13 Facts About Yevfimiy Putyatin

Yevfimiy Putyatin entered the Naval Cadet Corps, graduating in 1822, and soon afterwards was appointed to the crew of Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev which circumnavigated the globe in a three-year voyage from 1822 to 1825.

Yevfimiy Putyatin subsequently participated in the Battle of Navarino during the Greek War of Independence on 20 October 1827 and was awarded the Order of St Vladimir, 4th degree.

In 1842, Putyatin was asked by Emperor Nicholas I to lead an armed diplomatic mission to Persia.

Yevfimiy Putyatin established a base at Astrakhan, and subdued the pirates in a military campaign, following which he met with Muhammad Shah of Persia, whom he persuaded to lift trade restrictions, grant fishing rights and to permit steamship communications between Persia and the Volga River.

In 1849, Yevfimiy Putyatin became Adjutant-General in the entourage of the Emperor, and in the same year married a daughter of a British admiral.

The frigate Diana arrived on July 11,1854 with word of the Crimean War, and Yevfimiy Putyatin transferred his flag to the newer vessel.

Yevfimiy Putyatin therefore decided to make good on his threat to sail for Edo itself.

Yevfimiy Putyatin arrived at the port of Shimoda on 22 November 1854, which had been opened to the Americans by the Convention of Kanagawa signed between the Japanese and the United States, and was permitted to start negotiations on 22 December; however on 23 December, the major Ansei Tokai earthquake shook Japan and surroundings.

The schooner Heda was launched on 14 April, and Yevfimiy Putyatin returned to a hero's welcome in St Petersburg, where he was made a Count, and appointed military governor of Kronstadt from 1856 to 1857.

In 1857, Yevfimiy Putyatin was dispatched to China in an attempt to establish a trade agreement; however, he had only limited success after failing twice to cross the border into China by land and by sea.

Yevfimiy Putyatin returned to Japan again in the same year to sign a follow-on accord to his previous agreement.

Yevfimiy Putyatin published a book on the subject of maritime training academies, and was appointed Minister of Education on 2 July 1861.

Yevfimiy Putyatin was awarded the Order of St Andrew in May 1883, and died in Paris five months later, aged 79.