Merkurii (Russian: Меркурий|lit=Mercury) was a 20-gun, two-masted warship in the Imperial Russian Navy. It is famous for its lopsided battle with two Turkish ships, which took place on May 14, 1829.[1]
The name Pamiyat Mercuriya (literally In Memory of Mercury) was given to a number of ships of the Russian Baltic Fleet.
Pursued by a Turkish fleet (6 ships of the line, 2 frigates, 2 corvettes), the Russian brig Merkurii engaged in a lopsided battle with the ships-of-the-line Selimiye (110 guns) and Real-bei (74 guns) near the Strait of Bosphorus.[2] After damaging the ships one by one, the brig escaped pursuit.[3]
As a result of the battle, the brig took 10 casualties, including 4 killed and 6 wounded. Damage to the ship included:
By official information, neither Turkish ships lost crew as the brig's main objective during the battle was to damage their spars and rigging.
Ivan Aivazovsky created 3 paintings featuring the ship:
Several other artists created notable works featuring the Merkurii:
The position of the ships portrayed by Aivazovsky in his work has been criticized as being historically inaccurate because of the brig's position between two significantly larger Turkish ships. Still, it's possible that Aivazovsky's artistic impression simply heightened the tension in the painting by accentuating the hopelessness of the brig's situation.
Paintings by other artists (Krasovskiy, Barri, Pechatin) of the same battle, though less known, portray a more realistic depiction of the battle.