Cape Opasnyy Explained

Cape Opasnyy (Russian: Мыс Опасный, Mys Opasnyy) is a very prominent headland in Penzhina Bay, the right arm of Shelikhov Gulf, in the northeastern Sea of Okhotsk. It lies to the northwest of The Gorlo. A ledge projects about three quarters of a mile east-northeast of the headland, while a group of detached rocks lies about 1.2 miles north northeast of it.^{[1] [2]}

Administratively Cape Opasnyy belongs to the Kamchatka Krai of the Russian Federation.

History

American whaleships hunting bowhead whales frequented the waters off the cape from 1866 to 1889.^{[3] [4]} They called it Othello Cape,^[5] and the ledge to its east-northeast Othello Reef,^[6] both after a ship that visited the area in the early 1860s. They anchored under the cape and reef to seek shelter from southwesterly gales.^[7] Boats went ashore after salmon^[8] and wood,^[9] and also to trade with the natives^[10] from the nearby Koryak village of Big Itkana.^[11]

Notes and References

1. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. (2014). Sailing Directions (Enroute): East Coast of Russia. U.S. Government, Springfield, Virginia.
2. United States Naval Oceanographic Office. (1952). Sailing Directions for the east coast of Siberia: Mys Otto Shmidta to Sakhalinskiy Zaliv, including Ostrov Vrangelya. United States Government Printing Office, Washington.
3. Sunbeam, of New Bedford, July 15-16, 1866, New Bedford Free Public Library (NBFL).
4. Emma F. Herriman, of San Francisco, July 2, 1889, GBWL #761.
5. Sea Breeze, of New Bedford, July 19, 1868, Old Dartmouth Historical Society (ODHS) #490A.
6. Northern Light, of New Bedford, August 18, 1883, GBWL #761.
7. Benjamin Cummings, of New Bedford, July 20, 1868, NBFL.
8. Benjamin Cummings, of New Bedford, June 30, 1869, NBFL.
9. Europa, of Edgartown, July 20, 1868, ODHS #303.
10. Sea Breeze, of New Bedford, August 5, 1868, ODHS #768A.
11. Jochelson, W. (1905). "The Koryak". The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Vol. VI. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History. Leiden/New York.