Konstantin Fedorovich von Schultz
Konstantin Fedorovich von Schultz () was a Russian naval captain, known for his service in the Russo-Japanese War and his invention of the "Schultz Trawl" minesweeper. A close assistant of vice-admiral Stepan Makarov throughout the war, von Schultz sailed with him on the first two voyages of the Yermak, and perished alongside him on the when it was sunk by Japanese mines. Early life Born in Kronstadt, Konstantin was the third son and sixth of seven children in the family of naval officer Fyodor Bogdanovich von Schultz and his wife Emilia ur. von Voigt (16 January 1832 - 5 May 1889). Upon Fyodor's transfer to St. Petersburg, the family settled in house 36 on Sergievskaya Street, where Konstantin studied at the Annenschule. After graduating the Annenschule, von Schultz followed the example of his older brothers by enrolling in the Naval Cadet Corps, which he entered on September 16, 1881. His class there included Aleksey Krylov, S. P. Veselago, A. K. Myakishev, and Ludwig Kerber, the last of whom became a close friend of von Schultz. While von Schultz did not excel academically, he attracted attention with displays of skill on training voyages; Krylov's memoirs recount an incident during an artillery salute in honor of the Practical Squadron of Alexander III, in which von Schultz prevented a live shot from being accidentally fired in the direction of the emperor's yacht. On October 1, 1884, von Schultz graduated with the rank of midshipman. Circumnavigation on the Vityaz In 1885, Stepan Makarov recruited a crew of young initiative officers for a planned circumnavigation on the Vityaz. As commander of the Practical Squadron of the Baltic Sea, Makarov led pupils at the Naval School on training voyages, and knew many of them personally. Having received carte blanche from the maritime department, he selected eight midshipmen from the last two graduating classes, among them von Schultz. The Vityaz set sail on August 31, 1886. Makarov's plan was to undertake hydrographic and hydrological studies throughout the Russian waters of the Far East, in the hope of finding convenient locations for fleet bases. The officers of the crew carried out these studies in the Baltic Sea, Sea of Japan, and Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, taking some measurements as often as every quarter hour around the clock. In addition to his other duties, von Schultz acted as chief photographer for the voyage. Cabin boy N. V. Jenish wrote: The expedition found some suitable locations in the process of mapping Peter the Great Gulf in the Sea of Japan. A cape there, in Posyet Bay, was named Cape Schultz in honor of von Schultz. Afterwards, Makarov published The Vityaz and the Pacific Ocean, an account of the voyage. Service in the Far East After the voyage of the Vityaz, Makarov, who believed that mines would be key to future naval wars, assigned the most distinguished of his midshipmen to study in the . On September 1, 1889, von Schultz began his studies in these classes; on September 7, 1890,