Friedrich Ferdinand Leopold von Österreich

Friedrich Ferdinand Leopold von Österreich was born on 14 May 1821 in Vienna. An archduke from the House of Habsburg, he was the fourth child and third son of Archduke Charles of Austria, Duke of Teschen, and his wife, Henriette Alexandrine of Nassau-Weilburg. His siblings included Maria Theresa, Albert, Charles Ferdinand, Maria Caroline, and William. A few months after Friedrich’s birth, his father inherited the Duchy of Teschen and a considerable fortune. The family lived in a Viennese palace and spent the summers at Weilburg Castle near Baden. Friedrich grew up in a happy family, but lost his mother at the age of eight. His father did not remarry. Friedrich received a broad education. Among his teachers and tutors were the legal scholar Philipp Mayer, the naturalist and musicologist Ludwig von Köchel, the physicist Andreas von Baumgartner, the mathematicians Joseph Bingler and Friedrich Galina, and the cartographer Franz von Hauslab. When Friedrich decided at the age of fourteen to become a sailor, he also received instruction in nautical subjects. In the summer of 1836, he traveled to Venice to become acquainted with the place where his future career was to begin. In 1837, Friedrich joined the Austrian Imperial Navy. The following year, he sailed on the frigate Guerriera to Naples, Sicily, and Malta, and subsequently visited Gibraltar and Algiers. He devoted himself to the service with great ambition and was appointed captain of the frigate Carolina as early as 1839. He sailed with her to Corfu and Greece. After his return, he took command of the Guerriera and joined the Austrian squadron in the Levant. From August 1839 to March 1840, Friedrich was stationed in Smyrna, from where he made excursions to neighboring islands and cities. In May 1840, he arrived in Constantinople, where Sultan Abdülmecid I received him ceremonially. After a two-month stay, which Friedrich also used for sightseeing, he returned to Smyrna. During this period, the Second Ottoman-Egyptian War intensified. Great Britain and Austria supported the Ottoman government against Egypt and sent forces to Syria. Friedrich took part directly in the decisive operations as commander of landing troops. On 26 September 1840, he participated in the capture of Sidon. During the conquest of Acre, he led a landing force on the night of 3 November. The citadel was taken secretly; in the morning, Friedrich had the allies’ flags raised on its towers. The conflict ended several weeks later with an armistice that was effectively a capitulation by Egypt. In January 1841, the Guerriera left the Levant and sailed to Trieste. After a brief visit to Vienna, Friedrich assumed command of the coastal area around Venice and also performed brigade duties until 1842. He then traveled to Algiers, as well as to England and Scotland, where he visited important maritime institutions. He returned to Vienna in February 1843. That same year, he was appointed rear admiral. On 21 August 1844, he was promoted to vice admiral and appointed commander-in-chief of the Austrian fleet, succeeding Francesco Bandiera, who had retired. As head of the fleet, Friedrich began to transform the Austrian navy fundamentally. Until then, it had retained much of the character of a Venetian, regionally oriented trading and naval force. Friedrich modeled it on the advanced principles of the major European maritime powers and placed particular emphasis on training young naval personnel. In doing so, he laid important foundations for its development into a more distinctly Austrian naval force. Friedrich received numerous high distinctions. In 1845, he was ceremonially admitted to the Order of Malta. The Austrian state chancellor, Klemens von Metternich, even proposed him as grand master of the order, but Pope Gregory XVI rejected his candidacy. Friedrich undertook further journeys through Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In 1846, after naval exercises, he visited his sister Therese, Queen of Naples. After his father’s death in the spring of 1847, Friedrich’s existing liver disease worsened considerably. He died a few months later, on 5 October 1847, in Venice of jaundice. He was initially buried in the Venetian church of Santo Stefano, while his heart was interred separately in Santo Biagio. In 1854, his remains were transferred to the church of San Giovanni. Friedrich’s memory also lived on in the Austrian navy. Two warships were named after him: the sailing corvette Erzherzog Friedrich, launched in 1857, which undertook a voyage around the world between 1874 and 1876, and the battleship Erzherzog Friedrich of the Erzherzog Karl class, launched in 1904 and remaining in service until 1921.