Ferdinand von Wrangel

From Wikipedia,
Ferdinand von Wrangel
Admiral Ferdinand Wrangel
Born 29 December 1796
Pskov, Governorate of Pskov,Rssian !m"ire
Died 2# $a% 1&7' (aged 7)*
Dor"at, Governorate of +ivonia,Rssian !m"ire
Known for !,"lorer
Spouse(s) !lisabet- .eodora /atalia 0arolina de Rossillon
Baron Ferdinand Friedrich Georg Ludwig von Wrangel (Russian: e
B rnu, Ferdinand Petrovich Vrangel; 9 January 1797 [O.S. 29 December 1796] 6 June [O.S. 25
May] 1870) was a Baltic German explorer and seaman in Russian service, Honorable
Member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, a founder of the Russian
Geographic Society. He is best known as chief manager of the Russian-American
Company, in fact governor of the Russian settlements in present day Alaska.
n English texts, Wrangel is sometimes spelled Vrangel, a transliteration from Russian,
which more closely represents its pronunciation in German, or Wrangell.
Contents

1 Biography
o 1.1 Kolymskaya expedition
o 1.2 Krotky world voyage
o 1.3 Governor of Russian Alaska
o 1.4 Admiral
o 1.5 Retirement and death
2 Writings
3 List of places named after Wrangel
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
Biography
Von Wrangel was born in Pskov,
[1]
into a Baltic German noble family of Wrangel. He
graduated from the Naval Cadets College in 1815. He took part in Vasily Golovnin's world
cruise on the ship Kamchatka in 18171819.
Kolymskaya expedition
He was appointed in 1820 to command the Kolymskaya expedition to explore the Russian
polar seas. Sailing from St. Petersburg, he arrived at Nizhnekolymsk on 2 November 1820,
and early in 1821 journeyed to Cape Schelagin (Shelagsky?) on sledges drawn by dogs.
He sailed afterward up Kolyma River, advancing about 125 miles into the interior, through
territory inhabited by the Yakuts. On 10 March 1822, he resumed his journey northward,
and traveled 46 days on the ice, reaching 72 2' north latitude. He left Nizhnekolymsk on 1
November 1823, and returned to St. Petersburg on 15 August 1824.
[1]
He established that north of the Kolyma River and Cape Shelagsky there was an open sea,
not dry land, as people thought. Together with Fyodor Matyushkin and P. Kuzmin, Wrangel
described the Siberian coastline from the ndigirka River to the Kolyuchinskaya Bay in
the Chukchi Sea. (See Northeast Passage.) His expedition made a valuable research
in glaciology, geomagnetics, and climatology and also collected data about natural
resources and native population of that remote area.
Krotky world voyage
Having been promoted to commander, Wrangel led the Russian world voyage on the
ship Krotky in 18251827.
Governor of Russian Alaska
He was appointed chief manager of the Russian-American Company in 1829, effectively
governor of its settlements in North America (present day Alaska). Von Wrangel was the
first of a series of bachelor appointees to the office of governor who had to find a wife
before assuming the duties in America, the Russian American Company rules having been
changed in 1829.
[2]
Prior to his departure for Russia's American colonies, he was married to
Elisabeth Teodora Natalia Karolina de Rossillon, daughter of Baron Wilhelm de Rossillon.
He traveled to his post early in 1829, by way of Siberia and Kamchatka. After thoroughly
reforming the administration, he introduced the cultivation of the potato, opened and
regulated the working of several mines, and urged upon the home government the
organization of a fur company. He promoted investment, and sent out missionaries. He
began a survey of the country, opened roads, built bridges and government buildings. He
made geographical and ethnographical observations, which he embodied in a memoir to
the navy department. Recalled in 1834, he returned by way of the sthmus of Panama and
the United States, where he visited several cities.
[1]
Admiral
Wrangel was promoted rear admiral in 1837, and made director of the ship-timber
department in the navy office, which post he held for twelve years. He became vice-admiral
in 1847, but resigned in 1849, and temporarily severed his connection with the navy to
assume the presidency of the newly reorganized Russian-American Company.
[1]
Wrangel
had been a member of the board of directors of the Russian-American Company from 1840
to 1849.
[3]
n 1854 he re-entered active service and was made chief director of the hydrographical
department of the navy.
[1]
He was the Minister of the Navy 18551857.
Retirement and death
Wrangel retired in 1864. He opposed the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867.
Wrangel wrote the book Journey along the northern coastline of Siberia and the Arctic
Ocean and other books about the peoples of northwestern America.
He lived in his last years in Roela in the eastern part of Estonia. He had bought the manor
in 1840. He died in Tartu, Livonia.
