Boshniak, Nikolai

Boshniak, Nikolai Konstantinovich 

Born Sept. 3 (15), 1830, in Kostroma Province; died Dec. 15 (27), 1899, in Monza, Italy. Russian sailor who attained the rank of lieutenant commander.

Boshniak took part in the Amur expedition of G. I. Nevel’skoi. In 1852 he investigated the western coast of Sakhalin (where he discovered coal deposits), and he crossed Sakhalin along the Tym’ River. He investigated the Amur River’s lower course, the Amgun’ River, Lakes Evo-ron, Chukchagirskoe, and Kizi, and the Chikhachev (De-Kastri)Gulf. In 1853, Boshniak made a study of the western coast of the Tatar Straits and discovered the harbor of Hajji (now Sovetskaia Gavan’). In 1856 he was transferred to the Baltic Fleet, and in 1865 he retired for reasons of health.

WORKS

“Ekspeditsii v Priamurskom krae.” Morskoi sbornik, 1858, vol. 38, no. 12; 1859, vol. 39, nos. 1–2; vol. 40, no. 3.

REFERENCES

Alekseev, A. N. K. Boshniak i otkrytie Sovetskoi Gavani. Khabarovsk, 1955.
Alekseev, A. Spodvizhniki G. I. Nevel’skogo. Iuzhno-Sakhalinsk, 1967.