Christian Dahl (Latvian:Kristiāns Dāls, 19 April 1839 – 10 September 1904) was asea captain, explorer and naval educator in theRussian Empire. He came from a Swedish family, was born inTallinn and lived most of his life in present-day Latvia. In 1864 he became director ofAinaži Nautical School inAinaži. Under his leadership, it became a widely emulated model school. In 1876 he led an expedition to explore thenavigability of the riverOb inSiberia. He returned the following two years and played an instrumental role in opening up a direct trade route from Siberia to Western Europe. In 1893 Dahl moved toLiepāja, where he had been appointed director of the present-dayLiepaja Maritime College [lv]. He died there in 1904.
Christian Dahl was born inTallinn (today the capital of Estonia, then part of theRussian Empire), and was of Swedish descent.[1] He came from a family of seafarers and entered a nautical school inRiga in 1857. In 1863 he became ashipmaster.[1]
In 1864, he left a lucrative career as a merchant captain to accept the position of director ofAinaži nautical school inAinaži. The school had been founded byKrišjānis Valdemārs and was the first nautical school teaching in theEstonian andLatvian languages.[2][3][4] Founding the school was part of theFirst Latvian National Awakening and a conscious effort to strengthen the economic situation of the land and integrate it into theWestern world.[4] Christian Dahl took up the position because he wanted to contribute to the educational effort.[1] Supposedly, Dahl learnt Latvian well enough to be able to teach at the school in just a few months.[5]
Dahl was contacted, probably in the winter of 1875, by Valdemārs who proposed Dahl to head an expedition to the riverOb inSiberia, to explore its sailing conditions. In the spring of 1876 Dahl set out together with his colleague from the nautical schoolNikolai Raudsepp [lv] and travelled overland viaMoscow toTyumen, where a ship was being constructed and supplied by a local merchant named Trofimov. The vessel, named theMoskva, would carry them downstream towards the Ob viaTobolsk. The crew was recruited on the spot and frequently changed composition. At one point it consisted of "two Poles who had been sent into exile, an erstwhile violinist, aCossack and a Greek, none of them standing out for their work ethic and all lacking any idea about sails."[6] The aims of the expedition were to map the river, make metrological observations and compile a basic dictionary of anOstyak language. Their ship began its journey on 13 June and by 22 June they had reachedBeryozovo. In Obdorsk (present-daySalekhard), which they reached on 29 June, they encountered the expedition of German naturalistAlfred Brehm. In early July they reached theGulf of Ob, and began their return journey on 20 July. They reached Obdorsk on 24 August.[6]
In May 1877 Dahl purchased a steamboat inLübeck, namedLuise. He travelled via London andTromsø in the summer, and by 30 July reached the entrance to theKara Sea. The purpose of this second voyage was to determine if it was possible to reach the Ob river from the west, and how deep the sea betweenNovaya Zemlya and the Russian mainland was. Despite drifting sea ice and briefly running aground, theLuise managed to reach the Ob, and on 8 September Dahl reached his destination in Tobolsk.[6]
The following summer Dahl and Raudsepp, together with pupils from the school in Ainaži, again made an expedition to Tobolsk. There, three sailing ships were equipped and loaded with cargo destined for England; theLuise also sailed with a cargo of wheat to Germany. In the summer of 1879, another flotilla sailed from Tobolsk to Western Europe via the Ob river and the Kara Sea, lead byLuise; however by that time apparently no longer with the participation of Dahl. Through these Siberian expeditions, Dahl was instrumental in opening up a direct trade route from Siberia to Western Europe.[6]
Upon his return, Dahl continued as head of the navigational school in Ainaži, which under his leadership became a model widely emulated in the territory of present-day Latvia and beyond; eventually 40 new nautical schools were established with it as a model in the Russian Empire; eleven of these were in the present-day territory of Latvia.[1][4] He also published articles, including reports on the Siberian expeditions, and teaching manuals.[1][6]
In 1893 he moved toLiepāja, where he had been appointed director of the nautical school, present-dayLiepaja Maritime College [lv].[1] He died there in 1904 and is buried at the northern cemetery of the city.[7]
During his lifetime, Dahl was awarded the Imperial RussianOrder of Saint Anna (third class) and theOrder of Saint Stanislaus (second class).[5]
In Liepāja there is a street named after Dahl.[7] TheMaritime Administration of Latvia operates ahydrographic vessel named after Dahl, R/VKristiāns Dāls (2001).[6]
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