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LEDYARD, JOHN (1751–1789)

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 360 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LEDYARD, See also:JOHN (1751–1789) , See also:American traveller, was See also:born in Groton, See also:Connecticut, U.S.A. After vainly trying See also:law and See also:theology, Ledyard adopted a See also:seaman's See also:life, and, coming to See also:London, was engaged as See also:corporal of See also:marines by See also:Captain See also:Cook for his third voyage (1776). On his return (1778) Ledyard had to give up to the See also:Admiralty his copious See also:journals, but afterwards published, from memory, a meagre narrative of his experiences—herein giving the only See also:account of Cook's See also:death by an See also:eye-See also:witness (See also:Hartford, U.S.A., 1783). He continued in the See also:British service till 1782, when he escaped, off See also:Long See also:Island. In 1784 he revisited See also:Europe, to organize an expedition to the American See also:North-See also:West. Having failed in his attempts, he decided to reach his See also:goal by travelling across Europe and See also:Asia. Baffled in his hopes of See also:crossing the Baltic on the See also:ice (See also:Stockholm to See also:Abo), he walked right See also:round from Stockholm to St See also:Petersburg, where he arrived barefoot and penniless (See also:March 1787). Here he made See also:friends with See also:Pallas and others, and accompanied Dr See also:Brown, a Scotch physician in the See also:Russian service, to See also:Siberia. Ledyard See also:left Dr Brown at See also:Barnaul, went on to See also:Tomsk and See also:Irkutsk, visited See also:Lake See also:Baikal, and descended the See also:Lena to See also:Yakutsk (18th of See also:September 1787). With Captain See also:Joseph Billings, whom he had known on Cook's " See also:Resolution," he returned to Irkutsk, where he was arrested, deported to the See also:Polish frontier, and banished from See also:Russia for ever. Reaching London, he was engaged by See also:Sir Joseph See also:Banks and the See also:African Association to explore overland routes from See also:Alexandria to the See also:Niger, but in See also:Cairo he succumbed to a dose 1 See also:Arago, Gamier-Pages, See also:Marie, Lamartine, and Ledru-See also:Rollin. of See also:vitriol (17th of See also:January 1789).

Though a born explorer, little "resulted from his immense but See also:

ill-directed activities. See See also:Memoirs of the Life and Travels of John Ledyard, by Jared See also:Sparks (1828).

End of Article: LEDYARD, JOHN (1751–1789)

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