Ferdinand Wrangel - navigator and explorer

[Anatol]

Admiral, General Adjutant, honorary member of Russia’s Imperial Academy of Science, member of the State Council, Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel was not only an outstanding scientist and seaman who made two world cruises (1817-1819 and 1824-1827), but also a notable public figure and statesman of 19th century Russia. For example, in 1845 he became one of the founders of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society.
Many years of his life were devoted to Russian America. In 1829-1835 he was the governor of all of Russia’s settlements in North America and later became the Director of the Russian-American Company (Russia’s state-sponsored trading company founded in the 19th century to explore the territories of Alaska and the Pacific Coast of North America). He did everything he could to ensure that these lands stayed with Russia.
His ascent through the ranks began in 1815, when young Ferdinand Wrangel was the first of 99 pupils to graduate from the Naval Corps and be assigned to Revel on the frigate Avtroil. Two campaigns on this frigate gave him practical experience in sea voyages and confidence in his abilities for long-distance voyages. Having learned in 1817 about the preparation of a round-the-world voyage on the sloop "Kamchatka", he submitted a report to the authorities about his illness, and he secretly went to St. Petersburg. There he begged V.M. Golovnin to take him on board as a junior watch officer.
Meeting with V.M. Golovnin had a decisive influence not only on the fate of F.P. Wrangel, but also on his development as a scientist. On board the Kamchatka, using the captain's library, he enthusiastically filled in the gaps in his education: he studied theoretical geography, the history of polar travel, astronomy, navigation. After the end of the voyage in September 1819, V.M. Golovnin attracted him to a new project, offering him to lead the Kolyma expedition to explore the northern shores of Eastern Siberia. One of his assistants was midshipman F.F. Matyushkin is a close friend of Pushkin.
(see: F. Wrangel, Arctic explorer: viewtopic.php?t=18331).
After such dangerous and strenuous work on the expedition, everyday life in the capital seemed to Ferdinand Petrovich too mundane and uninteresting.
And here he was again saved by V.M. Golovnin, inviting him to go on a round-the-world voyage. By the beginning of the 19th century, the northern part of the Pacific Ocean had already been mastered by the Russians. In 1786, the Russian government officially announced the annexation of Alaska and a number of islands in the Bering Sea, discovered by Russian sailors and called Russian America.
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. It happened December 14, 1825.
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 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.
This circumnavigation lasted 2 years and 21 days, and the longest passage from Manila to St. Helena lasted 109 days. Upon returning home, F.P. Wrangel was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 2nd degree, and a lifelong pension in the amount of an annual captain-lieutenant salary. Soon he was promoted to captain of the 2nd rank, and on December 29, 1827 he was elected a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.
Two round-the-world voyages and the Kolyma expedition, the discoveries made in them and extensive scientific research put forward Ferdinand Wrangel among the outstanding Russian navigators and explorers of the Arctic. After that, he was in the public service for several decades, holding high positions in the government hierarchy. At the same time, Ferdinand Petrovich was a member of many scientific societies, including an honorary member of the St. Petersburg and French Academies of Sciences.
See also: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11437.
PMR 2019; [P]. Dixon 1994.
Source: https://korvet2.ru/vrangel-krotki.html.