Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen (russian: Фадде́й Фадде́евич Беллинсга́узен, translit=Faddéy Faddéevich Bellinsgáuzen; – ) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

naval officer, cartographer and explorer, who ultimately rose to the rank of admiral. He participated in the

first Russian circumnavigation The first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth took place from August 1803 to August 1806 and was carried out on two ships, the '' Nadezhda'' and the ''Neva'', under the commands of Adam Johann von Krusenstern and Yuri Lisyansky, respectively. Th ...

of the globe, and subsequently became a leader of another

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

expedition that discovered the continent of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

. Like

Otto von Kotzebue Otto von Kotzebue (russian: О́тто Евста́фьевич Коцебу́, tr. ; – ) was a Russian officer and navigator in the Imperial Russian Navy. He was born in Reval. He was known for his explorations of Oceania. Early life ...

and

Adam Johann von Krusenstern Adam Johann von Krusenstern (also Krusenstjerna in Swedish; russian: Ива́н Фёдорович Крузенште́рн, tr. ; 10 October 177012 August 1846) was a Russian admiral and explorer, who led the first Russian circumnavigatio ...

, Bellingshausen belonged to the cohort of prominent

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

navigators who helped Russia launch its naval expeditions. Bellingshausen was born on Osel Island. He started his service in the Russian Baltic Fleet, and after distinguishing himself joined the first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth in 1803–1806, serving on the merchant ship ''Nadezhda'' under the captaincy of

. After the journey, he published a collection of maps of the newly explored areas and islands of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

. Subsequently, he commanded several ships of the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets. As a prominent cartographer, Bellingshausen was appointed to command the Russian circumnavigation of the globe in 1819–1821, intended to explore the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

and to find land in the proximity of the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

Mikhail Lazarev Admiral Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev (russian: Михаил Петрович Лазарев, 3 November 1788 – 11 April 1851) was a Russian fleet commander and an explorer. Education and early career Lazarev was born in Vladimir, a scion of t ...

prepared the expedition and was made Bellingshausen's second-in-command and the captain of the sloop '' Mirny'', while Bellingshausen himself commanded the sloop ''

Vostok Vostok refers to east in Russian but may also refer to: Spaceflight * Vostok programme, Soviet human spaceflight project * Vostok (spacecraft), a type of spacecraft built by the Soviet Union * Vostok (rocket family), family of rockets derived from ...

''. During this expedition, Bellingshausen and Lazarev became the first explorers to see the land of

on 27 January 1820 (

New Style Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, this is the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 158 ...

). They circumnavigated the continent twice and never lost each other from view. Thus, they disproved James Cook's assertion that it was impossible to find land in the southern ice-fields. The expedition discovered and named

Peter I Peter I may refer to: Religious hierarchs * Saint Peter (c. 1 AD – c. 64–88 AD), a.k.a. Simon Peter, Simeon, or Simon, apostle of Jesus * Pope Peter I of Alexandria (died 311), revered as a saint * Peter I of Armenia (died 1058), Catholico ...

, Zavodovski, Leskov,

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

, and Visokoi Islands, the Antarctic Peninsula, and made other discoveries in the tropical waters of the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. Made counter admiral on his return, Bellingshausen participated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829. Promoted to vice admiral, he again served in the Baltic Fleet in the 1830s, and from 1839 he was the military governor of

Kronstadt Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for " crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city ...

, where he died. In 1831, he published the book on his Antarctic travels, called ''Double Investigation of the Southern Polar Ocean and the Voyage Around the World'' (''Двукратные изыскания в южнополярном океане и плавание вокруг света''). Many Russians remember him as one of their greatest admirals and

explorers Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

. Multiple geographical features and locations in the Antarctic, named in honor of Bellingshausen, commemorate his role in the exploration of the southern polar region.

Early life and career

Bellingshausen was born to a Baltic German noble Bellingshausen family in the , Ösel County in the

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a Baltic governorate of the Russian Empire, now divided between Latvia and Estonia. Geography The shape of the province is a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum ...

of the Russian Empire; now

Saare County Saare County ( et, Saare maakond or ''Saaremaa''; la, Oesel; german: Ösel; sv, Ösel) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It consists of Saaremaa, the largest island of Estonia, and several smaller islands near it, most notably Muhu, Ruhnu, A ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. His paternal family had

Holstein Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...

ish origins; the surname Bellingshausen was first recorded in

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

. He enlisted as a cadet 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 ...

at the age of ten. After graduating from the

naval academy at age eighteen, Bellingshausen rapidly rose to the rank of captain.

