A portrait of a Russian admiral and the honorary member of the Petersburg Academy of sciences F.P. Vrangel (1796/97 - 1870), the main governor of the Russian possessions in America. The researches of 1829 -1835 were carried out under his guidance. F.P.Vrangel was the author of works on travelling in northern part Siberia, on the navigation in the Northern Ocean and about peoples of northwest America. The stamp also features a geographic map of Kamchatka and Alaska, the route of the expedition in North America, the ship "Krotkiy" and Novo-Archangelsk (the centre of the Russian possessions in America).
http://www.marka-art.ru/en/catalog/mark ... 12967.aspx
Built as a transport by Pomorskiy and K.A. Gazyrin, St Pietersburg, constructor V.F.Stoke, for the Imperial Russian Navy.
28 August 1824 laid down.
02 May 1825 launched as the KROTKIY (The Gentle)
Dim. approx. 27.5 x 8.3 x 3.9m.
Armament 16 guns.
Crew 60.
She was designed and built for the trade to Kamchatka.
23 August 1825 she left Kronstadt under command of F.P Vrangel and arrived at Petropavlovsk on 12 July 1826. Then she returned to Kronstadt where she arrived on 14 September 1827.
10 September 1828 left Kronstadt for a second voyage to Petropavlovsk where she arrived on 10 July 1829.
During that voyage she discovered the Marshall Islands.
From Petropavlovsk she sailed to Novoarkhangel’sk (Russian North America) where she arrived on 26 October 1829.
16 September 1830 she arrived again in Kronstadt.
From 1831 till 1832 carried cargo in the Gulf of Finland.
After 1833 broken up.
Russia 1994 250r sg6504, scott6237
Source: Russian Warships in the Age of Sail 1696-1860 by Tredrea and Sozaen.