20-guns brig "Mercury" was laid in Sevastopol in 1819 and was built of Crimean oak. Ship master colonel Osminin conceived "Mercury" as a special ship to protect the Caucasus coast and as a patrol ship.
Led by 28-year old captain-lieutenant Kazarsky, who had been awarded by a gold sabre for the battles under Varna in 1828, Mercury played a vital role near the end of the Russian-Turkish war near the shores of Anatolia
Mercury served up to November, 9, 1857, when there was an instruction to disassemble it because of its dilapidated state. Nevertheless its name was kept in the Russian Fleet to pass it to the worthy ship of George flag. Three ships of Black Sea Fleet carried the name "The memory of Mercury" by turns: in 1865 - corvette, in 1883 and in 1907 - cruisers.
