Matyushkin Fedor Fedorovich 
(10.07.1799– 16.09.1872)

Admiral, Arctic explorer, round-the-world navigator. 
Matyushkin came from an old Russian noble family. Born in Germany, in Stuttgart, where his father was the court counselor at the Russian embassy. There was no Russian church in the city, and the boy was christened according to the Lutheran custom. Mother left her son in the care of her father and went to Russia as a mentor in the Moscow Catherine Institute. Matyushkin's childhood was not happy. After the early death of his father, his mother took the 10-year-old boy and put him in the Noble boarding house at Moscow University, where he received his primary education. Thanks to the patronage of Empress Maria Feodorovna Matyushkina, they were allowed to take exams at the newly founded Lyceum of Tsarskoye Selo, which was allowed to accept only children from noble and personally familiar families to the tsar. After passing the exam at the age of 12, Matyushkin became the first Lyceum student, as he was later called the “Pushkin” recruitment. 
The boy had a good-natured gentle nature, but a strong will, wonderful talents and excellent dedication. In the official report card compiled for each of the graduates, it is said about Matyushkin: “he is very well-behaved, with all his fervor polite, sincere, good-natured, sensitive; sometimes angry, but without rudeness". Already in the Lyceum all noted his passionate love for the sea. Matyushkin was sympathetic to his comrades and teachers, he was one of Pushkin’s closest friends both during his studies and after graduating from the lyceum. 
From the Lyceum Matyushkin was released by the collegiate secretary. Director Lyceum E.A. Engelhardt, with the help of the Ministry of Public Education, helped Matyushkin to join the team of the sloop "Kamchatka", under the command of V.M. Golovnin set off for a two-year round-the-world voyage calling at Kamchatka and in Russian America. To get on the ship to the strict and demanding Golovnin was considered a great honor even for honored naval officers. Everything was decided by a personal meeting with Golovnin, to whom Matyushkin arrived with a letter of recommendation from Engelhardt. After reading the letter, Golovnin said: “Here you are recommended, and you will not die of the road? And it will be boring, I will report to you, it will be, and you will become sick from pitching: you will yellow, you will lose your appetite, but why”?  And after a pause he added: “Not scared? Well, in short, I’ll say: I’m just going to land in England. I haven't given you any orders yet”. 
Thus, Matyushkin’s cherished dream of becoming a sailor was fulfilled. He was accepted by a volunteer with the subsequent enrollment in the midshipmen, "if by the efforts of his opportunity is presented". 
Unfortunately, it turned out that the young sailor suffered severely from seasickness. Golovnin even suggested that he stay in Portsmouth, but Matyushkin assured him that he would endure everything, and that leaving the ship was out of the question. On board the Kamchatka, he met the future outstanding navigators and scientists, F.P. Litke and F.P. Wrangel. Young warrant officers, understanding the state of Matyushkin as best they could, supported him, told about themselves, asked about the lyceum, about Pushkin. They were bound by a craving for knowledge, love for the sea, travel. Relations of young people with Golovnin became trusting and warm. They have kept friendship with him for many years. 
Swimming gave a lot to Matyushkin. He became an experienced, seasoned sailor. Gentleness and kindness helped him to easily converge with people. In Kamchatka and in Russian America, Golovnin instructed him to travel to get acquainted with the life and customs of the local people. Matyushkin established friendly relations with famous PI Kamchatka’s ruler. Rikord and his wife Lyudmila Ivanovna. The image of this beautiful woman for the rest of his life remained in the heart of Matyushkin. He was looking for the same, but he did not find, never having created a family: "I am not alone because I don’t want to love anyone, but because the one I love is inaccessible and prevents me from converging with others". 
At the end of the voyage Matyushkin was given the title of midshipman. Now he could rightfully say about himself the same thing that Litke said later: "At the beginning of the march I had no idea about the service: I returned as a real sailor, but a sailor of Golovnin school". 
Despite Golovnin’s excellent recall, the official decision to transfer him to the fleet was taken only three months after the completion of navigation in December 1819. And only in February 1820  after the petitions of Engelhardt and Prince Golitsyn, Matyushkin was granted the Order of St. Anna of the 3rd degree, which his comrades had already received. 
