Cape Povorotnyy

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Cape Povorotnyy
Cape Povorotnyy is located in Magadan Oblast
Cape Povorotnyy
Cape Povorotnyy
Coordinates: 60°43′N 160°46′E / 60.717°N 160.767°E / 60.717; 160.767
CountryRussian Federation
Federal subjectMagadan Oblast

Cape Povorotnyy (Russian: Мыс Поворотный, Mys Povorotnyy) is a headland on the southwest side of Penzhina Bay, the east arm of Shelikhov Gulf, in the northeastern Sea of Okhotsk. It has reddish cliffs and two large pillar rocks, on a detached drying reef, which lie about three miles southeast of the cape. It lies twenty miles east-northeast of Cape Taygonos.[1]

History[edit]

American whaleships hunting bowhead whales frequented the waters off the cape from 1862 to 1889.[2][3] They called it Rocky Point,[4] and Vitaetglia Bay to its west Rocky Point Harbor,[5] where they anchored for shelter from southwesterly gales,[6] to go ashore to get wood and water,[7] stones for ballast,[8] and to shoot mountain sheep.[9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. (2014). Sailing Directions (Enroute): East Coast of Russia. U.S. Government, Springfield, Virginia.
  2. ^ South Boston, of Fairhaven, July 27–28, 1862, Kendall Whaling Museum (KWM) #771.
  3. ^ Emma F. Herriman, of San Francisco, June 20, 1889, George Blunt White Library (GBWL) #761.
  4. ^ Northern Light, of New Bedford, August 30, 1883, GBWL #761.
  5. ^ Josephine, of New Bedford, June 28, 1865, KWM #122C.
  6. ^ Elizabeth Swift, of New Bedford, August 11, 1864, New Bedford Free Public Library (NBFL).
  7. ^ Charles W. Morgan, of New Bedford, July 20–22, 1866, GBWL #147.
  8. ^ Active, of New Bedford, July 23, 1866, Smithsonian Institution (SI).
  9. ^ Mary and Helen, of San Francisco, June 10, 1885, Old Dartmouth Historical Society (ODHS) #937.