C

Cairn

Cairn – a man-made pile of stones collected on theshore as a trail marker. Cairns are widely used inthe Arctic seas as markings, especially in case ofhydrographical works.

Canoe

Canoe (Carib. kenu “dugout boat”) – a boat ofNorth American Indians covered by birch or elmbark on the frame of up to 15 stringers and approx-imately 50 ribs made from small slats as thick as10 mm. Pieces of stem and covering were sewn onto the gunwale with spruce roots, boat seamsbeing caulked. Men propel canoe with single-ended paddles either sitting on the thwart or stand-ing on one knee with their faces front, in thedirection of the travel. Being the only means oftransport for two centuries, the C. was of a greatimportance for colonization of the North Ameri-can continent. At present, canoeing, i.e., travelingC. over lakes and rivers, is a widespread sport inAlaska.

# Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016I.S. Zonn et al., The Eastern Arctic Seas Encyclopedia, EncyDOI 10.1007/978-3-319-24237-8

Cape Chelyuskin

Cape Chelyuskin – the northernmost cape in Rus-sia and Eurasia, the northern end of the TaymyrPeninsula. It is situated in Taymyr AutonomousDistrict (Dolgan-Nenets Autonomous Okrug),Russia. The cape is washed by the Vilkitsky Strait.C. is the boundary point between the Kara Sea andthe Laptev Sea. The depth of the waters off thecape is up to 10 m. The coast is steep, with theheight less than 10 m. Since 1932 there exists apolar hydrometeorological station “Chelyuskin,”which currently operates as a radio-meteorological center. The northernmost airportis located here, but only a helipad remains func-tional. The cape was discovered and was firstdescribed in 1724 by navigator SemyonChelyuskin, a participant of the Great NorthernExpedition of 1733–1743, during the mapping ofthe coast of the Taymyr Peninsula and namedCape Northeast. In 1878, the cape was visited bythe Swedish polar explorer Adolf ErikNordenskiöld, and in 1893, it was for the firsttime circumnavigated by the Norwegian polarexplorer Fridtjof Nansen.

In 1842, at the suggestion of the academicianA.F. Middendorf, the cape was named after its

clopedia of Seas,

Canoe (Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/)

66 Cape Dezhnev

discoverer, Semyon Chelyuskin. In 1919, by anexpedition to the cape led by R. Amundsen, acopper sphere was installed, with the words inNorwegian: “To the conquerors of the NOpass – Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld and hiscompanions. The “Maud” Expedition of1918–1919.”

Cape Dezhnev

Cape Dezhnev (former East Cape, Cape BolshoyKamennyi Nos (Big Stone Nose)) – located on theChukotka Peninsula in the Bering Strait, north-easternmost point of Asia and the easternmostpoint of mainland Russia. It is an isolated flat-topped mountain range (up to 741 m high); com-posed of granite, quartz, and nepheline syenites;and steeply breaking into the sea. The cape is oneof the most majestic natural formations of theChukchi Sea. The town of Uelen is located onthe Cape.

In 1879, Nils Nordenskiöld, the first explorersailing via the Northeast Passage from the Atlanticto the Pacific Ocean and doubling this cape,suggested naming it after the Russian explorerS.I. Dezhnev, who first sailed around the cape

with F.A. Alekseev (Popov) in 1648. This pro-posal was accepted in 1898. In his petitions,Dezhnev stated that he sailed around the BigStone Nose. The authors of the late seventeenthto early eighteenth centuries, this cape is men-tioned under the name of Chukotka Nose, orNon-passable Nose. In 1778, the English naviga-tor James Cook charted the cape on the map asEast Cape.

Cape Krusenstern NationalMonument (Cape Krusenstern)

Cape Krusenstern National Monument (CapeKrusenstern) – a US National Monument, located80 km northwest of the town of Kotzebue onthe shores of Chukchi Sea, Alaska, USA. Thearea is 262.7 ha. It was unveiled in 1978. A widecoastal strip is composed of 114 parallellimestone slopes and ridges, which form the coast-line of the Chukchi Sea. In autumn, this variablelandscape of alternating lagoons and coastsattracts many birds. The only inhabited pointhere is a hunting base in Anigaaq near coastalridges.

Cape Krusenstern NationalMonument (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Krusenstern_National_Monument

Cape Schmidt 67

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Cape Onman

Cape Onman – the easternmost end of the rockypeninsula formed by the gentle slope of a coastalmountain located westward of KolyuchinskayaGuba (Bay), 30 km from Vankarem Village,Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The pen-insula juts out to the Chukchi Sea by two pro-jections separated by an embayment with steep,but not abrupt slopes. The northern projection ofthe peninsula is called in local language Engotkyand the southern – Vuarat.

Cape Prince of Wales

Cape Prince of Wales – the westernmost mainlandpoint of North America, located in the BeringStrait on the Seward Peninsula (Alaska, USA),where the Chukchi and the Bering Seas separate.From Cape Prince of Wales to Cape Dezhnev, theeasternmost point of mainland Eurasia, the dis-tance is 86 km. The cape was named in 1778 bythe English navigator James Cook in honor of theheir to the British throne, the future King GeorgeIV (1762–1830). The former Eskimo name of the

Cape is Nykhta. Vitus Bering, in 1728, called theCape – Cape Gvozdeva. Near Cape Prince ofWales, there is a small village.

Cape Schmidt

1. A cape (formerly Severnyi), located in the north-east of Asia, which juts out into the Chukchi Sea,Russia. It is the northernmost point of the penin-sula about 2 km in width, located between theZapadnaya (Western) andVostochnaya (Eastern)bays and projected to the north of the generaldirection of the coast for about 3 km. It was firstmentioned and mapped in 1871 by I.I. Billingsduring his overland passage from MechigmenBay to Chaun Bay and the river of Big Anyuy.A polar station was opened in 1936. In 1929, theSoviet ship “Stavropol” and the American fish-ing schooner “Nanook” wintered at this Cape.Two US aircraft took furs from “Nanook” bypermission of the Soviet government, and, dur-ing the secondflight, one of the planes crashed inthe area of the river of Amguema.

The Cape was named in 1935 in honor ofthe great Russian explorer of the Arctic, prom-inent public figure, and scientist Otto Schmidt.

68 Cape Shelagsky

2. A village in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug,Russia. Until 2008, it was the administrativecenter of Shmidtovsky District of Chukotka.Since 2009 it is part of Iultinsky District of theChukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The vil-lage is located on the coast of the Chukchi Sea650 km north of Anadyr and associated with airtraffic. It was named for the eponymous CapeSchmidt, with a population of 166 (2015). It wasfounded in 1931 as a base of Arctic exploration,and in 1936 – as a polar station. Later, in thevicinity of the village, tin and goldmining began.The status of an urban-type settlement wasreceived in 1962. Due to the termination of min-ing activities, the population of the town reducedfor the past 25 years by 30 times. There wereindustrial enterprises of local importance, includ-ing the ionospheric station, the floating powerstation “Northern Light,” and the airport. Thevillage is linked by a motor road with the villageof Ryrkaypy, located on the western shore of thebay. The village has regular aircraft communica-tion with other Russian airports.

3. A seaport located in the Vostochnaya (Eastern)Bay near the village of Cape Schmidt. The portstation of Ryveem is also part of the port.

Cape Shelagsky

Cape Shelagsky – is the northernmost cape at theexit to the Chaun Bay of the continental Chukotkaon the East Siberian Sea coast. The Chukchi name

Capelin (Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/com

is Erri. The name Cape Shelagsky is derived fromthe ethnonym of Shelagi people (extruded by theChukchi of the Yukagir ethnos group), theChuvantsi tribe who used to live in this area. Themember of Wrangel’s expedition Doctor Kiberclaims that the Shelagi went to the east fromCape Shelagsky. The interpretation of the Shelagias a separate ethnos is considered erroneous aswell as the fact that the Shelagi are the Chukchi,inhabiting the banks of the Chaun River. CapeShelagsky is rocky and protrudes 9 km to the sea.

The cape was discovered by Semen Dezhnev in1648 when one of the Kochi boats crushed at itsshores. Dezhnev called the cape “Pervyy SvyatoyNos.” The Cossack foreman Mikhail Stadukhinobviously reached Cape Shelagsky in 1649 and hisnamesake Taras Stadukhin in 1660. In the 1760s themerchant Nikita Shalaurof died at Cape Shelagsky.

Alexander I ordered to supply two detachmentsto survey the Siberian coasts beyond CapeShelagsky; one of the detachments was under com-mand of F.P. Wrangel. Wrangel’s expedition(1820–1824) gave the cape’s description, accordingto which it consists of tall rocks, the rocks “thoseconsist of fine-grained granite, mixed with greenishspar, dark-green corneous bloedite and mica.”

Capelin (Mallotus villosus)

Capelin (Mallotus villosus) – a small forage fish ofthe smelt family. The body length is 22 cm and thefishing weight is 12–17 g. Capelin is a schooling

mons/c/cb/Mallotus_villosus.gif)

Chaunskaya Bay or Chaun Bay 69

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pelagic fish and it feeds on planktonic crusta-ceans. C. spawns on the second or third year oflife. Spawning occurs in spring and summer in thecoastal zone at a depth of 50–100 m, at tempera-ture +2–4 �C. It lays eggs in shallow water; eggsare small, are benthic, and are attached to thesubstrate. The incubation period is 2–3 weeks.C. is a rapidly growing fish. In summers,C. fattens away from the coast in the bottom layersof water. It feeds on crustaceans. C. is the food formany commercial fish, especially during its massspawning runs to the coast. C. is a commercialfish.

