ORLOFF, Alexie, a brother of the preceding, was born in 1737, and became a soldier by profession. His Herculean strength and stature, and his reckless audacity, rendered him a valuable tool for his brother in the revolution of 1762. He engaged to be one of the assassins of Peter III.; and it is said that it was his hands that strangled the unfortunate monarch. The after services of Orloff in the cause of the Empress Catherine were of the same unprincipled stamp. It is true that in command of the Russian fleet in 1770 he burned the Turkish squadron in the Bay of Tchesme, and thus won many notable honours and the title of Tchesmenski. But most writers attribute his victory entirely to the counsels of the Englishman Elphinstone. He was certainly more in his element when soon afterwards he sought out the youthful Russian princess Tarakanova at Rome, decoyed her on board a vessel, and sent her home to spend her days in a dungeon. The public life of Orloff closed at the death of Catherine and the accession of Paul. After having been compelled to attend at the disinterment, and to assist at the funeral of Peter III., he was glad to escape from further punishment into Germany, and to remain away from Russia till the commencement of the next reign. His death took place at Moscow in 1808.
There were three other brothers who took part in the plots, and shared the prosperity of the two above mentioned.