Kreis Ösel (Estonian: Kuressaare kreis, Russian: Эзельский уезд) was one of the nine subdivisions of the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire. Its capital was Kuressaare (Arensburg). It was situated in the northwestern part of the governorate (in present-day western Estonia). The territory of Kreis Ösel corresponds to the present-day Saare County.
Faddey Faddeyevich Bellingshausen or Fabian Gottlieb Benjamin von Bellingshausen (20 September [O.S. 9 September] 1778 – 25 January [O.S. 13 January] 1852) was a Russian cartographer, explorer, and naval officer of Baltic German descent, who attained the rank of admiral. He participated in the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe, and subsequently became a leader of another circumnavigation expedition that discovered the continent of Antarctica. Like Otto von Kotzebue and Adam Johann von Krusenstern, Bellingshausen belonged to a cohort of prominent Baltic German navigators which helped Russia launch its naval expeditions.
Bellingshausen was born on the island of Saaremaa (Ösel), to the Bellingshausen family. He started his service in the Russian Baltic Fleet, and after distinguishing himself joined the first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth in 1803–1806, serving on the merchant ship Nadezhda under the captaincy of Adam Johann von Krusenstern. After the journey, he published a collection of maps of the newly explored areas and islands of the Pacific Ocean. Subsequently, he commanded several ships of the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets.