Uda Gulf or Uda Bay (russian: Удская губа; ''Udskaya Guba'') is a gulf or bay in Khabarovsk Krai,

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 ...

Geography

Uda Gulf is located in the northwestern Sea of Okhotsk. It lies just west of the Shantar Islands. The

Uda River Uda or UDA may refer to: UDA * UD Almería, a Spanish football club * Unión Deportivo Ascensión, a Peruvian football club * Ulster Defence Association, a loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland * Union des artistes, a Quebec act ...

flows into it. It is entered between Cape Madzhalinda (55°17' N, 136°07' E) and Cape Malaya 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 Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaqu ...

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.

Tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

s 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 A whirlpool is a body of rotating water produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle. Small whirlpools form when a bath or a sink is draining. More powerful ones formed in seas or oceans may be called maelstroms ( ). ''Vo ...

between Cape Tyl'sky and Medvezhy Island. The northern spurs of the

Taikan Range The Taikan Range (russian: Тайканский хребет; zh, 札格第嶺) is a mountain range in Khabarovsk Krai, Russian Far East. The closest inhabited place is Chumikan, Tuguro-Chumikansky District. The nearest airport is Chumikan A ...

rise inland from the southern shore of the gulf. Google Earth

History

Between 1852 and 1905,

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 ...

and

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 ...

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 cruised for bowhead whales in the gulf. They called it Southwest Bay.''Junior'', of New Bedford, summer 1852. In Sampson, A. D. (1867). ''Three times around the world, or life and adventures of Alonzo D. Sampson''. Buffalo, N. Y.: Express Printing Company.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. Some traded

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

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 ...

with the

natives Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. The

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

''Louisa'', 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 ...

, reported as many as fifty ships in sight in the bay at one time, ten of which were boiling oil. Three ships were wrecked in the gulf. The bark ''Ocean Wave'' (380 tons), of

, under Captain Hiram Baker, and the bark ''

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

'' (323 tons), of Nantucket, under Captain Bethuel Gifford Handy, were both wrecked during a gale on the night of 11 October 1858. The former was lost with all hands on one of the Pinnacle Rocks, while the latter was run ashore on Medvezhy Island. After spending a winter ashore, Captain Handy and his crew were rescued the following spring. 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 Tugur 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. Russian schooners and boat crews from Tugur and Mamga also cruised for bowheads in the bay from 1863 to 1874.Schooner ''E. L. Frost'' seen cutting in by ''Northern Light'', of New Bedford, September 1, 1874, Uda Gulf, ODHS.

Wildlife

In the spring and summer

beluga whale The beluga whale () (''Delphinapterus leucas'') is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus ''Delphinapterus''. It is also known as the ...

s aggregate at the head of Uda Gulf to feed on spawning

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

in the Uda and Torom river

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environmen ...

,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. while in the summer and fall bowhead whales also come here to feed.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.

References

{{reflist, 2 Bays of the Sea of Okhotsk Bays of Khabarovsk Krai Shipwrecks in the Sea of Okhotsk