There was no shooting in Sevastopol on that day: neither the French nor the English. English officers took off their caps and lowered the flags. “In those times, people appreciated courage and noble ardor, even on the enemy’s part,” that was how Crimean historian Valery Dyulichev described Nakhimov’s funeral. The famous Russian admiral was born in the Smolensk governorate, very far from the sea, but he dreamed of the sea since he was a child. The service in the fleet became the real sense of his life: he had no other interests except seamanship. He was one of the best midshipmen who sailed aboard the Feniks frigate, sailed around the world aboard the Kreiser frigate, and distinguished himself in the Battle of Navarino in 1827, for which he was awarded the Order of Saint George of the 4th class. Besides that, he was the first captain of the Pallada frigate and won the Battle of Sinope, the last one in the age of sail. During the defense of Sevastopol, he directed the fleet and the port, and after the fleet sank and Vice Admiral Vladimir Kornilov perished, he heroically took the lead of the defense. On July 10, 1855, he was riding around the foremost defenses and refused to take off his epaulettes that were shining brightly in the sun. A French shooter didn’t miss and hit him right in the temple.
