Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel
Wrangel Ferdinand Petrovich (1796-1870), admiral, famous Russian navigator and polar explorer, author of the classic work "Journeys along the northern shores of Siberia along the Arctic Sea, committed in 1802, 21, 22, 23 and 24". The son of Admiral F. P. Wrangel, Ferdinand Ferdinandovich Wrangel was a close friend and biographer of Makarov. Known for his hydrological studies of the Black Sea. He was a professor at the Marine Academy in the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology. The two-volume biography of Makarov written by him is, in terms of the abundance of factual material, the most fundamental of the works on Makarov.
From the encyclopedia:
Wrangel Ferdinand Petrovich (December 29, 1796 (January 9, 1797), Pskov, -25.5 (6.6), 1870, Tartu) Russian navigator, admiral (1856), honorary member. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1855), one of the founders of Rus. geogr. society. Mor graduated. Corps (1815). Participated in the circumnavigation of V. M. Golovkin on the sloop "Kamchatka" (1817-19). In 1820-1824 he headed the Kolyma detachment of the expedition to search for the sowing. lands; established that to the north of Kolyma and Cape Shelagsky, where the existence of land was assumed, there is an open sea. Described the coast of Siberia from the river. Indigirka to Kolyuchinskaya Bay. In 1825-1827 he headed the Russian. round-the-world expedition aboard the Krotkiy ship. V. was the main ruler of the Russian. settlements in America (1829-35), director of the Russian-American Company (1840-49), sea. minister (1855-57). Retired since 1864. Protested against the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867. Author of a number of works on geography. The name of V. named the island in the North. Arctic Ocean, mountain and cape in Alaska, etc.
Used materials of the Soviet military encyclopedia in 8 volumes, volume 2.
Detailed biography:
Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel was born on December 29, 1796 in the city of Pskov into a noble family. His grandfather was a chamberlain at royal court, but with the coming to power of Catherine II, he lost not only huge estates, but also his entire fortune. Wrangel's father and mother, after the flight of the head of the family abroad, were left without funds. Soon Ferdinand was left an orphan. Once, Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern was visiting relatives with whom he lived. The navigator's story about amazing journeys through all the oceans to the shores of Kamchatka and America struck the boy.
Relatives sent him to the Naval Cadet Corps. Here he became friends with Peter Anjou. They became the best pupils of the graduation: Wrangel was recognized as the first of 99 pupils in terms of success, Anzhu - the second.
On June 21, 1815, they went to Reval (Tallinn) to serve in the 19th naval crew. They sailed on the frigate "Avtroil" in the Gulf of Finland. But Wrangel dreamed of long-distance travel.
Having learned that the famous navigator Vasily Mikhailovich Golovnin was preparing for a round-the-world voyage on the sloop Kamchatka, Wrangel begged him to take him on board as a simple sailor.
The meeting with Golovnin was of decisive importance not only for the fate of Wrangel, but also for his development as a scientist. On board the "Kamchatka" he served and studied theoretical geography, the history of polar travel, theoretical and practical astronomy, navigation. The captain's rich library was at his service. After the end of the voyage in September 1819, Golovnin attracted Wrangel to a new project. He gave Wrangel to read the "Project on the departure of two expeditions from the mouths of the Yana and Kolyma." It was supposed to equip two detachments - Kolyma and Yansky. Golovnin invited Wrangel to lead the Kolyma detachment, which was to search for lands to the north and east of the Bear Islands. Pyotr Anzhu was appointed head of the Yan detachment.
The expedition of the Kolyma detachment (1820-1824) described the coast of Siberia from the Indigirka River to the Kolyuchinskaya Bay, according to survey data, established the location of the island, later named after Wrangel.
On March 20, the detachment arrived in Irkutsk, and on July 25 it reached Yakutsk. From there, crossing the Aldan, the expedition arrived in Nizhnekolymsk.
On February 19, 1821, Wrangel left Nizhnekolymsk on three traveling and five imported (for provisions) sleds. He intended to inspect the ocean coast from Bolshoy Baranov Kamen to Cape Shelagsky, to the north of which, according to Sarychev, there was an inhabited "motherland", and according to Burney, there was an isthmus connecting Asia with America.
On February 24, the expedition left Bolshoy Baranov Kamen behind. Beyond was uncharted territory.
On March 1, travelers reached the island of Sabadei (Aion) in the Chaun Bay. Traces of recent parking have been found here. Chukchi . The next day, Kozmin announced that he was seeing land. Travelers from the coastal cliff through the telescope distinguished a huge polynya, and behind it a ridge of hummocks. At night they observed the aurora borealis.
On March 3, the travelers spent on the ice of the Chaun Bay, giving the dogs a chance to rest. In the evening, the researchers suddenly saw in the east the outlines of low domed mountains, which were reflected in the mirror surface of a huge polynya. That was Cape Shelagsky. He seemed to be at a distance of one day's march from the campsite.
March 5 southeast wind brought warm weather. The temperature rose from -40° to -3° C. But the way to Cape Shelagsky surpassed all previously experienced difficulties and dangers. Having reached the cape, Wrangel determined its coordinates.
On March 7, the expedition set off on the return journey, making an inventory of the shores of the Chaun Bay along the way. Travelers discovered the cape, which was named after Matyushkin, and the small island of Routan (Arautan). On the way back, they experienced a severe famine: three of the four food warehouses were devastated by arctic foxes and wolverines.
On March 25, Wrangel headed for the mouth of the Kolyma. Violating the instructions received from the Maritime Department, he began searching northern mainland not in the area of Cape Shelagsky, but north of the mouth of the Kolyma.
With his trip to the north of Baranov Kamen, Wrangel questioned the conclusions of Sarychev, who believed that the sea in this area was small and that "motherland" should be located not far to the north.
The search for the Northern "motherland" continued.
On April 28, the expedition returned to Nizhnekolymsk without seeing the Northern "motherland". Nevertheless, Wrangel and Matyushkin, in their unsuccessful search for land that Sergeant Andreev allegedly saw north of the Bear Islands, made an outstanding contribution to the knowledge of the nature of the Arctic Ocean. Thanks to their trips, it turned out that the sea is far from the coast of Siberia, even in winter, not only eternal ice, and not even covered by a continuous ice cover.