First Russian circumnavigation

A great admirer of Cook's voyages, Bellingshausen served from 1803 in the

of the Earth. He was one of the officers of the vessel '' Nadezhda'' ("Hope"), commanded by

. The mission was completed in 1806. After the journey, Bellingshausen published a collection of maps of the newly explored areas and islands of the

Service as captain

Bellingshausen's career continued with the command of various ships in the Baltic and

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

s. From 1812 to 1816 he commanded the frigate ''

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Rom ...

'' and from 1817 to 1819 the frigate ''

Flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...

'', both in the Black Sea Fleet. During 1812 he met on

Macquarie Island Macquarie Island is an island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. Regionally part of Oceania and politically a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1900, it became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 197 ...

, half-way between

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

, Richard Siddins, the Australian captain of the ship ''Campbell Macquarie''.

First Russian Antarctic expedition

When

Emperor Alexander I Alexander I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death. He was the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. The son of Gra ...

authorized an expedition to the south polar region in 1819, the authorities selected Bellingshausen to lead it as an experienced captain and explorer, and a prominent cartographer. The expedition was intended to explore the

and to find land in the proximity of the

. The preparation work on the two ships, the 985-ton sloop-of-war ''

'' ("East") and the 530-ton support vessel '' Mirny'' ("Peaceful") was carried out by

, who had captained his own

of the globe before. Bellingshausen became the captain of ''Vostok'', and Lazarev captained ''Mirny''. The journey started from

on 4 June 1819. They stopped briefly in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, where Bellingshausen met with

Sir Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James C ...

, the president of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. Banks had sailed with Captain James Cook fifty years earlier and supplied the Russians with books and charts for their expedition. Leaving

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

on 5 September 1819 the expedition crossed the

Antarctic Circle The Antarctic Circle is the most southerly of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of Earth. The region south of this circle is known as the Antarctic, and the zone immediately to the north is called the Southern Temperate Zone. So ...

(the first to do so since Cook) on 26 January 1820 (

). On 27 January, the expedition discovered the Antarctic mainland approaching the Antarctic coast at a point with coordinates 69º21'28"S 2º14'50"W and seeing ice-fields there. The point in question lies within twenty miles of the Antarctic mainland. Bellingshausen's diary, his report to the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n Naval Minister on 21 July 1821 and other documents, available in the Russian State Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, Russia, were carefully compared with the log-books of other claimants by the British polar historian A. G. E. Jones in his 1982 study ''Antarctica Observed''. Jones concluded that Bellingshausen, rather than the Royal Navy's

Edward Bransfield Edward Bransfield (c. 1785 – 31 October 1852) was an Irish sailor who became an officer in the British Royal Navy, serving as a master on several ships, after being impressed into service in Ireland at the age of 18. He is noted for his par ...

on 30 January 1820 or the American

Nathaniel Palmer Nathaniel Brown Palmer (August 8, 1799June 21, 1877) was an American seal hunter, explorer, sailing captain, and ship designer. He gave his name to Palmer Land, Antarctica, which he explored in 1820 on his sloop ''Hero''. He was born in Stonin ...

on 17 November 1820, was indeed the discoverer of the sought-after

Terra Australis (Latin: '"Southern Land'") was a hypothetical continent first posited in antiquity and which appeared on maps between the 15th and 18th centuries. Its existence was not based on any survey or direct observation, but rather on the idea that ...

. During the voyage Bellingshausen also visited Meretoto / Ship Cove in New Zealand, the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1 ...

, and discovered and named

, Zavodovski, Leskov and Visokoi Islands, and a peninsula of the Antarctic mainland that he named the Alexander Coast, but that has more recently borne the designation of

Alexander Island Alexander Island, which is also known as Alexander I Island, Alexander I Land, Alexander Land, Alexander I Archipelago, and Zemlja Alexandra I, is the largest island of Antarctica. It lies in the Bellingshausen Sea west of Palmer Land, Antarc ...