Chamisso Island

Chamisso Island – a small island in the KotzebueBay, Alaska, USA. It is situated in the SpafarievBay at the mouth of Eschscholtz Baу, to the southof Choris Peninsula. The island is triangular inshape. It is 2.3 km long and 0.2 km wide. Thehighest point of the island is 69 m above sea level.In 1912 Chamisso became a national reserve. Thereserve territory the wild area of Chamissoincludes the island itself, the neighboring islandof Puffin, and, also, some rocks. They constitute apart of the Alaska Maritime National WildlifeRefuge. The island was named after Adelbert

Chamisso Island (Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamisso_Island#/media/File:Chamisso_Wilderness.jpg)

von Chamisso, a French-German writer, poet,and naturalist, who visited the island in 1816 asa member of the Russian expedition on the brig“Rurik” under the command of CaptainO.E. Kotzebue (Russian).

Chaun River

Chaun River – a river in the Chukotka Autono-mous Okrug, Russia. The river runs for 205 km. Itarises from the ridges of the Chukchi Plateau tothe northwest of Lake Elgygytgyn. It runs throughthe Elgygytgyn Plain and then flows into thesouthern part of the Chaun Bay, near the EastSiberian Sea, about 100 km from the town ofPevek. The delta is comprised of several branchesup to 2 km in width and approx. 0.7 m in depth.After the flood, the riverbed migrates. In the highwater, the river rises up to 3 m. Approximately15 rivers and streams flow into the river.

Chaunskaya Bay or Chaun Bay

1. A bay in Chukotka that belongs to the easternpart of the East Siberian Sea Basin and

70 Chekin, Nikifor (?–?)

connects to it through three straits: the LesserChaun Strait (on the western side of AyonIsland), the Middle Chaun Strait (betweenBolshoy Routan Island and Ayon Island), andPevek (on the eastern side of Bolshoy Routan).The depth of the bay does not exceed 20 m,with the exception of the Pevek Strait, where itreaches more than 30 m. The basin of the baycontains a large number of small rivers. ThePalyavaam River flows into the bay. At thecape of Valkumey in Chaunskaya Bay, richdeposits of tin were discovered, which lead tothe establishing in the Arctic regions ofChukotka of the first mining enterprises forthe extraction of tin, as well as boosted theconstruction of the port in Pevek. A winterroad passes through the bay, from Pevek toBaranikha. An airport is located on the easterncoast.

2. A nature reserve with an area of 210,500 ha.

Chekin, Nikifor (?–?)

Chekin, Nikifor (?–?) – a land surveyor, partici-pant of the Great Northern Expedition, andexplorer of the Taymyr Peninsula. In 1736, aspart of the group led by V. Pronchishchev, heexplored the lower reaches of the Anabar Riverin a small yalbote. Since 1739, he worked underthe command of Kh.P. Laptev. On board the dou-ble boat “Yakutsk,” he participated in the discov-ery and mapping of the bay of Noordwijk and thePreobrazheniya Island at the exit of the KhatangaBay. In winter 1739–1740, together with Kh.P.Laptev and S.I. Chelyuskin, he created a brief“description of the sea shores, of rivers, and baysof the North Sea, beginning from the Lena River,”which contains valuable information on theTaymyr Peninsula.

In spring of 1740, he traveled from the lowerreaches of the Khatanga River to Lake Taymyr bytwo dog sleds and then went along the TaymyrRiver toward its mouth, finally proving that theriver flows into the Kara Sea. He also mapped

about 100 km of the sea coast west of the mouthof the Taymyr River. In 1741, he mapped theeastern coast of the Taymyr Peninsula from themouth of the Khatanga River to the latitude of theSaint Peter Islands, then, together with a team ofexplorers, he traveled to Turukhansk. During theyears 1754–1757, he worked in the Nerchinskexpedition led by F.I. Soymonov.

A bay and a cape in Novaya Zemlya are namedafter him, as well as a cape in the Vilkitsky Straitof the Kara Sea.

“Chelyuskin”

“Chelyuskin”– a steam vessel constructed in 1933in Denmark by the “Burmeister og Wain” Com-pany, by the order of the USSR under the name“Lena.” Subsequently, it received the name of theRussian polar explorer of the eighteenth century,captain Semyon Chelyuskin. The vessel is 100 min length, 16.6 m in width, and has a displacementof 3,600 tons, with the engine capacity of2,450 hp. It had minor ice protection in the bow,but the vessel was not classified an icebreaker. InJuly 1933, the vessel arrived in Leningrad. Thefirst head of the Chief Directorate of the NorthernSea Route (Glavsevmorput or GUSMP),O.Y. Schmidt, decided to replicate the voyageof the icebreaker “A. Sibiryakov” in one naviga-tion along the Northern Sea Route from east towest toward Vladivostok, unaccompanied byan icebreaker, thus proving that it was possibleto navigate this route on a conventionaltransport ship.

He also became the leader of the expedition;V.I. Voronin was appointed captain of“Chelyuskin” (in 1932, Voronin first navigatedthis route on board the “A. Sibiryakov”). Thedecision to have it through the voyage was madeat the government level. “Ch.” set out from Lenin-grad on July 16, 1933, went to Copenhagen forminor repairs, and then voyaged to Murmansk.On August 10, 1933, “Ch.” left Murmansk andin storm conditions navigated through the Laptev

“Chelyuskin” (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Chelyuskin)

Chelyuskin, Semyon Ivanovich (1707–1764) 71

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Sea, East Siberian Sea, and in the Chukchi Seawhere it was clobbered by ice and began drifting.In November 1933 it was in the Bering Strait,500 m from clean water, but a typhoon drove theship, already frozen into the ice, in the oppositedirection. On February 13, 1934, in the ChukchiSea, on the 212th day of the voyage and on 120thday of drifting, the vessel was crushed by iceand sank.

One person died (supply managerB.G. Mogilevich), and 104 members of the crewof “Chelyuskin” (including ten women and twoyoung children) landed on an ice floe andwere later rescued by the Soviet polar aviationpilots. All members of the expedition who wereon the ice (except children) were awardedthe Order of the Red Star, and sevenpilots – M. Vodopyanov, I. Doronin,N. Kamanin, A. Lyapidevsky, S. Levanevsky,V. Molokov, and M. Slepnev – were the first tobe awarded the title “Hero of the Soviet Union.”Subsequently, some of the ship’s crewmemberswere persecuted and perished in the camps of theGulag.

Chelyuskin, Semyon Ivanovich(1707–1764)

Chelyuskin, Semyon Ivanovich(1707–1764) – captain of the 3rd rank, a partici-pant of the Great Northern Expedition, and anexplorer of the Taymyr Peninsula. In 1714, heentered the Naval School, a year later he wastransferred to the Naval Academy, but in 1716he returned to Moscow as “malodvorny.” In1728 he was promoted to junior navigator(podshturman) and served in the Baltic Fleet. In1733 he was promoted to navigator and enlisted inthe Great Northern Expedition (Second Kam-chatka Expedition) as part of the group led byV.V. Pronchishchev. In the summer of 1735, trav-eling on board the double boat “Yakutsk,” he wentdownstream the Lena River from Yakutsk. Then,going by sea, he traveled to the mouth of theOlenyok River where he passed the winter. As aproduct of his expedition to the west of the mouthof the Lena, he charted the river’s length fromYakutsk to the sea, under the title “The map

Chelyuskin S.I. (Source: http://www.polarpost.ru/articles/Peples/Russia/Cheluskin/SICheliskin.html)

72 Chelyuskin, Semyon Ivanovich (1707–1764)

drawn in 1735 and contained in the log-book ofthe double boat Yakutsk, charting the territoryfrom the town of Yakutsk to the Arctic Ocean,the map drawn by the navigator SemyonChelyuskin.”

It was the first known map of the Lena River,made with the use of special tools. In 1736, onboard the “Yakutsk,” he navigated along the coastto the west, toward the mouth of the Anabar River,then turned north and went beyond the 770280 ofthe northern latitude, discovering unchartedislands (The Komsomolskaya Pravda Islands).Because of the “great ice” on August 20, the ves-sel turned back and was wintering in the mouth ofthe Olenyok River, where V.V. Pronchishchevdied. In the winter, having prepared the accountfor 1736, Ch. went to Yakutsk, where in the sum-mer of 1737 the double boat was brought to byboatswain V. Medvedev. In the summer of 1739,on board the “Yakutsk” (with the team led byKh.P. Laptev), navigating from the mouth of theLena River to the west, he participated in theopening of the Bay of Noordwijk and thePreobrazheniya Island at the entrance of the Kha-tanga Bay. At Cape Thaddeus, he turned back andreturned to winter in the Khatanga River.

In the winter of 1739–1740, together with Kh.-P. Laptev and N. Chekin, he wrote an account andbrief “Description of the sea shores, of rivers andbays of the North Sea, beginning from the LenaRiver.” All these materials contained valuableinformation on the Taymyr Peninsula. In the sum-mer of 1740 on board the vessel “Yakutsk,” henavigated north to latitude 720260, where the shipwas damaged by the ice to a hopeless conditionand abandoned by the crew, which then returnedto Khatanga. In the spring of 1741, Ch. drovethree sled dog teams overland to the mouth ofthe Pyasina River and started his mapping of thecoast of Taymyr. At Mys Lemana (Cape Leman),he met with Kh.P. Laptev, who was coming in theopposite direction from the Lower Taymyra River.In late summer, he arrived in Turukhansk.