On March 13, 1822, Wrangel set off from Sukharnov to Baranov Kamen. This time, he decided to again go to the border of landfast ice, in order, adhering to it, to head east, to the meridian of Cape Shelagsky, and thereby collect versatile material for judgments about "the supposed existence of land to the north."
Having traveled about 80 miles from Baranov Kamen, Wrangel set up a food warehouse in the ice. For several days, the expedition either cut through the hummocks, or sank into deep snow.
On the morning of March 27, Kozmin saw two hills rising above the ice in the northeast. The next morning optical illusion repeated. Later, Wrangel came to the conclusion that "when the ice breaks, dark blue vapors rise from the water, which, sometimes descending to the tops of the icy mountains, give the latter the appearance of a mountainous land."
When Wrangel decided to turn back, he was about 30 miles from the island that now bears his name, and 80 miles from the Asian mainland.
On April 8, the expedition went east and on the same day reached Cape Yakan. For a long time they examined the northern horizon through a telescope, but did not find the slightest sign of the mountains that the Chukchi had seen. Matyushkin went in search of Severnaya Zemlya, but all his attempts to reach the mountains in the north were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Wrangel made an inventory of the coast. The task set before the Kolyma expedition - to map the northern coast of Russia from the Kolyma to the Northern Cape - was completed. This once again proved the inconsistency of the hypothesis of the existence of an isthmus between Asia and America and confirmed the validity of the conclusions and discoveries made by Wrangel's predecessors - Russian explorers and scientists.
On May 10, the expedition arrived in Nizhnekolymsk, having covered 2,300 versts in 78 days. Wrangel stated that at least 300-500 versts north of the Siberian coast between Kolyma and Cape Shelagsky there is no "mother land".
This ended the research of the Kolyma expedition. August 15, 1824 Wrangel arrived in St. Petersburg. But it was not until 1841 that he published his Journey.
Wrangel was the first traveler to discover the ice islands and gave their exact description. He established the boundary of fast ice distribution in the East Siberian and western parts of the Chukchi Seas. An outstanding contribution to the study of the climate of northeastern Russia was the organization by Wrangel and Matyushkin of systematic meteorological observations in Nizhnekolymsk.
Wrangel understood that he had delivered to science the final proof of the existence of the Northeast Sea Passage. Carefully studying the works of his predecessors, he wrote in Journey: "The vast expanse the globe, which lies between the White Sea and the Bering Strait at almost 145 ° longitude along the mother coast of Northern Europe and Siberia, was discovered and described by the Russians. All attempts by navigators of other nations to penetrate the Arctic Sea from Europe to China or from the Great Ocean to the Atlantic are limited to the west by the Kara Sea, to the east by the meridian of the North Cape; insurmountable obstacles that stopped foreigners in their further voyage were overcome by our sailors ... "Ferdinand Wrangel visited Kamchatka, Russian America, went around the world in the Krotkiy military transport. He traveled through all of Siberia and became the first manager of the possessions of the Russian-American Company, or, in other words, a kind of governor-general of Russian America... He was an admiral, corresponding member (1827), honorary member (1855) of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. geographical society.
In 1864 he finally left public service and moved permanently to the Ruil estate in Estonia. He spent the last six years of his life in rural seclusion. From day to day he was engaged in meteorological observations, the diaries of which have been preserved in his archive.
Site materials used http://100top.ru/encyclopedia/
Read further:
Schwartz K.N. Baron Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel. // "Russian antiquity". Monthly historical publication. 1872. Volume V. St. Petersburg, 1872, pp. 390-418.
Compositions:
Journey along the northern shores of Siberia and the Arctic Sea ... M., 1948.
Literature:
Davydov Yu. V. Ferdinand Wrangel. M., 1959;
Chernenko M. B. F. P. Wrangel and F. F. Matyushkin. - In the book: Russian Navigators. M., 1953;
Laktionov A. F. F. P. Wrangel. - "Problems of the Arctic", 1945, No. 2;
Archive of F. P. Wrangel. - “Izv. All-Union. geogr. islands”, 1943, v. 75, no. 5.
Ferdinand Wrangel was born on December 29, 1796 in the city of Pskov. The son of artillery major Pyotr Berendtovich Wrangel and his wife Dorothea-Margarita-Barbara von Freiman. His grandfather, a native of Denmark, was a chamberlain at the court of Peter III, under Catherine II fell into disgrace and fled abroad. Wrangel's parents, not having the means to raise their son, gave him into the care of one of his relatives.
In 1807 he was assigned to the Naval Cadet Corps. June 8, 1812 promoted to midshipmen, April 6, 1814 - to the rank of non-commissioned officer. Graduate of the Maritime cadet corps. At the end of the naval corps - midshipman. Wrangel served for some time in Revel, in 1816-1817 he sailed as part of the 19th naval crew in the Gulf of Finland on the frigate Avtroil. Served in the Baltic Fleet.
In 1817 - 1819 he participated in round the world expedition Golovnin on the sloop "Kamchatka". In navigation he was awarded the Order of Anna, 4th degree.
In 1820-1824, with the rank of lieutenant, he led an expedition to explore the northeastern coast of Siberia. During the expedition, the coast of Siberia from the Indigirka River to the Kolyuchinskaya Bay was described, and the Bear Islands were mapped. After returning from Irkutsk to St. Petersburg, Ferdinand Petrovich was awarded a life pension in the amount of an annual lieutenant's salary, promoted to the next rank, and he was granted 4 years of service to receive the Order of St. George.
In 1825-1827, with the rank of lieutenant commander, he headed circumnavigation on military transport "Krotkiy". In 1824 he was awarded the Order of Vladimir, 4th class. Upon his return from circumnavigation, Ferdinand Petrovich was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 2nd degree, and a pension in the amount of a captain-lieutenant salary. October 13, 1827 promoted to the rank of captain of the 2nd rank. December 29, 1827 was elected a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.
In 1828 - 1829 he commanded the frigate "Elisaveta". In 1829, with the rank of captain of the 1st rank, he was appointed the chief ruler of Russian America and remained in this post until 1835, in 1830 he arrived in Alaska. During his tenure in this post, he personally surveyed the entire western North American coast from the Bering Strait to California and created the Sitka Magnetic Meteorological Observatory.
