  Nedorazumeniya | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Sea of Okhotsk |
| Coordinates | 59°35′N150°25′E / 59.583°N 150.417°E /59.583; 150.417 |
| Area | 4.5 km2 (1.7 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 251 m (823 ft) |
 | |
Nedorazumeniya Island (Russian:Остров Недоразумения - Ostrov Nedorazumeniya; literallyIsland of misunderstanding) is an island on the north coast of theSea of Okhotsk. It lies on the north side ofTaui Bay, betweenAmakhton Bay to the west andNagaev Bay to the east. It is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) west of the city ofMagadan.
Nedorazumeniya Island lies 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) off the coast and is roughly triangular in shape. It is 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) long and has a maximum width of about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi).
On Nedorazumeniya's northeastern headland there is a settlement called Ribachiy.
Administratively Nedorazumeniya Island belongs to theMagadan Oblast of theRussian Federation.
The name of the island is remarkable. "Nedorazumeniye" inRussian means "misunderstanding", "error". The island got such a strange name because it was originally not mapped by a Russian expedition in the 1910s. Then the mistake was identified and corrected.
Between 1853 and 1885,[1]American andRussianwhaleships anchored between Nedorazumeniya Island and the mainland to obtain shelter from storms,[2] procure wood and water from the island,[3]flensewhales,[4] or boil oil.[5] They called the islandFabius Island, while the anchorage was calledFabius Harbor. Both features are named after the shipFabius (432 tons), ofNew Bedford,[6] which frequented Taui Bay in the early 1850s. A graveyard existed on the north side of the island.[7]Boats also spent the night on the island after cruising forbowhead whales all day.[8]
A temporary whaling station was established on the island by two American vessels in the summer of 1858. It only consisted of a tent of sails, a thatched cook house, and a small tryworks. Sixteen men, eight from each ship, were given provisions for two months and worked on shares while the ships cruised to the south.[9] Among them were the second mates from both vessels, two boatsteerers (harpooners), acarpenter, a cook, and a steward. With two whaleboats they searched for bowhead andgray whales for as long as four days, ranging west to near the Taui River, east to Ola, and south to "Jeffrey's Point" (Mys Taran). They regularly cruised off "Jeanette Point" (Mys Chirikova) and often visited "Dobry Town" (probably Arman). Whales were also spotted by two men atop the island. They fished forsalmon in the rivers at high water and dug forclams at low water. The men encounteredbears on several occasions as well. They also traded meat and salmon for bread with other foreign whaleships. When they caught a whale, it was towed ashore, flensed at low tide, and the blubber rendered into oil using a single trypot. In the fall the men and their catch were picked up by their respective vessels.[10][11]
 | ThisMagadan Oblast location article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
