Ushki Bay Explained

Ushki Bay
Other Name:	Shepherdess Bay
Pushpin Map:	Russia Khabarovsk Krai
Pushpin Map Caption:	Location in Khabarovsk Krai
Location:	Russian Far East
Coords:	59.3833°N 174°W
Oceans:	Sea of Okhotsk
Countries:	Russia
Width:	24km (15miles)
Depth:	26m (85feet)

Ushki Bay (Russian: Zaliv Ushki) is a small bay in Khabarovsk Krai, Russian Federation.^[1]

Geography

Ushki Bay is located on the northern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. It lies to the east of the mountainous Lisyansky Peninsula. The bay is 24 km (15 mi) wide and lies between Cape Yelagin to the west and Cape Rzhavyy to the east – the latter is visible from a great distance on a clear day as its red color contrasts with the brown color of the coastline on either side of it.^[2]

The depth of the northern part of the bay reaches 26m (85feet).^[3]

History

American whaleships cruised for bowhead whales in the bay in the 1840s^[4] and 1850s. They called it Shepherdess Bay,^[5] after a Mystic ship^[6] that frequented the area at the time.^[7]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Zaliv Ushki. Mapcarta. 11 January 2017.
2. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. (2014). Sailing Directions (Enroute): East Coast of Russia. U.S. Government, Springfield, Virginia.
3. Prostar Sailing Directions 2004 East Coast of Russia Enroute, p. 90
4. India, of New Bedford, July 16-19, 1849, Old Dartmouth Historical Society.
5. Pacific, of Fairhaven, July 16-19, 1856, Nicholson Whaling Collection (NWC); Onward, of New Bedford, July 24-25, 1856, NWC.
6. Book: Starbuck, Alexander . History of the American Whale Fishery from Its Earliest Inception to the year 1876 . 1878 . Castle . 1-55521-537-8 .
7. Shepherdess, of Mystic, spoken by Three Brothers, of Nantucket, July 27, 1852, August 22, 1852, August 24, 1852, anchored in a large bay on the north-central coast of Sea of Okhotsk, Nantucket Historical Association.