SARYCHEV, GAVRIIL ANDREEVICH

(b. St. Petersburg, Russia, 1763; d St. Petersburg, 11 August 1831)

hydrography.

In 1775 Sarychev entered the Naval Cadet Corps in Kronstadt, and was commissioned in 1781. From 1785 to 1793 he and Joseph Billings participated in an extensive surveying expedition to northeastern Siberia, the Aleutian Islands, and the shores of North America, the most important research on the northern Pacific and its shores by Russian scientists since the Bering-Chirikov expedition. The results of the expedition were described in Puteschestvie flota Kapitana Sarycheva ... (“The Journey of the Fleet of Captain Sarychev ...,” 1802) and in Billings’s account of his trip along the Chukchi Peninsula (1811).

Beginning in 1802 Sarychev spent many years on surveying expdeitions to the Baltic Sea. An atlas (1812) and Lotsia ... (“Sailing Directions,” 1817) for this sea were published under his direction. His handbook on surveying shores and on compiling marine charts (1804) played an important role in the development of methods of marine surveying from sail-and oar-powered vessels. Sarychev’s methods of describing ocean shores, compiling charts, and writing up the results of expeditions served as models for many researchers. In 1808, as hydrographer-general, he directed the hydrographical service in Russia: and in 1829 he became an admiral.

Sarychev initiated and led many hydrographic expeditions during the first third of the nineteenth century and was teacher and guide of a large group of Russian seafaring scientists (F. P. Litke, M. F, Reyneke, A.E. Kolodkin, E.P. Manganeri, P.F. Anjou, F. P. Wrangel). No expedition was sent without his knowledge and supervision, either to inland seas or to the Far East and America. His great achievement was Atlas severnoy chasti Vostochnogo okeana (“Atlas of the Northern Part of the Eastern Ocean,” 1826), compiled under his direction. Sarychev was elected an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences and of many university and scientific societies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works: Sarychev’s writings include Puteshestive flota kapitana Sarycheva po severo-vostochnoy chasti Sibiri, Ledovitomu moryu i Vostochnomu okeanu ... (“The Journey of the Fleet of Captain Sarychev Through the Northeastern part of Siberia, the Arctic Sea and the Eastern Ocean ...”), 2 vols. (St. Petersburg, 1802; 2nd ed., Moscow, 1952), with atlas and drawings: Pravila, prinadlezhushchie k Morskoy Geodezii ... (“Rules Appropriate for Ocean Geodesy ...” St. Petersburg, 1804; 2nd ed., 1825): Dnevnye zapiski plavania ... Gavrily Sarycheva po Baltyskomu moryu i Finskomu zalivu v 1802. 1803, 1804 godakh.... (“Daily Notes on the Voyage of ... Sarychev on the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland in 1802, 1803, and 1804.... ’. St. Petersburg, 1808); Puteshestive kapitana Billingsa cherez Chukotskuyu zemlyu ot Beringova proliva do Nizhnekolymskogo ostroga ... (“Voyage of Captain Billings Across the Chukchi Peninsula From the Bering Strait to the Lower Kolyma Fortress ...” St. Petersburg. 1811); Morskoy atlas vsego Baltyskogo morya s Finskim zalivom i Kattegotom ... (“Marine Atlas of the Entire Baltic Sea With the Gulf of Finland and Kattegat ...”; St. Peterburg, 1812); Lotsia ili Puteukazanie K bezopasnomu Korablevozhdeniyu po Finskomy zalivu, Baltyskomu moryu i Kattegat (“Sailing Directions or Voyage Instructions for Safely Piloting Ships in the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea and Kattegat”; St. Petersburg, 1817): and Atlas severnoy chasti Vostochnogo okeana ... (“Atlas of the Northern Part of the Eastern Ocean ...”; St. Petersburg, 1826).

II. Secondary Literature. See the following, listed chronologically; A. P. Sokolov, Russkaya morskaya biblioteka. 1701–1851 (“Russian Marine Library, 1701–1851”), 2nd ed. (1883), which contains a biography of Sarychev and annotations to his work: N. N. Zubov, Otechestvennye moreplavateli-issledovateli morey i okeanov (“Native Sailors and Investigators of the Seas and Oceans”; Moscow, 1954), 123–131; M. I. Belov, Arkticheskoe moreplavanie s drevneyshikh vremen do serediny XIX veka (“Arctic Sea Voyages From Ancient Times to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century” Moscow, 1956); E. E. Shvede; “G. A. Sarychev,” in Otechestvennye fiziko-geografy i puteshestvenniki (“Native Physical Geographers and Travelers” Moscow, 1959), 116–125; V. A. Esakov, A. F. Plakhotnik, and A. I. Alekseev, Russkie okeanicheskie morskie issledovania v XIX—machale XX v (“Russian Oceanic and Marine Research in the Nineteenth and Beginning of the Twentieth Centuries” Moscow, 1964); and A. I. Alekseev, Gavrill Andreevich Sarychev (Moscow, 1966).

Vasiliy A. Esakov