Knight Leontiy Vassilievich Spafaryev was a Lieutenant General

Lieutenant General

Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....

 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...

. Spafaryev was Director of the Lighthouse

Lighthouse

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

 Administration and cartographer of the Russian Admiralty

Russian Admiralty

Admiralty Board was a supreme body for the administration of the Imperial Russian Navy in the Russian Empire, established by Peter the Great on December 12, 1718, and headquartered in the Admiralty building, Saint Petersburg....

.

Spafariev was an important contributor to the improvement of navigation along the Russian coasts. The first lighthouses in 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...

 were built during tsar Peter the Great's drive for reform and modernization at the beginning of the 18th century. However, it was only until the Administration of Lighthouses was created in 1807 that the Russian lighthouse system followed an organized pattern, becoming effective and efficient. This office was established by the Russian Navy and it began under the leadership of Leontiy V. Spafaryev.

As a cartographer, perhaps his most outstanding work is the "Atlas of the Gulf of Finland

Gulf of Finland

The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn...

", published in 1817. His name is spelt as "Spafarief" or "Spafarieff" in the United States

United States

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

.

The Spafaryev Islands

Spafaryev Islands

The Spafaryev Islands or Spafaryev Island , a relatively large double island, is located in the Sea of Okhotsk...

 in the Sea of Okhotsk

Sea of Okhotsk

The Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, lying between the Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, the island of Hokkaidō to the far south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a long stretch of eastern Siberian coast along the west and...

 and Spafarief Bay

Spafarief Bay

Spafarief Bay is a bay in the Kotzebue Sound, on the Chukchi Sea-facing coast of Alaska. Its size is 15 mi. across. There is a lagoon at its southern end....

 in the coast of 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...

were named after Leontiy V. Spafaryev.