Nedorazumeniya Island (russian: Остров Недоразумения - Ostrov Nedorazumeniya; literally Island of misunderstanding) is an island on the north coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. It lies on the north side of

Taui Bay Taui Bay ( Russian: Тауйская губа; ''Tauyskaya Guba'') is a body of water in the Sea of Okhotsk off the coast of the Magadan Oblast in Russia. The bay opens to the south. Geography It is some 130 km (80 mi) wide and 75 km (46 ...

, between Amakhton Bay to the west and Nagaev Bay to the east. It is about west of the city of Magadan. Nedorazumeniya Island lies off the coast and is roughly triangular in shape. It is long and has a maximum width of about . On Nedorazumeniya's northeastern headland there is a settlement called Ribachiy. Administratively Nedorazumeniya Island belongs to the Magadan Oblast of the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Etymology

The name of the island is remarkable. "Nedorazumeniye" in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

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.

History

Between 1853 and 1885, American and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

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 anchored between Nedorazumeniya Island and the mainland to obtain shelter from storms, procure wood and water from the island, flense

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

s, or boil oil. They called the island Fabius Island, while the anchorage was called Fabius Harbor. Both features are named after the ship ''Fabius'' (432 tons), of

New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...

, which frequented Taui Bay in the early 1850s. A graveyard existed on the north side of the island.

Boats A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

also spent the night on the island after cruising for bowhead whales all day. 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. Among them were the second mates from both vessels, two boatsteerers (harpooners), a carpenter, a cook, and a steward. With two whaleboats they searched for bowhead and gray 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 for

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

in the rivers at high water and dug for

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two shel ...

s at low water. The men encountered bears 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.''Cicero'', of New Bedford, July 15-19, October 1, 1858, ODHS.

References

Location

Hamradio

External links

Island list
Islands of the Sea of Okhotsk Islands of the Russian Far East Islands of Magadan Oblast Whaling stations {{MagadanOblast-geo-stub