Vasily Stepanovich Zavoyko (; 5 July 1809 – 16 February 1898) was an

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

in the Russian navy.Article ''Zavoyko''
in the

Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary The ''Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopaedic Dictionary'' (35 volumes, small; 86 volumes, large) is a comprehensive multi-volume encyclopaedia in Russian. It contains 121,240 articles, 7,800 images, and 235 maps. It was published in the Russian Em ...

Article ''Zavoyko (addendum)''
in the

Born to a noble Ukrainian family of a naval medic hailed from

Poltava Governorate Poltava Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. It was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Little Russia Governorate (1796–1802), Little Russia Governorate and had its capital in Polt ...

, in 1827 he took part in the

Battle of Navarino The Battle of Navarino was a naval battle fought on 20 October (O.S. 8 October) 1827, during the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829), in Navarino Bay (modern Pylos), on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. Allied ...

, and in 1835-1838 he twice circumnavigated the Earth. In 1840 he became an employee 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 Shelikhov-Golikov Company, United American Company. Emperor Paul I of Russia chartered the c ...

and soon became the manager of the

Okhotsk Okhotsk ( rus, Охотск, p=ɐˈxotsk) is an urban locality (a work settlement) and the administrative center of Okhotsky District of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located at the mouth of the Okhota River on the Sea of Okhotsk. Population: ...

port. He deduced that the port was inconvenient for trade, as it was too far from the

Lena River The Lena is a river in the Russian Far East and is the easternmost river of the three great rivers of Siberia which flow into the Arctic Ocean, the others being Ob (river), Ob and Yenisey. The Lena River is long and has a capacious drainage basi ...

basin and advocated transfer of the Company port to Ayan. During his exploration Zavoyko discovered the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

of the

Amur River The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ''proper'' is ...

(the exploration was later continued by

Gennady Nevelskoy Gennady Ivanovich Nevelskoy (; in Drakino, Soligalichsky Uyezd, Kostroma Governorate – in St. Petersburg) was a Russian navigator and naval officer. In 1829 he joined the Naval Cadet Corps and in 1846 was given the rank of ...

, who proved that the

Strait of Tartary Strait of Tartary or Gulf of Tartary (; ; ; ) is a strait in the Pacific Ocean dividing the Russian island of Sakhalin from mainland Asia (South-East Russia), connecting the Sea of Okhotsk ( Nevelskoy Strait) on the north with the Sea of Japan ...

was not a gulf, but indeed a strait, connected to

Amur The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer Manchuria, Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ...

's estuary by Nevelskoy Strait). Zavoyko's reports about the potential importance of the river led to the 1846 expedition to study Amur and ultimately to the incorporation of the modern

Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krais of Russia, krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...

to Russia (see

Amur Annexation Between 1858 and 1860, the Russian Empire annexed territories adjoining the Amur River belonging to the Chinese Qing dynasty through the imposition of unequal treaties. The 1858 Treaty of Aigun, signed by the general Nikolay Muravyov represent ...

). In 1850, he was appointed governor of

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 ...

and the commander of the port of Petropavlovsk. Under Zavoyko's governorship, Kamchatka expanded to include a

wharf A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

, and a new army

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

. Zavoyko also encouraged agricultural expansion, urging each household to sustain itself with potato farming. These efforts, however, did little to improve the region's low economic and cultural standards. In 1854, during the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, Zavoyko led the successful defence against the Siege of Petropavlovsk by the allied British-French troops commanded by Rear Admirals David Price and Auguste Febvrier Despointes. Zavoyko managed to repel the superior allied forces and even captured the British banner. In the winter of 1855, Zavoyko was in charge of the transfer the main Russian Pacific naval base from Petropavlovsk to the Amur estuary. The fleet managed to make its way through despite the frozen seas and the superior enemy fleet awaiting them near the Amur inflow. In two months sailors built the Nikolayevsk-on-Amur city that served as the base for the fleet. In 1856, Zavoyko returned to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, where he served as the Naval ''General-Auditor''. He was married to Juliana Wrangell and had 11 children: five sons and six daughters. Zavoyko died in 1898. One daughter, Ekaterina Vasilievna, married Vasily Grinevetsky the professor of engineering at the Imperial Moscow Technical School.

Awards and honours

Order of Saint Anna The Imperial Order of Saint Anna (; also "Order of Saint Anne" or "Order of Saint Ann") was a Holstein ducal and then Russian imperial order of chivalry. It was established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, on 14 February 1735, in hono ...

"with a bow", 3rd class (1827) * Silver medal "For the Turkish War" *

Order of Saint Vladimir The Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir () was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine the Great, Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Vladimir I, Prince of Kiev, Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptizer of ...

4-й ст. (1836) * Order of Saint Anna, 2nd class (1846) * Order of Saint Anna, 2nd class "with the imperial crown" (1849) *

Order of St. George The Order of Saint George () is the highest military decoration of the Russian Federation. It was originally established on 26 November 1769 Julian (7 December 1769 Gregorian) as the highest military decoration of the Russian Empire for commiss ...

, 4th class (November 26, 1850) *

Order of Saint Stanislaus The Order of Saint Stanislaus (, ), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Poniatowski of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It remained under the Congress Poland, Kingdom of Pola ...

, 1st class (November 27, 1854) * Order of St. George, 3rd class (December 1, 1854) * Order of Saint Vladimir, 2nd class (December 12, 1855) * Order of Saint Anna "with swords", 1st class (May 1, 1864) * Order of the White Eagle (1884) *

Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky The Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was an order of chivalry of the Russian Empire first awarded on by Empress Catherine I of Russia. History The introduction of the Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was envisioned by Emperor ...

(1890) * Bronze medal "In memory of the war of 1853-1856" on Ribbon of Saint George * The badge of distinction for the immaculate service of XXX years * Honorary Citizen of the city of Petropavlovsk-KamchatskyПостановление администрации Петропавловск-Камчатского городского округа от 14.10.2010 г. № 2921

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zavoyko, Vasily 1809 births 1898 deaths People from Poltava Governorate People from Cherkasy Oblast 19th-century explorers from the Russian Empire Imperial Russian Navy admirals Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Russia)