Butakov, Aleksei Ivanovich

Born Feb. 7 (19), 1816, in Kronstadt; died June 28 (July 10), 1869, in Schwal-bach, Germany. Russian sailor and traveler. Rear admiral.

From 1840 to 1842, Butakov took part in a round-the-world voyage on the transport ship Abo. In 1848 and 1849 he conducted the first hydrographie studies on the Aral Sea. In the western part of the sea Butakov discovered Vozro-zhdenie Island and other, smaller islands. From the materials gathered on this expedition, a map of the Aral Sea was published in 1850. Butakov also explored the lower reaches of the Syr Daria (1855) and the Amu Daria delta and, from 1861 to 1863, made a survey of the middle reaches of the Syr Daria. From 1857 to 1859, as commander of the Aral Military Flotilla, he participated in campaigns against Khiva. From 1863 he served on the Baltic Sea. He left notes about his voyage around the world, which were published in Notes of the Fatherland in 1843 and 1844.