Aleksei Birilev

Aleksei Alekseyevich Birelev was an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy, a member of the State Council and Minister of the Navy in the Imperial Government.

Berilev was born into a family of relatively poor Russian nobility, without an estate. He entered the Imperial Russian Navy in 1859 as a cabin boy, graduating from the Sea Cadet Corps in 1862 and was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1868. He made two trips around the world, from 18591865 and 18691872.

Source: Wikipedia