Cape Bersen'yeva Explained

Cape Bersen'yeva
Other Name:	Silas Richards Bluff
Type:	Cape
Map:	Russia Khabarovsk Krai
Location:	Khabarovsk Krai,
Coordinates:	54.2833°N 160°W

Cape Bersen'yeva (Russian: Mys Bersen'yeva) is a headland in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia.^[1]

Geography

The cape is on the northeastern side of Tugur Bay, 20 km (about 12 mi) to the west of Seneka Point. It is high and conspicuous,^[2] rising to a height of 162 m (531 ft).^[1]

History

American whaleships frequented the waters off the cape between 1854 and 1889,^{[3] [4] [5]} anchoring off it and sending whaleboats down the bay for bowhead whales^[6] or sending boats to the cape itself to cruise for whales as well.^[7] Boat crews also camped at the cape.^[8] They called it Silas Richards Bluff,^[9] after the ship Silas Richards, of New Bedford, which was wrecked in a bay near the cape on 13 July 1854.^[10] On 27 July 1867, the bark Java, of New Bedford, was ordered out of Tugur Bay near the cape by a Russian man-of-war.^[11]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Mys Bersen’yeva. Mapcarta. 12 February 2018.
2. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. (2014). Sailing Directions (Enroute): East Coast of Russia. U.S. Government, Springfield, Virginia.
3. Cicero, of New Bedford, August 27, 1855, Kendall Whaling Museum (KWM).
4. Mary and Helen II, of San Francisco, August 12, 1885, KWM.
5. E. F. Herriman, of San Francisco, August 20-22, September 6-10, September 27-28, October 9, 1889, GBWL #761.
6. Sea Breeze, of New Bedford, July 17-18, 1874, George Blunt White Library.
7. Montezuma, of New London, August 5, 1858, Nicholson Whaling Collection.
8. Java, of New Bedford, summer 1865-1866, in From Forecastle to Cabin (Beane, 1905, pp. 215-216).
9. Josephine, of New Bedford, August 18, 1861, KWM.
10. Friend, Honolulu, December 8, 1854, Vol. 3/11, No. 12, p. 93.
11. Friend, Honolulu, December 2, 1867, Vol. 16/24, No. 12.