In December 1741, he traveled by dog sleds tothe mouth of the Khatanga, from where he wentnorth to Cape Thaddeus and mapped the coast tothe northernmost point of the continent (CapeChelyuskin). Then he turned southwest, and,

continuing the mapping of the territories, in1741 he joined the same route as Laptev. In theautumn of 1742, he arrived in Yeniseysk, wherethe full team led by Kh.P. Laptev reunited, and,with a report of the Admiralty Board on the suc-cessful exploration, he set out on the first sleighroad to St. Petersburg.

In 1742, he was promoted to the rank of mid-shipman. From 1745 to 1756, he served in theBaltic Fleet and was in command of a number ofyachts. In 1756, he was awarded the rank oflieutenant commander. In August 1760, he waspromoted to Captain of the 3rd rank and dismissedfrom service.

He gave his name to a cape in Vilkitsky Strait,to a number of islands in the Taymyr Bay of theKara Sea and in the mouth of the Pyasina River, aswell as a peninsula in the Taymyr, and to a famoussteamboat, destroyed (crushed by ice) in 1934 inthe Chukchi Sea.

Chirikov, Aleksey Ilyich (1703–1748) 73

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Chetyrehstolbovoy Island

Chetyrehstolbovoy Island – an island in theMedvezhyi Islands (Bear Islands) in the EastSiberian Sea, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),Russia. It is the easternmost island of the group.The Leontiev Island, which is the closest to Ch., isabout 21 km to the northwest. Ch. is the thirdisland of the group in terms of size, after theKrestovsky and Leontiev islands. It has an oblongshape and extends from west to east. The island is9.5 km in length and up to 2.5 km in width. Theisland rises from the sea as a single mountain,reaching the height of 94 m. The northern coastis steep, while the southern is mildly sloping. Thecoastline is indented, steep cliffs alternating withslopes, on which there are beach ridges that isolatefresh water lagoons from the sea. An upland areawith steep sides, reaching the height of approx.40 m above sea level, is located at the western-most of the island. In the northeastern part of theisland, there is an upland with the highest point ofapprox. 100 m above sea level. The middle part ofthe island is heavily fissured by a net of ravines,which in summer accommodate water flows.A small bay is located at the southern tip of theisland. Most of the island’s surface is covered withweathering products that form stone deposits. Thefauna is represented by deer, bears, wolves, foxes,and small rodents who arrive here from the main-land. Short, stiff grass and moss grow on thelow banks and on the gentle slopes. In 1924,the Norwegian expedition ship “Maud” stayed inthe proximity of the island. A polar station,opened in 1933, is located in the eastern part ofthe island.

The island was discovered in 1710 by a Cos-sack named Jacob Permiakov and mapped in 1769by land-surveying ensigns Ivan Leontiev, IvanLysov, and Alexey Pushkarev, who traveledthere by dog sleds from Nizhnekolymsk. Theisland received its name placed after thekigilyakha pillars – the remains of the ancientland surface of the island – that reach more than15 m in height. The pillars were formed due to theinfluence of extreme temperatures that createcracks in the rock and because of subsequent

weathering. As a result of this, by the mid-1990sonly one pillar remained on the island.

Chirikov, Aleksey Ilyich (1703–1748)

Chirikov, Aleksey Ilyich (1703–1748) – a Russianexplorer and captain-commodore. During theFirst and Second Kamchatka Expeditions,together with V. Bering he discovered the north-western coast of North America and a number ofislands of the Aleutian Chain. In 1715, he enteredthe Naval School, and a year later, he was trans-ferred to the Naval Academy, which he graduatedat the top of his class. At the orders of Peter theGreat, for his achievement in the sciences,Ch. was promoted to unterlieutenant andappointed to serve on the ship “Peter” of the BalticFleet. A year later, at the orders of the AdmiraltyCollege, he was assigned to the Naval Academyas a teacher of seamanship and navigation. In1724, he was appointed second deputy ofV. Bering in the First Kamchatka Expedition(1725–1730) and promoted to lieutenant. Sincethen, his efforts have been devoted to solving thestate task of exploring and developing of maritimeroutes in the Far East.

In 1728, on the boat “Saint Gabriel,” he navi-gated from Nizhnekamchatsk, across the BeringStrait, into the Arctic Ocean to the latitude67�190N. He participated in the mapping of theChukchi Peninsula and in the discovery of KrestaBay, of St. Lawrence Island, one of the DiomedeIslands, and Preobrazheniya Bay. In late1728–early 1729, under the direction ofCh. Chaplin, the final map of the First KamchatkaExpedition was drafted and in 1730 presented tothe Senate. In 1732, he was promoted to Captainof 2nd rank.

In 1733–1741, during the Second KamchatkaExpedition, Ch. served as deputy to V. Bering andsince 1741 as chief of the expedition. In 1733 hewas promoted to Captain. In 1741, commandingthe packet boat “St. Paul,” he became the firstEuropean to reach the northwestern coast ofNorth America at Cape Bartolome, near BakerIsland. He discovered the Alexander Archipelago.

Chirikov, A.I. (Source: http://tulagid71.ru/objects/chirikov-a-i/)

74 Chondon River

Navigating to the northwest along the Americancontinent for about 450 km, he examined andmapped its coast. On the way back, he discoveredand mapped a number of islands of the AleutianChain (Adak, Agattu, Attu, et al.). In 1741, he senta report on the results of the voyage to the Admi-ralty Board, enclosing a map and the history’s firstdescription of the northwestern coast of NorthAmerica. In 1742, after wintering in Petropav-lovsk harbor, Ch. repeated his voyage to the easttoward the shores of America, but only reachedAttu Island, became the second (after V. Bering)to discover the Commander Islands, and returnedto Petropavlovsk in July. Twoweeks later, he wentto Okhotsk and, in 1742, he arrived in Yakutsk.

In 1743, he received the order of the Senate to“discontinue his sea voyages,” and, together withhis crew, he moved to Yeniseysk. In 1746, afterspending 18 years of his life studying Siberia andthe Far East, he returned to St. Petersburg. Soonhe was appointed director of the Naval Academy.

Under his guidance, a group of naval officersprepared a number of completed maps based onthe information from the expedition. At the end of1746, he was transferred toMoscow as head of theAdmiralty office due to health-related reasons. In1747, he was promoted to captain-commodore.

A number of objects are named after Ch.: sev-eral capes on Kyushu Island, Japan, in the Gulf ofAnadyr of Bering Sea, at Tauiskaya Guba in theSea of Okhotsk, on Attu, the Aleutian Islands inthe Bering Sea, as well as a seamount in thePacific Ocean, and an island in the Gulf of Alaska.

Chondon River

Chondon River – a river in the northern part of theRepublic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia. The riveroriginates in the ridges of the Olekmo-CharskoeHighlands and then flows through the Yana-Indigirka Lowlands. The river is 606 km in length;the basin area is 18,900 km2. The river flows intothe Yana Bay of the Laptev Sea.

Christmas Flounder (Liopsettaglacialis)

Christmas Flounder (Liopsetta glacialis) – a seafish, the family of flatfish (Pleuronectidae). It iscommon in the East Siberian, the White, theBarents, the Bering, and the Okhotsk seas.C.F. inhabits shallow depths and soft soils ofcoastal waters. It can migrate upriver far. Thebody length is 30–35 cm, usually 25 cm. Jawteeth are shaped as incisors forming a cuttingedge. The mouth is small and asymmetrical. Thebody of the male is covered with ctenoid scales,females with cycloid scales. The lateral line isalmost straight. Behind the eye there is a grungycrest. The ocular part of the body is brown or darkolive with dark spots. On the dorsal, anal, andcaudal fins, there are small and large spots.C.F. matures at the age of 4–5 years. Spawningoccurs in January and February under the ice, notannually. Productivity is up to 200,000 eggs. It

Chukchi 75

feeds on mollusks, crustaceans, worms, and smallfish. The life span is 12 years. The fish is of minoreconomic value.

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Chukchi

Chukchi – a shallow lake in the delta of the KolymaRiver in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia.The area is 120 km2. It is connected with LakeMaloye Chukchi and – through a series of canalsand lakes –with Lake Nerpichye and the left sleeveof the Kolyma River.

Chukchi (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chukchi_people)

Chukchi

Chukchi – people in the Russian Federation(15,900 in 2010), the indigenous population ofthe Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (12,800).They also live in the north of the Koryak Auton-omous Okrug (1,500) and in the Lower KolymaRegion of Yakutia (1,300). They speak the Chuk-chi of the Chukchi-Kamchatka family. They alsospeak Russian.

The Chukchi were divided into the deer Chuk-chi, tundra reindeer-herding Chukchi, and seaside(coastal) Chukchi, sedentary hunters who huntedsea animals living near the Eskimos. The ances-tors of the Chukchi and their relative Koryakpeople lived in the interior of Chukotka. Theywere engaged in hunting reindeer and wererelatively sedentary. The first mention in theChukchi Russian documents dates from the1640s of the seventeenth century. In 1897, thenumber of Chukchi was approx. 12,000. In1930, the Chukotka National District was formedand since 1980 – the Chukotka AutonomousOkrug.

