced their listeners in the existence of a slightly closer connection between Nikolai Ivanovich and civil wife Greig.
Whether it was so or not, remains on the conscience of the then gossip, but the commander was clearly supportive of his entrusted. Since the beginning of the war, Greig gives the Cretan an opportunity to prove himself not only in the staff, but also in the military field.
In the 1828 year, having received a detachment of ships under the command of two frigates, a corvette, a brigantine and a boat, the Cretan carried out a raid on the small coastal settlement of Inada on the Rumelian coast. According to a subsequent report, the Cretan head of the landing force landed, knocked out the Turks from the fortifications they occupied, took several guns as trophies and topped off the list of glorious deeds blew up the enemy powder cellar. Tactical success was turned into a decisive assault on a fortress wonderfully formed in a contingent settlement, which ended in brilliant success. Nikolai Dmitrievich was granted a golden saber "For Bravery".
By the way, Admiral Ivan Alekseevich Shestakov in his memoirs described his visit to Inada in the 70s. XIX century during the compilation of the Black Sea Latia. Not without a stinging irony, Shestakov talks about unsuccessful searches for at least some hint of the existence of a fortress or, at worst, a fort taken with “noisy relational”.
Nevertheless, the name of Cretan is already flashed on the sheets of orders and instructions. As a distinguished officer, Greig appoints him as commander of the newest 110-gun ship of the line "Paris". Perhaps this choice was made for a reason. When Emperor Nicholas I arrived at the theater of operations, he raised his flag on this ship. For some time, "Paris" became in fact a staff ship, and to command them was a matter not only honorable, but also responsible.
It was not easy to cope with such a task, because besides Nicholas I, a large and in a metropolitan capricious imperial suite was based on "Paris". However, the Cretan successfully played the delicate and delicate role of the actual quartermaster of the state’s first person. Nikolai Dmitrievich left the most favorable impressions of those on board, proving himself to be a skillful, executive and efficient commander and business executive.
Nicholas I remembered the commander of "Paris". At the end of the Russian-Turkish war 1828 – 1829. Cretan took the post of chief of the Black Sea Fleet, and in 1832, Nikolai Dmitrievich received the epaulets of the Rear Admiral. From the perspective, if you were able to look at things widely and naturally, was breathtaking. After all, the immediate superior of the chief quartermaster led not only the fleet and its infrastructure. All the seaports of the Black and Azov Seas were subordinate to the Chief Commander.
And where the ports are, there is trade with a concomitant turnover of capital. Considering that the main export item of Russia of that period — grain — was shipped mainly to the south, one could imagine what amounts were spinning in this financial cycle. In port matters, the interests of the Novorossiysk Governor, Count Vorontsov, and the leadership of the Black Sea Fleet clashed.
In an effort to strengthen his position, Vorontsov began to consolidate his power in Taganrog, which was far from Nikolayev and Odessa, placing his people in key posts. However, Greig and his inner circle retorted the strike, expanding the port infrastructure. The fact is that neither the authorities of Taganrog, nor even Vorontsov himself could dispose of a considerable amount of money received from customs duties in the city. The battle for Taganrog continued, with varying success until the resignation of Greig.
Amazing phenomena occurred in the shipbuilding process. Gradually, the monopoly on the sale of the forest to the Ingul shipyard was concentrated in the hands of the Odessa effective owner of the merchant Fyodor Rafalovich. The fact that Mr. Rafalovich was a distant relative of the business owner in the admiral house of Yulia Mikhailovna, of course, can be classified as a wonderful coincidence.
The cost of building ships in private shipyards of Messrs Serebryanny, Warsaw and other talented managers of the southern provinces of the empire was very different from the cost of such ships in the government. Petersburg was also asked to increase funding, since the funds allocated were not enough.
