Admiral Peter Anjou - Russian Arctic explorer

220 years ago was born Peter of Anjou, an outstanding Russian navigator and polar explorer

The ancestors of Anjou were Protestants who lived in the French province of Anjou, they moved to Russia because of persecution by Catholics. In the 18th century, our country became a new home for refugees from enlightened France.

Petr Fedorovich was born on February 15 of 1797 in Vyshny Volochek in the family of a county doctor. The family has long since become Russified, and only the last name distinguishes Peter from Anjou from other Russians. Primary education received in a private pension, hosted by the capital Marine Corps. In his free time, Petya read books about long-distance voyages, and the boarding director Dmitry Sorokin brought essays about great travelers and sea expeditions to an inquisitive boy. The direction of the future life was laid in childhood.

Naturally, Peter continued his studies in the Marine Corps. He studied with Ferdinand Wrangel, Anjou and Wrangel were the best on the course. Even then, two friends decided to study the Arctic - at the beginning of the XIX century this region was still little studied, the Great Northern Expedition under the general guidance of Vitus Bering and Alexei Chirikov marked only the upper border of mainland Eurasia, and what was to the north was unknown.

Upon completion in 1815, the Sea Corps of Anjou with Wrangel were sent to the Baltic Fleet. After five years of service in the Baltic, midshipman Fyodor Anjou was promoted to lieutenant and appointed head of the Ust-Yansk polar expedition, its task was to describe the northern shores of Siberia from the Olenka river to Indigirka. It is noteworthy that Ferdinand Wrangel received the appointment of the head of the expedition, which was to explore the territory east of the Indigirka River.

In addition, the detachments faced the task of finding the mysterious land of Sannikov, she received the name of the Russian merchant who claimed that he had seen this land.

In 1820-1824, the Anjou squad made an inventory of the coast and islands of the Lyakhovsky Big and Small, Boiler, Faddeev, New Siberia, Semenovsky and others, examined numerous rivers, including Lena, capes, bays and bays. Sannikov’s land, of course, was not discovered by navigators.

Russian travelers on his return to St. Petersburg personally took Alexander I. Peter of Anjou was promoted to lieutenant commander and awarded the Order of St. Vladimir 4 degree.

The following year, Pyotr Fyodorovich was assigned to the expedition of Colonel Fyodor Berg. In the winter of 1825-1826, the detachment investigated the northeastern coast of the Caspian Sea, the western coast of the Aral Sea, and made a cartographic survey in the Kirghiz steppes (the territory of modern Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan).

For participation in this expedition, Peter of Anjou was awarded the Order of St. Anne 2 degree.

After two land expeditions (most of the research of the Ustya-Yansk expedition was made from land), Lieutenant-Commander Anjou was assigned to the ship "Gangut", here he commanded the ship's artillery.

8 (20) October 1827, the "Gangut" took part in the famous battle of Navarino. Anjou received a contusion during the battle, but remained in the ranks until the end, for which 21 December 1827 was awarded the Order of St. George 4 degree.

Another 17 years Pyotr Fedorovich served in the Baltic navy, 10 years he was the head of the port in Kronstadt, here he built a line of underwater defensive structures that prevented enemy ships from approaching St. Petersburg. He completed his career in the administrative field with the rank of admiral.

Peter died of Anjou 12 on November 1849 of the year. Buried at Smolensk Lutheran cemetery of St. Petersburg.

Comments

[Monarchist]

Cyril, thank you for the story of the Russian explorer and the order with the French surname.
Tell us more about Wrangel.
In childhood, when we were told at a history lesson that Wrangel was byak and there was a song as evidence: "The White Army, the Black Baron." I wondered why they did not rename the island? More recently, I learned that the marine pea coat (brush pea) was invented by Wrangel.

[parusnik]

Do not confuse Wrangel Pyotr Nikolayevich the “black baron” with Wrangel Ferdinand Petrovich who for his work “Traveling along the northern shores of Siberia and the Arctic Ocean, completed in 1820, 21, 22, 23 and 24 years” published in 1841 was awarded the Demid Prize for 1842. His works: "Diary notes on the navigation of military vehicles" Krotkoy “in 1825-27.", "Essay on the way from Sitka to St. Petersburg", "Historical review of travels on the Arctic Ocean." His name is given to a number of geographical points of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, including Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean and Wrangel Island in the Pacific, belongs to the United States ... and P. N. Wrangel left only Notes on the Civil War .. And about the pea jacket Wrangel P.N. also has no relation whatsoever. The prototype of the current pea jacket was first introduced in the Russian Navy by the Russian navigator, Arctic explorer F.P. Litke, who gave it a special name.

[midshipman]

The officers of the North of our country know and honor this admiral. He was a great explorer of the Arctic regions. I say so, because in the early 80s I devoted a lot of time to establishing flights and the movement of ships on the NSR. Under my leadership, a chain of RSDN "Mars-75" and "Tropic" was installed. The creators of these systems were MKB Compass and LNIRTI. Scientific research institutes were subordinate to me in the USSR Ministry of Radio Industry.
And then some figures suggest that we should take the Kolchak who described the ice to the researchers of the North (it is white, its thickness is more than 1,5 meters, hummocks reach up to 2 meters, etc.). Thank God they removed his board in Leningrad. I have the honor.

[parusnik]

Forty years of his life gave Anjou service in the naval department. He devoted his free time to sea voyages to compiling notes on his travels on the islands and shores of Siberia, along the deserted Kyrgyz steppe. Unfortunately, his notes burned out during a fire. He could no longer do the tremendous work again.

[Vikburk]

They removed the board of A.V. Kolchak - so restore the grave of P.F. Anjou and his son - Petr Petrovich.