In 1836, through Mexico, where he carried out diplomatic missions for the Russian-American Company, he returned to Russia, having completed his third round-the-world voyage on the way home. On July 8 of the same year, he was awarded the rank of rear admiral, and on August 5 he was appointed director of the department of ship scaffolding. On November 29, 1837, he was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree, and the following year he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav, 2nd degree with a star. Since 1837 he was a corresponding member of the Royal Geographical Society of London.
From 1840 to 1847 he was the director of the Russian-American Company, in 1847-1849 he was the director of the Department of Ship Forests of the Naval Ministry. Since 1845, a member of the Russian Geographical Society. Elected Chairman of the Department of General Geography.
In 1849 he retired with the rank of Vice Admiral. Being retired, he actively cooperates with the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, of which he became an honorary member in 1855, and the Russian Geographical Society, being one of its founders.
In connection with the start Crimean War returned from retirement to the service and on September 8, 1854 was appointed director of the Hydrographic Department. On February 23, 1855, he was appointed chairman of the Naval Scientific Committee, and on April 13 of the same year, inspector of the corps of navigators of the fleet, with the retention of his posts.
In 1855 - 1857 he was the manager Maritime Ministry. He was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd degree. On April 15, 1856, he was appointed adjutant general, and on August 26 of the same year he was promoted to the rank of admiral.
In 1857, on August 8, for health reasons, he was dismissed from the post of manager of the naval ministry with the appointment of a member of the State Council. On September 8, 1859, he was awarded the Order of the White Eagle.
In 1864 he retired again. In the same year, he moved permanently to the Ruil estate in Estonia. He spent the last six years of his life in rural seclusion. From day to day he was engaged in meteorological observations, the diaries of which have been preserved in his archive. He spoke out against the sale of Alaska to the United States of America.
Wrangel Ferdinand died on May 25, 1870 from a heart attack while passing through Yuryev. He was buried in the family plot of the cemetery, located one kilometer from Viru-Jagupi in Estonia.
Baron, navigator, traveler, admiral, corresponding member (1827), honorary member (1855) of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. One of the founders of the Russian Geographical Society. In 1820-1824, he led an expedition that described the coast of Siberia from the Indigirka River to the Kolyuchinskaya Bay; determined the position of the island based on polling data, later named after him. In 1825-1827 he led a round-the-world expedition aboard the Krotkiy ship. In 1829-1835 he was the chief ruler of Russian settlements in America. In 1855-1857 he was Minister of the Navy.
Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel was born on December 29, 1796 in the city of Pskov into a noble family. His grandfather was a chamberlain at the royal court, but with the coming to power of Catherine II, he lost not only huge estates, but his entire fortune. Wrangel's father and mother, after the flight of the head of the family abroad, were left without funds. They could not give education to their son and gave him to the care of one of the relatives. Soon Ferdinand was left an orphan. Once, Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern was visiting relatives with whom he lived. The navigator's story about amazing journeys through all the oceans to the shores of Kamchatka and America struck the boy.
Relatives sent him to the Naval Cadet Corps. Here he became friends with Peter Anjou. They became the best pupils of the Wrangel graduation, according to their success, they were recognized as the first of 99 pupils, Anzhu - the second.
On June 21, 1815, they said goodbye to the Naval Corps and went to Reval (Tallinn) to serve in the 19th naval crew. They sailed on the frigate "Avtroil" in the Gulf of Finland. But Wrangel dreamed of long-distance travel.
Having learned that the famous navigator Vasily Mikhailovich Golovnin was preparing to circumnavigate the world on the sloop "Kamchatka", Wrangel escaped from the ship "Avtroil" an hour before its departure and went to St. sailor.
A few days later, Wrangel was already on duty on the sloop Kamchatka. The meeting with Golovnin was of decisive importance not only for the fate of Wrangel, but also for his development as a scientist. On board the Kamchatka, he zealously served and enthusiastically filled in the gaps in his education: he studied theoretical geography, the history of polar travel, theoretical and practical astronomy, navigation. The captain's rich library was at his service. After the end of the voyage in September 1819, Golovnin attracted Wrangel to a new project.
On November 10, 1819, Vasily Mikhailovich gave Wrangel a "Project on the departure of two expeditions from the mouths of the Yana and Kolyma" to read. It was supposed to equip two detachments - Kolyma and Yansky. Golovnin invited Wrangel to lead the Kolyma detachment, which was to search for lands to the north and east of the Bear Islands. Pyotr Anzhu was appointed head of the Yan detachment. Friends' paths crossed again.
The inventory of known lands was of secondary importance. These tasks were to be dealt with by a navigational assistant, and Wrangel himself should have traveled from Cape Shelagsky on the ice of the sea to the north to unknown land located a day trip away from this location.
The Wrangel detachment included midshipman Matyushkin, navigator Kozmin, doctor of medicine Kiber, locksmith Ivannikov and sailor Nekhoroshkov.
On March 20, the detachment arrived in Irkutsk, and on July 25 it reached Yakutsk. Wrangel sent Matyushkin to Nizhnekolymsk, instructing him to prepare an astronomical observatory and, to the best of his ability, start buying dogs and food for them, he himself took up the study of the history of Yakutsk.
September 12 Wrangel left Yakutsk. They had to travel on pack horses, and spend the night at "post stations", where pets were kept along with people. Having crossed the Aldan, Wrangel moved through swamps and forests, through the rubble of windbreak and swift rivers. On November 2, the expedition arrived in Nizhnekolymsk.
In order to complete an inventory of the northern shores of Siberia from the Kolyma to Cape Shelagsky and undertake a search to the north of it for the "mother land", according to Wrangel's calculations, 50 sleds and 600 dogs were required. Wrangel and Matyushkin managed to stock up on almost everything necessary to ensure the activities of the expedition.
However, in early February 1821, Wrangel learned that most of the purchased dogs and sleds could be delivered to Nizhnekolymsk only in mid-March. Without waiting for the delivery of the sledges from Sredne- and Verkhnekolymsk, he decided to form a small detachment and take a trip to Cape Shelagsky, "whose situation was very gloomy."
