José de Ribas

Who was José de Ribas?

José Pascual Domingo de Ribas y Boyons, known in Russia as Iosif Mikhailovich Deribas, was an Italian in Russian service, who founded the city of Odessa. Odessa's most famous street, Deribasovskaya, is named after him.

Son of the Spanish consul in Naples and his Irish wife, he had been born in that city, then dynastically joined to the Kingdom of Spain, and served in the Neapolitan army in the late 1760s, but he joined the Russian Army as a "member of the Spanish nobility" in 1772, taking part in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774 and afterwards remaining "on the margins of the empress's court" as "one of the many young men hoping to gain [her] favor." When the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792 broke out, he was made the liaison between Potemkin and the unit commanded by John Paul Jones:

He worked assiduously to smoothe relations between Jones and the European officers, especially Nassau-Siegen, as well as with Potemkin. He dealt with cases of insubordination and drunkenness by talking firmly with the offenders rather than exacting immediate punishment. His performance was noted and rewarded.