Gerasim Izmailov

Who was Gerasim Izmailov?

Gerasim Grigoryevich Izmaylov was a Russian navigator involved in the Russian colonization of the Americas and in the establishment of the colonies of Russian America in Alaska. He was responsible for the first detailed maps of the Aleutian Islands.

A native of Yakutsk, Izmaylov attended a navigation school in Okhotsk with Dmitry Bocharov, who became his lifelong business companion. In 1771, both were caught up in the Benevsky mutiny on Bolsheretsky island in Kamchatka. Izmaylov attempted to break away from the mutineers but, after being flogged, was marooned on the isle of Simushir, one of the uninhabited Kuril Islands. For a year he subsisted on "scallops, grass, and roots" before being rescued by yasak gatherers. He was tried in Irkutsk on charges of mutiny, but was eventually cleared in 1774.

In 1775, Izmaylov assumed command of the boat St. Paul and set to work mapping the shores of the Aleutian Islands. On October 1778, while visiting Unalaska, he made the acquaintance of Captain James Cook who presented him a sword and a Mercator map in exchange for a letter of introduction to the Kamchatka authorities.