Wrangel informed M. Speransky that he was "in a position to begin this year to determine Cape Shelagsky and to find Severnaya Zemlya."
On February 19, 1821, Wrangel left Nizhnekolymsk on three traveling and five imported (for provisions) sleds. He had the intention to inspect the ocean coast from the Big Baranov Stone to Cape Shelagsky, to the north of which, according to Sarychev, there was an inhabited "motherland", and, according to Burney, there was an isthmus connecting Asia with America.
The path lay through the places where Billings and Sarychev traveled. Wrangel compared his own geographic definitions with the observations of his predecessors and was very pleased that they were in "perfect agreement".
On February 24, the expedition left Bolshoy Baranov Kamen behind. Beyond was uncharted territory.
“... Little by little,” Wrangel wrote, “we achieved such dexterity that we made our observations at 30 ° below zero and at night, in the dim light of a small hand lamp, counted degrees, minutes and seconds on the arc of the sextant with sufficient accuracy. Chronometers also the influence of the cold spread out - they stopped by themselves. Fearing this, I carried them with me during the day, and at night I hid them in a box wrapped in several skins, which I put with me under the covers. Despite all my precautions, probably at night, when the fire went out in our tent, the cold, penetrating through all the wrappings, froze the oil between the wheels and stopped their movement.
On March 1, travelers reached the island of Sabadei (Aion) in the Chaun Bay. Traces of the recent settlement of the Chukchi were found here. The next day, Kozmin announced that he was seeing land. Travelers from the coastal cliff through the telescope distinguished a huge polynya, and behind it a ridge of hummocks. At night they observed the aurora borealis.
On March 3, the travelers spent on the ice of the Chaun Bay, giving the dogs a chance to rest. In the evening, the researchers suddenly saw in the east the outlines of low domed mountains, which were reflected in the mirror surface of a huge polynya. That was Cape Shelagsky. He seemed to be at a distance of one day's march from the campsite.
"The next morning at sunlight, - Wrangel wrote in the Diary, - the water turned into smooth ice; when we approached this strip, then, to our great surprise, we did not find either water or even ice, and only terrible hummocks, composed of large and small bluish ice floes, formed an almost impenetrable rampart from 15 to 20 sazhens high and fit around everything cape. A strange refraction of the rays in the thick atmosphere caused this phenomenon, which deceived us so much that we took great care to cross the proposed wormwood. It is likely that the wide polynya we saw on March 2 was also a strip of high snowless hummocks.
March 5 southeast wind brought warm weather. The temperature rose from -40° to -3° C. But the way to Cape Shelagsky surpassed all previously experienced difficulties and dangers. Having reached the cape, Wrangel determined its coordinates. Despite the meager supplies of food and dog food, he made an attempt to determine the direction of the coast to the east of Cape Shelagsky. Wrangel went to a rocky cape, which he named after his companion, navigator Kozmin. Convinced that the coast takes a southeasterly direction, the travelers stopped the inventory due to lack of food.
On March 7, the expedition set off on the return journey, making an inventory of the shores of the Chaun Bay along the way. Travelers discovered the cape, which was named after Matyushkin, and the small island of Routan (Arautan). On the way back, they experienced a severe famine: three of the four food warehouses were devastated by arctic foxes and wolverines. For several days the travelers did not eat anything. Barely alive, Wrangel, Kozmin and the three Cossacks accompanying them reached Nizhnekolymsk, passing 1122 versts in 23 days.
In Nizhnekolymsk, Wrangel found Dr. Kiber, who was to be engaged in natural science research.
On March 25, Wrangel headed for the mouth of the Kolyma. Violating the instructions received from the Naval Department, he began searching for the Northern mainland not in the area of Cape Shelagsky, but north of the mouth of the Kolyma.
The travelers passed the Four-Pillar Island and headed further north. In early April, they crossed the 71st parallel, but they did not find Severnaya Zemlya.
Wrangel sent three sleds to Nizhnekolymsk and continued north. Comparing the nature of hummocks in the coastal region near Baranov Kamen with newly formed hummocks 224 versts from the Siberian coast, Wrangel drew attention to the difference in their constituent ice both in thickness and strength, and in salinity. Here, at the border of the open sea, the ice was several times thinner than at a distance from the Siberian coast, and its thickness ranged from 12 to 4 centimeters, which, according to Wrangel, completely contradicted the effect of severe Siberian frosts. The researcher suggested that "that during the whole winter this part of the sea either freezes, then the next fresh wind breaks again so that frost can never act for a long time on the same ice ..."
With his trip to the north of Baranov Kamen, Wrangel questioned the conclusions of Sarychev, who believed that the sea in this area was small and that "motherland" should be located not far to the north.
Having traveled to the southeast, the expedition soon encountered a mountainous island more than 20 meters high, which turned out to be icy. "The hills of this ice island," Wrangel wrote, "seemed to us from a distance behind real stone mountains, even being on them, we cut deep holes to make sure of their compositions." The island turned out to be quite large: travelers traveled over it for almost two days. It was surrounded by fresh impassable hummocks.
The search for the Northern "motherland" continued. As soon as they made their way through the ridges of hummocks, they found themselves on ice, which was crossed by cracks. We had to spend the night half a kilometer from the polynya.
On April 9, almost the whole day they tried to get out of the heaps of hummocks. In the end, exhausted travelers with exhausted dogs and broken sleds turned south. Wrangel realized that further attempts to penetrate to the north were useless. “And at every step,” he wrote, “huge polynyas and cracks crossed our path. While crossing one of the cracks, eight dogs from my team fell into the water, and only the unusual length of the sledge saved both me and the dogs from death.”
The travelers mapped six of the Bear Islands, including the one that "had been hiding from the previous describers to this day," and headed south, heading towards Cape Krestovoi. Here, judging by the legends, there was another island. But instead of the island, Wrangel ended up on the Siberian coast, where one of the guides found a trap set by him on a polar fox.