The main occupation of tundra Chukchi isnomadic herding. They use reindeer as sled animals.

The basis of employment and food for coastalChukchi is aboriginal whaling and hunting othermarine mammals: in winter and spring, it is theseal; in summer and autumn, it is the walrus andthe whale.

Traditional crafts include fur tanning, weavingbags of fireweed and wild rye in women, treat-ment of bone in men, advanced carving and boneand walrus tusks engraving, and, application offur and sealskin, deer hair embroidery. The artcenter for bone carving was the village Uelen(established in 1931). Most modern Chukchi pre-serve traditional occupations like the reindeerherding and fishing farms. Some are engaged incattle breeding and greenhouse vegetable produc-tion, the service sector, education, and health.Family of reindeer herders live in settled villages;there are aggregated settlements of coastalChukchi.

Traditional clothing is made from the skins ofdeer and seals.

The main food of deer Chukchi is venison andof the coastal Chukchi – the meat of sea animals(walrus).

Chukchi preserved pre-Christian beliefs(worship of animals, polar bears, whales, wal-ruses, etc.; sacred objects, amulets, tambourines,a device for making fire; shamanism).

76 Chukchi Department of TINRO Center

Writing was developed in 1931 on the basis ofLatin and since 1936 – on the basis of the Russianalphabet. Since 1990s the Association of theChukchi peoples of Chukotka is reviving the tra-ditional culture of the Chukchi.

Chukchi Department of TINROCenter

Chukchi Department of TINROCenter – organized in 1994. It is located in Ana-dyr. It consists of three laboratories: a lab studyinganadromous and freshwater fish, a lab for Fishinghydrobiology, and a lab for fisheries ichthyology.The main focus of the Center is the study ofaquatic animals in the field adjacent to the watersof the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and inlandwaters. About ten cruises of scientific and fishingvessels are held annually. Sea expeditions studypollock, cod, halibut, flounder, grenadiers, saffroncod, gobies, shrimps, and crabs. Research coversthe main salmon-spawning waters of ChukotkaAutonomous Okrug. The Department monitorswalrus rookeries and provides scientific supportfor whaling. A long-term program of developmentof sea mammal hunting operates.

Chukchi Highlands

Chukchi Highlands – located between theChaunskaya Guba and the Bering Strait. Theyoccupy the northern part of the Chukchi Peninsula,Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. They are450 km in length and up to 1,843 m in height. Theyinclude ridges of different spatial orientation:Shelagsky, Ekvyvatansky, Iskatel, Pegtymelsky,Chentalsky, etc.; their height reach 500–1200 mwith the maximum rising up to 1,600 m. The reliefis characterized by flat tops. They are a system ofheavily dissected lowlands and middle ranges andarrays. The northern ridges are composed mainlyof sandstones and shales and cut granites; the southis dominated by volcanic deposits. There aredeposits of tin, mercury, and coal. The climate is

harsh. The Ch.H. is a watershed drainage basin ofthe Arctic and Pacific Oceans. In the lower slopes,there is mountain tundra; the upper slopes are anArctic mountain desert.

Chukchi Rise

Chukchi Rise – a ledge, extending into the ArcticOcean from the Chukchi Sea shelf (width variesfrom 500 to 1,700 km), which forms a rise 200 kmwide. It rises steeply from the deep ocean floorand has a truncated and dismembered top, whichapparently had been under the influence of thewash or ice.

Chukchi Sea

Chukchi Sea – an adjacent sea of the ArcticOcean, the easternmost of its Arctic seas. It bathesthe northern coast of the Chukchi Peninsula(Russia) and the northwestern coast of Alaska(USA). Its western boundary extends from theintersection of the meridian 180 � with the edgeof the continental shelf (76 �N, 180 �E) along the180� meridian toWrangel Island, Cape Zapadnyy,and then through the De Long Strait and CapeYakan, along the eastern border of the East Sibe-rian Sea. The northern boundary extends from apoint at 72 �N, 156 �W to Cape Barrow in Alaska,where it connects to the Beaufort Sea, thenalong the mainland coast from the southernentrance of the bay of Cape Shishmareva(Seward Peninsula, USA). The southern borderof Ch.S. goes along the northern border of theBering Strait from the southern entrance of thebay of Cape Shishmareva to Cape Unikyn(Chukchi Peninsula) and further along the conti-nental coast to Cape Yakan. The Bering Straitconnects the Ch.S. with the Bering Sea of thePacific Ocean. The Long Strait is part of theCh.S., and its western border runs from CapeBlossom to Cape Yakan. The eastern boundaryof the strait extends from cape Pillar (WrangelIsland) to Cape Schmidt.

The Chukchi Sea (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chukchi_Sea)

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The Ch.S. is one of the continental-adjacentseas. Its area is 595 (589) thousand km2, its vol-ume is 42 (45) thousand km3, and the averagedepth is 71 m, with 1,256 m at the deepest. TheCh.S. has only three islands – Wrangel Island(7,300 km2), Herald Island, and Kolyuchin Island;along the American coast, in the Gulf of Kotze-bue, there are also Chamisso Island and PuffinIsland.

From the spurs of the mountain ranges thatstretch inside the Chukchi Peninsula and Alaska,numerous small rivers and streams flow into themany coastal lagoons. The largest of them are theAnguema River, the Vankarem River on theChukchi Peninsula, as well as Kobuk, Noatak,and Utukok and others in Alaska. The total flowof all rivers flowing into the Ch.S. (includingAlaska) is 82.6 km3. The estimated sediment run-off from the side of Chukotka is 1 million tons peryear and from Alaska – 2.7 million tons per year.The muddiness of the rivers of Chukchi Peninsularanges from 25 to 100 g/m3, with an average of50 g/m3.

The coastline of the Ch.S. (including islands) isapprox. 1,600 km. The coastline is slightlyindented. The bays include Kolyuchinskaya Bay,Kotzebue Bay, and Shishmareva Bay. The coast ismountainous almost throughout its length. On theeastern coast of Wrangel Island, there are low hillsthat drop off sharply into to the sea. Low moun-tains stretch along the northern coast of Alaskaand Chukotka, but they are usually far from thewater’s edge. The coastline is formed by lowgravel and sand bars, separating the lagoonsfrom the sea. Such a landscape is typical of thecoast of the Ch.S.

Along the coasts of the Ch.S., there are capessuch as Cape Yakan, Cape Schmidt, CapeVankarem, Cape Serdtse-Kamen, CapeKrusenstern, Cape Hope, Icy Cape, CapeLisburne, Cape Barrow, etc.

The Ch.S. is mostly located on the continentalshelf with the depths of 40–60 m. The shelf iscomprised of abrasion-accumulative plains ofvarying age. A characteristic feature of the conti-nental margin within the sea is the existence of a

78 Chukchi Sea

special intermediate zone between the continentalshelf and the slope, the so-called avanshelf – aninclined plane, at times stepped, lowered to thedepth of several hundred meters. The amount ofsediments in the sea today varies widely, from 0 to10 m. The relief of the seafloor is rather flat. Thedepth of water is generally less than 50 m (56 %),while the maximum depth (in the north) does notexceed 1,300 m. Isobaths of 10 and 25 m arelocated close to the coast. There are shallowswith depth of water up to 13 m. The bottom issplit by two canyons: the Herald Canyon with adepth of 90 m and the Barrow Canyon with themaximum depth of 160 m. The seafloor is coveredwith silt with sand and gravel. Numerous lagoonsare located on the mainland coast of the Russianpart of the sea. The largest of them areKanygtokynmanky, Neskynpilgyn, Tenkergy-kynmangky, and Nutauge.

The climate of the sea is that of the polar zone.Its characteristics include little solar heat andsmall annual fluctuations of the air temperature.In autumn and winter, the sea is influenced byseveral large-scale pressure systems. At the startof the season, it is subject to the spurs of theSiberian and Arctic Anticyclones and the AleutianLow. Because of this distribution of pressure sys-tems, the direction of the wind over the sea is verychangeable. Wind speeds average 6–8 m/s. Theair temperature in autumn falls quickly, and inOctober on Cape Schmidt and Wrangel Island, itreaches �8 �C. In November, northwesterlywinds begin to dominate, and in February thelow pressure trough disappears. Siberian andNorth American wind spurs come close abovethe sea, at times merging and forming a “bridge”of high pressure between the continents. Becauseof this, the north part of the sea is dominated bynortherly and northeasterly winds, while the southis subject to northerly and northwesterly winds. Inthe second half of winter, southerly bearings gen-erally blow over the sea. The wind speed is usu-ally about from 5 to 6 m/s. The air temperature inthe coldest month (February) averages �28 �C inUelen and about �25 �C on Wrangel Island and�28 �C on Schmidt Island. This temperature dis-tribution is due to the warming effect of the PacificOcean and cooling effect of the Asian continent.

Winter is characterized by dull, cold weather withgusty winds, which is sometimes changed byflows of warm air from the Bering Sea.

In the warm time of the year, the North Amer-ican and the Siberian Anticyclone are not presentin the region, and the North Polar Maximumbecomes weakened and moves to the north. Inspring, a field of low pressure exists to the southof the sea, extending from the Icelandic Low tothe east and connecting to the trough of mildAleutian Low. Toward the end of the season,unstable winds acquire a predominantly southerndirection. Their speed typically does not exceed3–4 m/s. In spring, as a rule, the weather is cloudy,quiet, dry, and cold. The temperature in Aprilaverages �12 �C on Uelen and �17 �C onWrangel.

