Russian warship Nadezhda

Nadezhda (Надежда, "hope") was a three-masted sloop, the ex-British merchantman Leander. The Russians purchased her in 1802 and renamed her, commonly referring to her in Russian as the "frigate Nadezhda". She participated in the first Russian circumnavigation of the world (1803-1806). She was lost in 1808.

Career
Leander was built in London in the spring of 1800 as a 425-ton merchant sloop. In 1802 Yuri Fydorovich Lisyansky purchased Leander and another merchantman, Thames, for the Russian navy. The two vessels left England for the Baltic in May 1803, docking at Kronstadt on 5 June. There the Russians renamed Leander to Nadezhda and Thames to RUSSIAN WARSHIP Neva.

The two ships took part in the first Russian circumnavigation of the world, with Nadezhda serving as Admiral Krusenstern's flagship. She had a 58-member crew and carried 16 guns.

She apparently sailed under the auspices of the Russian-American Company (RACo). As part of her circumnavigation she delivered RACo cargo to Kamchatka, and the first Russian embassy under Nikolai Rezanov to Japan.

In 1808 Nadezhda was chartered by an American merchant, D. Martin, to transport RACo cargoes from Kronstadt to New York. During the trip, in December she became ice-locked near Denmark and was destroyed.

Name
Her name was the namesake of a gulf and Nadezhda Strait in the Okhotsk Sea, four capes in the Japan Sea and the Tatar Strait, and the Nadezhda Island (Sitka County, Alaska) in the Pacific Ocean.

Commemorative coins
In 1993 Russia issued three coins to commemorate the first Russian voyage around the world. One was a 150-roubles platinum coin showing both Nadezhda and Neva on the reverse. The other two were both 25-roubles palladium coins, one for Nadezhda and one for Neva.