On April 28, the expedition returned to Nizhnekolymsk without seeing the Northern "motherland". "The only objects were hummocks, fog and clouds," wrote Wrangel, clearly dissatisfied with the "unsuccessful success of the expedition." Nevertheless, Wrangel and Matyushkin unsuccessfully searched for land that Sergeant Andreev allegedly saw north of the Bear Islands, made an outstanding contribution to the knowledge of the nature of the Northern Arctic Ocean. Thanks to their trips, it turned out that the sea far from the coast of Siberia, even in winter, is not only not bound by eternal ice, but is not even covered with a continuous ice cover.
On March 13, 1822, Wrangel set off from Sukharnov to Baranov Kamen. This time, he decided to again go to the border of landfast ice, in order, adhering to it, to head east, to the meridian of Cape Shelagsky, and thereby collect versatile material for judgments about "the supposed existence of land to the north."
Having traveled about 80 miles from Baranov Kamen, Wrangel set up a food warehouse in the ice. For several days, the expedition either cut through the hummocks, or sank into deep snow.
On the morning of March 27, Kozmin saw two hills rising above the ice in the northeast. Wrangel believed that in front of them was the land they were looking for, but the guides assured that they were "vapors rising from the open sea." However, the mountains, cliffs and valleys of the unknown land became more and more distinct with every verst. “Congratulating each other on the happy achievement of the goal,” Wrangel wrote, “we hurried on, hoping to set foot on the desired shore before evening. But our joy was short-lived, and all our beautiful hopes disappeared. By evening, with a change in lighting, our newly discovered the earth moved in the direction of the wind by 40 °, and after a while it still embraced the entire horizon, so that we seemed to be in the middle of a huge lake, surrounded by rocks and mountains.
The next morning, the optical illusion was repeated. Later, Wrangel came to the conclusion that "when the ice breaks, dark blue vapors rise from the water, which, sometimes descending to the tops of the icy mountains, give the latter the appearance of a mountainous land."
Wrangel decided to go straight north. We traveled 12 to 20 miles a day. On April 8, travelers met ridges of newly formed hummocks. They overcame three ridges of hummocks and several newly formed polynyas. Meanwhile, the hummocks reached unprecedented heights. The next day we drove only three versts. When there was no hope of penetrating to the north, Wrangel decided to follow east and on the meridian of Cape Shelagsky again try to penetrate north, to the land that the Chukchi told about. On the morning of April 22, researchers noticed the rocks of Cape Shelagsky. They were, according to Wrangel's calculations, 87 miles away.
The detachment made its way in a southeasterly direction for 19 versts and was stopped by impassable hummocks. “Although the sky was clear and clear,” Wrangel wrote, “we did not see any signs of land either in the east or in the north. Taking into account that each not quite low-lying coast can be seen here at a distance of 50 versts and that we were 80 versts from Cape Shelagsky, it can be reasonably asserted that there is no prospective land to the north of this cape at a distance of 130 versts. It has already been sufficiently proved above that no land exists 300 versts north of Bolshoy Baranov Kamen. Having come to this conclusion, Wrangel returned to Nizhnekolymsk.
He outlined his future plans in a letter to Litka. “From February 20, I will set off with Prokopy Tarasovich Kozmin on the road; I intend to follow the coast for 70 or 80 miles east of Cape Shelagsky and then try again to the north. I don’t know what success will be, but I believe that we will have to fight terribly with hummocks and that we will meet a continuous polynya even closer to the shore than in those years ... "
February 26, 1823 Wrangel and Kozmin, accompanied by local residents, went east.
In early March, the expedition reached the camp it had created at the confluence of the Bolshaya Baranikha River into the sea. Wrangel by that time had 19 sledges at his disposal. He was able to take with him 7.5 poods of crackers, 6 poods of meat, 8,200 yukols and 4,000 herrings, 224 omuls, 12 geese, half a pood of butter, half a pood of salt, a pood of tea, sugar, candy, 5 guns, 100 live cartridges, and everything necessary for travel astronomical, magnetic and meteorological instruments.
On March 8, the expedition reached Cape Shelagsky. Here Wrangel first met the Chukchi. Convinced of the peaceful intentions of the guests, the elder not only described in detail "the borders of his land from Bolshaya Baranikha to the Northern Cape, but even drew the position of Cape Shelagsky on the board, calling it Erri." In response to questions about the Northern Continent, "Kamakai began to assert that not far from their land in the north there is a mountainous land, and that he himself saw mountains in the sea, in his opinion, not at a very distant distance ..."
On March 10, Wrangel crossed the isthmus of Cape Shelagsky and the next day reached Cape Kozmina. The right bank of the Vercon River, which was a rocky cape, was named after the doctor of the Kibera expedition. A small island was discovered near the cape. It was named the island of Shalaurov, who sacrificed his life, "striving for the glory of resolving the issue of the Northeast passage from the Atlantic to the Great Ocean."
On March 13, having built a food warehouse four miles from the coast, the detachment headed north across the ice. Travelers with difficulty overcame a heap of ice. One day, seven members of the expedition with four dog teams found themselves on a small ice floe with a diameter of about 100 meters. They sailed on it almost all night. Wrangel frankly admitted that every minute he was waiting for death. In the morning the wind began to press the broken ice against the fast ice, which saved the detachment.
March 23 Wrangel was still going north. He almost did not hope for the success of the discovery of the earth. Finally, a polynya more than 300 meters wide blocked the path for the researchers. She grew noticeably. Travelers climbed the highest of the surrounding hummocks "in the hope of finding a means to penetrate further, but, having reached its top, they saw only the boundless open sea."
When Wrangel decided to turn back, he was about 30 miles from the island that now bears his name, and 80 miles from the Asian mainland.
The detachment returned by the old road. “We,” Wrangel wrote, “set off on the return journey, foreseeing the sad future that our dogs would die of hunger along the way, and we would be forced to end our journey on foot if we did not meet with the second branch of the expedition and receive help from him.” Fortunately, Matyushkin's detachment saved Wrangel from inevitable starvation.
On April 8, the expedition went east and on the same day reached Cape Yakan. For a long time they examined the northern horizon through a telescope, but did not find the slightest sign of the mountains that the Chukchi had seen. Matyushkin went in search of Severnaya Zemlya, but all his attempts to reach the mountains in the north were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Wrangel made an inventory of the coast. The task set before the Kolyma expedition - to map the northern coast of Russia from Kolyma to Cape Severny - was completed. This once again proved the inconsistency of the hypothesis of the existence of an isthmus between Asia and America and confirmed the validity of the conclusions and discoveries made by Wrangel's predecessors - Russian explorers and scientists.
