Rikord, Petr

Rikord, Petr Ivanovich 

Born Jan. 29 (Feb. 9), 1776, in the city of Toropets, in what is now Kalinin Oblast; died Feb. 16 (28), 1855, in St. Petersburg. Russian navigator and admiral (1843). Corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1818).

Rikord graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps in 1794. From 1807 to 1809 he took part in V. M. Golovnin’s circumnavigation of the globe. From 1811 to 1813 he conducted a survey of the Kuril Islands. From 1817 to 1822 he was commander of the Kamchatka region, and from 1825 to 1827 he was commander of the port of Kronstadt. In 1828, Rikord commanded a squadron sent to the Mediterranean during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29. From 1830 to 1833 he commanded a squadron in the Aegean Sea and participated in the liberation of Greece from Turkish rule.

Rikord became a member of the Admiralty Council in 1836 and president of the Naval Scholarly Committee in 1850. During the Crimean War of 1853-56, he was in charge of the defense of Kronstadt (1854–55).

WORKS

Zapiski o plavanii k iaponskim beregam v 1812 i 1813 gg. i snosheniiakh s iapontsami. St. Petersburg, 1875.