Yuri Fedorovych Lysianskyi (also spelled as Urey Lisiansky and Lisianski and Lysyansky) ( uk, Юрій Федорович Лисянський, ; russian: Ю́рий Фёдорович Лися́нский, , 1(13) April 1773 – 6 March 1837) was an officer in the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from a ...

and explorer. He was an ethnic Ukrainian and headed the first Russian circumnavigation aboard the ''

Neva The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it ...

'' and was among the early western explorers to visit

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

. Several places are named after him.

Biography

Lysiansky was born in Nizhyn ( Hetmanate, now

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, then

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

) in the family of the orthodox priest and was a descendant of old

Cossack The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...

family. In 1786 he graduated from the Navy Cadet Corps and took part in the Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790). During 1790-1793 he served in the

Baltic Fleet , image = Great emblem of the Baltic fleet.svg , image_size = 150 , caption = Baltic Fleet Great ensign , dates = 18 May 1703 – present , country = , allegiance = (1703–1721) (1721–1917) (1917–1922) (1922–1991)(1991–present) ...

. During 1793-1799 he sailed British ships all over the globe. Between 1793 and 1795 he served as a volunteer aboard the 36-gun HMS ''Oiseau'', under her captain, Robert Murray. Lysiansky recalled in his memoirs his experiences on the

North American Station The North America and West Indies Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed in North American waters from 1745 to 1956. The North American Station was separate from the Jamaica Station until 1830 when the t ...

operating against French convoys and privateers, and how while in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

he was struck by

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

, recalling how Murray had helped his recovery, even giving up part of his own accommodation for the sick Lysiansky. Lisiansky was the first Ukrainian who in 1795 had an audience with the first President and founder of the USA, George Washington. Lysiansky_Map

In 1803–1806 Lysiansky as the commanding officer of the Russian-American Company's merchant

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

'' took part in the first Russian

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circ ...

of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. The expedition was under the command of Count

Nikolay Petrovich Rezanov Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov (russian: Николай Петрович Резанов) ( – ), a Russian nobleman and statesman, promoted the project of Russian colonization of Alaska and California to three successive Emperors of All Russia ...

, Plentipotentiary of

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome * Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...

for the Far Eastern and Western colonies of the Russian Empire, and Captain Adam Johann von Krusenstern in ''Nadezhda''. The ships also included a naturalist, Wilhelm Gottlieb Tilesius, and astronomer Johan Caspar Horner (1734-1834). They started from Kronstadt, but the ships split after visiting

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, and Count Nikolay Rezanov and Lysianskyi headed to Russian America (Alaska). In 1804 ''Neva'' visited

, and later that year, was essential in defeating the Tlingit in the Battle of Sitka, Alaska. During his stay in Alaska, Lysyansky mapped its coast, the islands of Kodiak and Sitka, and left its geographical and ethnographic descriptions. He collected a unique ethnographic collection that tells about the life and culture of local peoples - Aleuts, Eskimos and Tlingit. He criticized the Russian colonial government for mercilessly oppressing and abusing the indigenous peoples of America. In 1805 he met Krusenstern again in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

, but they soon separated. Also in 1805, he was the first to describe the

Hawaiian monk seal The Hawaiian monk seal (''Neomonachus schauinslandi'') is an endangered species of earless seal in the family Phocidae that is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiian monk seal is one of two extant monk seal species; the other is the Med ...

on the island which now bears his name - Lisianski Island.Monachus Guardian
/ref> Eventually, ''Neva'' was the first to return to Kronstadt on 22 July 1806. For his feats Lysiansky received several rewards, including the Order of Saint Vladimir of 3rd degree. He described his own adventures and travels in the book "Voyage round the World" with maps and drawings, which he published in Russian and English in 1812-1814. Lisyansky grave

Lysiansky was buried at Tikhvin Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, St. Petersburg.

Memorials

A number of places are named after him: Lisianski Island in the

Northwestern Hawaiian Islands The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands or Leeward Hawaiian Islands are a series of islands and atolls in the Hawaiian island chain located northwest (in some cases, far to the northwest) of the islands of Kauai and Niihau. Politically, they are all p ...

, a peninsula of

Baranof Island Baranof Island is an island in the northern Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle, in Alaska. The name Baranof was given in 1805 by Imperial Russian Navy captain Yuri Lisyansky, U. F. Lisianski to honor Alexander Andreyevich Baranov. It ...

, Alaska, a bay, a strait, a river, and a cape in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, an undersea mountain in Okhotsk Sea, and a peninsula by the Okhotsk Sea. There is monument and Memorial museum of U.Lysianskyi in Ukrainian town of Nizhyn.

Citations

References

*
Naming of Alaska
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lysianskiy, Yuri 1773 births 1837 deaths People from Nizhyn Ukrainian military personnel Circumnavigators of the globe Explorers from the Russian Empire Ukrainian explorers Imperial Russian Navy personnel Russian explorers of the Pacific Russian America Russian people of Ukrainian descent Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd class Burials at Tikhvin Cemetery Naval Cadet Corps alumni