[1]
Writings
An account of the physical observations during his first journey was published in German
(Berlin, 1827), and also in German extracts from Wrangel's journals, Reise laengs der
ordk!ste von Sibirien und auf dem "ismeere in den Jahren #$%&'#$%( (2 vols., Berlin,
1839), which was translated into English as Wrangell)s "*+edition to the Polar Sea (2 vols.,
London, 1840). The complete report of the expedition appeared as "Otceschewie do
Sjewernym beregam Sibiri, po Ledowitomm More (2 vols., St. Petersburg, 1841), and was
translated into French with notes by Prince Galitzin, under the title Voyage sur les c,tes
se+tentrionales de la Sib-rie et de la mer glaciale (2 vols., 1841). From the French version
of the complete report an English one was made under the title A Journey on the orthern
.oast of Siberia and the /cy Sea (2 vols., London, 1841).
[1]
The book influenced Charles
Darwin's thinking on animal navigation, leading him to propose that humans and animals
possess an innate ability for dead reckoning. Darwin wrote:
[4]
With regard to the question of the means by which animals find their way home from a long
distance, a striking account, in relation to man, will be found in the English translation of the
Expedition to North Siberia, by Von Wrangell. He there describes the wonderful manner in
which the natives kept a true course towards a particular spot, whilst passing for a long
distance through hummocky ice, with incessant changes of direction, and with no guide in
the heavens or on the frozen sea. He states (but quote only from memory of many years
standing) that he, an experienced surveyor, and using a compass, failed to do that which
these savages easily effected. Yet no one will suppose that they possessed any special
sense which is quite absent in us. We must bear in mind that neither a compass, nor the
north star, nor any other such sign, suffices to guide a man to a particular spot through an
intricate country, or through hummocky ice, when many deviations from a straight course
are inevitable, unless the deviations are allowed for, or a sort of "dead reckoning" is kept.
Charles Darwin, 1873
[4]
Wrangel also published:
[1]
Otscherk +uti is Sitchi 0) S1 Petersburg (1836)
French translation: Journal de voyage de Sitka 2 Saint P-tersbourg (Paris,
1836)
English translation prepared from the French: Journal of a Voyage from
Sitka to St1 Petersburg (London, 1837)
achrichten !ber die Russischen 3esit4ungen an der ord0estk!ste America)s (2
vols., St. Petersburg, 1839)
French translation: Renseignements statisti5ues et ethnogra+hi5ues sur les
+ossessions Russes de la c,te ord'Ouest de l)Am-ri5ue (Paris, 1839)
English translation: Statistical and "thnogra+hical otices on the Russian
Possessions in orth America (London, 1841)
List of places named after Wrangel
Wrangel sland, the arctic island north of Chukotka. He had noticed swarms of birds
flying north, and, questioning the native population, he determined that there must be
an undiscovered island in the Arctic Ocean. He searched for it on the Kolymskaya
expedition, but failed to find it.
Wrangell sland, an island in the Alexander Archipelago, off the coast of Alaska
Wrangell, Alaska, a city on Wrangell sland and one of the oldest non-native
settlements in Alaska
Fort Wrangel, a US Army base at Wrangell, originally Fort
Stikine when under British control
Wrangell Airport, an airport near Wrangell, Alaska
Wrangell-Petersburg Census Area a census area containing Wrangell
sland.
Wrangell Narrows, a winding channel in the Alexander Archipelago
Cape Wrangell of Attu sland, the westernmost point of Alaska (and the USA)
Mount Wrangell, a volcano in Alaska
Wrangell Volcanic Field, named after Mount Wrangell
Wrangell Mountains, named after Mount Wrangell
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, named after Wrangell
mountains
Wrangellia, a geologic terrane of Southeast Alaska
Ferdinand von Wrangell`i nim. Roela Phikool, a basic school in Roela, named after
Wrangell
See also
List of Baltic German explorers
References
1. ^ Jump up to:
a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h
One or more of the preceding sentences
incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, James Grant;
Fiske, John, eds. (1889). "Wrangell, Ferdinand Petrovitch, Baron von". A++letons)
.yclo+6dia of American 3iogra+hy. New York: D. Appleton.
2. ump up! Alix O'Grady: From the 3altic to Russian America #$%78#$9:; p.
2125. Alaska History no. 51, The Limestone Press, Kingston, Ontario & Fairbanks,
Alaska.
3. ump up! Richard A. Pierce: Russian America< A 3iogra+hical =ictionary,
Alaska History no. 33, Limestone Press, Kingston, Ont. and Fairbanks, Alaska, 1990, p.
547.
4. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
Darwin, Charles (24 April 1873). "Origin of Certain
nstincts". ature " (179): 417418. doi:10.1038/007417a0.