Hannibal Ivan Abramovich: biography of Alexander Pushkin's cousin

Alexander Pushkin's cousin Alexander Hannibal Ivan Abramovich was born in the north of Estonia in the estate of Karjakyla. Until now, accurate information about the date of his birth has not been preserved. Only the number is known (on October 12, according to a new style), but a year the biographers are arguing. This is either 1735th, or 1736th, or 1737th.

Origin

Ivan was the eldest son of Abram Petrovich Hannibal, a military engineer and general-anshef. This man (that is, his great-grandfather) Alexander Pushkin dedicated the novel "Arap of Peter the Great."

Father Ivan Abramovich really was closely associated with the emperor. He came to Russia in 1704, after he was taken by the Russian ambassador to Constantinople, Savva Raguzinsky. Abram was the son of an African prince who was a vassal of the Turkish sultan. Ivan made an amazing career in Russia. His godfather was himself Peter I. Thanks to the position of his father, Hannibal Ivan Abramovich could count on no less successes in high society.

Education

As a child, the boy studied at the St. Petersburg Naval Artillery School. Already at this age it was clear that his life would be connected with military affairs. Then Hannibal Ivan Abramovich graduated from the Naval Gentry Corps. The officer began to serve in naval artillery. In 1769 he received the rank of the master of ceremonies.

The rise occurred at the beginning of the next Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. In this campaign, the fleet played a particularly important role. In St. Petersburg, we decided to send a Baltic military squadron to the Aegean Sea, which was to help the Slavic peoples of the Balkans. So the Archipelago expedition began, in which Ivan Abramovich Hannibal took part. The life journey led him to the most serious test, which was to determine the whole future course of the officer's career.

The First Archipelago Expedition

The trek to the Aegean Sea was unprecedented. Hannibal Ivan Abramovich, like his colleagues, had no experience of such large-scale voyages. On the way, the ships hit several storms. The breakdown had to be repaired right on the road. On the other hand, Hannibal was more fortunate than the crews of some other vessels. For example, the most powerful ship "Svyatoslav" received a leak, because of which he had to return to Reval. In addition, the squadron suffered from disease. When the expedition reached Denmark, the disease already killed about 300 people. 50 sailors died at all.

The general command was in the hands of Admiral Gregory Spiridov. Ivan Abramovich Hannibal was one of those officers whom the head of the expedition intended to entrust important missions upon arrival in the Aegean Sea. Spiridov took him with him when some of the ships, along with the sick, stayed in Denmark. The first real operation in February 1770 was the landing of troops on the Peloponnese. Ivan Abramovich Hannibal did not participate in it, preparing to repeat something like this in the future.

Fight for Navarin

While most of the squadron's squadrons concentrated on shelling an important Fort Crown, Hannibal went ashore in another part of the Peloponnese. Under his command were the battleships of the Three Holy Hierarchs and the Holy Januaries, and the frigate St. Nicholas. In this detachment there were 300 men and several guns from among the siege artillery. The ships approached the Turkish fortress Navarin. On April 10, 1770, a siege began.

According to the plan, a few days later, on the 21st, a Russian landing landed near the enemy walls. Commanded them all the same foreman of naval artillery Ivan Abramovich Hannibal. The biography of this man as a military man is best known for this glorious episode. The bombardment of Navarin lasted six days. After it, the fortress was taken by a Russian detachment. The landing crew managed to seize many weapons, guns, mortars and hundreds of poods of enemy gunpowder. Taking Navarin allowed the Russian fleet to get a convenient bay, which housed its temporary base.

In the Chesme Bay

July 5, 1770 Hannibal Ivan Abramovich (1736-1801) took part in another important battle of that war against Turkey. On the eve of the Russian fleet, several Turkish ships were discovered on a roadstead in the Chesme Bay on the western coast of the Peninsula of Asia Minor opposite Chios Island. The command decided to give battle to the enemy.

Ivan Hannibal received the task to prepare several fire-ships (ships, stuffed with explosives and flammable substances). At the most crucial moment of the battle, these ships were sent to a bay swarming with frigates and enemy galleys. The Turks decided that the Russian defectors were approaching them. This error made it possible to set fire to ships and inflict serious damage on the Ottoman fleet. The battle was won, and Hannibal made a significant contribution to this success.

Last years

After the war, Ivan Hannibal became a major general. In 1778, he was given the task of establishing the new Black Sea port of Kherson. The initiative belonged to Empress Catherine II herself. Ivan Abramovich led the creation of special artisans who built the city from scratch. Three years later, there was already a shipyard, a fortress with a garrison, barracks, private houses, an arsenal, a foundry, etc. in the wasteland. The harbor became a permanent parking lot for military and merchant ships. Hannibal did much to make the city attract not only the Russian colonialists, but also the Greeks and Italians.

In 1780, Ivan Abramovich received a large plot of land (10 thousand acres). His state and military career prematurely ended because of a conflict with the favorite of Empress Grigory Potemkin. In 1784, Hannibal resigned in the rank of general-chief. Later he lived in his estate near St. Petersburg. Relatives of Alexander Pushkin died October 12, 1801. He was a childless bachelor.