Wrangel, F.P.-polar explorer, navigator

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Anatol
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Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

Wrangel, F.P.-polar explorer, navigator

Post by Anatol » Fri May 06, 2022 6:06 pm

Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel was born (December 29, 1796) on January 9, 1797 in Pskov. He came from an ancient family of Baltic Germans.
At ten years old, left without parents, Ferdinand was assigned to the Naval Cadet Corps in St. Petersburg. In 1815 he was promoted to midshipman. Under the command of V. Golovin, in 1817-1819 he sailed around the world on the sloop Kamchatka.
In 1820-1824, with the rank of lieutenant, he led an expedition to study the northeastern coast of Siberia, in which he described in detail the coast from the mouth of the Indigirka to the Kolyuchinskaya Bay and part of the Bear Islands. He collected valuable information about nature, climate, population and suggested the presence of land against Cape Yakan. Almost 50 years later, the American whaler Long discovered the island exactly where Wrangel had supposed.
Returning to St. Petersburg, Ferdinand Wrangel was awarded the Order of Vladimir of the 4th degree.The protection of Russian possessions, the supply of residents and the development of trade in these areas could only be ensured by organizing long-distance voyages. Starting from 1803, they followed one after the other almost annually. Until 1855, Russian sailors completed 41 round-the-world voyages to the Far East. In addition to solving the main problems, they carried out extensive scientific research of the oceans. At the same time, long-distance voyages were a wonderful school of nautical art.
Taking into account the specifics of such voyages, they began to build special military transports, which were distinguished by an increased carrying capacity with a decrease in the number of crew. One of these military transports was the Meek. It was built at the Okhta shipyard. The vessel is 27.5 meters long, 8.8 meters wide, armed with 16 small and medium caliber guns. The transport was launched on May 2, 1825. Preparations immediately began for his voyage with cargo for Kamchatka and Novoarkhangelsk, the main port of Russian America. Ferdinand Wrangel was appointed commander of the transport.
Finally, all preparations were completed, and on August 23, 1825, the Meek left Kronstadt. It took him over 40 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean. After a short stay in Rio de Janeiro to repair damage and rest the crew, the transport again went to sea heading for Cape Horn. Rounding Cape Horn, and making a short stop in Valparaiso (Chile), we began to cross the Pacific Ocean. Reverse winds and storms delayed this crossing. The ship was in need of repair, food supplies were running low. "Meek" went to the island of Nuku Hiva (Marquesas Islands). A tragedy occurred here, completely unusual for Russian navigation. For more than a week, relations with the locals were good, but on April 16 they unexpectedly killed our officer and two sailors. Ferdinand Wrangel decided to leave urgently. This time the path lay straight to Petropavlovsk.
In Kamchatka, the Krotkiy stayed only 3 days and on August 14 left for Novo-Arkhangelsk, where it arrived on September 21. At that time, the situation around the Russian settlements was favorable, and the main ruler of Russian America believed that the presence of a warship was not required. In this regard, on October 12, "Krotkiy" set out on the return journey. This time his course ran through the Hawaiian Islands and Manila. In this area, Ferdinand Wrangel searched in vain for the islands shown on some maps or allegedly discovered by whalers, but did not find any islands.
Further, the transport crossed the Indian Ocean, approached the Cape of Good Hope. Here, the Meek experienced several severe storms with rain and thunderstorms, and sometimes with hail and snow. Having rounded this cape cursed by sailors, the transport began to move north, entered the island of St. Helena, and then returned to Kronstadt in 1827 along the usual route through Portsmouth and Copenhagen. During the entire campaign, officers carried out astronomical and meteorological observations 4 times a day. Later, their results were published as a separate book.
Upon his return, he received the rank of captain of the 1st rank and was appointed to the post of chief ruler of Russian settlements in America.
In 1828-1829 he commanded the frigate "Elisabeth" [3]. In 1829, with the rank of captain of the 1st rank (produced on March 12, 1829), he was appointed the chief ruler of Russian America and remained in this post until 1835, in 1830 he arrived in Alaska. During his time in this post, he personally examined the entire western North American coast from the Bering Strait to California and created a magnetic meteorological observatory in Novo-Arkhangelsk [4]. On March 24, 1833, he was elected a member of the Imperial Moscow Society of Naturalists.
The administrative center of Russian settlements in America was the city of Sitka. For five years of service in Sitka, he thoroughly studied the territory of Russian possessions on the northwestern coast of America, their resources, opportunities and prospects.
Returning to Russia, Wrangel made his third round-the-world trip, and along the way he negotiated with the Mexican government for Russia to acquire a fertile valley adjacent to the Russian settlement of Ross.
In 1836, Wrangel was promoted to rear admiral, and in 1840 he was appointed director of the Russian-American Company.
In 1849, he resigned, settled in his estate Ruyl in the Estland province. While retired, he actively collaborated with the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and the Russian Geographical Society. In 1856 he was promoted to admiral. When Alaska was sold to the United States in 1867, Wrangel protested against this sale.
Ferdinand Wrangel died in Dorpat (May 25) on June 6, 1870 from a heart attack at the age of 74.
See also “KROTKIY”:forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11437.
PMR 2019,[P].
Sources: https://korvet2.ru/vrangel-krotki.html.
https://www.calend.ru/persons/771/
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