Fyodor Litke

Fyodor Petrovich Count Liitke (Russian Фёдор Петрович Граф Литке, scientific transliteration Fedor Petrovich Litke Graf ), actually Friedrich Benjamin of Liitke; * 17 Septemberjul. / September 28 1797greg. in Saint Petersburg; † 8 Augustjul. / August 20 1882greg. ibid ) was a Russian naval officer, circumnavigator, explorer and writer.

Life

He joined as a volunteer in 1813 in the Royal Navy, which was determined to besiege occupied by the French in Danzig, was nominated for his bravery to the midshipman. He took from 1817 to 1819 in the Russian circumnavigation under Vasily Mikhailovich Golovnin part. From 1821 to 1824 he led an expedition to the Russian coastal waters in the Arctic with the mission to explore Kamchatka, and also took in the three following years of research trips to the Arctic regions, who brought particular insight into the coasts of Novaya Zemlya. His description of the four-time trip to the Arctic Ocean was later published in German language.

1823 promoted to lieutenant commander Liitke received in 1826 the leadership of the fourth Russian circumnavigation transferred, in which also involved several foreign scholars. He left on the Corvette Senjawin on August 14, 1826 ( accompanied by the sloop Moller ) Kronstadt, explored the Russian coasts of Asia and America, discovered in the Pacific, among other 14 different islands in what is now Micronesia, one group of which the name " Senjawin Islands " received. He came in late 1828 to Manila and met on 16 September 1829 in Kronstadt. The description of these results to very rich expedition he published under the title Voyage autour du monde (Paris 1835 et seq, 4 volumes of drawings by Postel and Kittlitz ). After returning Liitke became a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg.

Liitke received in 1829 the rank of captain first class, undertook a year later with two frigates and a brig a training cruise to Iceland and in 1832 was appointed adjutant of the emperor and the tutor of the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, and in 1847 to its curator, which position he held until 1852 held.

Meanwhile, in 1842 adjutant general, and in 1845 was promoted to Vice Admiral of the Russian Fleet, he was governor from 1851 to 1853 war in Reval, later of the harbor at Kronstadt and entered 1855 as Admiral in the Imperial Parliament real. The foundation of the Russian Geographical Society ( 1845) is preferably his work, and he served from 1845 to 1850 and from 1855 to 1857 as its Vice President. Since 1864 he was president of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and was raised in 1866 in the imperial counts. He died in 1882 in St. Petersburg.