Information About

Gerasim Izmailov




Born in Yakutsk , he made numerous sea voyages together with Dmitry Bocharov , both of whom attended navigation school together. In 1771 both were caught up in the Benevsky Mutiny on Bol'sheretsky island in Kamchatka . After being abandoned for more than a year in Robinson Crusoe fashion on uninhabited Simushir , one of the Kuril Islands , Izmailov managed to return to the mainland where he was detained by the authorities in Irkutsk until he was cleared in 1774 .

From 177581 he led expeditions to the Aleutian Islands as commander of the ''St. Paul''. In October 1778 he encountered Captain James Cook at Unalaska and presented him with a letter of introduction to the Russian authorities; this letter was used by Cook's successor Captain Charles Clerke after Cook died. Cook meanwhile handed a letter to Izmailov for delivery to London .