Gavril Sarychev

Gavriil Sarychev

Gavril (also Gavriil) Andreyevich Sarychev (Russian: Гавриил Андреевич Сарычев) (1763 — August 11 (O.S. July 30), 1831), spelt "Sarichef" in the United States, was a Russian navigator, hydrographer, admiral (1829) and Honorable Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1809) in Saint Petersburg.

Sarychev started his career in the Imperial Russian Navy in 1775. From 1785—1794, he took part in the expedition sponsored by Empress Catherine II and led by Royal Navy officer Joseph Billings. Sarychev, on ship Slava Rossii (Glory of Russia), described and mapped the coastline of the Sea of Okhotsk from Okhotsk to Aldoma, many of the Aleutian Islands (especially Unalaska). He also described the islands of Pribylov, St. Matthew Island, St. Lawrence Island, Gvozdev, and King Island.

In 1802—1806, Sarychev led the Baltic hydrographic expedition. He was also in charge of hydrographic research in Russia since 1808 and led the compilation of the Atlas of the Northern Part of the Pacific Ocean in 1826.

Legacy

Cape Sarichef, Sarychev Peak, Sarichef Strait and Sarichef Island in Alaska were named by explorer Lt. Otto von Kotzebue after Gavril Sarychev, who was then in charge of the Russian Imperial Hydrographic Service.

The Soviet ship Gavril Sarychev was named after the explorer. The Gavril Sarychev took part in the search for Korean Air Lines Flight 007 which was downed by a Soviet Su-15 interceptor just west of Sakhalin Island on Sept. 1. 1983.

Works

• Atlas Svernoy chastii Vostochnogo Okeana... (Atlas of the Northern Part of the Pacific Ocean). Compiled in Sheets by the Imperial Navy Department from Latest Reports and Maps, 1826, under the Direction of Vice-Admiral and Hydrographer Sarychev). St. Petersburg, 1826.

Notes

Sources

• Puteshestvie flota kapitana Sarycheva po severo-vostochnoy chasti Sibiri, Ledovitomu moriu i Vostochnomu okeanu v prodolzhenie vos'mi let pri Geograficheskoi i Astronomicheskoi morskoi ekspeditsii, byvshei pd nachal'stvom flota kapitana Bellingsa s 1785 po 1793 god. (Travels of Fleet Captain Sarychev in the northeastern part of Siberia, the Arctic Sea and the Eastern Ocean in the course of eight years on the geographic and astronomical naval expedition under Fleet Captain Billings from 1785 to 1793) St. Petersburg, 1802.
• Reeddition: Puteshestvie po severo-vostochnoy chasti Sibiri, Ledovitomu moriu i Vostochnomu okeanu. (A voyage along the northeastern part of Siberia, the Arctic Sea and the Eastern Ocean), edited by N. N. Zubov. Gosudartsvennoye izdatelstvo geograficheskoy literatury. Moscow, 1952.
• (In English) Account of a Voyage of discovery to the Northeast of Siberia, the Frozen Ocean, and the North-east sea, 2 vols, in one. London, 1806-07. Reprint: Amsterdam and New York, 1969.
• The book which recorded the northern Pacific expedition: Geographic Atlas. North-east part of Siberia 1803.
• The Naming of Alaska
• Russian - American Bibliography; by Peter Littke