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
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 ...
; its area is and it measures about . It has a large brackish lake (Lake Bol'shoe, "Big Lake") on its north side which is connected to the sea through a narrow passage. Yakshin Bay indents the southwest side of the island.
Administratively this island belongs to the Khabarovsk Krai 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 ...
.
History
The Shantar Islands were explored by Russian surveyors between 1711 and 1725.
Bolshoy Shantar 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 between 1852 and 1907. They hunted bowhead whales, particularly in the passages that separate Bolshoy Shantar from Feklistova and Prokofyeva. They also went ashore to obtain wood and water and hunt bears and foxes.''Arctic'', of Fairhaven, Aug. 1852. In Gelett, C. W. (1917). ''A life on the ocean: Autobiography of Captain Charles Wetherby Gelett''. Honolulu, Hawaii: Hawaiian Gazette Co., Ltd. Two whaleships were wrecked on the island. On 18 October 1858, the bark ''Rajah'' (250 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 ...
, was wrecked on the north side of the island during a strong
gale
A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).schooner ''Carrie and Annie'' (90 tons), of
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, was wrecked on the island during a gale. The crew remained stranded on Bolshoy Shantar until 11 September, when the
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 ...
smelt
Smelt may refer to:
* Smelting, chemical process
* The common name of various fish:
** Smelt (fish), a family of small fish, Osmeridae
** Australian smelt in the family Retropinnidae and species ''Retropinna semoni''
** Big-scale sand smelt ''Ath ...
s (''Hypomesus japonicus'') and (''H. olidus'') are found in Lake Bol'shoe. In the spring and summer
Steller's sea eagle
Steller's sea eagle (''Haliaeetus pelagicus''), also known as Pacific sea eagle or white-shouldered eagle, is a very large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It was described first by Peter Simon Pallas in 1811. No subspecies are ...
Nigge, K. "The Russian Realm of Steller's sea-eagles". ''National Geographic'', Vol. 195, No. 3 (March 1999): 60-71. and Aleutian tern nest on the island; long-billed murrelet also appear to breed here.Kondratyev, A. Y., Litvinenko, N. M., Shibaev, Y. V., Vyatkin, P. S., & Kondratyeva, L. F. (2000) The breeding seabirds of the Russian Far East ''Seabirds of the Russian Far East'', 37-81.
Popular culture
This island is mentioned in the 2008 video game ''
Grand Theft Auto IV
''Grand Theft Auto IV'' is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2004's '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', and the e ...
'' as the location of the headquarters of a fictional
peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network. They are said to form a peer-to-peer ...