Disenchantment Bay extends southwest for from the mouth of
Russell Fiord to
Point Latouche, at the head of
Yakutat Bay
Yakutat Bay ( Lingít: ''Yaakwdáat G̱eeyí'') is a 29-km-wide (18 mi) bay in the U.S. state of Alaska, extending southwest from Disenchantment Bay to the Gulf of Alaska. "Yakutat" is a Tlingit name reported as "Jacootat" and "Yacootat" ...
in
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
.
Named "Puerto del Desengano", Spanish for "bay of disenchantment", by
Alessandro Malaspina
Alejandro Malaspina (November 5, 1754 – April 9, 1810) was a Tuscan explorer who spent most of his life as a Spanish naval officer. Under a Spanish royal commission, he undertook a voyage around the world from 1786 to 1788, then, from 1789 t ...
in 1792, upon finding that the bay was not the entrance to the legendary
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arc ...
. He sailed up the bay as far as
Haenke Island, before discovering the passage blocked by ice.
During the
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...
of September 10, 1899, parts of Disenchantment bay were raised . This is the greatest recorded vertical displacement by an earthquake.
[Lane, F.W. ''The Elements Rage'' (David & Charles 1966), p.176n.]
References
Bays of Alaska
Bodies of water of Yakutat City and Borough, Alaska
{{YakutatAK-geo-stub