On April 14, while continuing to map the coast of Chukotka, Wrangel described the mouth of the Amguema River and Cape Vankarem. The next day he reached Kolyuchinskaya Bay, where he made magnetic observations and determined geographical position Kolyuchin Islands. The inability to get dog food and the deterioration of the road with the onset of spring forced Wrangel to complete his research at this point.
On May 10, the expedition arrived in Nizhnekolymsk, having covered 2,300 versts in 78 days. Wrangel stated that at a distance of at least 300-500 versts north of the Siberian coast between Kolyma and Cape Shelagsky there is no "mother land". But, judging by the information received from the Chukchi, there is a vast island in the sea north of Cape Yakan. He wrote to Litke: “... You won’t believe me that it was not possible to get to the Bering Strait, although we were not far from it: hungry and on barely moving dogs we dragged ourselves to the Kolyma. Now I have no doubt that there is in the north the land: the legends of the Chukchee are so agreed and affirmative that it is no longer necessary to search, but to find.
Wrangel believed in the existence of the island. While still in Nizhnekolymsk, he compiled a "Project for a new expedition to discover and describe Severnaya Zemlya", a draft of which has been preserved in the researcher's archive. Upon his return to St. Petersburg, he announced his intention to Sarychev, but no decision was made, perhaps because Wrangel soon received a new responsible assignment at Golovnin's suggestion.
This ended the research of the Kolyma expedition. August 15, 1824 Wrangel arrived in St. Petersburg. But it was not until 1841 that he published his Journey.
Wrangel was the first traveler to discover the ice islands and gave their exact description. He established the boundary of fast ice distribution in the East Siberian and western parts of the Chukchi Seas. An outstanding contribution to the study of the climate of northeastern Russia was the organization by Wrangel and Matyushkin of systematic meteorological observations in Nizhnekolymsk.
Wrangel understood that he had delivered to science the final proof of the existence of the Northeast Sea Passage. Carefully studying the works of his predecessors, he wrote in Journey: "The vast expanse of the globe, consisting between the White Sea and the Bering Strait, almost 145 ° longitude along the mother coast of Northern Europe and Siberia, was discovered and described by Russians. All attempts by navigators of other nations to penetrate the Arctic Sea from Europe to China or from the Great Ocean to the Atlantic are limited to the west by the Kara Sea, to the east by the meridian of the North Cape, insurmountable obstacles that stopped foreigners in further navigation were overcome by our sailors ... "
Ferdinand Wrangel visited Kamchatka, Russian America, went around the world in the Krotkiy military transport. In Reval, he fell in love at first sight with a girl of amazing beauty, Elizaveta Vasilyevna Rossillon, and here he wrote a book about wanderings on the ice of the ocean in search of the Northern Continent, which strengthened the recognition of his scientific merits throughout Europe. Then Wrangel traveled across Siberia and became the first administrator of the Russian-American Company, or, in other words, a kind of governor-general of Russian America.
In 1864, he finally left the civil service and moved permanently to the Ruil estate in Estonia. He spent the last six years of his life in rural seclusion. From day to day he was engaged in meteorological observations, the diaries of which have been preserved in his archive.
THREE TIMES CIRCULATED THE EARTH
The outstanding navigator Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel was born on December 29, 1796 in Pskov. He came from an old noble family, whose representatives moved from Denmark to Estonia as early as the 13th century. The grandfather of Ferdinand Petrovich Berendt Gustav Wrangel (1737-1776) served as a chamberlain at the court of Emperor Peter III. After this sovereign was overthrown by his wife Catherine II in 1765, he, remaining faithful to the oath, refused to serve the new empress and fell into disgrace. “My unfortunate ancestor,” F. P. Wrangel noted in his notes, “had to leave his wife, children, go abroad, wandering around Europe and being pursued everywhere. Finally, he sailed to Batavia (now Jakarta. - Auth.), Entering the service of the Dutch East India Company, where he ended his life, filled with sorrow.
The son of the former chamberlain Peter Ludwig Wrangel (1760-1807), served in the artillery, but reached only the modest rank of major and died when Ferdinand Petrovich was only eleven years old. Even earlier, in October 1806, the mother of the future navigator Dorothea Margarita Barbara von Freiman died. In 1807, by decision of his relatives, the boy was sent to the Naval Cadet Corps, which was distinguished in those days by harsh orders, but far from the best level teaching.
F. P. Wrangel himself later recalled: “With the exception of two or three good teachers mathematics, one might say, the corps did not have decent teachers ... studied, whoever wanted to, somehow ... For pranks, the most common punishment
he was eating rods, blows of a hundred or more; in companies, and sometimes in classes, cadets and midshipmen sang sailor songs, played balls ... leapfrog, fought and fought with their fists until large bruises ... Spartan, the teaching is the worst."
Nevertheless, F. P. Wrangel himself studied diligently and in 1815 graduated from the corps with best success in your release. During his studies, he became friends with Peter Anzhu, the son of a doctor from Vyshny Volochok, a future admiral and geographer. Having received the rank of midshipman, Wrangel and Anzhu went together to serve in Revel (Tallinn), in the 19th naval crew. The first ship of Ferdinand Petrovich was the frigate Avtroil, on which he sailed the Gulf of Finland in 1816.
Soon the young officer learned that the captain of the 2nd rank V. M. Golovnin was preparing to make a round-the-world voyage on the sloop "Kamchatka" with a call to Russian America. Wanting to join the expedition at all costs, Wrangel, having said he was sick, left his frigate and went to Petersburg, where he asked Golovnin to take him into the crew. Fortunately for him, Golovnin agreed, despite the obvious displeasure of the command in Reval.
Among F. Wrangel's comrades in navigation was midshipman F. P. Litke, who later became a prominent geographer, and a fellow student of A. S. Pushkin in Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum F. F. Matyushkin, future admiral, chairman of the Naval Scientific Committee.
