Cape Opasnyy

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Cape Opasnyy
Cape Opasnyy is located in Kamchatka Krai
Cape Opasnyy
Cape Opasnyy
Coordinates: 61°42′N 163°20′E / 61.700°N 163.333°E / 61.700; 163.333
CountryRussian Federation
Federal subjectKamchatka Krai

Cape Opasnyy (Russian: Мыс Опасный, Mys Opasnyy) is a very prominent headland in Penzhina Bay, the right arm of Shelikhov Gulf, in the northeastern Sea of Okhotsk. It lies to the northwest of The Gorlo. A ledge projects about three quarters of a mile east-northeast of the headland, while a group of detached rocks lies about 1.2 miles north northeast of it.[1][2]

Administratively Cape Opasnyy belongs to the Kamchatka Krai of the Russian Federation.

History[edit]

American whaleships hunting bowhead whales frequented the waters off the cape from 1866 to 1889.[3][4] They called it Othello Cape,[5] and the ledge to its east-northeast Othello Reef,[6] both after a ship that visited the area in the early 1860s. They anchored under the cape and reef to seek shelter from southwesterly gales.[7] Boats went ashore after salmon[8] and wood,[9] and also to trade with the natives[10] from the nearby Koryak village of Big Itkana.[11]

References[edit]

  1. ^ National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. (2014). Sailing Directions (Enroute): East Coast of Russia. U.S. Government, Springfield, Virginia.
  2. ^ United States Naval Oceanographic Office. (1952). Sailing Directions for the east coast of Siberia: Mys Otto Shmidta to Sakhalinskiy Zaliv, including Ostrov Vrangelya. United States Government Printing Office, Washington.
  3. ^ Sunbeam, of New Bedford, July 15-16, 1866, New Bedford Free Public Library (NBFL).
  4. ^ Emma F. Herriman, of San Francisco, July 2, 1889, GBWL #761.
  5. ^ Sea Breeze, of New Bedford, July 19, 1868, Old Dartmouth Historical Society (ODHS) #490A.
  6. ^ Northern Light, of New Bedford, August 18, 1883, GBWL #761.
  7. ^ Benjamin Cummings, of New Bedford, July 20, 1868, NBFL.
  8. ^ Benjamin Cummings, of New Bedford, June 30, 1869, NBFL.
  9. ^ Europa, of Edgartown, July 20, 1868, ODHS #303.
  10. ^ Sea Breeze, of New Bedford, August 5, 1868, ODHS #768A.
  11. ^ Jochelson, W. (1905). "The Koryak". The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Vol. VI. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History. Leiden/New York.