Bellingshausen was born on the island ofSaaremaa (Ösel), to theBellingshausen family [de]. He started his service in the RussianBaltic Fleet, and after distinguishing himself joined the first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth in 1803–1806, serving on the merchant shipNadezhda under the captaincy ofAdam Johann von Krusenstern. After the journey, he published a collection of maps of the newly explored areas and islands of thePacific Ocean. Subsequently, he commanded several ships of the Baltic andBlack Sea Fleets.[2]
As a prominent cartographer, Bellingshausen was appointed to command the Russiancircumnavigation of the globe in 1819–1821, intended to explore theSouthern Ocean and to find land in the proximity of theSouth Pole.Mikhail Lazarev prepared the expedition and was made Bellingshausen's second-in-command and the captain of the sloopMirny, while Bellingshausen himself commanded the sloopVostok. During this expedition, Bellingshausen and Lazarev became the first explorers to see the land ofAntarctica on 27 January 1820 (New Style),[9] disprovingJames Cook's contention that it was impossible to find land in the southern ice-fields.[citation needed] They circumnavigated the continent twice and never lost each other from view. The expedition discovered and namedPeter I,Zavodovski,Leskov,Alexander, andVisokoi Islands, theAntarctic Peninsula, and made other discoveries in the tropical waters of thePacific.
Madecaptain-commodore [ru] on his return, Bellingshausen participated in theRusso-Turkish War of 1828–1829. Promoted tovice admiral, he again served in the Baltic Fleet in the 1830s. From 1839, he was a military governor ofKronstadt, and gained the rank ofadmiral in 1843. In 1831, he published the book on his Antarctic travels, calledDouble Investigation of the Southern Polar Ocean and the Voyage Around the World.[e]
A great admirer ofCook's voyages, Bellingshausen served from 1803 in thefirst Russian circumnavigation of the Earth. He was one of the officers of the vesselNadezhda ("Hope"), commanded byAdam Johann von Krusenstern.[10] The mission was completed in 1806.[10] After the journey, Bellingshausen published a collection of maps of the newly explored areas and islands of thePacific Ocean.
The First Russian Antarctic expedition 1819–1821Captain Faddey Bellingshausen with the Cross of theOrder of St. Vladimir
WhenEmperor Alexander I 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 theSouthern Ocean and to find land in the proximity of theSouth Pole. The preparation work on the two ships, the 985-tonsloop-of-warVostok ("East") and the 530-ton support vesselMirny ("Peaceful") was carried out byMikhail Lazarev, who had captained his owncircumnavigation of the globe before. Bellingshausen became the captain ofVostok, and Lazarev captainedMirny. The journey started fromKronstadt on 4 June 1819. They stopped briefly in England, where Bellingshausen met withSir Joseph Banks, the president of theRoyal Society. Banks had sailed with CaptainJames Cook fifty years earlier and supplied the Russians with books and charts for their expedition.[12]
LeavingPortsmouth on 5 September 1819 the expedition crossed theAntarctic Circle (the first to do so sinceCook) on 26 January 1820 (New Style). On 27 January, the expedition discovered theAntarctic 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 theRussian Naval Minister on 21 July 1821 and other documents, available in the Russian State Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic inSaint Petersburg, Russia, were carefully compared with the log-books of other claimants by the British polar historian A. G. E. Jones in his 1982 studyAntarctica Observed. Jones concluded that Bellingshausen, rather than the Royal Navy'sEdward Bransfield on 30 January 1820 or the AmericanNathaniel Palmer on 17 November 1820, was indeed the discoverer of the sought-afterTerra Australis.
Mikhail Lazarev, captain ofMirny and second-in-command to Bellingshausen during the Antarctic expedition.
Bellingshausen and Lazarev managed to twice circumnavigate the continent and never lost each other from view. Thus, they disprovedCook'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.[citation needed]
Returning toKronstadt on 4 August 1821, Bellingshausen was madecaptain-commodore [ru], and received the rank ofcounter admiral from tsarNicholas I in 1826. He fought in theRusso-Turkish War of 1828–1829, — particularly in thesiege of Varna,[15] was promoted tovice admiral in 1830, served as a military governor of portKronstadt at the approaches toSt Petersburg, and gained the rank ofadmiral in 1843. In 1831, he published the book on his Antarctic travel, calledDouble Investigation of the Southern Polar Ocean and the Voyage Around the World.[e]
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen is remembered in Russia as one of its greatestadmirals andexplorers. In theAntarctic, multiple geographical features and locations, named in honor of Bellingshausen, remind of his role in exploration of the southern polar region.
Faddei Faddeevich Bellingshausen according to theAuDB.[2] Faddey Faddeyevich Bellingshausen inDictionary.com(one of the possible variants).[3] Estonian:Faddei Faddejevitš Bellingshausen.[4]
^InGerman personal names,von is apreposition which approximately means 'of' or 'from' and usually denotes some sort ofnobility. Whilevon (always lower case) is part of the family name or territorial designation, not a first or middle name, if the noble is referred to by their last name, useSchiller,Clausewitz orGoethe, notvon Schiller, etc.
^abOriginal title in Russian:Двукратные изыскания в южнополярном океане и плавание вокруг света,romanized: Dvukratnyye izyskaniya v yuzhnopolyarnom okeane i plavaniye vokrug sveta.
^Daum, Andreas W. (2019). "German Naturalists in the Pacific around 1800: Entanglement, Autonomy, and a Transnational Culture of Expertise". In Berghoff, Hartmut (ed.).Explorations and Entanglements: Germans in Pacific Worlds from the Early Modern Period to World War I. Berghahn Books. pp. 79–102.ISBN978-1-78920-028-7.
^A.H. McLintock, ed. (1966)."Ship Cove".An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage/Te Manatū Taonga, Government of New Zealand. Retrieved5 October 2018.
Hotimsky, C. M. (1966). "Bellingshausen, Faddei Faddeevich (Fabian) (1778–1852)".Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
Novitsky, Vasily F.; Schwarz, Alexey V. von; Apushkin, Vladimir A.; Schoultz, Gustav K. von (1911).Военная энциклопедия [Military Encyclopedia] (in Russian). Vol. IV: Б – Бомба. Moscow: Типография Т-ва И. Д. Сытина. pp. 450–451. Retrieved4 November 2023.