In December 1829 of the year, Emperor Nicholas I approved a shipbuilding program for the Black Sea Fleet. First of all, one 120-gun ship of the line, two corvettes, two vehicles, two brigs and the steamer “Thunderbird” were supposed to be laid at the state-owned shipyards of Nikolaev. Despite the substantial funding requested, the first part of the program was thwarted - only two brigs were able to be lowered into the water in 1830. The remaining ships of the first stage entered service with a considerable delay - for a year and two.
At the same time, two 60-gun frigates Enos and Burgas were laid in private shipyards owned by Serebryaniy and Rafalovich, the costs of which exceeded the cost of a battleship. The situation on the Black Sea Fleet remained quite specific. Petersburg, releasing huge sums of money for the development of its naval forces, demanded a return from Greig. In January, 1832 answered with a counter offer: to transfer to private shipyards for the construction of four ships of the line, arguing that the potential of state-owned shipyards is completely inadequate. And if Emperor Nicholas I wishes to increase the number of the fleet, His Majesty may extend the life of the ships.
In 1832, Greig was ordered to prepare fleet ships for the Bosphorus expedition to assist trapped sultanwho fought the Egyptian rebellion. Greig wrote to the capital that there were very few ships suitable for the march, and he himself could not lead the enterprise for ill health. The resource of the Highest Patience came to an end, and it was decided to check the affairs of the “Admiral Coastal Brotherhood”.
We are going to the auditor!
One of the first steps towards improving the situation on the Black Sea Fleet was the appointment of Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev to 1832 for the post of chief of staff. He was accepted at a new place not very cordially - the newcomer from the Baltic was completely alien to the already established and well-established schemes in the south. In a difficult relationship was Lazarev and Greig himself. It is believed that it was Lazarev who began insistently demanding an auditor from St. Petersburg in order to thoroughly check economic and financial affairs in the fleet. Lazarev bombarded the letters of Prince Menshikov, close to the tsar, and very soon Nicholas I made such a decision.
His choice fell on the aide-de-camp of Captain 1 of the rank of Alexander Ivanovich Kazarsky. Covered with glory for the battle of the brig “Mercury” under his command with two Turkish ships of the line, Kazarsky served for a long time in the Black Sea Fleet and knew him from the inside well. Serving there in low ranks, Kazarsky, of course, had no relation to the activities of the military-financial group, led by Yulia Mikhailovna, Rear Admiral of Crete and the well-known group of effective owners. It was also possible to expect that many former colleagues will share information with him in an informal setting. Alexander Ivanovich himself during the audit submitted to Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev personally.
A huge role in the appointment of Kazarsky for verification was played by his personal qualities, of which contemporaries, among other things, emphasized honesty and integrity. This was not the first revision that Kazarsky was to conduct: before that, he carried out similar assignments in the Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod and Simbirsk provinces. During the checks, Alexander Ivanovich revealed numerous thefts and abuses, and extensive audit work experience was gained.
The mission of the captain of the 1 rank in the south was not advertised. Officially, the imperial adjutant arrived here to provide equipment for the Bosporus expedition, which, due to "indisposition", Greig was supposed to lead by Lazarev. Kazarsky arrived in Nikolaev at the beginning of 1833 of the year, but so far not as an auditor, but as a person providing equipment to the Bosporus expedition. The fleet departed to the Bosphorus at the end of February 1833, and Kazarsky, reporting to the capital on the fulfillment of the official task, set about implementing the main mission.
The captain went to Odessa, where he began to audit the local port. Along the way, he also collected material for the group of the Vitman-Cretan associates. The extent of the exposed frauds was so great that the combinators involved, in uniforms and without them, began to get seriously worried. Their unrest was even more aggravated when it became known that Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev was promoted to vice-admiral for the successful completion of the Bosporus Expedition and was simultaneously assigned the rank of Adjutant General and equaled Greig in the ranks. It was clear who would soon lead the Black Sea Fleet in place of the ill Greig.
