Among the outstanding Russian explorers of the World Ocean, the name of Rear Admiral Alexey Ivanovich Butakov (1816—1869) occupies a special place. For 15 years (1848—1863), he, being the Head of the Aral expedition and the Commander of the Aral flotilla, studied the unique lake — the Aral Sea. The Russian State Naval Archive stores various materials related to the activities of A. I. Butakov: his diary, track record, organizational documents, correspondence with his parents and brother Grigory, information about a business trip to Sweden for the purchase of ships and punishment for the liberal attitude to the exiled poet T. G. Shevchenko, materials on participation in the Khiva expedition, documents on the inventory of the Syr-Darya river, various cartographic materials.