He is famous for his sea sorties on Crimea and Turkey and in 1616 captured Caffa (Theodosia) on the Crimean peninsula, the largest center of the slave trade.
Many of the songs are about Cossack heroes from Ukraine such as Morozenko, Baida (Cossack), Doroshenko, Sahaidachny, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Maksym Kryvonis, and Danylo Nechay.