Mikhail Dmitriyevich Tebenkov (; also Tebenkof; 1802 – April 3, 1872) was a Russian

hydrographer Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary ...

and

vice admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

of 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 being dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution and the declaration of ...

. From 1845 to 1850, he served as director of the

Russian American Company The Russian-American Company Under the High Patronage of His Imperial Majesty was a state-sponsored chartered company formed largely on the basis of the United American Company. Emperor Paul I of Russia chartered the company in the Ukase of 17 ...

and the governor of

Russian America Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

. He is especially noted for having surveyed and mapped the still little-known coast of

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. His ''Atlas of the Northwest Coasts of America: from Bering Strait to Cape Corrientes and the Aleutian Islands'' was published in 1852 and contained 39 engraved maps.

Career

In 1821, Mikhail Tebenkov graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps School. For the next three years, he served on different ships in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

. In 1824, Tebenkov was put in charge of logging for shipbuilding purposes near

Narva Narva is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in the Ida-Viru County, at the Extreme points of Estonia, eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva (river), Narva river which forms the Estonia–Russia border, E ...

. In January 1825, he joined the

, which led colonizing and trade efforts in North America. He would later command the company-owned brigantines ''Golovnin,'' ''Ryurik,'' ''Chichagov,'' and a sloop named ''Urup'' in 1826–1834. Tebenkov surveyed

Norton Sound The Norton Sound ( Inupiaq: ''Imaqpak'') is an inlet of the Bering Sea on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, south of the Seward Peninsula. It is about 240 km (150 mi) long and 200 km (125 mi) wide. The Yukon Riv ...

on behalf of the Imperial

Russian Hydrographic Service The Russian Hydrographic Service, full current official name Department of Navigation and Oceanography of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, is Russia's hydrographic office, with responsibility to facilitate navigation, performing ...

in 1831 and was the first European to sight the bay that now bears his name. He surveyed Tebenkof Bay in 1833 before returning to

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. In 1835 Tebenkov sailed from

Cronstadt Kronstadt (, ) is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of Saint Petersburg, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg, near the head of the Gulf of Finland. It is linked to the former Russian capital by a ...

back to Alaska via

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

as commander of the Russian American Company's ship ''Elena.'' He arrived in Sitka in April 1836. Between 1845 and 1850, Tebenkov served as the director of the

and the governor of

. Tebenkov was perhaps the most outstanding Russian surveyor of the time, dedicating much time and patient work to the improvement of charts of the Alaskan coast.

Legacy

Trebenkov's noted ''Atlas of the Northwest Coasts of America: from Bering Strait to Cape Corrientes and the Aleutian Islands'' was published in 1852. The 39 maps of this atlas were engraved at Sitka around 1849 by Kozma Terentev (or Terentief), an Alaskan-Russian creole man. Besides Tebenkof Bay, other geographic features of Alaska, including Tebenkof Glacier, Mount Tebenkof and

Point Tebenkof A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

were named after Captain Mikhail Tebenkov.

Works

*''Atlas sieverozapadnykh beregov Ameriki.'' Sitka (1872). *''Gidrograficheskiia zamiechaniia k Atlasu sieverozapadnykh beregov Ameriki.'' Sitka (1872).

References

External links

Atlas, images
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tebenkov, Mikhail 1802 births 1872 deaths Imperial Russian Navy admirals Bering Sea Governors of the Russian-American Company Russian polar explorers Explorers from the Russian Empire Explorers of Asia Explorers of Alaska Russian explorers of North America Hydrographers from the Russian Empire