Bellingshausen and Lazarev managed to twice circumnavigate the continent and never lost each other from view. Thus, they disproved Cook's assertion that it was impossible to find land in the southern ice fields. The expedition also made discoveries and observations in the tropical waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Admiral

Returning to

on 4 August 1821, Bellingshausen was made counter admiral. He fought in the

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histo ...

of 1828–1829 and attained the rank of vice admiral in 1830. In 1831, he published the book on his Antarctic travel, called ''Double Investigation of the Southern Polar Ocean and the Voyage Around the World'' (''Двукратные изыскания в южнополярном океане и плавание вокруг света'').

Military governor of Kronstadt

He became the military governor of

, the naval base at the approaches of St Petersburg, from 1839, and died there in 1852.

Legacy

Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen is remembered in Russia as one of its greatest admirals and

. In the Antarctic, multiple geographical features and locations, named in honor of Bellingshausen, remind of his role in exploration of the southern polar region.

Monuments

There is a memorial stone of Bellingshausen on the previous site (on the ruins) of Lahhentagge/Lahetaguse manor in Ösel/Saaremaa. There is a monument to Bellingshausen in Nikolayev, Ukraine, as well as in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and in Montevideo, Uruguay. There is a monument to Admiral Bellingshausen in

, near

in Russia.

Named in honour

* Bellingshausen Island (was) in the Aral Sea. *

Bellingshausen Island Bellingshausen Island is one of the most southerly of the South Sandwich Islands, close to Thule Island and Cook Island, and forming part of the Southern Thule group. It is named after its discoverer, Baltic German-Russian Antarctic explorer ...

in the south Atlantic Ocean, part of the

South Sandwich Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = , song = , image_map = South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in United Kingdom.svg , map_caption = Location of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Oce ...

Bellingshausen Sea The Bellingshausen Sea is an area along the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula between 57°18'W and 102°20'W, west of Alexander Island, east of Cape Flying Fish on Thurston Island, and south of Peter I Island (there the southern ''Vostokkys ...

in the

* Bellingshausen Station, a Russian (former

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

) base on King George Island, Antarctica *

Bellingshausen Plate The Bellingshausen Plate was an ancient tectonic plate that fused onto the Antarctic Plate. It is named after Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, the Russian discoverer of Antarctica. The plate was in existence during the Late Cretaceous epoch and ...

, an ancient

tectonic plate Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...

* Bellinsgauzen, a crater on the

far side of the Moon The far side of the Moon is the lunar hemisphere that always faces away from Earth, opposite to the near side, because of synchronous rotation in the Moon's orbit. Compared to the near side, the far side's terrain is rugged, with a multitu ...

* Faddey Islands in the

Laptev Sea The Laptev Sea ( rus, мо́ре Ла́птевых, r=more Laptevykh; sah, Лаптевтар байҕаллара, translit=Laptevtar baỹğallara) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, t ...

coastal region on the north Russian coast, named after Bellingshausen's first name in Russian * Motu One (Society Islands), also known as Bellinghausen, an atoll in the Pacific Ocean * A

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''mino ...

3659 Bellingshausen, discovered by

astronomer

Lyudmila Chernykh Lyudmila Ivanovna Chernykh (russian: Людми́ла Ива́новна Черны́х, June 13, 1935 in Shuya, Ivanovo Oblast – July 28, 2017) was a Russian-born Soviet astronomer, wife and colleague of Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh, and a ...

in 1969

References

External links

70South – information on Fabian von Bellingshausen
Bellingshausen's book in Russian with details on the Antarctic expedition led by him
A map of his Antarctic expedition (in Russian)
attention – all dates there are Julian
The page of Pilguse (Hoheneichen) manor from Estonian Manors Portal
owned by the von Bellingshausens {{DEFAULTSORT:Bellingshausen, Fabian Gottlieb von 1778 births 1852 deaths People from Saaremaa Parish People from Kreis Ösel Baltic-German people Explorers of Antarctica Explorers from the Russian Empire Estonian explorers 19th-century explorers Imperial Russian Navy admirals Cartographers from the Russian Empire Circumnavigators of the globe Ethnic German people from the Russian Empire 18th-century Estonian people Russian and Soviet polar explorers Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Fourth Degree Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 1st class Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd class Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Russia) Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class Companions of the Order of the Bath Order of Saint Louis recipients