St. Lawrence Bay, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Encyclopedia
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....
on the eastern coast of the Chukotka Peninsula, Russian Federation. It is located very close to the Bering Strait
Bering Strait
The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...
, which lies only a few km to the NE.
The bay is open towards the southeast; it is 45 km in length and has an average width of about 8 km. There are two little islands inside the bay where it narrows forming an inlet.
On the southern shore of the bay at Cape Hargilah is the village of Port Lawrence
Lavrentiya
Lavrentiya is a rural locality and the administrative centre of Chukotsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, situated on Lavrentiya Bay, close to the Bering Strait. Population: 1,333 ; Municipally, Lavrentiya is subordinated to Chukotsky Municipal District and incorporated as...
.
History
British Captain James CookJames Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
landed for a few hours in St. Lawrence Bay and met some of the local Chukchi people
Chukchi people
The Chukchi, or Chukchee , ) are an indigenous people inhabiting the Chukchi Peninsula and the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean within the Russian Federation. They speak the Chukchi language...
in August 1778.
This bay was first surveyed by Russian mariner Count Fyodor Petrovich Litke
Fyodor Petrovich Litke
Count Fyodor Petrovich Litke , born Friedrich Benjamin Lütke, was a Russian navigator, geographer, and Arctic explorer. He became a count in 1866, and an admiral in 1855. He was a Corresponding Member , Honorable Member , and President of the Russian Academy of Science in St.Petersburg...
in 1828.