Kazarsky at the beginning of June 1833, he went to Nikolaev. Little information was preserved about the last weeks of the famous officer’s life, quite likely due to the fact that its dissemination would be a very inconvenient fact for many. In 1886, the respectable Russian magazine, Russian Antiquity, published the memoirs of Elizaveta Farennikova, whose family was friendly with Kazarsky and his family. The article on behalf of Farennikova told about the last days of Alexander Ivanovich’s life.
Going to Nikolaev, Kazarsky stopped at the Farennikovs, who lived in a small estate twenty five versts from the city. Elizaveta Farennikova noted in her notes that the guest was in a pensive and even depressed state. The phrase he dropped: “I don’t like this trip. I have bad feelings. ” In addition, Kazarsky urged him to come to him "on Thursday" in Nikolaev - in order to receive "friendly advice." "In the case of God forbid, I will give you a lot." What was hidden under the capacious concept of "much" remains a mystery.
The fact is that on Thursday, June 16, the captain of rank 1 and the former commander of the brig Mercury had a birthday. Kazarsky went to Nikolaev, and on Thursday morning, 16 June 1833, a messenger rushed to Farennikov with the news that Alexander Ivanovich was dying. Not sparing the horses, the couple arrived in the city and found their family friend already in agony. Half an hour later he died.
As it turned out later, arriving in Nikolaev, Kazarsky, for lack of a place in a hotel, stopped at a certain German, where he eaten. It was evident from the description that he tried to take precautions: before eating, he asked the hostess to taste her first. While making the necessary visits, Kazarsky did not eat or drink anywhere.
However, being on a visit to the wife of the captain-commander Mikhailova, could not refuse her daughter, who brought a cup of coffee to the guest. Chatting with the owners, Kazarsky drank coffee. And then he suddenly became ill. When he returned home, Alexander Ivanovich turned for help to the staff doctor Petrushevsky, who, according to Elizaveta Farennikova, was initiated into a conspiracy. The doctor put Kazarsky in a hot bath, from which he was pulled out already in critical condition.
Many noted that by the evening the body of the captain had turned black, his hair began to fall out. Two days later, with a large gathering of people, a funeral took place. Those present did not conceal the opinion that the renowned officer was poisoned. As criminologists, for example, Yevgeny Barinov later wrote in their studies, the described symptoms of Kazarsky's agony may indicate poisoning by mercury and phosphorus in large doses. The investigation hastily organized by Admiral Greig did not produce any results, putting forward the version of death from the flu.
The death of Kazarsky was so unexpected that, clearly shocked by her, Nicholas I instructed the head of the gendarme corps, General Count Benkendorf, to investigate the matter. The body of the adjutant was exhumed, and its internal organs were sent for examination to St. Petersburg. What were the results of the examination - is unknown.
Already in October, 1833, Mr. Benkendorf, handed over to the emperor a memorandum in which another version of Kazarsky’s death was presented. According to her, the adjutant was poisoned because of a casket with a family inheritance worth 70 thousand rubles, which, after his death, was allegedly looted by the city police chief. Realizing that the matter was not in the mythical family box, but in the real Pandora's box, which Kazarsky was going to open, Nikolay I ordered his confidant to Prince Menshikov to get to the bottom of the truth.
However, the investigation of Menshikov did not give any results. Is it possible to assume that, realizing how deep and gloomy abysses unfold before them, neither the prince, nor even the emperor decided to look into them? Full exposure of part of the leadership of the Black Sea Fleet, merged with the trade and financial capital of the southern port cities, could lead to resonant and dangerous events. And before the mass purges of the military and administrative apparatus then it was still far away.
Admiral Alexey Samuilovich Greig soon retired and continued active state and economic activity in the capital, where he chaired the commission for the development of the project of the Pulkovo Observatory and headed the Imperial Free Economic Society, replacing the already well-known admiral Nikolai Semenovich in this post Mordvinova.
Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev, appointed to the position of the Chief Commander of the Black Sea Fleet and Ports, opened a new stage in stories Nikolaev shipbuilding. But that's another story.
