Ivan Kupreyanov

Kupreyanov served on the Mirny under captain Mikhail Lazarev during a circumnavigation led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen[1] that led to the discovery of Antarctica and a number of island chains in the Pacific and Southern Oceans.

Kupreyanov attained the rank of Captain lieutenant with command of a frigate and fought in the Black Sea against the Ottoman Navy during the Russo-Turkish War (1828–29).

[1] Kupreyanov and his wife, Yuliya Ivanovna, began a school for native girls in Sitka.

The residence was the site of the ceremony in which control of Russian America was transferred from Russia to the United States in 1867.

"[2] Departing from New Archangel on 30 September 1840 with his family, Kupreyanov continued his career in the Imperial Russian Navy.