In 1820  an expedition was organized to inventory the coast of Siberia to the east of the Kolyma River, the site of the least fully described in the process of the EVE. In addition, it was necessary to explore the area north of the coast in order to search for land, known from the stories of local residents. The expedition was headed by Wrangel, who invited Matyushkin as his assistant. They had to change the side of the ship for sledges with dog sleds, and the ocean expanses to snow-covered tundra and ice hummocks. 
The expedition departed from St. Petersburg at the end of March 1820 and arrived 10 days later in Moscow; it traveled from Moscow to Irkutsk with a length of 5317 versts in six weeks. In Irkutsk, Wrangel and Matyushkin were introduced to the Siberian Governor-General MM. Speransky, who took an active part in organizing the expedition. 
Matyushkin traveled to the north before the main part of the expedition for the purchase of food and the construction of winter quarters at Cape Baranov Kamen and the observatory. Upon arrival in Nizhnekolymsk, he discovered that the local authorities had done nothing of what was prescribed to them, putting the expedition in a very difficult position. Only with the help of Matyushkin began the construction of an observatory, and he himself went to the mouth of the Kolyma to buy fish for dogs from local residents. 
In November 1820  after an almost eight-month journey through Siberia, expedition members reached Nizhnekolymsk. Having completed the training, Wrangel, Kozmin and three Cossacks went along the coast to the Chaunskaya Bay, from the mouth of the Kolyma east to Shelagsky Cape, the eastern entrance Cape of the Chaunskaya Bay. They had to solve one of the tasks of the expedition - to establish whether there is an isthmus between Asia and America, as claimed by some foreign geographers. Matyushkin also went to the fair in the village of Ostrovnoe, where he was to meet with the elders and ask them about unknown land supposed to the north of the mouth of Kolyma. The solution of this question was the second main task of the expedition. Only one of the elders, Valetka, drew an island to the northeast of Cape Shelagsky on snow. 
Returning to Nizhnekolymsk, they immediately set off on a new expedition, now to the north to solve the mystery of the Andreev Land. Overcoming parallel ridges of hummocks, deep snow-filled crevices between them, suffering from snow blindness, travelers left 215 kilometers from the coast and, not meeting new lands, were forced to turn back and take up the description of the Bear Islands. Detachment Matyushkina described the island Chetrebstolbova. 
In the summer of 1821, the expedition examined the Kolyma region, a detachment of Matyushkin described the basin of the Big Anyuya, the right lower tributary of the Kolyma. 
The third trip on the ice was undertaken in the spring of 1822 from the cape Bolshoy Baranov, located east of the mouth of the Kolyma River. They managed to go to the north from the coast for more than 250 kilometers, reaching 72° 02′N, from where they were forced to turn back, meeting an open raging sea. We went ashore in May after a 46-day wander on the ice. 
In the summer of 1822 a detachment of Matyushkina produced an inventory of the tundra east of the mouth of the Kolyma and explored the area of ​​Maly Anyuya. 
A year later  in the spring, the fourth, last voyage to the north, was made, now from Cape Shelagsky. Matyushkin did not participate in it. He was tasked with inventorying the coast from the Chaun Bay to Cape Severny (now Schmidt). The detachment of Matyushkin and the detachment of Wrangel, returning from a campaign to the north, met on the coast, and this meeting was truly salutary for Wrangel. They miraculously survived, hitting small drift ice, but they lost almost all of their food, and there were 360  miles to the nearest ground warehouse. 
During the shooting, Matyushkin met with Chukchi elders, who informed him that the mountainous land is clearly visible in the summer to the north of Cape Yakan, located at 176° 32′E. The travelers, arriving at Cape Yakan, peered for a long time to the north, but did not see the land. Now we know that she is there. Matyushkin went to the north, but did not achieve success. 
25 years later, this land was discovered by the American captain G. Kellett and was named after his vessel, the Land Plover. After another 19 years, the American whaler T. Long called this deserted land "Wrangel". With the same right, it could be called the "Land of Matyushkin". Matyushkin was delighted by the honesty of the American, but bitterly mixed with joy. 