The voyage of "Kamchatka" lasted two years (1817-1819). Shortly after its completion, F. P. Wrangel "was awarded the order St. Anna and received the rank of lieutenant. In 1820, he led a detachment of seven people sent to explore the coast Northeast Siberia. During the expedition, the sailors established that to the north of the Kolyma River and Cape Shelagsky, where the existence of land was previously assumed, there is an open sea. Wrangel managed to describe the Siberian
some coast from the Indigirka River to Kolyuchinskaya Bay, to map the Bear Islands and 115 astronomical points, to carry out hydrographic, navigational and ethnographic observations.
In 1824, Ferdinand Petrovich returned to St. Petersburg, where he received a personal audience with Emperor Alexander I and was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir 4 tbsp. In the autumn of the same year, he became the commander of the sloop "Krotkiy", on which in 1825-1827 he circumnavigated the world with a survey of the shores of Kamchatka and Russian America. After returning from the expedition at the end of 1827, Wrangel was promoted to captain of the 2nd rank and elected a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. In 1828 he commanded the frigate "Elizaveta", and in 1829, having received the rank of captain of the 1st rank, he took the post of Chief Ruler of the Russian-American Company. Shortly before leaving for America, Ferdinand Petrovich visited Revel. There he met the youngest daughter of Baron Rossillon, Elizabeth, with whom he fell in love, as they say, at first sight and, fortunately, mutually.
“She was the same angel,” Wrangel later recalled, “who was destined by merciful providence to become my friend, my treasure, my salvation in this and the future life. I soon realized that I loved more than I had ever loved before. I have been blissful and I have suffered.”
On May 31, 1829, Ferdinand Wrangel and Elizaveta Rossi-lion played a wedding, and a month later they went together to Irkutsk, from where they were supposed to follow to distant Russian colonies. By autumn they had reached their first destination.
After wintering in Irkutsk, in May 1830, Wrangel, at the head of a small detachment, went down the Lena River and reached Yakutsk by mid-June. From there he went to Okhotsk, from which on August 17 on the sloop "Urup" he began sailing to the American shores. In all these wanderings, Ferdinand Petrovich was accompanied by his wife along with their newborn daughter. In the Sea of Okhotsk, travelers were caught by a strong storm. “The weather was cloudy and cold,” recalled Ferdinand Petrovich, “the provisions were poor, and Lizonka tasted the last cup of sorrows.” On August 29, 1830, Urup entered the port of Novoarkhangelsk.
F. P. Wrangel served in Russian America for five years. During this time, he repeatedly solved complex administrative problems, took a number of measures to improve the life of the settlers and the fight against poachers who exterminated game animals, and conducted geographical surveys. In 1835, he went back to Russia, choosing at the same time such a route that allowed him to collect interesting scientific information.
Having reached from Sitka to Fort Ross in California, he headed from there at the head of a small detachment to Mexico, crossed it from San Blas to the port of Veracruz, then reached New York by ship, and from New York through Atlantic Ocean and the Baltic Sea in the summer of 1836 arrived in Kronstadt.
Shortly after his return, Ferdinand Petrovich was appointed a member of the general presence of the Shipbuilding Department of the Naval Ministry, and in November 1836 he headed this institution. In the same year, F. Wrangel's book "Essay on the road from Sitka to St. Petersburg" was published. In 1837, the British Royal Geographical Society elected him as its corresponding member.
In 1840-1849. F. P. Wrangel served as director of the Russian-American Company. In addition, in the mid-40s of the XIX century. he actively participated in the creation of the Russian Geographical Society and at its first meeting he made a report "On the means of reaching the Pole." However, the tense fate and long journeys undermined the health of the navigator. In 1849, Ferdinand Petrovich retired and settled on his estate in Estonia.
In 1854 General Admiral Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich again called F. P. Wrangel to serve, appointing him director of the Hydrographic Department of the Naval Ministry. At the same time, he was entrusted with the leadership of the commission for the revision of maritime criminal legislation. It should be noted that Konstantin Nikolayevich himself was a staunch supporter of liberal reforms, and under his patronage, Wrangel was able to significantly soften the regime of sailor service, which had previously been extremely harsh.
In February 1855, Ferdinand Petrovich headed the Naval Scientific Council, and in August became the manager of the Naval Ministry. However, already in July 1857 he left this post and was appointed a member of the State Council. Unfortunately, in 1864, illness forced Wrangel to retire, after which he went abroad for treatment for two years. In 1867, Ferdinand Petrovich acted as a staunch opponent of the sale of his American possessions by Russia, but he could not influence the decision of the government. Diseases caused by constant overwork made themselves felt more and more often. In 1870, during a trip to Dorpat (Tartu) to meet with his family, the outstanding navigator died.
Islands in the Barents and Chukchi Seas, capes on the Taimyr Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands, a harbor and a strait in the Alexander Archipelago and the Pacific Ocean, a mountain in Alaska, a bay and mountains on the Aleutian Islands are named after F. P. Wrangel.
, Statesman , Navigator , Explorer , Admiral
Baron Ferdinand (Fyodor) Petrovich Wrangel (German: Ferdinand Friedrich Georg Ludwig von Wrangell, December 29, 1796 (January 9, 1797), Pskov - May 25 (June 6), 1870, Dorpat) - Russian military and statesman, navigator and polar explorer, admiral (1856), head of the Naval Ministry.
Graduate of the Naval Cadet Corps (1815). At the end of the naval corps (the first in the issue), midshipman Wrangel served for some time in Revel, sailing in the Gulf of Finland on the frigate Avtroil. Served in the Baltic Fleet. In 1817-1819, as a midshipman, he participated in the round-the-world expedition of Vasily Golovnin on the sloop Kamchatka. In 1820-1824, with the rank of lieutenant, he led an expedition to explore the northeastern coast of Siberia (a detachment of 7 people). During the expedition, the coast of Siberia from the Indigirka River to the Kolyuchinskaya Bay was described, and the Bear Islands were mapped. In 1824-1827, with the rank of lieutenant commander, he led the circumnavigation of the military transport Krotkiy. In 1828-1829 he commanded the frigate "Elisaveta". In 1829, with the rank of captain of the 1st rank, he was appointed the chief ruler of Russian America and remained in this post until 1835, in 1830 he arrived in Alaska. During his tenure in this post, he personally surveyed the entire western North American coast from the Bering Strait to California and created the Sitka Magnetic Meteorological Observatory. In 1836, through Mexico, where he carried out diplomatic missions for the Russian-American Company, he returned to Russia, having completed his third round-the-world voyage on the way home. In the same year he was awarded the rank of Rear Admiral. On November 29, 1837 he was awarded the Order of St. George of the 4th degree (No. 5527 according to the list of Grigorovich - Stepanov).
