Курникова О.М.

(Oksana KURNİKOVA)

Ivan Bersenev is a military seafarer and explorer of the Crimean Peninsula, who lived in the 18th century.  He began his career with the military service as a cadet of Sea Corps. He finished his career as a captain of second rank. He took part in the 1st Archipelago’s expedition and participated in Chesmen battle. Then he returned to St. Petersburg and began to make maps of the Archipelago. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, Ivan Bersenev was transferred to serve on the Black Sea Fleet. He became the first military seafarer who made the description of the western and southern coast of the Crimea in 1785-1787. In the aftermath of the expedition, Bersenev made sea charts, coastal and marine inventory lists and ship's logs. At this moment, some of these documents are stored in the Russian State Archive of the Navy in St. Petersburg. They were unknown and have never been published. These documents became valuable material for the study of geography and history of the Crimean peninsula of the 18th century.

Keywords: Ivan Bersenev, Crimea, seashores’ description, maps, archive materials