In 1823 the order of the Admiralty Board came to finish the expedition. According to the results of her Wrangel published a book, which included two reports of Matyushkin. Pushkin has repeatedly advised him to take up writing a great book. The years spent in the north, Matyushkin himself considered the most outstanding in his life, but he never wrote a book. 
After the expedition ended, Matyushkin was sent to serve in Kronstadt. He was in a depressed state: the matter did not go well with the production of the next officer rank, it was sad to realize that all the successes of the expedition were attributed to Wrangel alone. His expedition leader also had his reason for sadness. He was sad that he had failed to set foot on the land they had been looking for for four years. Golovnin, who offered Wrangel a round-the-world voyage for the military sailing transport “Krotkiy” to the shores of Kamchatka, helped out: “Take Matyushkin with you. And God forbid you to glorify the fatherland with a new voyage. ”Matyushkin received an invitation from Wrangel almost simultaneously with the news of his production to lieutenant. 
Swimming continued throughout 1825–1827. 
Matyushkin's return to his homeland was woeful. Many of his comrades were convicted for participating in the uprising on Senate Square. Fate saved Matyushkin, in his sympathy for the Decembrists there is no doubt. 
After the voyage on the Meek, the paths of Matyushkin and Wrangel diverged. Ten years of joint expeditions did not make them very close. The characters and the political views of these people were too different: a convinced monarchist Wrangel and brought up in a free-thinking Lyceum family Matyushkin. However, until the end of their days, they maintained good relations and corresponded. 
Until 1833, Matyushkin served on ships of the Black Sea Fleet that participated in military operations on the side of Greece against the Turkish Empire. In 1828, for participation in the Dardanelles blockade, he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of 4 degrees, and in 1831 he was awarded the Order of St. George of the 4th degree for carrying out 18 naval campaigns. In subsequent years, the list of Matyushkin's awards was replenished with the orders of St. Stanislav of 1 degree (1853), St. Anna of 1 degree (1861), St. Vladimir of 2 degrees and St. Vladimir of 3 degrees with swords (1864).

After a brief transfer to the Baltic in 1835  he returned to the Black Sea Fleet, where he served for almost 15 years. In 1837–1838 in the rank of captain-lieutenant, he commanded by frigate “Brailov”, which cruised off the Caucasian coast to prevent the sailing of Turkish vessels, and took part in the capture of Tuapse. On the "Brailov" Matyushkina found terrible news of the death of Pushkin.  “... Pushkin is killed! Yakovlev! How did you make it? What scoundrel has his hand lifted on him ...? ”. In violation of the charter, he ordered a mourning salvo from all the guns. 
In 1849  with the rank of Rear Admiral Matiushkin, he was again transferred to the Baltic. At the turn of the second half of the XIX century, he left the military service, but did not leave the fleet, occupying various posts in the maritime ministry, in the Committee for the development of maritime regulations, headed the Marine Scientific Council. 
During the Crimean War, the Honored Admiral did not remain aloof from the events. He was appointed commander of the naval base Sveaborg and played an important role in repelling the attack of the English squadron that entered the Gulf of Finland. After the end of the Crimean War, he was promoted to vice admirals, and 11 years later he became full admirals. In addition to the service, he led a large pedagogical and social activities: he wrote textbooks, organized an exhibition dedicated to the Sevastopol defense, played a major role in building a monument to Pushkin in Moscow. From 1861 he was a senator. 
All his life a bachelor Matyushkin did not have his own house. He was replaced by a ship cabin, a barracks, a tent, a Demuth hotel in St. Petersburg, friends' houses, and service apartments. Only towards the end of his life did he acquire his own summer cottage, which he loved very much. 
Matyushkin died in September 1872 from paralysis, by that time only four of his lyceum comrades were alive. He was buried in the Smolensk Lutheran cemetery in St. Petersburg. In 1950  dust and a monument, a granite block with a cross, were transferred to the necropolis of art masters of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. 
Cape in the Chaun Bay of the East Siberian Sea. Named in 1823 by F.P. Wrangell. 
Mountain in the south of Wrangel Island. Named by geologists.