To be continued ...
Brig "Mercury", attacked by two Turkish ships. Painting by I. K. Aivazovsky, located in the Feodosia Art Gallery
Like the famous brander commander, Kazarsky had to penetrate the hostile environment and to put his test a decisive effective blow to the embezzlers. Ilyin fought against the Turks, while Kazarsky was to face a “battle” with persons dressed in the same form as he. On the night of Chesme Victoria, Lieutenant Ilyin was greeted with musket salvos, the captain of the 1 rank was waited by the politely polite faces of “business people” in epaulets. And while no one knew what was ahead: victory or defeat. Dust on the May steppe postal - Alexander Ivanovich Kazarsky went to Nikolaev. It was the late spring of 1833.
Admiral Shore Brotherhood
While emperors and ministers were changing in high state orbits, and the next and victorious war with the Ottoman Empire was swept by the nearby thunderstorm, the shipyard at Ingule lived its measured shipbuilding life. Prescriptions and circulars came from St. Petersburg, reports about new ships and new expenses flew in the opposite direction with courier speed. Moreover, the power and quantitative composition of the fleet did not increase as avalanche as the volume of funds requested for this.
Private capital from Odessa and Kherson was attracted to the shipbuilding business, which soon gave a well-known flavor to everything happening. Business people, such as, for example, the Odessa merchant Michel Sholomovich Silver and Kherson entrepreneur Markus Varshavsky successfully integrated into the existing order. Paraphrasing a quote from the unfading Golden Calf, one can say that "several private joint-stock companies were feeding around the Admiralty."
Entrepreneurs were assisted at the highest fleet level. Yulia Mikhailovna, the civilian wife of the Black Sea Fleet Chief Commander, provided invaluable assistance in creating a relaxed business environment, helping to make the right acquaintances. However, the efforts of this uncommon and energetic woman could not be so effective, if she did not have like-minded people from among the direct subordinates of Aleksei Samuilovich Greig.
Rear-quartermaster Navy Rear Admiral Nikolai Dmitrievich of Crete stood out as an impressive figure against the background of other people and characters. Through him, a huge list of issues of a financial and material nature was resolved, and the queue of bureaucrats and contractors inspiring respectful lines lined up to his office. The most serious papers were certified with the signature of Nikolai Ivanovich, therefore it was highly valued and costly - in the truest sense of the word.
Rear Admiral of Crete was a Greek by birth. His father, like many sea rebels, left his homeland after the end of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768 – 1774. He was born in Crete, so the son received a corresponding "geographical" surname. The young Nikolai of Crete was assigned to a specially created cadet corps for foreign co-religionists, became a midshipman in 1794, and a midshipman in 1796.
Of course, the young man was assigned to serve in the Black Sea Fleet. Cretan served on different ships, took part in the Mediterranean campaign of the Russian-Turkish war 1806 – 1812. It so happened that Aleksey Samuilovich Greig, appointed as the Chief Commander of the Black Sea Fleet and Ports in 1816, noticed an able and, most importantly, executive officer.
Gradually, the Commander-in-Chief brings Cretan closer to him. By 1827 year, that is, before the start of the Russian-Turkish war 1828 – 1829. Nikolai Dmitrievich was a special-assignment officer under Greig and out of turn was given the rank of captain of the 1 rank. Evil tongues, however, in a low voice, claimed that his successful and promising career under Vice Admiral Greige of Crete was bound to friendly relations with Julia Mikhailovna. The most courageous commentators and commentators of the social life of provincial Nikolayev convinced their listeners in the existence of a slightly closer connection between Nikolai Ivanovich and civil wife Greig.
Whether it was so or not, remains on the conscience of the then gossip, but the commander was clearly supportive of his entrusted. Since the beginning of the war, Greig gives the Cretan an opportunity to prove himself not only in the staff, but also in the military field.
