Memoir of Alexey Krylov, Russian naval engineer, scientist, and businessman, about his childhood, his education in Russia and France in XIX century, his years in the Naval Academy, and his naval career and business endeavors before and after Russian Revolution, his interactions with numerous historical figures. Additional material: Introduction by Andrey Kapitsa and recollections of his daughter about her father Alexey Krylov, his step-brother Victor Henri, and her husband, Nobel Prize winner Pyotr Kapitza.