Fridolf Heck
Fridolf Fabian Heck the surname also rendered as Höök (Scandinavian form) or Fridolf Kirilovich Gek (Russian: Фридольф Кириллович Гек) (December 30, 1836 – July 4, 1904) was a Finnish naval captain, whaler, free trader, and settler in the Russian Ussuri krai. Heck was born in Ekenäs to Lieutenant Erik (1792–1848) and Ulrika Charlotta Sofia Aminoff (1806–1885). A brother was the canal engineer Berndt. Fridolf went to work on a ship at the age of thirteen and became a boatsteerer on the Russo-Finnish whaleship ''Graf Berg'' in 1857 and a sea captain in 1863 from Turku Maritime School. He took an offer during the famine period of 1862-68 from Alexander II of Russia for Finns to settle freely beyond the Amur River. He established a settlement in between Nakhodka and Vladivostok in 1868 but the colony fell apart by 1870. He continued to live in the Far East on Askold Island where he hired Michał Jankowski. In June 1879, their settlement was attacked b ...
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