Adam Johann von Krusenstern (Ivan Feodorovitj Krusenstern)

About Adam Johann (Ivan Feodorovitj)

Adam Johan's grandfather Evert Filip von Krusenstern was a lieutenant colonel in Swedish service and remained in Estonia when the country was ceded to Russia. He was the grandson of the governor Filip Krusenstjerna. ​ In Russia, Adam Johan was also called Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern. He was born on November 19, 1770 in Haggud near Rapla in Estonia and died on August 24, 1846. He became an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and member number 218 of the Royal Academy of Sciences. Together with his wife, he is buried in the cathedral in Reval (Tallinn, Estonia). As a sea cadet, Adam Johan served in the Russian Baltic Fleet in 1787 and was involved in the battles at Hogland in 1788 and Öland in 1789. Between 1793 and 1799 he was employed in the British navy.

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In 1802, he was appointed head of a Russian scientific naval expedition to Japan. The trip was the first Russian circumnavigation and lasted from August 1803 to August 1806. On the return trip he visited China. The expedition gave rise to several scientific works, including Adam Johan's own description, Reise um die Welt in den Jahren 1803–1806 (1810–1814), which was also published in Swedish, as well as Atlas de l'Ocean pacifique (34 leaves, 1824– 1827) and Recueil des mémoires hydrographiques (1824–1827) with Suppléments (1835).

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In 1826, Adam Johan became director of the naval cadet corps in Saint Petersburg and in 1842 received his resignation as admiral general. His bronze statue was erected in 1876 in front of the Naval Cadet Corps House in Saint Petersburg. Adam Johan's son Paul Theodor von Krusenstern (1809-1881) was a vice admiral in Russian service and in the 1840s made discoveries in the Petjora area and on the Kara Sea. Paul Theodor's son, Russian Captain Lieutenant Paul von Krusenstern (1834-1871), made two voyages of discovery in the Kara Sea in 1860 and 1862. Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld gives an account of the journey in the book The Journey of Vega. Georg von Krusenstjern has written the article Der Weltumsegler Krusenstern und sein Werk about Johan Adam von Krusenstern in the Jahrbuch des baltischen Deutschtums in 1961. ​

Sources: Wikipedia, http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krusenstern, 2011-11-27. Barbro Johnson (1992). The Krusenstiers and their family archives. Special print from Kalmar county.