Ferdinand von Wrangel

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Ferdinand von Wrangel.

Ferdinand Friedrich Ludwig Georg Baron von Wrangel ( Russian Фердинанд Петрович Врангель * December 29, 1796 / Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel jul. / 9. January  1797 greg. In Pskov (Russian: Pskov), † May 25 jul. / 6 June  1870 greg. in Dorpat , Livonia ) was a Baltic German officer in the Imperial Russian Navy , traveler to Siberia, circumnavigator and geographer in Russian service.

Ferdinand von Wrangel, ca.1827

Life

Ferdinand von Wrangel was the third of seven children of Russian major Peter von Wrangel (1760-1807) and his wife Dorothea, née von Freymann (1768-1806), to the world. He spent the first years of his life on his parents' estate in Waimel-Neuhof , Estonia . Ferdinand was not yet 10 years old when his mother died and six months later his father too. The paternal estate was lost through an unfortunate business deal by his father, and Ferdinand and his four siblings were left penniless. While his siblings were staying with relatives, Ferdinand was sent to the naval cadet school in St. Petersburg . After graduating from school, Wrangel took part in the rank of sub-lieutenant in Vasily Michailowitsch Golownin's circumnavigation of the world with the Kamchatka . On this trip he met the later explorer Friedrich Benjamin von Lütke , with whom he then had a lifelong friendship, and his companion on future research trips Fyodor Matjuschkin (1799–1872) know.

Wrangel on a Russian postage stamp

After his return, Wrangel was made an offer by Golownin to lead an expedition to northern Siberia to re-measure the polar sea coast east of the Indigirk estuary . To the north of the mouth of the Kolyma , the aim was to look for the land of which the Cossack Stepan Andrejew had reported (" Andrejewland "). After Wrangel had deepened his knowledge in the field of geosciences at the University of Dorpat , among others with the astronomer and geodesist Wilhelm Struve , he left with Matyushkin and four other men in the spring of 1820. Within 224 days they reached Nizhnekolymsk , where the expedition set up their headquarters. From here, Wrangel and Matyushkin undertook four extended dog sledding trips across the sea ice to the north and along the coast to the east. Until 1824, hydrographic, meteorological, magnetic and other scientific observations were made under difficult conditions. In addition to an accurate mapping of the coast and the Bear Islands , Wrangel was able to provide evidence that Andreev's Land does not exist. According to information from the local Chukchi , he entered the island further east on his map that bears his name today, without having seen or even set foot on it.

In the years 1825 to 1827 he undertook a trip with the brig Krotki to Kamchatka in naval service and again accompanied by Matyushkin . After his return, Wrangel was appointed Governor General of what was then Russian America (now Alaska ) in 1829 . After more than a year of land travel through Siberia to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk , he crossed over to Sitka by ship in the summer of 1830 . The return trip in 1835 was via California, Mexico and New York, with which he had circled the earth for the third time. Back at home, Wrangel was promoted to Rear Admiral and in 1837 was 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. In 1845 he was a co-founder of the Russian Geographical Society . In 1847 Wrangel was promoted to Vice Admiral and appointed Director of the Shipbuilding Forests Department. In 1849 he retired and moved to his Ruil ( Estonian : Roela ) estate .

After the death of his wife Elisabeth, née Baroness Rossillon (1810-1854), with whom he had sons Wilhelm (1831-1894) and Ferdinand (1844-1919), he returned to active military service to Russia in the Crimean War to be available. He became director of the hydrographic department and, after a few months, minister of sea. In 1855 he became an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences . In 1857, in poor health, he was treated by Albrecht von Graefe in Berlin. He retired with the rank of admiral in the Navy and became a member of the Russian Imperial Council . He vehemently opposed a sale of Alaska to the United States, which came about in 1867. Wrangel had already taken “leave for an indefinite period” in 1864. He died in Dorpat in 1870.

In 1856 he became a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences . The 4,317 m high volcano Mount Wrangell and the Wrangell Mountains in Alaska as well as the Wrangel Island (the spelling "Wrangell" became common later) in the Arctic Ocean are named after Ferdinand von Wrangel .

Works

  • Ferdinand v. Wrangel, Georg Friedrich v. Parrot : Physical observations of the Captain-Lieutenant Baron v. Wrangel during his voyages on the Arctic Ocean in 1821, 1822 and 1823 . G. Reimer, Berlin 1827.
  • Ferdinand v. Wrangel, Georg Engelhardt , Carl Ritter : Journey of the Imperial Russian Fleet Lieutenant Ferdinand v. Wrangel along the north coast of Siberia and on the Arctic Ocean from 1820 to 1824 . Verlag der Voss'schen Buchhandlung, Berlin 1839 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  • Ferdinand v. Wrangel, Carl-Ernst v. Baer : Statistsche and ethnographic news about the Russian possessions on the northwest coast of America collected by the former superintendent of these properties, Contre-Admiral v. Wrangell . Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg 1839.

literature

Web links

Commons : Ferdinand von Wrangel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ List of former members since 1666: Letter W. Académie des sciences, accessed on March 16, 2020 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Wrangel, Ferdinand von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wrangel, Ferdinand Friedrich Georg Ludwig Baron von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Baltic naval officer, traveler to Siberia, circumnavigator and geographer
DATE OF BIRTH January 9, 1797
PLACE OF BIRTH Pleskau
DATE OF DEATH June 6, 1870
Place of death Dorpat