In summer, a spur of the Pacific Maximumcomes closer to Alaska, and over the ice-freespaces, water pressure is slightly elevated. In thesouthern part of the sea, the winds of the southerlyand southeasterly direction are predominant, andin the northern regions, there are northerly andnorthwesterly winds. Their speed usually reaches4–5 m/s. The temperature of the warmest month(July) is on average 6 �C in Uelen, about 2.5 �C onWrangel, and 3.5 �C on Schmidt. In areas alongthe coast, sheltered from the winds, it can reach10 �C and higher. Summer weather is cloudy, withrain and snow. The summer is very short, and thetransition to the next season begins already inAugust.

The continental runoff in the Ch.S. is ratherinsignificant. Only 72 km3 of river water per yearflows here, which is about 5 % of the total coastalrunoff in all Arctic seas and just a fraction of apercentage point of the volume of its waters. Ofthis amount, 54 km3/year flows from the rivers ofAlaska, and 18 km3/year comes from ChukotkaRiver. This modest coastal runoff does not changethe hydrological conditions of the sea signifi-cantly, but it affects the temperature and the salin-ity characteristics of coastal waters.

In a much greater extent, the nature of theCh.S. is affected by the water exchange with theCentral Arctic Basin and the Pacific Oceanthrough the Bering Strait. A slight increase inwater temperature at the bottom layers in the

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north of the Sea is connected to the transformedwarm Atlantic waters flowing here.

The hydrological structure of the sea is gener-ally similar to the water composition in otherSiberian Arctic seas, but it has its own character-istics. In western and central areas of the sea,surface Arctic waters are typical. In the narrowcoastal zone, especially where the rivers flow intothe sea, one can find warm desalinated water,formed by the mixing of seawater with riverflows. At the northern edge of the sea, the conti-nental slope is cut deep by the Chukotka Trough,along which Atlantic waters spread at the depth of400–450 m, with a maximum temperature of0,7–0,8 �C. These waters come into the sea5 years after they enter into the Arctic Basin inthe Svalbard area. A middle layer lies between thesurface and the Atlantic waters.

The eastern part of the sea has relatively warmand salty waters coming from the Bering Sea.They arrive here in the volume of 30,000 km3/year. They usually move to the north and the east,but in some years the De Long branch is signifi-cantly more developed. This branch has warmcurrents that get to the East Siberian Sea throughthe De Long Strait. Moving toward the Ch.S.,Pacific waters mix with the local waters, cooldown, and sink into the subsurface layers. In theeastern part of the sea with depths of 40–50 m,they extend from the surface to the bottom. In thenorthern parts of the sea, where it is deeper, thewaters form a layer with its center located at thedepth of 40–100 m, under which there is deepwater. In the surface Arctic and Pacific waters,seasonal layers form and are destroyed, which islinked to the intra-annual variability of oceano-graphic characteristics. Temperature in winter andearly spring in the under-ice layer is distributedfairly evenly over the space of the sea and is�1,6 �. . . �1,8 �C. In late spring on the surfaceof pure water, it rises up to �0,5 �C. . . �0,7 �Cnear the ice edge and up to 2–3 �C in the BeringStrait. Due to the influx of summer warmth andthe waters from the Pacific with an average tem-perature of 0,2–4 �C, the temperature of the watersurface rises. The temperature in the marginal icezone in August is �0,1. . .–0,3 �C; in the westernpart of the coast, it is approximately 4 �C; to the

east of the meridian of 168 �W, where it lies theaxis of the flow of the Pacific, it rises up to 7–8 �C;while in the eastern Bering Strait, it can even reach14 �C. In general, the western part of the sea iscooler than the eastern.

The vertical distribution of water temperaturein winter and early spring is homogeneous almostthroughout the sea. From the surface to the bot-tom, it is �1,7. . .–1,8 �C, and only in the BeringStrait on the level of 30 m, it rises to �1.5 �C. Inspring, the temperature of the water surface rises,but at levels of 5–10 m, it lowers toward thebottom, at first rather sharply, but then moresmoothly. In summer, in the south and east of thesea, the radiation heating goes fairly deep, and insome shallow areas, it goes down to the bottom.

The surface temperature of 6–7 �C is observedat the levels of 10–12 m, where it decreases withdepth, and even at the bottom, it is 2–2,5 �C. In thecentral part of the sea, the influence from theBering Sea waters appears smaller. The surfacetemperature (about 5 �C) covers a layer with athickness of 5–7 m, and then it decreases fairlyrapidly to the bottom. In the northern part of thesea in the Chukchi troughs in the upper layer atabout 20 m, the temperature is 2–3 �C, then it fallsto 1.6 �C on the level of 100 m, then it rises again,and at the bottom layer, it is close to zero. This iscaused by the influence of warm Atlantic waterscoming from the Central Arctic Basin. In autumn,the cooling of the surface spreads from the inside,which leads to equalization of temperature alongthe vertical direction. Winter vertical circulationreaches the bottom, and in winter the temperatureof all the water in the sea is about 0 �C.

The levels and the distribution of salinity onthe surface of the sea are influenced by differentseasonal influx of the Pacific and – in the coastalzone – of river waters. Winter and early spring arecharacterized by increased salinity of the ice layer.In the west it is about 31 ‰; in the central andnortheastern parts, it is close to 32 ‰; but it ishighest in the Bering Strait with 33–33.5 ‰.From the end of spring and during the summer,when the inflow of waters through the BeringStrait is enhanced and there is an increased conti-nental runoff, the salinity distribution pattern onthe surface of the sea becomes quite varied. In

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general, the salinity increases from west to eastfrom about 28 ‰ to 30–32 ‰. At the edges of theice, it decreases and is 24 ‰, while near themouths of the rivers, it drops to 3–5 ‰. In theBering Strait, the salinity remains the larg-est – 32.5 ‰. In autumn, with the start of the iceformation, there is a general increase in salinity,and then it becomes equal throughout the surfaceof the sea. In winter and early spring, the salinitytypically changes very little, almost throughoutthe whole sea. To the northwest of the BeringStrait, where the influence of the Pacific watersis strong, the salinity is quite significantly higherand varies from 31.5 ‰ to 32.5 ‰ between thelevels of 20 and 30 m. Moving away from thiszone, the increase in water salinity with depth isnot as great and happens more smoothly. As aresult of the spring thaw, it rises sharply in thelayer of 5–10 m from 30 ‰ to 31–32‰. Below itgrows very slowly, and at the bottom it is close to33 ‰. Such a vertical change of salinity can beobserved in the coastal strip, but the surface layeris much stronger, and desalinated water is under-lain with waters of lower salinity – 30–31 ‰. Insummer, the freshened surface layers of the seadecrease as a result of the inflow of the Pacificwaters, and in autumn they disappear completely.In the central part of the sea, with the influence ofthe Bering Sea waters, the salinity steeplyincreases from 32 ‰ to 33 ‰ from the surfaceto the bottom. In the area of drifting ice and alongthe coast of the Chukchi Sea coastline, the salinityin the surface layer with a thickness of 5–10 m islower, then there is its sharp increase (up to31–31.5 ‰) in the layer of 10–20 m, and then itgradually increases to the bottom, where it reaches33–33.5 ‰. In autumn and especially in winter,the salinity increases due to salinization during theice formation. In some areas, the salinity levelsbecome equal everywhere in the autumn, while inothers it does so only at the end of winter.

In accordance with the distribution and sea-sonal changes in salinity and temperaturechanges, the density of water also changes. Inautumn and winter, when the salinity is increasedand the water is extremely low, its density is quitehigh. Similar to the distribution of salinity, thehigh density on the surface is found in the

southern and eastern parts of the sea, and to thenorthwest, the density decreases slightly. In thewarmer half of the year, the surface water getsdesalinated, gets warmer, and their densitydecreases. Due to the relatively intensive intro-duction of salt water from the Bering Sea at thistime of the year, more dense waters are located inthe southern and eastern parts of the sea. In thenorth and west, the density on the surface isreduced, because the top layer of the sea getsfresh water due to ice melting and due to an inflowof the low salinity waters of the East Siberian Sea.In winter, the density increases from the bottomsurface rather evenly throughout the water col-umn. In spring and summer, near the ice edgeand in the coastal strip, the top layer of waterwith a thickness of 10–20 m is very different indensity from the underlying layer below, underwhich the density increases uniformly to the bot-tom. In the central part of the sea, the densityvaries vertically more smoothly. In autumn, dueto the cooling of the sea surface, the densitybegins to increase. The changeable winds and avarying vertical dispersion of density largelydetermine the conditions and opportunities forwater mixing in the sea.

In spring and summer, the water spaces freefrom sea ice differ in density, and relatively weakwinds mix only the uppermost layers. The samedepth of wind mixing is in the estuarine areas. Inautumn, the vertical stratification of water isreduced, and the winds are intensified, so windmixing penetrates to the horizons of 10–15 m.Deeper it is prevented in its spread by significantvertical density gradients. This picture is espe-cially characteristic of the western part of thesea. Stable structure of water is beginning to bedestroyed by the autumn convective mixing,which penetrates only 3–5 m below the windmixing. Relatively small (up to 5 m) increasesare seen in the thickness of the upper homoge-neous layer due to thermal convection in autumn.Only at the end of winter, at depths of 40–50 m(which occupy about 90 % of the sea), wintervertical circulation extends to the bottom. Atgreater depths, the ventilation occurs when lowerlayers backslide into the water down the slopes,toward the bottom.

