Kayak Island, (

Eyak The Eyak ( Eyak: ʔi·ya·ɢdəlahɢəyu·, literally "inhabitants of Eyak Village at Mile 6"Krauss, Michael E. 1970. ''Eyak dictionary''. University of Alaska and Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1963-1970) are a Native American indigenous ...

: ''Qe'yiłteh'') which includes the Bering Expedition Landing Site, is located in the

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska (Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east, ...

, SE of

Cordova, Alaska Cordova ( ) is a city in Chugach Census Area, Alaska, United States. It lies near the mouth of the Copper River, at the head of Orca Inlet on the east side of Prince William Sound. The population was 2,609 at the 2020 census, up from 2,239 in ...

Malaspina Coastal Plain, on the eastern edge of

Chugach National Forest The Chugach National Forest is a United States National Forest in south central Alaska. Covering portions of Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula and the Copper River Delta, it was formed in 1907 from part of a larger forest reserve. The Ch ...

. It has a land area of and no population. A brief visit by the Bering Expedition's German naturalist George Steller is among the first contributions to the West's knowledge of the natural and human history of the region. The island was named "

Kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...

" in 1826 by Lt. Sarychev of the Russian Navy, because of the fancied resemblance of its outline to the

Eskimo Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Siberian Yupik, Yuit) of eastern Si ...

skin canoe. Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

visited the island on May 12, 1778, and buried a bottle with a paper and two small pieces of silver given to him by Dr.

Richard Kaye Richard Kaye (born 30 September 1967 in Harrogate, Yorkshire) is a British former auto racing driver. He comes from a family heavily involved in motor-sport. His older brother James is a driver and his father Peter, worked as his engineer and t ...

, the chaplain of

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

, for this purpose. Because of this, Capt. Cook gave the name this feature. The 1779 expedition of Spanish explorer

Ignacio de Arteaga y Bazán Ignacio de Arteaga y Bazán (17 February 1731 – 1783) was an officer of the Spanish Navy. Biography He was born in Aracena, Andalusia. His paternal Basque family 'Arteaga' made it possible for Arteaga to join the naval academy at Cádiz. ...

sighted the island about July 16, the feast day of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (or Carmen), and so named it "Nuestra Senora del Carmen" or "Isla del Carmen." The Bering Expedition Landing Site was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1978. and

Cape Saint Elias Cape Saint Elias is a cape in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located at the southwest end of Kayak Island, 104 km (65 mi) southeast of Cordova, at . It is commonly believed that Mount Saint Elias, the second highest mountain in the Unit ...

is located on the southwest end of the island.

Mount Saint Elias Mount Saint Elias (also designated Boundary Peak 186), the second-highest mountain in both Canada and the United States, stands on the Yukon and Alaska border about southwest of Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada. The Canadian side of ...

— about 115 miles to the ENE, and at 18,009 feet (5,489 m) the second highest mountain in both the United States and Canada — was likely named after this cape. The cape is also the site of Alaska's first confirmed tornado, which caused minor damage to the area on November 4, 1959. It was the 50th and last state to confirm their first tornado since 1950. The Cape St. Elias Light is an important aid-to-navigation located on the island.

References

External links

Kayak Island: Block 1191, Census Tract 2, Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Alaska
United States Census Bureau
Amateur Radio Expedition Kayak Island NL6/VE7ACN
{{Authority control Islands of Alaska Islands of Chugach Census Area, Alaska Islands of Unorganized Borough, Alaska

See also

References

External links