Putiatin, Efim Vasilevich

Putiatin, Efim Vasil’evich 

(also Evfimii Vasil’evich). Born Nov. 7 (19), 1804, in St. Petersburg; died Oct. 16 (28), 1883, in Paris. Russian statesman, navigator, and diplomat; count (1855), admiral (1858), and adjutant general (1849).

After graduating from the Naval Cadet Corps in 1822, Putia-tin made a three-year voyage around the world (calling at Russian America) aboard the frigate Kreiser, commanded by M. P. Lazarev. He took part in the battle of Navarino (1827) and in military actions against the mountain tribes along the Caucasian coast (1838–39). In 1842 he was sent to Iran as part of a delegation that negotiated the lifting of restrictions on Russian trade and the establishment of steamship service in the Caspian Sea.

From 1852 to 1855, Putiatin headed a diplomatic mission to Japan and concluded the Russo-Japanese Treaty of 1855. During the voyage from Japan to the Philippines and from there to the Tatar Strait (aboard the frigate Pallada), the entire eastern coast of Korea as far as 35°N lat. was mapped, and the Pos’et Gulf, Ol’ga Gulf, and Rimsky-Korsakov Islands were discovered. After serving as a naval attaché in London and Paris from 1855 to 1857, Putiatin headed another mission to the Far East, where he negotiated the Tientsin Treaty of 1858 with China and the Russo-Japanese Treaty of 1858. He served as a naval attaché in London between 1858 and 1861, and he was minister of education from June to December 1861, resigning because of student unrest. In 1861 he became a member of the Council of State. An island in the Petr Velikii Bay was named in honor of Putiatin.

REFERENCES

Goncharov, I. A. Fregat “Pallada.” In Sobr. soch., vols. 5–6. Moscow, 1952.
Isloriia diplomatii, vol. 1. Moscow, 1959.