Maksim Vasilii: b. 1635 - d. 1718

Maximi Vasilii was born near the Black Sea, amidst a seafaring community. Details of his youth are unknown, though as a captain he'd tell his men he always preferred to be on the open water rather than on land, even as a child. It is likely that he was sent packing as a teen by his parents, who hoped he would escape the ethnic scourge being initiated by Czar Alexei on the minorities of the Russian empire. So many people were fleeing the region at this time that Vasilii needed a little luck on his side. The only way to gain passage on a ship sailing for the Bosporus was via a monthly lottery held in Odessa. It can only be assumed the boy's lucky number eventually came up, and he escaped to the Mediterranean. Afterward, he must have grown up quickly, receiving his "education" on ships traveling the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts as one of the Barbary pirates, who regularly preyed on merchant vessels, particul.

Map of the Black Sea (Univ. Waughshington Collection)

Having dealt with the English on numerous occasions (even in their prisons) Vasilii heard stories of Sir Francis Drake's exploits during his voyage around the world. Considered by many to be a pirate as well as a famous explorer, Drake was naturally a role model for our young Russian, who didn't hold any true political allegiances. By his early 20's, Vasilii had accumulated enough knowledge, experience and wealth thanks to years of attacking merchant ships on the high seas. He was finally able to finance his true dream of sailing around the world, in hopes of discovering adventure, fortune and glory.

On May 7, 1658, Maksim Vasilii arrived at Fort Dauphin, on the island of Madagascar, after sailing around the Cape of Good Hope aboard his ship, Thermopolae (in one of Vasilii's greatest Mediterranean triumphs, the ship was acquired in a raid in the Aegean near the ancient Greek battlefield). The French fort --which decades later became an established pirate haven-- provided a temporary respite for Vasilii and his men, and they we able to replenish their supplies and plan the main leg of their journey. It was here that Vasilii encountered some Dutch sailors who spoke of a vast fortune located in the south seas. The treasure belonged to a great king, whose people were quickly wiped out by Western plagues and disease. The Dutch had taken advantage of this capitulation by ravaging the island kingdom for resources, when they stumbled across the "great king's fortune" (as it was ambiguously referred to, since so little was known about it or its original owner). When they encountered Vasilii, the Dutch were transporting portions of this treasure back to Europe--it was so vast that the transfer apparently required multiple trips.

Inspired by these tales and evidence of tremendous wealth, Vasilii gathered his men quickly and sailed out in the middle of the night, hoping that the little information the Dutch had let slip would help guide the Thermopolae to the location of the loot. What happened after the pirate set out has been debated for centuries, but it's pretty obvious that Vasilii didn't do his due diligence and gather enough information about his destination. Rumors of great treasure, victories in battle and conquest of virgin territories came out of this voyage. Just as prevalent are the tales of illness, starvation and poor navigation. Opinions vary on which exact route the ill-prepared pirate ended up taking, but it appears that he led his unique "voyage of discovery" may have led him to certain wonderous places and undiscovered kingdoms quite by accident.

Portrait of Vasilii, Unknown Artist (Univ. Waughshington Collection)

It is generally agreed upon that the Thermopolae made stops in the Indian subcontinent, China, and Sumatra before making it across the Pacific. However, reaching the Americas took much longer than one would expect, even for a 17th century sailing ship. There are no records or artifacts from the expedition dating from 1659-1660, leaving a mystery as to what may have happened to Vasilii and his men during this time. Did they find the treasure? Or were they just lost at sea?

In approximately spring of 1661, Vasilii and his men suddenly appeared in the Hawaiian islands, as evidenced by Polynesian artifacts brought back on the voyage. This would put him there more than a century before Captain Cook's famous voyage landed him in the same "Sandwich Islands."

From there, the trevails of the Thermopolae continued around Cape Horn and northward to the Caribbean, with few notable discoveries or incidents. The riches of the Americas called to Vasilii and he considered staying in the area longer, especially with his connections in the Spanish empire from his days of plundering the Barbary Coast. However, an unexpected skirmish left the pirate with his tail scurrying across the Atlantic with his tail between his legs.

Henry Morgan, Unknown Artist (British Museum)

The British had been making several daring raids on Spanish ports in the Caribbean during this period, and on the day Commodore Mings of the British Royal Navy decided to deploy his fleet to attack the Castillo del Morro at Santiago de Cuba, Vasilii was busy guiding the Thermopolae out of the Bay of Santiago. Too preoccupied with the main assault, Mings directed one of his captains to pursue the Russian's fleeing ship. This captain's name was Henry Morgan. Morgan chased after Vasilii on the HMS Fremont, and twice the ships briefly engaged each other before the Thermopolae took to running again. Years later, the Russian would tell those in the czar's court that Morgan was just toying with him, and could have blown the Thermopolae out of the water at any time. If it weren't for a vicious storm interceding during the second engagement, Morgan would have surely caught Vasilii and finished him off. As it turned out, the Russian escaped, but not without losing a number of men.

H.M.S. Fremont, Unkown Artist (British Museum)

After limping across the Atlantic, Vasilii finally found himself in familiar waters, and his confidence and the spirits of the crew heightened. The captain charted a couple more stops in the Mediterranean on the way to what he hoped would be a triumphant homecoming journey through the Bosporus to the Black Sea. The Thermopolae --carrying a relieved crew and boisterous, boastful captain-- that arrived in Crete in September, 1665, was not the same vessel that staggered into the port of Alexandria two months later. Only seven members of Vasilii's shipmates walked off that ship onto the docks of the famous Egyptian port, many raving about monsters and death, and no evidence of the great riches they had bragged about months earlier. Nobody knows what happened in Crete, but some scholars theorize that the pirate slaughtered most of his men to keep from sharing too many of the spoils, or perhaps to keep the secret of the great king's fortune safe.

Vasilii and his remaining trusted (or perhaps just lucky) crew did manage to return to Odessa, to much fanfare and acclaim. However, they did not bring the king's fortune home with them. In fact, most of those who survived the Thermopolae's journey (with one possible exception, noted below) lived out the rest of their lived in comfortable anonymity. Maxim Vasilii, while hailed as a hero, did not bring home great wealth, claims of great lands and trading avenues to his homeland. He was, however, welcomed within the court of the Czar, where he never tired of regaling the noble class with his tales of adventure.

Daniel Aldridge, by Samuel Schilling (British Museum)

Vasilii's exploits on this journey are legend among the seafaring community, but the veracity of these tales is difficult to prove for two reasons. The pirate's own recollections, as recorded in the court papers of Peter the Great (Peter's modernization of the Russian empire and in particular his construction of a modern Russian fleet was said to be greatly influenced by Vasilii, whom the tsar considered a close friend) were full of hyperbole and tales of mythical creatures, not unlike a fairy tale or legend from Greek myth. In addition, no written record from the journey itself --a journal or log-- has been discovered. A traitorous English pirate named Daniel Aldridge was known to have accompanied the Thermopolae for at least part of the journey, and kept a diary according to some historians. However, no evidence of this journal has ever been found, and skeptics have dismissed it as yet another unrealistic aspect of the Vasilii legend.

If anything, Maxim Vasilii has suffered through history due to bad timing (his exploits came well after Magellan's and Drake's global exploits), his obsession with the fantastic (great treasures and talk of monsters), and most importantly, a lack of hard evidence. Few artifacts remain from this great journey and until more are discovered, it will be just another tale based on speculation and myth.

Read more about Maxim Vasilii: A Timeline of His Journey