Shpanberg (Shpangenberg, Shpanbergkh), Martyn Petrovich (1698–1761)

Shpanberg (Shpangenberg, Shpanbergkh), Martyn Petrovich (1698–1761) – was a Russian sea navigator, a captain of the first rank, a participant of the First and the Second Kamchatka Expeditions, and an explorer of the northern part of the Pacific Ocean and the Kuril Islands. He was a descendent from Denmark. In 1720 he was admitted in the Russian Fleet in the rank of lieutenant. In 1725–1730 he was involved in the First Kamchatka Expedition. He conducted the passage from Okhotsk to Bolshretsk (on the west coast of Kamchatka) twice. In 1728 on “St. Gabriel” boat (under the command of V. Bering), he went from Nizhnekamchatsk through the Bering Strait into the Chukchi Sea to 67°19′N. M. Shpanberg took part in the survey of the Chukchi Peninsula and the discovery of the Kresta Bay, St. Lawrence Island, one of the Diomede Islands, Preobrazheniya Bay. In 1730 he returned to St. Petersburg through Siberia. In 1731–1743 he commanded a detachment of the Second Kamchatka Expedition. In 1734 he...