Uda Gulf

Uda Gulf or Uda Bay (Russian: Udskaya Guba) is a gulf in the northwestern Sea of Okhotsk. It lies just west of the Shantar Islands. The Uda River flows into it.

Geography

Uda Gulf is entered between Cape Madzhalinda (55°17' N, 136°07' E) and Cape Mal Dugandzha (54°41' N, 136°39' E). It is about 64.4 km (40 mi) wide. Trees line its shores, principally fir. Calms and light winds prevail from March or April to June, while southwesterly winds are common in July and August. Northwesterly gales and northeast storms are frequent in October and November. During the winter northwesterly winds are prevalent. The gulf is normally enshrouded in fog during the spring and early summer. Ice typically occurs in the gulf between November and mid-July. During favorable years the ice may leave by June, but after severe winters it may remain throughout the year. Tides are semidiurnal. Springs rise 6.1 to 7.3 m (20 to 24 ft), while neaps rise 4.2 m (13.8 ft). Tidal currents can reach four or five knots and create a large whirlpool between Cape Tyl'sky and Medvezhy Island.[1]

History

Between 1854 and 1874, American and Russian whaleships hunted bowhead whales in the gulf. They called it Southwest Bay.[2][3] Some traded tobacco for salmon with the natives.[4] The barque Louisa, of New Bedford, reported as many as fifty ships in sight in the bay at one time, ten of which were boiling oil.[5] On 18 September 1864, the barque Mary (287 tons), of New Bedford, was wrecked in Northeast Harbor, on the north side of the bay, during a gale. Her captain, Edwin P. Thompson, traveled to the Russian whaling station Mamga in Tugursky Bay, where she was sold at auction for between $970 and $1,100 to Otto Wilhelm Lindholm. The second mate and four men guarded the wreck during the winter, and the following spring Lindholm salvaged what valuables he could before setting her afire.[3][6][7]

Russian schooners and boat crews from Tugur and Mamga also cruised for bowheads in the bay from 1864 to 1871.[3]

Wildlife

In the spring and summer beluga whales aggregate at the head of Uda Gulf to feed on spawning fish in the Uda and Torom river estuaries,[8] while in the summer and fall bowhead whales also come here to feed.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Prostar Sailing Directions 2004 East Coast of Russia Enroute. ProStar Publications. 1 January 2004. pp. 95–96. ISBN 978-1-57785-560-6. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  2. ↑ China, of New Bedford, June 27-July 4, 1854, Old Dartmouth Historical Society; Sea Breeze, of New Bedford, Sep. 18, 1874, George Blunt White Library.
  3. 1 2 3 Lindholm, O. V., Haes, T. A., & Tyrtoff, D. N. (2008). Beyond the frontiers of imperial Russia: From the memoirs of Otto W. Lindholm. Javea, Spain: A. de Haes OWL Publishing.
  4. ↑ Lexington, of Nantucket, July 23, 1855, Nantucket Historical Association.
  5. ↑ Louisa, of New Bedford, Aug. 19, 1858, Nicholson Whaling Collection.
  6. ↑ The Friend (Vol. 21, No. 12, 5 December 1864).
  7. ↑ Starbuck, Alexander (1878). History of the American Whale Fishery from Its Earliest Inception to the year 1876. Castle. ISBN 1-55521-537-8.
  8. ↑ Solovyev, B. A., Shpak, O. V., Glazov, D. M., Rozhnov, V. V., & D. M. Kuznetsova. (2015). "Summer distribution of beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in the Sea of Okhotsk". Russian J. Theriol. 14 (2): 201-215.
  9. ↑ Shpak, O. V., Meschersky, I. G., Chichkina, A. N., Kuznetsova, D. M., Paramonov, A. Y., & V. V. Rozhnov. (2014). "New data on the Okhotsk Sea bowhead whales". Paper presented to the Scientific Committee of IWC 65. 5 pp.

Coordinates: 54°52′N 135°53′E / 54.867°N 135.883°E / 54.867; 135.883

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