Lebyazhya Bay


Lebyazhya Bay is a small bay that indents the south side of Feklistova Island, one of the Shantar Islands, in the western Sea of Okhotsk. Its entrance is wide and it is deep. There are three small bays at its head: Enegelma Road to the west, Soboleva to the north, and Rosseta to the east. A small island, Sukhotina, lies to its southeast. In the spring and summer it is host to a small nesting colony of thick-billed murre. A number of streams of fresh water flow down the hills into the bay. Spring tides rise while neaps rise.

History

Between 1852 and 1889, American whaleships anchored in the bay — particularly Soboleva at its head — to stow down or boil oil, flense whales, and obtain wood and water or shelter from storms. They referred to the anchorage itself as Feklistova Harbor. The ship Lexington, of Nantucket, reported sixteen other whaleships anchored in Feklistova Harbor, of which five were boiling oil; seven more were seen coming in.
The schooner E. L. Frost, of Honolulu, was left in the bay for the winter of 1860–1861. She served as tender to the bark Benjamin Rush, also of Honolulu, during the seasons of 1860 and 1861.