The name of Harald Karlovich Graf is well known to everyone interested in the history of the Russian fleet. He became famous not for his naval battles with the enemy (although there were plenty of them), not for his inventions or scientific discoveries, not for his travels, like many, many officers, but for his memoirs. In Graf's book, readers are presented with a vivid picture of the daily life of naval officers in pre-revolutionary Russia. A good literary style, a vivid memory, excellent powers of observation, the ability to characterize a colleague in a few strokes - all this made the works of G.K. Count among the best books about the Russian fleet of the late 19th – early 20th centuries.