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Birthday anniversary of military hydrograph Alexander Petrovich Andreev (1820–1882)
On July 28 (August 9), 1820, Alexander Petrovich Andreev (1820–1882) was born. He was a military hydrograph, major-general (1880), lieutenant-general of the Corps of Naval Navigators (1881), one of the best hydrographs of the Russian Navy, the first researcher of Lake Ladoga and author of the first scientific monograph about it.
Alexander Andreev was born in Rochensalmi (Finland). In 1842, he graduated from the first navigation school, which later became the Navigational Class of the Naval Engineer School in Kronstadt.
Andreev devoted the whole life to Russian hydrography. In 1842–1852, he made a hydrographic intelligence and survey of the Baltic Sea and Finnish skerries taking part into the expedition of the famous hydrographs Mikhail Frantsevich Reineke and Ferdinand Ferdinandovich Wrangel. Then he made an independent study of the Neva and Izhora rivers. The results of this work were published in the Morskoy Sbornik (Naval Collection) magazine in the 1860s.
In 1853-1856, Alexander Andreev participated in the Crimean War. He was sent to make a military telegraph line along the coast of the Gulf of Finland. He was also responsible for telegraphs along the southern coast - from Oranienbaum to Narva.
In 1858–1866, on behalf of the Naval Ministry, he led a hydrographic expedition to study Lake Ladoga. The expedition’s staff consisted of 74 sailors, 10 officers and a ship's doctor. It worked on the Ladoga paddle steamer. The crew did a lot in measuring the depths, mapping, studying the animal and plant world, and description of coastal sites. The research results were issued as the Lake Ladoga monograph in 1875 in Saint-Petersburg. The work was highly appreciated by specialists and took a significant place in the history of the hydrography of big lakes of the world.
From 1868 to 1870, Alexander Andreev worked in the Naval Ministry commission that analysed the hydrographic study of Finnish skerries. In 1873, he was appointed head of the Independent Survey of Lake Onega and led it until 1879. In 1881, he retired from the service because of the illness. He died on May 30 (June 11), 1882, in Saint-Petersburg.
The Russian Geographical Society highly appreciated the work of the Russian hydrograph, who was the first researcher of the Lake Ladoga. In 1875, the Society awarded Alexander Andreev with the silver and gold medals in commemoration of the famous Russian navigator Fyodor Litke. The Lake Ladoga monograph was presented at the International Geographical Exhibition in Paris, where Alexander Petrovich received the gold medal.
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Based on the Presidential Library’s materials: