Gavril Sarychev

Gavril (also Gavriil) Andreevich Sarychev (Сарычев, Гавриил Андреевич in Russian) (1763 — 7.30(8.11).1831), Russian navigator, hydrographer, admiral (1829), Honorable Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1809) in Saint Petersburg.

Sarychev started his career in the Imperial Russian Navy in 1775. From 1785—1794, he took part in the expedition sponsored by Empress Catherine II and led by Royal Navy officer Joseph Billings. Sarychev described and mapped the coastline of the Sea of Okhotsk from Okhotsk to Aldoma, many of the Aleutian Islands (especially Unalaska). He also described the islands of Pribylov, St. Matthew Island, St. Lawrence Island, Gvozdev, and King Island. In 1802—1806, Sarychev led the Baltic hydrographic expedition. He was also in charge of hydrographic research in Russia since 1808.