Editing Joseph Billings (section)

==Life==

===Early life===
Sources provide conflicting details regarding the early life of Joseph Billings. British records show he was born in 1758 at Turnham Green, Middlesex. Parish church registers confirm his birth on 6 September 1758, the son of Thomas and Mary Billing. However, according to Russian sources, Billings told associates he was born in [[Great Yarmouth|Yarmouth]], the son of a fisherman of the same name. He worked on coal ships from an early age and later was apprenticed to a watchmaker. His Russian service record, signed by him, indicates he was born in 1761. <ref name = "Alekseev">{{cite journal | last = Alekseev | first = A. I. | title = Joseph Billings | journal = The Geographical Journal | volume = 132 | issue = 2 | year = 1966 | pages = 233–238 | url = https://www.jstor.org/stable/1792338 | doi = 10.2307/1792338| jstor = 1792338 }}</ref>

===Royal Navy Service===
In 1776, Billings enlisted in the Royal Navy as an able seaman and joined [[third voyage of James Cook|the third and final voyage]] of [[James Cook]]. Billings became an astronomer's assistant, initially aboard {{ship|HMS|Discovery|1774|6}}, and then transferring to {{ship|HMS|Resolution|1771|6}} in September 1779. The expedition explored the North Pacific, visiting [[Nootka Sound]], Alaska, the Bering Sea, and the [[Kamchatka Peninsula]] on the east coast of Russia. When they returned to England in October 1780, Billings was promoted to warrant officer.{{sfn |Moir }}

Following his return, Billings served aboard the ''Conquestador'' and the ''Crocodile''. In July 1782 he became master's mate on the ''[[HMS Resistance (1782)|Resistance]]'', serving Captain [[James King (Royal Navy officer)|James King]], who had also served on Cook's last voyage. Billings frequently accompanied King on visits to [[Joseph Banks]], president of the Royal Society. He was imprisoned in 1782 for a debt and the ''[[HMS Resistance (1782)|Resistance]]'' sailed to the West Indies without him. With Banks’ help, he was released from prison on 14 January 1783.{{sfn |Appleby |2008}}

In 1783 he applied through the Russian ambassador [[Johann Matthias von Simolin|Ivan Matveevich Simolin]] to enter the Russian navy.<ref name = "Alekseev"/>

===The Billings Expedition===
[[File:Charte des Nordöstlichen Theils von Sibirien des Eismeers des Ostoceans und der Nordwestlichen Küste von America.jpeg|thumb|400px|Map of the northeastern part of Siberia, of the Arctic Sea, of the Pacific Ocean, and of the northwestern coast of America with the route of the ships under Captain Billings' command. (1806)]]
In 1785, the Russian government of [[Catherine the Great]] commissioned a new expedition in search for the [[Northeast Passage]], led by Joseph Billings, the Russian officer [[Gavril Sarychev]] as his deputy and Carl Heinrich Merck as the expedition's naturalist. [[Martin Sauer (explorer)|Martin Sauer]] served as secretary and translator.<ref name = "Ryan">{{cite journal|last=Jones|first=Ryan|title=Sea Otters and Savages in the Russian Empire: The Billings Expedition, 1785-1793|journal=Journal for Maritime Research|year=2006|volume=8|issue=1|pages=106–121|doi=10.1080/21533369.2006.9668358|doi-access=free}}<!--|access-date=2013-10-18--></ref> Captains {{ill|lt=Robert Hall|Robert Hall (Russian navigator)|ru|Галл, Роман Романович}}, [[Gavril Sarychev]], and Christian Bering had leading roles. The expedition operated until 1794.<ref>{{cite book | title = The voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe: with a historical review of previous journeys along the north coast of the Old world | volume = 2 | last = Nordenskiöld | author-link = Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld | first = Adolf Erik | location = London | publisher = Macmillan and Co. | year = 1881 | url = https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.173331/page/n219/mode/2up | page = 211 | via = Internet Archive}}</ref>

Though considered a failure by some scholars because the expenditures outweighed the results, it nevertheless had a substantial record of achievement. Accurate [[Cartography|maps]] were made of the [[Chukchi Peninsula]] in Eastern [[Siberia]], the west coast of [[Alaska]], and the [[Aleutian Islands]]. Members of the expedition landed on [[Kodiak Island]] and made an examination of the islands and mainlands of [[Prince William Sound]].  Additionally, the expedition compiled a census of the native population of the [[Aleutian Islands]] and reported to the crown stories of abuse by the Russian fur traders (''[[promyshlenniki]]'').<ref name = "Ryan"/>

===Later years===
After the expedition, Joseph Billings remained with the [[Imperial Russian Navy]]. He was transferred to the [[Black Sea Fleet]] at his request. From 1797 to 1798, he conducted a hydrographical survey of the [[Black Sea]]. He subsequently published an atlas of this work. In November 1799, he retired and settled in [[Moscow]].<ref name = "Alekseev"/>

Billings died in Moscow on 18 June 1806, possibly at the age of 48 years.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Nuttall| first = Mark| title=Encyclopedia of the Arctic vols.1, 2 and 3 (A to Z)| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Swr9BTI_2FEC&q=joseph+billings+died+in+1806| publisher = Routledge, p.243| location=New York and London| date = 2012| isbn=978-1136786808}}</ref>