Little by little, we achieved such dexterity that we made our observations at 30 ° below zero and at night, by the dim light of a small hand lamp, counted degrees, minutes and seconds on the arc of the sextant with sufficient accuracy. The influence of the cold also extended to the chronometers - they stopped by themselves. Fearing this, I carried them with me during the day, and at night I hid them in a box wrapped in several skins, which I put with me under the covers. Despite all my precautions, probably at night, when the fire went out in our tent, the cold, penetrating through all the wrappings, froze the oil between the wheels and stopped their movement.
Wrangel Ferdinand Petrovich
From 1840 to 1847 he was the director of the Russian-American Company (St. Petersburg), in 1847-1849 he was the director of the Department of Ship Forests of the Naval Ministry. In 1849 he retired with the rank of Vice Admiral. Being retired, he actively cooperates with the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, of which he became an honorary member in 1855, and the Russian Geographical Society, being one of its founders.
In connection with the outbreak of the Crimean War, he returned from retirement to the service and in 1854 was appointed director of the Hydrographic Department. In 1855-1857 he was the manager of the Naval Ministry (that is, the Naval Minister). From 1857 admiral, adjutant general of the retinue of His Imperial Majesty, member of the State Council.
In 1864 he retired. In the same year, he moved permanently to the Ruil estate in Estonia. He spent the last six years of his life in rural seclusion. From day to day he was engaged in meteorological observations, the diaries of which have been preserved in his archive.
F. P. Wrangel died on May 25, 1870 from a heart attack while passing through Yuryev (Derpt, now Tartu). He was buried in the family plot of the cemetery, located one kilometer from the town of Viru-Jagupi (the old name of Ruil) in Estonia.
Known as an active opponent of the sale of Alaska to the United States of America.
Russian Empire:
Order of St. George 4th degree for 25 years of service (1837);
Order of St. Stanislaus 1st degree (1840);
Ring with diamonds (1841);
Badge of distinction for XXX years of impeccable service (1846);
Order of St. Anne, 1st class with the Imperial Crown (1846);
Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd class (1855);
Order of the White Eagle (1859).
Medal "In memory of the war of 1853-1856" (1856).
The vast expanse of the globe, consisting between the White Sea and the Bering Strait at almost 145 ° longitude along the mother coast of Northern Europe and Siberia, was discovered and described by Russians. All attempts by navigators of other nations to penetrate the Arctic Sea from Europe to China or from the Great Ocean to the Atlantic are limited to the west by the Kara Sea, to the east by the meridian of the North Cape, insurmountable obstacles that stopped foreigners in their further voyage were overcome by our sailors ...
Wrangel Ferdinand Petrovich
Wife Elizaveta Vasilievna (Elizaveta Theodora Natalia Karolina) Rosillon (1810-1854). A son and three daughters died in infancy, surviving:
Vasily (Wilhelm Peter Georg Adolf) (1831-1894), leader of the nobility of the Estonian province (1881-1884);
Peter (Peter Georg Ludwig Alexander) (1840-1899);
Elizabeth (Elizaveta Paulina Julia Antonina) (1842-1926), Madras, India;
Ferdinand (1844-1919). Served in the Navy. Acting State Councilor. In 1892-1896 he was the director of the Imperial Alexander Lyceum;
Eva (Eva Antonia Karolina Sophia) (1850 - after 1882).
F. P. Wrangel on a Russian postage stamp, 1992
A number of geographical points of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans and Wrangel Island are named after Wrangel.
In 1992, a Russian postage stamp dedicated to Wrangel was issued.
"Dnev. Notes on the voyage of the military transport "Krotkoy" in 1825-27"
"Sketch of the way from Sitka to St. Petersburg" (1836);
"Historical Review of Voyages in the Arctic Ocean." (1836)
"Journey along the northern shores of Siberia and the Arctic Ocean, made in 1820, 21, 22, 23 and 24" (1841)
On German: "Ferdinand von Wrangel und seine Reise langs der Nordkuste von Sibirien und auf dem Eismeere" (von L. v. Engelhardt, Leipzig, 1885). F. F. Wrangel.
Very curious information about the northwestern coast of America, reported by Wrangel, appeared in German translation and compose Volume I of "Beitrage zur Kenntniss des Russischen Reiches", an edition of Baer and Helmersen. As can be seen from the preface of the publishers, Wrangel's notes served as the first reason for the founding of this academic publication.
Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel - quotes
Little by little, we achieved such dexterity that we made our observations at 30 ° below zero and at night, by the dim light of a small hand lamp, counted degrees, minutes and seconds on the arc of the sextant with sufficient accuracy. The influence of the cold also extended to the chronometers - they stopped by themselves. Fearing this, I carried them with me during the day, and at night I hid them in a box wrapped in several skins, which I put with me under the covers. Despite all my precautions, probably at night, when the fire went out in our tent, the cold, penetrating through all the wrappings, froze the oil between the wheels and stopped their movement. 
The vast expanse of the globe, consisting between the White Sea and the Bering Strait at almost 145 ° longitude along the mother coast of Northern Europe and Siberia, was discovered and described by Russians. All attempts by navigators of other nations to penetrate the Arctic Sea from Europe to China or from the Great Ocean to the Atlantic are limited to the west by the Kara Sea, to the east by the meridian of the North Cape, insurmountable obstacles that stopped foreigners in their further voyage were overcome by our sailors ...
Congratulating each other on the happy achievement of the goal, we hurried on, hoping to set foot on the desired shore before evening. But our joy was short-lived, and all our fine hopes vanished. By evening, with a change in illumination, our newly discovered land moved 40 ° in the direction of the wind, and after a while it still embraced the entire horizon, so that we seemed to be in the middle of a huge lake surrounded by rocks and mountains.
