Pyotr Kuzmich Krenitsyn (1728 - July 4, 1770), spelt "Krenitzin" in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, was a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n explorer and Captain/Lieutenant of the Imperial Russian Navy

Imperial Russian Navy

The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein...

. Following Vitus Bering

Vitus Bering

Vitus Jonassen Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering (also, less correNavy]], a captain-komandor known among the Russian sailors as Ivan Ivanovich. He is noted for being the first European to discover Alaska and its Aleutian Islands...

's 1741 tragic venture he was the first to conduct an expedition to Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 and the Aleutians. Krenitsyn was sent, together with Mikhail Levashev

Mikhail Levashev

Mikhail D. Levashev was a Russian explorer and Lieutenant of the Imperial Russian Navy...

, by Russian Empress Catherine II to explore the northern parts of the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 and particularly the area around the Bering strait

Bering Strait

The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...

 in four ships. Krenitsyn was the commander of the ship St. Catherine and Levashev commanded the ship St. Paul.

Krenitsyn and Levashev surveyed the eastern part of the Aleutian island chain until the cold weather set in. Krenitsyn wintered in the strait between Unimak

Unimak

Unimak may refer to:Geography*Unimak Island, largest of the Aleutian Islands*Unimak Bay on the coast of Unimak Island*Unimak Pass, a passage between the Bering Sea and North Pacific OceanShips...

 and the Alaska Peninsula

Alaska Peninsula

The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from Bristol Bay, an arm of the Bering Sea....

. The following year, after resuming their surveys, both ships wintered in Kamchatka.

Certain geographic features of the Alaskan coast, like Avatanak

Avatanak Island

Avatanak Island is the second-largest of the Krenitzin Islands, a subgroup of the Fox Islands in the eastern Aleutian Islands in the U.S. state of Alaska. It lies southeast of Akun Island, across the Avatanak Strait...

, Akutan

Akutan Island

Akutan Island is an island in the Fox Islands group of the eastern Aleutian Islands in the U.S. state of Alaska. The island is approximately 18 mi in length. It contains the Mount Akutan volcano, which had a major lava eruption in 1979...

 and Tigalda Island

Tigalda Island

Tigalda Island is one of the Krenitzin Islands, a subgroup of the Fox Islands in the eastern Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Tigalda is located about east of Akutan Island, is long and has an area of about . Tigalda is an Aleut name published by Captain Lutke . It was previously called "Kagalga" by...

 were named by Krenitsyn in the maps that were subsequently published.

On July 4, 1770, Krenitsyn drowned in the Kamchatka River

Kamchatka River

The Kamchatka River runs eastward for through Kamchatka Krai in the Russian Far East towards the Pacific Ocean. The river is rich with salmon, millions of which spawn yearly and which once supported the settlements of the native Itelmen....

 and Levashev assumed command of the Russian expeditionary fleet. The Krenitzin Islands

Krenitzin Islands

The Krenitzin Islands are a group of small islands located in the eastern portion of the Fox Islands group of the eastern Aleutian Islands, Alaska. The Krenitizins are situated between Unalaska Island to the southwest and Unimak Island to the northeast...

 and the highest volcano on Onekotan Island were named by IRN Captain Mikhail Tebenkov

Mikhail Tebenkov

Mikhail Dmitriyevich Tebenkov, spelt Tebenkof in the United States , was a Russian hydrographer and vice admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy...

after this early Russian explorer.