http://darwin.lib.cam.ac.uk/perl/nav?pclass=name;pkey=Butakov%2C%20A.%20I.
Alexksei Ivanovich Butakov, 1816–69
Russian hydrographer and rear admiral who explored the Aral Sea.
http://orient.rsl.ru/eng/magazine-305.html
Russian seafarer Aleksey Butakov is known as the man who first explored Aral Sea in the 19th century. Less known are his friendly relations with the Kazakhs who lived in this region, and the fact that he studied culture and ethnography of the peoples living by the Aral Sea. The testimony of such interest is found in Butakov's letters to his relatives, which are published and commented by Aleksandr Kadyrbaev.
"The Gold Medal is awarded to Admiral Alexis Boutakoff, for being the first to launch and navigate ships in the Sea of Aral, an achievement which led to the establishment of steam-navigation on that sea and up the great River Jaxartes, into the heart of Turkestan; also for his subsequent successful survey of the chief mouths of the Oxus, in the Khanat of Khiva. As well as a Gold Medal to Dr. Isaac Hayes for his memorable expedition towards the open Polar Sea, wherein he attained a more northerly point of land in Smith Sound than had been reached by any previous navigator..."
Map downloaded from http://www.cawater-info.net/aral/aral1_e.htm