[1] The name Pamiyat Mercuriya (literally In Memory of Mercury) was given to a number of ships of the Russian Baltic Fleet.

Pursued by a Turkish fleet (6 ships of the line, 2 frigates, 2 corvettes), the Russian brig Merkurii engaged in a lopsided battle with the ships-of-the-line Selimiye (110 guns) and Real-bei (74 guns) near the Strait of Bosphorus.

[3] As a result of the battle, the brig took 10 casualties, including 4 killed and 6 wounded.

Ivan Aivazovsky created 3 paintings featuring the ship: Several other artists created notable works featuring the Merkurii: The position of the ships portrayed by Aivazovsky in his work has been criticized as being historically inaccurate because of the brig's position between two significantly larger Turkish ships.

Still, it's possible that Aivazovsky's artistic impression simply heightened the tension in the painting by accentuating the hopelessness of the brig's situation.