   frederick william beechey (17 february 1796 &ndash; 29 november 1856) was an english naval officer and geographer. ==career== he was the son of sir william beechey ra, and was born in london. in 1806, he entered the royal navy, and saw active service during the wars with france and america.  in 1818, he served under lieutenant (afterwards sir) john franklin in david buchan's arctic expedition, of which at a later period he published a narrative. in the following year he accompanied lieutenant w. e. parry in hms hecla. in 1821, he took part in the survey of the mediterranean coast of africa under the direction of captain, afterwards admiral, william henry smyth. he and his brother henry william beechey, made an overland survey of this coast and published a full account of their work in 1828 under the title of proceedings of the expedition to explore the northern coast of africa from tripoly eastward in 1821-1822. thumb|left|the botany of captain beechey's voyage, 1841 in 1825, beechey was appointed to command the hms blossom. his task was to explore the bering strait in concert with franklin and parry operating from the east. in the summer of 1826, he passed the strait and a barge from his ship reached 71Â°23'31" n., and 156Â°21'30" w. near point barrow which he named, a point only 146 miles west of that reached by franklin's expedition from the mackenzie river. the whole voyage lasted more than three years and in the course of it beechey discovered several islands in the pacific, and an excellent harbour near cape prince of wales. in july 1826, he named the three islands in the bering strait. two were the diomede islands that vitus bering had named in 1728: "ratmanoff island" (big diomede) an
1796_births 1856_deaths 19th-century_explorers British_polar_explorers English_explorers English_geographers Explorers_of_Canada Explorers_of_the_Arctic Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society People_from_London Presidents_of_the_Royal_Geographical_Society Royal_Navy_officers