Pyotr Kuzmich Krenitsyn () (1728 – July 4, 1770), spelt "Krenitzin" in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, was a Russian explorer and Captain/Lieutenant of the Imperial Russian Navy. Following

Vitus Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering ( , , ; baptised 5 August 1681 – 19 December 1741),All dates are here given in the Julian calendar, which was in use throughout Russia at the time. also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering (), was a Danish-born Russia ...

's 1741 tragic venture he was the first to conduct an expedition to

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 ...

and the Aleutians. Krenitsyn was sent, together with Mikhail Levashev, by Russian Empress

Catherine II Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III ...

to explore the northern parts of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

and particularly the area around the Bering Strait in four ships. Krenitsyn was the commander of the ship ''St. Catherine'' and Levashev commanded the ship ''St. Paul''.Coxe, William. Account of the Russian Discoveries Between Asia and America.

Life

Krenitsyn and Levashev surveyed the eastern part of the Aleutian Island chain until the cold weather set in. Krenitsyn wintered in the strait between Unimak and the

Alaska Peninsula The Alaska Peninsula (also called Aleut Peninsula or Aleutian Peninsula, ; Sugpiaq language, Sugpiaq: ''Aluuwiq'', ''Al'uwiq'') is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. T ...

. The following year, after resuming their surveys, both ships wintered in

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...

. Certain geographic features of the Alaskan coast, like Avatanak, Akutan and Tigalda Island were named by Krenitsyn in the maps that were subsequently published. On July 4, 1770, Krenitsyn drowned in the Kamchatka River and Levashev assumed command of the Russian expeditionary fleet. The Krenitzin Islands and the highest volcano on Onekotan Island were named by IRN Captain Mikhail Tebenkov after this early Russian explorer.

References

External links

The Naming of AlaskaOld map of Alaska showing Krenitzin and Levashev"s routeCartographic Sources For The History Of Russian Geographical Discoveries In The Pacific Ocean
1728 births 1770 deaths Bering Sea Russian explorers of North America Explorers of Alaska Explorers of Asia 18th-century explorers from the Russian Empire Imperial Russian Navy personnel Deaths by drowning in the Russian Empire {{Russia-mil-bio-stub