The son of carpenter Albert Berends Berkhoff and Berendina van den Bosch, Berkov left his native town at an early age for Saint Petersburg. There, his grandparents Frederik van den Bosch and Clasina de Vries took him into their care. Unlike many of his peers who went into trade, Berkov decided on a career in the shipbuilding industry. In 1815/16 he successfully completed his six-year civilian apprenticeship program at the College for Shipbuilding Architecture in Saint Petersburg as a shipwright.
Career
From 1815/16 till 1825 Berkov worked as Deputy Master-Shipbuilder at the Lodejnopolskaja Shipyard, in the Grebnoj Docks in Saint Petersburg, at the shipyards in the Don basins and in the Novgorod district. Here he built ships destined for inland shipping, as well as private luxury yachts for two senior civil servants: Kochubey and Arakcheyev. He was also involved in the building of the Enterprise, the ship of explorer Von Kotzebue. After a brief career in 1825 as Master-Shipbuilder at Saint Petersburg's City Wharfs, he accepted in 1826 the position of Deputy Navy-Inspector for Innovative and Technological Requirements, at his former training college. This civilian college merged in 1826 with the equivalent navy college into the Academy of Navy Engineers. At present the training academy in St. Petersburg still exists under the name of Higher Academy for Marine Engineers. In 1829 Berkov returned to the City Wharfs as Director. As such he participated in the merging in 1841-43 of the civilian City Wharfs with the adjacent Navy Admiralty Shipyard into the New Admiralty Shipyard, of which he became Director. He continued this position until his death in 1870. In the hierarchy of the Russian social class system, Berkov rose to the civilian rank of Acting State Councilor, which equals the rank of Counter-Admiral in the Navy. Whether Berkov had actually held a Navy Admiral rank is subject of debate among Dutch historians.
Translator
Berkov was highly regarded in shipbuilding circles for his translations of shipbuilding literature into the Russian language. He had a talent for languages and was fluent in English, German, French, Russian and Dutch. Many of his translated works were published under Russian State authority. He also compiled the first Russian textbook on naval architecture, including a manual on the construction of yachts.
Personal
On May 13, 1821 Berkov married the Russian Alexandrine Volkova, daughter of the Imperial Cup Bearer/Table Setter Ivan Prokoviev Volkov and Nadeschda Volkova. The Russian Orthodox marriage took place in the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral in Saint Petersburg. Six children are known from this marriage: Elena, Nadezhda, Victor, Alexandra, Maria and Alexander. In 1846 Berkov acquired the Russian nationality. The next year he was raised into the Russian hereditary peerage. Despite his career in Russian service, Berkov stayed in touch with the Dutch merchant community in Saint Petersburg. In later life he returned once more to his birthplace Vriezenveen, where even his own sister did not recognize him. After his death in 1870 he was buried in the Evangelical-Lutheran Volkovo Cemetery in Saint Petersburg. His grave can still be found there today. In 2007 the Municipality of Vriezenveen named a street in his honour.