In the 1828 year, having received a detachment of ships under the command of two frigates, a corvette, a brigantine and a boat, the Cretan carried out a raid on the small coastal settlement of Inada on the Rumelian coast. According to a subsequent report, the Cretan head of the landing force landed, knocked out the Turks from the fortifications they occupied, took several guns as trophies and topped off the list of glorious deeds blew up the enemy powder cellar. Tactical success was turned into a decisive assault on a fortress wonderfully formed in a contingent settlement, which ended in brilliant success. Nikolai Dmitrievich was granted a golden saber "For Bravery".
By the way, Admiral Ivan Alekseevich Shestakov in his memoirs described his visit to Inada in the 70s. XIX century during the compilation of the Black Sea Latia. Not without a stinging irony, Shestakov talks about unsuccessful searches for at least some hint of the existence of a fortress or, at worst, a fort taken with “noisy relational”.
"Paris" - the battleship of the Black Sea Fleet, launched in 1826
Nevertheless, the name of Cretan is already flashed on the sheets of orders and instructions. As a distinguished officer, Greig appoints him as commander of the newest 110-gun ship of the line "Paris". Perhaps this choice was made for a reason. When Emperor Nicholas I arrived at the theater of operations, he raised his flag on this ship. For some time, "Paris" became in fact a staff ship, and to command them was a matter not only honorable, but also responsible.
It was not easy to cope with such a task, because besides Nicholas I, a large and in a metropolitan capricious imperial suite was based on "Paris". However, the Cretan successfully played the delicate and delicate role of the actual quartermaster of the state’s first person. Nikolai Dmitrievich left the most favorable impressions of those on board, proving himself to be a skillful, executive and efficient commander and business executive.
Nicholas I remembered the commander of "Paris". At the end of the Russian-Turkish war 1828 – 1829. Cretan took the post of chief of the Black Sea Fleet, and in 1832, Nikolai Dmitrievich received the epaulets of the Rear Admiral. From the perspective, if you were able to look at things widely and naturally, was breathtaking. After all, the immediate superior of the chief quartermaster led not only the fleet and its infrastructure. All the seaports of the Black and Azov Seas were subordinate to the Chief Commander.
And where the ports are, there is trade with a concomitant turnover of capital. Considering that the main export item of Russia of that period — grain — was shipped mainly to the south, one could imagine what amounts were spinning in this financial cycle. In port matters, the interests of the Novorossiysk Governor, Count Vorontsov, and the leadership of the Black Sea Fleet clashed.
In an effort to strengthen his position, Vorontsov began to consolidate his power in Taganrog, which was far from Nikolayev and Odessa, placing his people in key posts. However, Greig and his inner circle retorted the strike, expanding the port infrastructure. The fact is that neither the authorities of Taganrog, nor even Vorontsov himself could dispose of a considerable amount of money received from customs duties in the city. The battle for Taganrog continued, with varying success until the resignation of Greig.
Amazing phenomena occurred in the shipbuilding process. Gradually, the monopoly on the sale of the forest to the Ingul shipyard was concentrated in the hands of the Odessa effective owner of the merchant Fyodor Rafalovich. The fact that Mr. Rafalovich was a distant relative of the business owner in the admiral house of Yulia Mikhailovna, of course, can be classified as a wonderful coincidence.
The cost of building ships in private shipyards of Messrs Serebryanny, Warsaw and other talented managers of the southern provinces of the empire was very different from the cost of such ships in the government. Petersburg was also asked to increase funding, since the funds allocated were not enough.
In December 1829 of the year, Emperor Nicholas I approved a shipbuilding program for the Black Sea Fleet. First of all, one 120-gun ship of the line, two corvettes, two vehicles, two brigs and the steamer “Thunderbird” were supposed to be laid at the state-owned shipyards of Nikolaev. Despite the substantial funding requested, the first part of the program was thwarted - only two brigs were able to be lowered into the water in 1830. The remaining ships of the first stage entered service with a considerable delay - for a year and two.
At the same time, two 60-gun frigates Enos and Burgas were laid in private shipyards owned by Serebryaniy and Rafalovich, the costs of which exceeded the cost of a battleship. The situation on the Black Sea Fleet remained quite specific. Petersburg, releasing huge sums of money for the development of its naval forces, demanded a return from Greig. In January, 1832 answered with a counter offer: to transfer to private shipyards for the construction of four ships of the line, arguing that the potential of state-owned shipyards is completely inadequate. And if Emperor Nicholas I wishes to increase the number of the fleet, His Majesty may extend the life of the ships.
In 1832, Greig was ordered to prepare fleet ships for the Bosphorus expedition to assist trapped sultanwho fought the Egyptian rebellion. Greig wrote to the capital that there were very few ships suitable for the march, and he himself could not lead the enterprise for ill health. The resource of the Highest Patience came to an end, and it was decided to check the affairs of the “Admiral Coastal Brotherhood”.
We are going to the auditor!
One of the first steps towards improving the situation on the Black Sea Fleet was the appointment of Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev to 1832 for the post of chief of staff. He was accepted at a new place not very cordially - the newcomer from the Baltic was completely alien to the already established and well-established schemes in the south. In a difficult relationship was Lazarev and Greig himself. It is believed that it was Lazarev who began insistently demanding an auditor from St. Petersburg in order to thoroughly check economic and financial affairs in the fleet. Lazarev bombarded the letters of Prince Menshikov, close to the tsar, and very soon Nicholas I made such a decision.
Portrait of the adjutant A. I. Kazarsky. Igor Nikolayevich Dementiev, director of the marine painters studio at the Central Museum of Art History
His choice fell on the aide-de-camp of Captain 1 of the rank of Alexander Ivanovich Kazarsky. Covered with glory for the battle of the brig “Mercury” under his command with two Turkish ships of the line, Kazarsky served for a long time in the Black Sea Fleet and knew him from the inside well. Serving there in low ranks, Kazarsky, of course, had no relation to the activities of the military-financial group, led by Yulia Mikhailovna, Rear Admiral of Crete and the well-known group of effective owners. It was also possible to expect that many former colleagues will share information with him in an informal setting. Alexander Ivanovich himself during the audit submitted to Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev personally.
A huge role in the appointment of Kazarsky for verification was played by his personal qualities, of which contemporaries, among other things, emphasized honesty and integrity. This was not the first revision that Kazarsky was to conduct: before that, he carried out similar assignments in the Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod and Simbirsk provinces. During the checks, Alexander Ivanovich revealed numerous thefts and abuses, and extensive audit work experience was gained.
The mission of the captain of the 1 rank in the south was not advertised. Officially, the imperial adjutant arrived here to provide equipment for the Bosporus expedition, which, due to "indisposition", Greig was supposed to lead by Lazarev. Kazarsky arrived in Nikolaev at the beginning of 1833 of the year, but so far not as an auditor, but as a person providing equipment to the Bosporus expedition. The fleet departed to the Bosphorus at the end of February 1833, and Kazarsky, reporting to the capital on the fulfillment of the official task, set about implementing the main mission.
The captain went to Odessa, where he began to audit the local port. Along the way, he also collected material for the group of the Vitman-Cretan associates. The extent of the exposed frauds was so great that the combinators involved, in uniforms and without them, began to get seriously worried. Their unrest was even more aggravated when it became known that Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev was promoted to vice-admiral for the successful completion of the Bosporus Expedition and was simultaneously assigned the rank of Adjutant General and equaled Greig in the ranks. It was clear who would soon lead the Black Sea Fleet in place of the ill Greig.
Kazarsky at the beginning of June 1833, he went to Nikolaev. Little information was preserved about the last weeks of the famous officer’s life, quite likely due to the fact that its dissemination would be a very inconvenient fact for many. In 1886, the respectable Russian magazine, Russian Antiquity, published the memoirs of Elizaveta Farennikova, whose family was friendly with Kazarsky and his family. The article on behalf of Farennikova told about the last days of Alexander Ivanovich’s life.
