Vasily Chichagov

Vasily Yakovlevich Chichagov (Russian Василий Яковлевич Чичагов, scientific transliteration Vasilii Jakovlevic Čičagov; * 28 Februarjul / March 11 1726greg, .. .. † 4.jul / April 16 1809greg in Saint Petersburg ) was a Russian admiral and Arctic explorer. His son Pavel Vasilyevich Chichagov was also Admiral.

Vasily Chichagov undertook as captain of the Russian fleet in the years 1765 and 1766 two expeditions to the Arctic, which had the goal to find a way over the North Pole to East Asia. On May 20, 1765 Chichagov sailed with three ships and 178 crew members according to the instructions of a month earlier deceased Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov to Spitsbergen, where a pre-expedition in Bellsund had already built a small settlement of ten farmhouses and a bathhouse. The ice conditions were difficult, so Tschitschagows ships could approach the settlement is only up to seven kilometers. On 3 August, the squadron reached a width of 80 ° 26 'North to the north of Spitsbergen. Compact ice Chichagov forced to turn back. On August 31, the ships arrived in Arkhangelsk. On the orders of the Admiralty Chichagov repeated his trial the following year. Again he could not reach, where now eight of the fifteen wintering men had died of scurvy in the base Belssund first. In the fight against the ice Chichagov reached on July 1766 80 ° 30 'North 28 and then had to give up. On the way back the ships the men took on the Bellsund and were on September 21, again in Arkhangelsk.

From 1773 to 1775 Chichagov was commander of the Don Flotilla. During the Swedish - Russian war he was commander of the Baltic Fleet. He defeated the Swedes in 1789 off the Swedish island of Öland and on May 2, 1790 again at the Battle of Reval and on May 27 at the Bay of Vyborg.

Chichagov was promoted for his services to Admiral, also the Chichagov Island was named after him in Alaska.