Bolsheretsk () or Bolsheretsky jail is an abandoned village on the west coast of the

Kamchatka Peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...

in Russia. Over a 200-year period, Bolsheretsk was a military fort, a prison, a port, and a village. Bolsheretsk was founded in 1703 as a fort on the Plotnikova River. In 1707, rebels destroyed the fort. In 1711, it was rebuilt where the Bystraya and Plotnikova rivers join to form the Bolshaya River, from the river mouth on the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

. Bolsheretsk had square earthworks with a side of on a crest. The fort had a

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

of poles. In 1715, the poles were replaced by a log fence. The fortifications lasted until the beginning of the 1770s. Bolsheretsk contained state buildings, churches, stores, a monastery, and houses. In 1726, there were 17 residential yards. Starting in 1823, Bolsheretsk went into decline and only consisted of a ramshackle church and 10 residential yards. In 1909, there were 19 yards. The village was situated on several islands separated by channels. In the 18th century, the population was military: in 1727, around 40 people; in 1759, 79; in 1775, 152; and in 1799, 24. By 1810, they had grown to 150 people. The main occupations of the inhabitants were fishing, hunting, gardening, and cattle breeding. Bolsheretsk was an important transit point on the sea route from Okhotsk to Kamchatka during this time. Many expeditions passed through here on their way to the

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the ...

and

Northern Pacific Northern Pacific may refer to: * Northern Pacific Airways, an upcoming airline * Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference, an NCAA Division I conference * Northern Pacific Hockey League, an American Tier III junior ice hockey league * Northern Paci ...

. In 1739, the Bolsheretsk shipyard built the sloop ''Bolsheretsk''. Between 1740 and 1803, Bolsheretsk was the residence of the Kamchatka commanders. In 1770, convicts Pyotr Khrushchov,

Maurice Benyovszky Count Maurice Benyovszky de Benyó et Urbanó (; ; ; 20 September 1746 – 24 May 1786) was a military officer, adventurer, and writer from the Kingdom of Hungary, who described himself as both a Hungarian and a Pole. He is considered a national ...

, and others organized a rebellion. They killed the commandant, captured the

galliot A galiot, galliot or galiote, was a small galley boat propelled by sail or oars. There are three different types of naval galiots that sailed on different seas. A ''galiote'' was a type of French flat-bottom river boat or barge and also a fla ...

''Saint Peter'', and sailed to France. In the 19th century, the jail was converted into the village Bolsheretsk. In 1928, the village was abolished, and the inhabitants moved to the nearby bayou, where the village of

Kavalerskoe Kavalerskoye () is a village and rural settlement in the Ust-Bolsheretsky District of the Kamchatka Krai federal subject of Russia. The village is the administrative center of the Kavalerskoye rural settlement . Location The rural settlement ha ...

was located, and to the mouth of the Bolshaya River, to the village of Ust-Bolsheretsk, which became the center of Ust-Bolsheretsky District.

References

Смышляев, Александр. Камчатский край. Большерецкие веси. — Петропавловск-Камчатский: Новая книга, 2011 P. 30–40. {{coord, 52.9092, N, 156.5511, E, source:wikidata, display=title Kamchatka Peninsula Former populated places in Russia