However, according to several municipal sources, Cruys lived in Amsterdam for at least eighteen years before he joined the Imperial Russian Navy.

She was born in Amsterdam and was the daughter of Claas Pieterszoon Voogt, a Dutch captain of a merchantman, and Jannetje Jans.

In December of that year, about seven months after his marriage, Cruys was officially registered as a citizen or poorter of Amsterdam.

Thanks to the mediation of Nicolaas Witsen, mayor of Amsterdam and expert on Russia par excellence, Peter I was given the opportunity to gain practical experience in the largest private shipyard in the world, belonging to the Dutch East India Company in Amsterdam, for a period of four months.

[citation needed] Cruys performed well in Russia and came to be regarded as the architect of the Imperial Russian Navy.

After his return to Russia, Peter I put the Azov Flotilla under the command of Admiral Fyodor Alexeyevich Golovin, a Russian nobleman who was the successor of the Swiss officer Franz Lefort.

[6] The historic Kotomin House at Nevsky Prospect, built from 1812 to 1815, was constructed on the site of the former residence of Cornelius Cruys.