Going to Nikolaev, Kazarsky stopped at the Farennikovs, who lived in a small estate twenty five versts from the city. Elizaveta Farennikova noted in her notes that the guest was in a pensive and even depressed state. The phrase he dropped: “I don’t like this trip. I have bad feelings. ” In addition, Kazarsky urged him to come to him "on Thursday" in Nikolaev - in order to receive "friendly advice." "In the case of God forbid, I will give you a lot." What was hidden under the capacious concept of "much" remains a mystery.
The fact is that on Thursday, June 16, the captain of rank 1 and the former commander of the brig Mercury had a birthday. Kazarsky went to Nikolaev, and on Thursday morning, 16 June 1833, a messenger rushed to Farennikov with the news that Alexander Ivanovich was dying. Not sparing the horses, the couple arrived in the city and found their family friend already in agony. Half an hour later he died.
As it turned out later, arriving in Nikolaev, Kazarsky, for lack of a place in a hotel, stopped at a certain German, where he eaten. It was evident from the description that he tried to take precautions: before eating, he asked the hostess to taste her first. While making the necessary visits, Kazarsky did not eat or drink anywhere.
However, being on a visit to the wife of the captain-commander Mikhailova, could not refuse her daughter, who brought a cup of coffee to the guest. Chatting with the owners, Kazarsky drank coffee. And then he suddenly became ill. When he returned home, Alexander Ivanovich turned for help to the staff doctor Petrushevsky, who, according to Elizaveta Farennikova, was initiated into a conspiracy. The doctor put Kazarsky in a hot bath, from which he was pulled out already in critical condition.
The grave of Alexander Ivanovich Kazarsky at the old city cemetery in Nikolaev near the Church of All Saints
Many noted that by the evening the body of the captain had turned black, his hair began to fall out. Two days later, with a large gathering of people, a funeral took place. Those present did not conceal the opinion that the renowned officer was poisoned. As criminologists, for example, Yevgeny Barinov later wrote in their studies, the described symptoms of Kazarsky's agony may indicate poisoning by mercury and phosphorus in large doses. The investigation hastily organized by Admiral Greig did not produce any results, putting forward the version of death from the flu.
The death of Kazarsky was so unexpected that, clearly shocked by her, Nicholas I instructed the head of the gendarme corps, General Count Benkendorf, to investigate the matter. The body of the adjutant was exhumed, and its internal organs were sent for examination to St. Petersburg. What were the results of the examination - is unknown.
Already in October, 1833, Mr. Benkendorf, handed over to the emperor a memorandum in which another version of Kazarsky’s death was presented. According to her, the adjutant was poisoned because of a casket with a family inheritance worth 70 thousand rubles, which, after his death, was allegedly looted by the city police chief. Realizing that the matter was not in the mythical family box, but in the real Pandora's box, which Kazarsky was going to open, Nikolay I ordered his confidant to Prince Menshikov to get to the bottom of the truth.
However, the investigation of Menshikov did not give any results. Is it possible to assume that, realizing how deep and gloomy abysses unfold before them, neither the prince, nor even the emperor decided to look into them? Full exposure of part of the leadership of the Black Sea Fleet, merged with the trade and financial capital of the southern port cities, could lead to resonant and dangerous events. And before the mass purges of the military and administrative apparatus then it was still far away.
Admiral Alexey Samuilovich Greig soon retired and continued active state and economic activity in the capital, where he chaired the commission for the development of the project of the Pulkovo Observatory and headed the Imperial Free Economic Society, replacing the already well-known admiral Nikolai Semenovich in this post Mordvinova.
Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev, appointed to the position of the Chief Commander of the Black Sea Fleet and Ports, opened a new stage in stories Nikolaev shipbuilding. But that's another story.
To be continued ...
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