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The total water circulation in the sea, besidesthe basic factors that influence the flow of theArctic seas, is largely determined by flows comingthrough the Bering Strait and the De Long Strait.Surface currents of the sea as a whole form aweakly pronounced cyclonic gyre. Coming outof the Bering Strait, Pacific waters spread likewaves. Their main flow is directed almost to thenorth. At the latitudes of Kotzebue Bay, they arejoined by the freshened continental runoff watersfrom this bay. Moving further to the north, theBering Sea water flow near Cape Hope is dividedinto three streams. One of them, Alaska, continuesto move to the north, and Cape Lisburne turnsnortheast to mount Barrow. The second one goesfrom Cape Hope and deviates to the northwest.Meeting on the way to the Herald Canyon, thisstream is divided into two branches. One ofthem – Longovskaya Branch – is to the west,while the southern shores of Wrangel Island,where it merges with the current, envelops theisland on the east side. The other one – theGeraldovskaya Branch – continues to spread inthe northwest direction through the Herald Can-yon which goes up to 73–74 �N. Here it meetswith local cold water and turns east, forming anever-present cold Chukchi flow. The flow of wateris introduced into the Ch.S. across the De LongStrait, flowing along the coast toward the south-east. With sufficiently strong development, inwinter it brings out surface water and ice fromthe Ch.S. to the Bering Sea, forming the so-calledpolar flow.

Tidal range is insignificant along the coast ofChukotka. At some points it is only 10–15 cm. AtWrangel Island tides are higher. In Rogers Baylevel rises above the high water level at low tide150 cm, because here comes the wave formed bythe addition of waves coming from the north andwest. The same value of the tide is observed at thetop of Kotzebue Sound, but there are large tideswhich are caused by the configuration of thecoasts and topography of the bay.

Almost the whole year, the sea is covered withice. In winter, from November–December toMay–June, the sea is completely covered withice. Fast ice is slightly developed. Its width variesin different places, but not more than 10–20 km.

Drifting ice is located beyond the fast ice. Most ofthese are 1- and 2-year ice formations, with thethickness of 150–180 cm. In the north of the sea,there are many years of heavy ice.

In summer the ice edge retreats northward. Inthe Chukchi Sea, the Chukchi and Wrangel icemassifs are formed. The first of these consists ofheavy ice. The minimum amount of ice in the seais usually in the second half of August until thefirst half of October. In some years, the ice accu-mulates in the Long Strait and stretches along thecoast of Chukotka. In such years, navigation isextremely difficult. In other years, the ice, on theother hand, departs far from the coast of the Chuk-chi Peninsula, which is very favorable for naviga-tion. In late September, new ice begins to form,which over time continues to increase and coversall the winter sea.

According to estimates, the shelf of theCh.S. contains up to 30 billion barrels of oil. InFebruary 2008, the US government announcedthe successful bidding for the production (thetotal price of $2.6 billion). The decision has beencriticized by environmentalists.

The population of the coast is notnumerous – the Chukchi, Eskimos, and Russians.Small settlements mainly consist of one-storywooden houses. The largest settlements are CapeSchmidt village and the village of Uelen.

Major ports include Uelen (Russia) and Bar-row (USA).

The Ch.S. is not rich in fish. It has 37 species offish. Of local commercial importance are char(polar cod), smelt, polar flounder, polar cod, anda few other species. Hunting sea mammals (seals)is developed. There are polar bears in the Ch.S.

Through the Chukchi Sea passes the NorthernSea Route. It is the easternmost link between theports of the Far East, the mouths of Siberianrivers, and the European part of Russia. The east-ern part of the sea connects foreign Pacific ports inCanada and the USA and the mouth of the Mac-kenzie River. The navigation in the sea is quitecomplicated, which is due to a lack of coastallandmarks and ice conditions. In the period of1914–1983, six ships perished in the sea. Duringa voyage in 1983, as a result of compression ofice, 57 vessels got captured by the ice; 30 of them

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were damaged to varying degrees, including fiveicebreakers.

The name of the sea comes from the ChukchiPeninsula and its peoples – the Chukchi.

Chukchi Sea Encyclopedia

Chukchi Sea Encyclopedia – one of the books inthe series Encyclopedia of Russian Seas,published by “International Relations” a publish-ing house in Moscow in 2013. Its authors are Prof.I.S. Zonn, Prof. A.G. Kostyanoy, and Dr.M.I. Kumantsov. The publication is dedicated toone of Russia’s northern seas – the ChukchiSea – a part of the Arctic Ocean. The Encyclope-dia contains about 250 articles on the hydro-graphic, geographic, and hydrologicalcharacteristics of the sea. The most significant nat-ural features are presented: the islands, peninsulas,bays, rivers, their geographical features, economy,culture, and history, as well as cities, ports, waterand biological resources, international agreements,research institutions, the activities of prominentscientists, researchers, and travelers. The Encyclo-pedia provides a chronology of major events thathave become momentous milestones in the historyof the discovery and development of the ChukchiSea from the seventeenth century to the presentday. Second edition of this book was published in2015.

Chukchi Sea, History of Exploration

Chukchi Sea, History of Exploration – in theseventeenth century, Russian merchants, industri-alists, and service class people came to somestretches of the eastern seas of the Arctic Oceanand began exploring its coastline. Polar seamentraveled most of all to develop trade, hunting, andfishing. Sea exploration was out of question then.In the summer of 1648, Semyon Dezhnev steeredall along the northern shores of the Chukchi Pen-insula and was the first to double the easternmostcape of Asia. In 1728, the ship “St. Gavriil” (under

the command of A. Chirikov and V. Bering)entered the strait (later named the Bering Strait)coming as high as 670180N. The expedition madefirst hydrological observations. An enterprise,most known for its scientific results, amongmany other expeditions hereafter was the oneunder J. Billings and G. Sarychev that conductedextensive research (1791) in the Chukchi Sea. Asthe result of this endeavor, the first accurate mapof the Chukchi land in Northeast Asia and Alaskawas drawn.

In 1816, the brig “Rurik” in command of Lieu-tenant O.E. Kotzebue entered the Bering Straitcoasting the northwest shores, and he discovereda bay named after him. In 1820, expeditions ofM.N. Vasilyev and G.S. Shishmarev on the ves-sels “Otkrytiye” and “Blagonamerennyi” oper-ated in the Chukchi Sea and executed a surveyof the northern coast of Alaska. In 1821,M. Vasilyev retried to find the Northwest Passage,but he sailed as far along the Alaska coast as700130N. In 1821, the Admiralty Departmentorganized an expedition led by LieutenantP.F. Anjou (the Yana team) and LieutenantF.P. Wrangel (the Kolyma team) that were activeup to 1824. The Kolyma team had to “identify theposition of Cape Shelagsky, run a survey of thecoast to the east of it, and by that, make final of theconnection between Asia and America.”

In 1821–1823, F. Wrangel led a dog sled expe-dition that watched magnetic declination andmade meteorological and ice observations. Writ-ing about his voyage, F. Wrangel depicted onceand again ice conditions at different seasons andgave their first scientific description. Also, it washe who put forward a valid assumption that therewas a large island (named after him later, in 1867)in the north of the sea and marked its approximatelocation on the map to the north of CapeShelagsky.

In 1826, the British Admiralty sent an expedi-tion under F. Beechey that surveyed the northerncoast of Alaska, sailing along the southern coastof the Chukchi Sea up to Point Barrow. He was thefirst to draw Diomede Islands in the Bering Straitcorrectly on the map. In 1838, exploring theChukchi Sea, A.F. Kashevarov traveled in skinboats (bidarrahs) along the coast and surveyed it

Chukchi Sea Encyclopedia (Courtesy by Andrey Kostianoy)

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30 miles farther than Point Barrow, the extremepoint attained by Captain F. Beechey.

In 1849, British captains H. Keller andT. Moore took their voyage on HMS “Herald”and HMS “Plover” to discover Herald Island andmake the first deep water hydrological station inthe Chukchi Sea for water temperature measure-ments at various depths.

Managers of the governing board of theRussian-American Company composed largelyof naval officers that paid great attention to geo-graphic research with the intention to facilitateseafaring and, therefore, enhance knowledgeabout geography of that part of the world. In1851, the Company created “Mercator’s Chart ofthe Bering Strait and the Adjacent Part of theArctic Sea.” The map was generated in the wakeof voyages of the British vessels that went on amission to find Sir John Franklin.

In 1855, Americans John Rogers and ThomasW. Long on the whaler “Nile” undertook expedi-tions and confirmed ad oculos assumptions ofF. Wrangel about the island named after him(1867). The voyage of George W. De Long, aUS Navy officer, on the ship USS “Jeannette”(1879–1881) ended tragically. In 1878–1879,Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld crossed the ChukchiSea on the ship “Vega” passing the winter byKolyuchin Island.

In 1880, US Captain Calvin L. Hooper on theUSRC “Thomas Corwin” carried out a number ofsurveys and observations on currents and watertemperature in the Ch.S. Next year, an expeditionon the same ship was the first to land on WrangelIsland (US explorers named it “New Columbia”and collected botanic samples and other pieces ofnatural history).

