Ferdinand von Wrangel
Ferdinand Friedrich Georg Ludwig Baron von Wrangel (Russian Фердинанд Петрович Врангель; born December 29 1796jul / January 9 1797greg in Pskov (Russian:. .. . Pskov ); † 25 Maijul / June 6 1870greg in Dorpat, Livonia) was a deutschbaltischer officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, Siberia travelers, explorers, and geographer in the Russian service.
Life
Ferdinand von Wrangel was the third of seven children of Baron Peter von Wrangel and his wife Dorothea, née von Freymann, to the world. He spent the first years of life at the family estate in Waimel -Neuhof, today Joosu in Estonia. After the early death of his parents he was given to the naval academy in St. Petersburg. After graduation Wrangel 1817-1819 took the rank of second lieutenant in the circumnavigation Vasily Mikhailovich Golownins with the Kamchatka part. On this trip he met the later explorer Fyodor Petrovich Liitke, with whom he then shared a lifelong friendship, and know his companions on future research trips Fyodor Matjuschkin.
After his return from Wrangel Golovnin was made the offer to head an expedition to the north of Siberia, which was re-measured the Arctic Ocean coast east of Indigirkamündung. North of the mouth of the Kolyma should be sought on the country from which the Cossack Andreyev had reported. After Wrangel had his knowledge in the field of geosciences at the University of Dorpat, among others, the astronomer Wilhelm Struve geodetic and deepened, he broke up with Matjuschkin and four other men in the spring of 1820. Within 224 days they reached Nischnekolymsk where the expedition einrichtete their headquarters. From here, took Wrangel and Matjuschkin in the following years four extended dog sledding travel across the sea ice to the north and along the coast to the east. Until 1824, under difficult conditions, hydrographic, meteorological, magnetic and other scientific observations were made. In addition to accurately map the coast and the islands bear Wrangel could prove that the Andrejewsche country does not exist. According to information provided by the native Chukchi he carried in his card but further east the island, which now bears his name, without that he had even seen this or even enter.
In the years 1825-1827 he undertook in Marine services and in turn accompanied Matjuschkins a trip to the brig Krotkij to Kamchatka. After his return Wrangel in 1829 (now Alaska) appointed Governor-General of the then Russian America. After more than one year's land journey through Siberia to the Sea of Okhotsk in the summer of 1830, he sat with the ship over to Sitka. The return trip in 1835 was California, Mexico and New York, with which he had circled the globe for the third time. Back at home, Wrangel was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1837 and decorated with the Order of St. George of the fourth degree. From 1840 to 1847 he was director of the Russian - American Company in St. Petersburg. He was co-founder in 1845 of the Russian Geographical Society. Wrangel in 1847 was promoted to Vice Admiral and appointed director of the Department of Shipbuilding forests. In 1849 he had himself put into retirement and retired to his estate Ruil (Estonian: Roela ) back.
After the death of his wife Elizabeth, née Baroness Rosillon, he returned in 1853 back into the active military service to Russia to stand in the Crimean War available. He became director of the hydrographic department, and after a few months Seeminister. In 1855 he became an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In poor health he was treated in 1857 by Albrecht von Graefe in Berlin. He retired with the rank of admiral in the Navy and was a member of the Russian Empire Council. He vehemently opposed the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867 but came to be. Wrangel had taken in 1864 "vacation indefinitely ." In 1870, he died in Dorpat.
After Ferdinand von Wrangel the 4,317 m high volcano Mount Wrangell and Wrangell Mountains in Alaska and Wrangel Island are ( the spelling " Wrangell " was later common) named in the Arctic Ocean.
Works
- Ferdinand Wrangel, Georg Friedrich von Parrot: Physical observations of Captain - Lieutenant Baron Wrangel during his travels on the Polar Sea in the years 1821, 1822 and 1823 G. Reimer, Berlin 1827..
- Ferdinand Wrangel, Georg Engelhardt, Carl Ritter: Journey of the Russian Imperial Fleet Lieutenant Ferdinand von Wrangel along the northern coast of Siberia and the Polar Sea in the years 1820-1824 Publisher Vossische bookstore, Berlin 1839..
- Ferdinand Wrangel, Carl- Ernst von Baer: Statistsche and ethnographic news about the Russian possessions on the north west coast of America collected by the former top managers diesar possessions, Contre- Admiral von Wrangell. Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg 1839.