History of History

In the middle of the 19th century to explore the mouth of Amur and the coastal territories associated with this river was sent an expedition headed by Captain 1 grade G. Nevelsky. He carried out prescribed hydrological work, established that Sakhalin is an island, and all the geographical objects explored, previously "nothing", declared a new territory.
The Russian Empire. But for this last action he had no sanction from the boss.
Excited by Russia’s “aggressive” actions in the Far East, the British submitted a protest to Russian Chancellor Nesselrod. The Chancellor, already and so until his death frightened by the failures of the Russian weapons in Crimea against all the same Englishmen, mourned with a complaint about the illegal and dangerous actions of the captain toward the tsar. Nicholas 1, also extremely painfully perceived the Crimean defeat, but, unlike the Chancellor, only now thinking about what to give in response to the English, called Nevelsky to himself.
The captain realized that nothing good could be expected from a call to the emperor, known for his rough temper, and before this visit he said goodbye to his young wife.
And indeed, the Emperor met him exceptionally coldly and declared that for the arbitrary actions that damage the Russian Empire he,
Nicholas 1, by his decree, appealed the captain of the 1st rank of G. Nevelsky into ordinary sailors. (A copy of the decree was handed over to Nesseldor, who personally withdrew it to the English embassy.) But since Nevelsky, the emperor continued, conducted a difficult expedition and did not lose a single person in it, he was awarded the title of Captain Lieutenant. And because
Nevelsky managed to make the first map of the mouth of Amur, he is awarded the title of captain of 1st rank. Well, since he was the first to prove that Sakhalin was an island, he was awarded the title of counter-admiral.
The distance from the soldier to the counter-admiral G. Nevelskaya was overcome in no more than half a minute. It was the fastest and most dizzying career in the history of the Russian Navy.