In 1910–1915, the Russian Admiralty orga-nized a hydrographic expedition on theicebreaking steamers “Taymyr” and “Vaygach”to traverse the Northern Sea Route from the eastof the Arctic to the west. On its voyage the enter-prise performed the first oceanographic transect inthe Ch.S. to the north of Cape Shelagsky andsurveyed the northern coast of Chukotka knownonly from sketches by Billings, Wrangel, andNordenskiöld. In 1913–1914, the Canadian Arctic

Expedition under the command of the AmericanCaptain Robert Bartlett on the “Karluk” obtainedabundant data on ice drift in the north of theCh.S. The ship and almost half of its crew tragi-cally died to the north of Wrangel Island. In1920–1921, navigating through the Northern SeaRoute, the Norwegian Expedition led byRoald Amundsen and H. Sverdrup on the ship“Maud” overwintered near Cape Serdtse-Kamenin the Ch.S.

In 1922–1924, an expedition underB.V. Davydov on the vessel “Krasny Oktyabr”was active in the Ch.S. Captain P.G. Milovzorovled a series of freight voyages over the Ch.S. intothe mouth of the Kolyma, to the shores ofChukotka, and Wrangel Island (1911–1928).

However, the period of extensive and regularCh.S. exploration started in 1931–1932, after theicebreaker “A. Sibiryakov” had crossed theNorthern Sea Route in a single navigation. Backthen, at the outset of developing and building upinfrastructure of the Northern Sea Route, Sovietpolar explorers established a network of polarstations in the Ch.S. and performed consistentoceanographic research missions and observa-tions on ice mode of the sea by means of coastalstations and ice reconnaissance.

In 1932, the State Hydrology Institute arrangedan expedition on the ship “Dalnevostochnik” thatstudied hydrological regime of the SouthernCh.S. In 1933, the same voyage was made onthe trawler “Krasnoarmeets.” G.E. Ratmanov ledboth expeditions.

Scientific and research missions were carriedout on the icebreaker “F. Litke” (1929–1934) andthe steamship “Chelyuskin” (1933–1934). Afterthe wreck of the “Chelyuskin,” participants of theenterprise, the so-called Schmidt Camp, landed onice and made hydrological and oceanographicobservations summed up in “The Regime of theChukchi Sea” (1938) by Yakov Gakkel and PavelKhmyznikov. Meteorological stations signifi-cantly increased in number in the northern coastof the Chukchi Peninsula after the crash of the“Chelyuskin.”

In 1934, the icebreaker “Krasin” (scientificoperations headed by N.I. Evgenov) was engaged

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in extensive hydrological work in the part of theCh.S. to the south of the Cape Schmidt –WrangelIsland – Herald Island – Icy Cape (Alaska) line.The expedition made a course survey and geolog-ical research. This mission made valuable contri-bution to the knowledge of the Ch.S. Thefollowing year, the “Krasin” was also a platformfor important scientific research in the Ch.S. underG.E. Ratmanov and went as far to the north ofWrangel Island as 730300N. Here, waterscontaining elements from the Atlantic Oceanwere found at a depth of 100–120 m.

In 1938, hydrological exploration was carriedout by the survey ship “Okhotsk” and in1939 – the icebreaking steamer “Malygin.” In1943–1944, a voyage under the command ofY.A. Borindo made comprehensive marine surveydown the coast of the Bering Strait toKolyuchinskaya Bay.

In the postwar period (after 1945), icebreakerstook part in the exploration of the Arctic as before.The East Oceanographic Expedition on the ice-breaker “Severny Polyus” set out from Vladivos-tok in July, 1946 was the first major sea mission.In August, the icebreaker reached 730440N, therecord latitude for free floating vessels in theCh.S. Through comprehensive studies the expe-dition improved bathymetric maps of the Chukchiand East Siberian seas, determined circulatorywater motion in the east of the East Siberian Seathat affects the movement of the Ayon Ice Massif,and proved Atlantic water intrusion into the EastSiberian and Chukchi Seas. An aerostat wasemployed for meteorological observations in theArctic environment for the first time.

After the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945),Hydrographic Enterprise of the USSR Ministryof Marine was in charge of hydrographic opera-tions performed in the littoral sea for many years.In 1964–1965, ships of the Soviet Pacific Fleetmade detailed survey of the bottom shape andseabed as well as hydrological observations inthe Bering Strait and to the north of it.

In 1969, the expeditionary unit of the FirstPacific Oceanographic Expedition together withthe Polar Expedition organized by Scientific-Research Institute of Geology of the Arctic

resumed integrated geophysical research on theice. In 1978–1981, polar northeast missionsunder P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology ofthe USSR Academy of Sciences went on to thenortheast Ch.S. and studied deposition of sedi-ments in the northeastern part of Beringia. It wasconfirmed that terrigenous discharge comes fromAlaska via the Bering Strait of the Ch.S. Besides,a full range of geological and geomorphologicalinvestigations was conducted in the Bering Seaand adjacent regions. In 1984, the NOAA ship“Surveyor” carried out geological study in theCh.S. In 1985–1986, the oceanographic researchvehicle “Aleksey Chirikov” executed an inte-grated oceanographic (hydrographic, geophysi-cal, hydrological, meteorological) survey in thesouth Ch.S.

In the end of the 1980s – beginning of the1990s, comprehensive studies of ecosystems inthe Bering and Chukchi seas were conductedunder Yuri Izrael, a Soviet and Russian scientistand member of the Academy of Sciences, andsummed up in the book Study of Ecosystems ofthe Bering and Chukchi Seas edited by Y.A. Izraeland A.V. Tsyban and published in 1992.

In 2007, USCGC “Healy” embarked on alarge-scale scientific research mission – an acous-tic survey and seafloor mapping of the US north-ern portion of the Ch.S. – “to better understand itsmorphology and the potential for including thisarea within the USA extended continental shelfunder the UN Convention on Law of the Sea.”This mission was part of the work done by closedInteragency Task Force headed by Larry Mayerthat had been performing charting and seismicsurvey of the seabed in the Arctic since 2004 inpreparation of the US claim to UN for jurisdictionof the additional area of the Arctic shelf.

In 2008, Canada and the USA made a jointcruise to map the sea area 400–600 miles northof the Alaska coast in the Ch.S. The expeditioncollected data on large reserves of oil and gasdeep in the Arctic Ocean and obtained informa-tion required for future delimitation of the conti-nental shelf to the north of Alaska. This entailsmostly 3Dmapping of the seabed in the vicinity ofthe Ch.S.

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Chukchi Sea, Names

Chukchi Sea, Names – until 1933–1935 the Chuk-chi Sea included the East Siberian Sea, which hasbeen separated from it and gained its own status asa sea after the works of G.E. Ratmanov(1932–1933) and the research on the icebreaker“Krasin” (1935). In 1928, the Norwegian scientistProf. H. Sverdrup, analyzing the observationsmade by the Norwegian expedition on the ship“Maud,” came to the conclusion that the sea thatlies between the New Siberian Islands and Wran-gel Island in its physical and geographical condi-tions differs greatly from the sea between theWrangel Island and Alaska. Therefore, the unitingof the Chukchi Sea and the East Siberian Sea undera single name of the East Siberian Sea, as it wasnamed by the Imperial Russian Geographical Soci-ety at the beginning of the twentieth century at thesuggestion of Prof. Yu.M. Shokalskiy, seemedwrong to him. Sverdrup shared his thoughts withSoviet scientists V.Yu. Vize and suggested namingthe sea from Wrangel Island to Alaska “theDezhnev Sea.” However, according to Vize, itwas correct to call it “the Chukchi Sea” after thepeople inhabiting the Chukchi Peninsula. The offi-cial name was confirmed on June 27, 1935, by theDecree of the USSRCentral Executive Committee.

Chukotka Autonomous Okrug

Chukotka Autonomous Okrug – a federal subjectof the Russian Federation. It was formed onDecember 10, 1930 as Chukotka National Dis-trict. Since 1953, it had been a part of the Maga-dan Region, RSFSR. In 1980 it becameautonomous, and since July 1992, it has beenpart of the Russian Federation. Ch. is located inthe far northeast of Russia. It occupies a part ofthe continent, the Chukchi Peninsula, and anumber of islands (Wrangel, Ayon, Diomede(Ratmanova), etc.). It is washed by the East Sibe-rian Sea, the Chukchi Sea, and the Bering Sea.A significant portion of the Okrug is locatedabove the Arctic Circle. Ch. is part of the Far

East Region of Russia. It covers an area of 737.7thousand km2. The population is 50.5 thousand(2015). The administrative center of Ch. is Ana-dyr. Other cities include Bilibino and Pevek. Thepopulation is comprised of Russians, Chukchi,Evens, Eskimos, Chuvans, Yukagirs, and others.There are 8 administrative districts, 3 cities, and15 villages. The average population density is0.07 people per 1 km2. The shores are heavilyindented. To the northeast is the Chukchi Plateau(its height reaches up to 1843 m), in the central partis the Anadyr Plateau, and in the southeast – theAnadyr Lowland. There are deposits of tin and mer-cury ores, coal and lignite, natural gas, and others.

The climate is harsh; marine climate on thecoast; in the inner parts, the climate is continental.Winter lasts up to 10 months. The average Januarytemperature ranges from �15� to �39 �C; in Julyit’s up to 5–10 �C. Precipitation totals200–500 mm a year. The vegetation period inthe southern part of the Okrug is 80–100 days.Perennial high cold-resistance vegetation iswidespread.

