Fabian Gottlieb von BellinghausenDied 25 Jan 1852 at age 72 (born 30 Aug 1779).Russian explorer may have been the first to see the Antarctic mainland. He had served in the Russian navy since joining as a ten-year-old cadet in 1789. He was directed by Tsar Alexander I to explore Antartica, and set sail on 16 Jul 1819. Although the Antarctic Circle had been crossed was by Cook in 1773, Bellinghausen may have been the first to sight the Antarctic mainland, when he saw distant mountains on 28 Jan 1820. Between 17-19 Feb, he recorded seeing ice cliffs and ice-covered mountains, though he did not realize they were in fact a continental mainland. Similar sightings were also made at about the same time British naval captain Edward Bransfield and the American sealing captain Nathaniel Palmer sailing from other directions, so who was actually the first of them to see Antartarctica remains unclear.« |
