Friedrich Benjamin von Lütke

The recorded working language is Russian and German. Positions recorded include member of the State Council of the Russian Empire. Distinctions recorded are Order of Saint Anna, 1st class, Order of Saint Anna, 2nd class, Order of Saint Anna, 3rd class and Order of the White Eagle.

Friedrich came from the Lütke family (ru) of Brandenburgish origin and originated in Jüterbog. Count Lütke's grandfather was Johann Philipp von Lütke, a German Lutheran preacher and writer on physical science and theology. In 1745, Johann went from Germany to Moscow as pastor of a Lutheran parish in order to spread Lutheranism in the Russian Empire. As a youth, Friedrich attended a Lutheran German-speaking school. He remained a practicing Lutheran. Lütke started his naval career in the Imperial Russian Navy in 1813. He took part in Vasily Golovnin's world cruise on the ship "Kamchatka" from 1817 to 1819, where one of his crewmates was Ferdinand Wrangel.[1] Then from 1821 to 1824, Lütke led the expedition to explore the coastline of Novaya Zemlya, the White Sea, and the eastern parts of the Barents Sea. From August 20, 1826, to August 25, 1829, he headed the world cruise on the Senyavin, sailing from Kronstadt and rounding Cape Horn. At the beginning, he was accompanied from Copenhagen and the Baltic Sea by Capt. Mikhail Nikolaievich Staniukovich who was in command of the sloop Möller. The scientific team included Heinrich von Kittlitz (ornithologist), Karl Heinrich Mertens (botanist) and Alexander Postels (mineralogist).[2] During this voyage he described the western coastline of the Bering Sea, the Bonin Islands off Japan, and the Carolines, although he discovered only one new island (Eauripik, the expedition is noted for having visited every inhabited island in the Caroline Islands (with the exception of Yap) and for compiling an extensive ethnographic account. In particular, the expedition spent three weeks in the Nomoi Islands, which had been last visited by Pedro Quiros in 1565. The team collected over 8000 plant, animal and mineral samples. In 1835, Lütke was appointed by Tsar Nicholas I of Russia as tutor of his second son, Grand Duke Constantine Nicholaievich of Russia. Lütke was the first one to come up with the idea of a recording tide measurer (1839). They were built and installed along the coastlines of the Arctic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean in 1841. Lütke was one of the organizers of the Russian Geographical Society and its president in 1845–1850 and 1857–1872. He was appointed Chairman of the Naval Scientific Committee in 1846. Lütke was a commander-in-chief and a military governor of the ports of Reval (today's Tallinn) and later Kronstadt in 1850–1857. In 1855, Litke became a member of the Russian State Council (Государственный совет in Russian; a legislative entity that predated the Duma, which came into existence only in 1906). In 1873, the Russian Geographical Society introduced the Lütke gold medal. A cape, peninsula, mountain and bay in Novaya Zemlya, as well as a group of islands in Franz Josef Land, Baydaratskaya Bay, and the Nordenskiöld Archipelago and a strait between Kamchatka and Karaginsky Island, as well as two Russian icebreakers were named after him. Nereocystis luetkeana was named after him by Mertens (first as Fucus luetkeanus) and then described by Postels and Ruprecht.[3] Ships named after Lütke include 1909-built icebreaker, 1970-built icebreaker, and 2017-built Yamalmax LNG carrier.

During his voyage round the world on the Russian corvette Seniavin Lütke arrived at Sitka in 1827. From there he sailed to Unalaska, surveying the Pribilof Islands, St. Matthew Island and the Commander Islands, before arriving to Petropavlovsk, a harbor which he used as a base for further surveys along the Siberian coast all the way to St. Lawrence Bay by the Bering Strait. After finally returning to Kronstadt Litke published a 3-volume account of his explorations with atlases in Russian and in French, the latter being published in Paris and entitled Voyage autour du monde: exécuté par ordre de sa majesté l’empereur Nicolas Ier, sur la corvette Le Séniavine, dans les années 1826, 1827, 1828 et 1829, par Frédéric Lutké,... commandant de l’expédition. Partie historique, avec un atlas, litographié d’après les dessins originaux d’Alexandre Postels et du baron Kittlitz. Traduit du russe sur le manuscrit original, sous les yeux de l’auteur, par le conseiller d’état F. Boyé. Tome I–III. Very few copies were printed and especially the Russian original work with its nautical part became an extremely rare item. The nautical volume contains hydrographic and geographic details on the then little-known Bering Sea and Alaska obtained not only from Lütke's own work but also from various previously unpublished Russian sources. Even though there were errors and delays in the publication that didn't satisfy the author, Lütke's work is a valuable source of information on the evolution of geographic knowledge of Alaska and the Bering Sea. When W. H. Dall published an index for the book, Lütke's name was given as "Lutke", which reflects the spelling under which the book was published in Paris.[4] Certain geographic features of the Alaskan coast, like the Walrus and Kritskoi Islands, Kudobin Islands and numerous other features in the Aleutians, were named by Count Lütke in the maps that were subsequently published. The landhead now named Cape Lutke in Alaska was named after this Russian explorer by the Imperial Russian Hydrographic Service in 1847.[5] The Litke Deep is named in his honour. • Illustration — Admiral v. Lütke's manor in Avanduse, present-day Estonia • Illustration — Gold commemorative coin of the Bank of Russia in the denomination of 50 roubles (2015). Russian Geographical Society founded in 1845. F. P. Litke

• Illustration — Postage stamp of the USSR, 1947 • Illustration — Count Lütke's portrait on a 1947 Soviet postage stamp in a series issued to commemorate the centennial of the Russian Geographical Society. • Illustration — Postage stamp of the USSR, 1976: Fyodor Litke (1909 icebreaker) • Illustration — F. P. Litke on a Russian postage stamp, 1994

Friedrich Benjamin von Lütke was recorded at birth as Friedrich Benjamin Lütke. The authorities additionally record the headings Feodor Lütke, Feodor Lutke, Fyodor Luetke and Fyodor Lütke. His recorded languages were Russian and German. His recorded confession was Lutheranism. He was the child of Peter von Lütke and Anna Dorothea Engelová. He married Julie Lütke. 2 children are recorded: Konstantin Fyodorovich Litke and Nikolaj Fedorovič Litke.

Recorded position is member of the State Council of the Russian Empire. He belonged to Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences and French Academy of Sciences.

Friedrich Benjamin von Lütke is recorded with the occupation explorer. Recorded as explorer, hydrographer, writer, seafarer and land owner.

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