Lebyazhya Bay () is a small bay that indents the south side of Feklistova Island, one of the Shantar Islands, in the western Sea of Okhotsk. Its entrance is wide and deep. There are three small bays at its head: Enegelma Road to the west, Soboleva to the north, and Rosseta to the east. A small island, Sukhotina, lies to its southeast. In the spring and summer it is host to a small nesting colony of thick-billed murre.Kondratyev, A. Y., Litvinenko, N. M., Shibaev, Y. V., Vyatkin, P. S., & Kondratyeva, L. F. (2000). "The breeding seabirds of the Russian Far East". Seabirds of the Russian Far East, 37-81. A number of streams of fresh water flow down the hills into the bay. Spring tides rise while neaps rise .United States. (1918). Asiatic Pilot, Volume 1: East coast of Siberia, Sakhalin Island and Chosen. Washington: Hydrographic Office.
History Between 1852 and 1889,Arctic, of Fairhaven, September 20, 1852. In Gelett, C. W. (1917). A life on the ocean: Autobiography of Captain Charles Wetherby Gelett. Honolulu, Hawaii: Hawaiian Gazette Co., Ltd.Arnolda, of New Bedford, September 24-26, October 4-6, 14-17, 1874, Old Dartmouth Historical Society (ODHS); Mary and Helen II, of San Francisco, August 10-12, August 18-23, 1885, Kendall Whaling Museum (KWM); E. F. Herriman, of San Francisco, August 28–31, 1889, George Blunt White Library (GBWL). American whaleships anchored in the bay to stow downDaniel Wood, of New Bedford, September 23, 1857, Nicholson Whaling Collection (NWC). or boil oil,Harrison, of New Bedford, September 4–6, 1853, NWC. flense whales,William Wirt, of New Bedford, July 27, 1855, NWC. and obtain wood and waterMary Frazier, of New Bedford, August 14–19, 1859, NWC. or shelter from storms.Josephine, of New Bedford, September 23-25, 1861, KWM. They called it Feklistoff Harbor,Midas, of New Bedford, August 12-16, 1858, NWC. Bloomer Bay,Cicero, of New Bedford, July 20-27, 1855, KWM. or Harbor Bay.Phoenix, of Nantucket, October 10-19, 1854, Nantucket Historical Association (NHA). Ships typically anchored in fiveBart Gosnold, of New Bedford, September 11-13, 1863, GBWL. to nine fathoms of water,Nassau, of New Bedford, August 29-31, 1855, ODHS. usually in Soboleva Bay.Mary and Helen II, of San Francisco, August 10, 1885, KWM. As many as forty-two ships could be anchored in Lebyazhya Bay at one time.Nimrod, of New Bedford, September 19, 1859, KWM. Though ships mainly anchored in the bay to get wood and water, boats were also sent ashore to catch trout,Mary and Helen II, of San Francisco, August 11, 1885, KWM. collect berries,E. F. Herriman, of San Francisco, August 29, 1889, GBWL. or to shoot ducks or bears.Governor Troup, of New Bedford, August 26, 1863, NWC. Although these ships visited the Shantar region to hunt bowhead whales, they seldom chased whales in the bay itself.Cicero, of New Bedford, September 1, 1863, KWM. Men that had been killed by whalesWilliam C. Nye, of San Francisco, September 4-6, 1862, Bancroft Library. or died of diseasePhoenix, of Nantucket, October 9-10, 1858, NHA. were buried ashore. Two ships were condemned in the bay, the brig Tarquina (210 tons), of Honolulu, under Captain Weaver, and the bark Columbus (344 tons), of New London, under Captain Edwards. The former had been damaged in the ice in June 1856 while the latter was wrecked in Tugur Bay in August 1858.Friend, of Honolulu, November 15, 1856, Vol. 5/13, No. 11, p. 88. Both were sold;Montezuma, of New London, August 24, 1858, NWC. one of them was also pilfered.Phoenix, of Nantucket, September 22, 1858, NHA. The schooner E. L. Frost (141 tons), of Honolulu, was left in the bay for the winter of 1860–1861. She served as tender to the bark Benjamin Rush (385 tons), also of Honolulu, during the seasons of 1860 and 1861.Benjamin Rush, of Honolulu, in Polynesian, Honolulu, December 8, 1860, Vol. XVII, No. 32.Benjamin Rush, of Honolulu, October 11, 1861, in Polynesian, Honolulu, November 23, 1861, Vol. XVIII, No. 30.
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