Belichy Island (russian: Беличий остров, ''Belichy Ostrov'', literally: "Squirrel Island") is a narrow island in the northwestern

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...

, one of the

Shantar Islands The Shantar Islands (russian: Шантарские острова, translit=Shantarskiye ostrova) are a group of fifteen islands located off the northwestern shore of the Sea of Okhotsk east of Uda Gulf and north of Academy Bay. Most of the isla ...

Geography

The island is 20.3 km in length, with a maximum width of about 5 km. It is covered in

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...

forests. Belichy Island is separated from

Bolshoy Shantar Island Bolshoy Shantar ( rus, Большо́й Шантар, r=Bol'shoy Shantar, Big Shantar, p=bɐlʲˈʂoj ʂɐnˈtar) is the main island of the Shantar Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia; its area is and it measures about . It has a large bracki ...

to the north by Proliv Severo-Vostochny, from Maly Shantar Island to the west by Proliv Opasny, and from the mainland to the south by

Lindholm Strait Lindholm Strait (Russian: ''Proliv Lindgol'ma'') is a strait in the northwestern Sea of Okhotsk. It separates Malyy Shantar and Belichiy Islands to the north from the Tugur Peninsula to the south. At its narrowest it is only 3.2 km (2 mi) wide. T ...

. To its east lies Academy Bay.

History

Belichy was frequented by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

whaleship A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

s hunting

bowhead whale The bowhead whale (''Balaena mysticetus'') is a species of baleen whale belonging to the family Balaenidae and the only living representative of the genus ''Balaena''. They are the only baleen whale endemic to the Arctic and subarctic waters, ...

s between 1857 and 1889.''Mary Frazier'', of New Bedford, June 30, Aug. 24, 1857, June 27, July 1-2, 1859, Nicholson Whaling Collection; ''Florida'', of Fairhaven, Aug. 3, 1860, ''One Whaling Family'', Williams (1964); ''Java'', of New Bedford, June 27, 1866, Kendall Whaling Museum; ''E. F. Herriman'', of San Francisco, October 6, 1889, GBWL #761.

References

Shantar Islands Islands of the Sea of Okhotsk Islands of the Russian Far East Islands of Khabarovsk Krai {{KhabarovskKrai-geo-stub