Large rivers include the Anadyr River (with itstributaries the Mayn, the Belaya River, theTanyurer River), the Velikaya River, theAmguema River, the Omolon River, and theBolshoi and the Maly Anyuy rivers. There arenumerous lakes; the largest include LakeKrasnoye and Lake Elgygytgyn. The Okrug islocated in the forest-tundra zone, the tundrazone, and the polar desert zone. The soils aremainly mountain tundra and peaty gley, some-times peat podzolic and alluvial. Tundra vegeta-tion is predominant (dry mountain tundra withbushes and shrubs, tussock, and cotton-grass tun-dra). On the upper slopes of the mountains and onWrangel Island, there are polar desert areas. Char-acteristic trees are larch, poplar, willow, birch, andalder. The fauna of the Okrug includes wild foxes,polar foxes, wolves, wolverines, chipmunks,squirrels, lemmings, hares, brown and polarbears, etc. There is a large variety of birds: whiteand tundra partridges, ducks, geese, swans, etc.; inthe coastal areas, there are guillemots, eiderducks, and gulls that form “rookeries.” The seasare rich in fish (chum, pink salmon, trout) andmarine mammals (walruses, seals, etc.); whitefish,

Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chukotka_Autonomous_Okrug#/media/File:Chukotka_in_Russia.svg)

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white salmon, and graylings live in rivers andlakes. There is a nature reserve “Wrangel Island”on the territory of Ch.

The main industry is mining (gold, tin, tung-sten, mercury ore, coal, and lignite). Facilitiesoperate for the production of building materials.Energy is provided by the Bilibino nuclear heatand power plant, the Chaun and the Anadyr ther-mal power stations, the Bering and theEgvekinotskaya hydroelectric power stations,and the floating power station “Severnoe Siyanie”(“Polar Lights”) at Cape Schmidt. Reindeerbreeding, fishery, and hunting for fur and seaanimals are widespread. Dairy farming, poultryfarming, pig farming, fur farming, and hothouseeconomy are being developed. The ports arePavel, Anadyr, Egvekinot, and Beringovsky. Nav-igation is on the Anadyr River, the Velikaya River,the Bolshoi, and the Maly Anyuy.

Chukotka Flaw Polynya

Chukotka Flaw Polynya – forms in some yearswith easterly and southeasterly winds along thecoast of the Chukchi Sea. It is 10–15 miles in

width, but it extends for a long distance and isfilled with intermittent ice patches and arches ofice concentration of various widths. With north-westerly and northerly onsetting winds, thepolynya closes rapidly. It is used for the passageof vessels.

Chukotka Nose

Chukotka Nose – the archaic name of the north-eastern tip of the Chukchi Peninsula and the entireAsian continent. In 1898 it was renamed CapeDezhnev.

Chukotka Peninsula

Chukotka Peninsula – located in the northeasternpart of Asia, Russia. The area covered is49,000 km2. It is separated from America(Alaska) by the Bering Strait. Ch.P. is washed bythe Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea. The coast isslightly indented. The only large bay isChaunskaya Bay. The Bering Sea has a number

88 Chum Salmon (Oncorhynchus keta)

of convenient bays – Provideniya Bay, GlubokayaBay, etc. – as well as some large bays, LavrentiyaBay, Mechigmen Bay, Anadyr Bay, and KrestaBay. The terrain is predominantly mountainous.

Chum Salmon (Oncorhynchus keta)

Chum Salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) – a commer-cial anadromous fish, the secondmost populous ofthe Oncorhynchus genus, the Salmonidae family.It occurs widely all over the northern PacificOcean, along the American coast – from SanFrancisco to the north as far as the MackenzieRiver Basin (the Arctic Ocean). Along the Asiancoast, the C.S. is found from the Korean Peninsulato the north as high as Providence Bay.Single species can go up the Lena, Yana,Indigirka, and Kolyma rivers. C.S. is first men-tioned in the work “Kamchatka” by the explorerS.P. Krasheninnikov (1756).

The chum can grow to 1 m in length and to10 kg in weight. Males are larger than females.C.S. enters the rivers for spawning, traveling upsometimes as far as 1,000 km. Chum comes forspawning mostly within the age of 4–6 years. Byand large, the species of 3–10 years old participate

Chum salmon (Source: https://ru.wikipedia.org/Oncorhynchus_keta.jpeg)

in reproduction. Two types represent C.S. almostin all areas of its habitat: summer (average bodylength is up to 60 cm) and autumn (body length isup to 75 cm). The autumn C.S. is bigger in sizeand weight, more fertile, and has a highergrowth rate.

The summer chum prevails in the northernregions and the autumn one – in the southern.Both types occur in the Amur River and the riversof Sakhalin and Ayan-Okhotsk District. The sum-mer C.S. matures at the age of 3–5 years. It migratesto rivers from the beginning of July to the end ofAugust and, inmid-August, spawns in themountainaffluents of the large rivers, at the orifice of theground waters, and in the gravel and fast water.The female can lay up to 3,000 eggs. Eggs areorange, as large as 7 mm in diameter. The eggstage is 103–120 days. Chum fry run to sea whenthey are 4–5 cm long. The autumn C.S. matures atthe age of 4 years and enters the rivers endAugust–early September, advancing much fartherthan the summer chum. It spawns later, often underice. It can lay eggs at the outlet of ground waters,producing about 4,000 eggs on the average. Theautumn chum grows faster than the summer one.

At sea the chum eats mainly fish (sand lance,herring, and others). It is very important for com-mercial fishery.

wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0#/media/File:

Clerke C. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Clerke)

Collins Russian-American Telegraph Line (Collins Overland Line) 89

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Clerke, Charles (1741–1779)

Clerke, Charles (1741–1779) – captain and anexplorer of the Bering Sea, who sailed four voy-ages around the world. He was born in Essex,England. C.C. entered the Royal Navy at the ageof 14 as a midshipman. In 1764–1766, he partic-ipated in the cruise of Captain John Byron sailingaboard HMS “Dolphin” around the world insearch of the Solomon Islands and new lands inthe Pacific Ocean. In 1768–1771, 1772–1775, and1776–1779, C.C. circumnavigated the earth threemore times under Captain James Cook as com-mander of the “Discovery,” the second ship of theexpedition. From September through October,1778, they visited Unalaska Island whereJ. Cook and C.C. met G.G. Izmaylov, a Russiannavigator, and exchanged charts of the BeringSea. After the death of J. Cook in the HawaiianIslands in 1779, C.C. took command of the expe-dition, moved to the sloop “Resolution,” and ledhis vessels to the north, to the Chukchi Sea. FromApril to June, the ships called at Petropavlovskwhere Major Magnus Carl von Behm, the chiefcommander of Kamchatka, supplied the expedi-tion with water, provision, and ship equipment. Inhis turn, C.C. gave Behm a compiled map ofdiscoveries made by the enterprise and a collec-tion of ocean “curiosities” as well as some Cook’sdiaries and other documents to pass on to theAmbassador of the UK to Russia.

However, he failed to reach Icy Cape along thecoastline of Alaska and never traveled farther thanCape Schmidt due to heavy ice. Unpassable icedoomed the attempt of the expedition in July topenetrate to the Chukchi Sea to the north of70 �N. In August, 1779, C.C. died of tuberculosisoff the coast of Kamchatka en route to the port ofPetropavlovsk. He was buried with militaryhonors in Petropavlovsk. The seafarer’s gravewas set in order by: the expedition byJ.F. Lapérouse (1787); the crew of the sloop“Nadezhda” under the command ofI.F. Krusenstern (1805); P.I. Rikord, a commanderof Kamchatka (1818); and the British

parliamentary delegation that erected an extantobelisk in 1913. A monument to C.C. was set upin Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

His name is given to an island and reef nearVancouver Island, the rocks he discovered in theSouth Atlantic Ocean, in the vicinity of SouthGeorgia Island.

Collins Russian-American TelegraphLine (Collins Overland Line)

Collins Russian-American Telegraph Line(Collins Overland Line) – the project of laying atelegraph link between the eastern and westernhemispheres across the Bering Strait. The projectwas the development of the telegraph proposalsput forward by an American businessman andpolitician L.M. Collins and provided for enhanc-ing the trade links between the American states ofCalifornia, Oregon and Washington, and RussianSiberia. Collins offers were supported by US Pres-ident Franklin Pierce and Secretary of State

90 Collins Russian-American Telegraph Line (Collins Overland Line)

William Marcy. The Russian governmentsupported the proposal for the construction ofCollins Russian-American telegraph line thatwould link the telegraph systems of both hemi-spheres across the Bering Strait. The idea by Col-lins found support not only in Russia and the USAbut also in Europe, which faced with serious dif-ficulties in trying to pave the intercontinental tele-graph cable across the bottom of the AtlanticOcean. In Russia, the project and the future esti-mated cost for laying a telegraph line across theBering Strait were prepared, and in the autumn of1861, the construction of the line fromNikolaevsk-on-Amur began with the expectationthat in 1864 it would reach Khabarovsk and in1865 it had to be completed in one of the southernports on the Sea of Japan.

The construction of the telegraph line was alsostarted in the USA from a starting point in San

Francisco. In the autumn of 1864, negotiations onthe construction of the telegraph across the BeringStrait continued in St. Petersburg with the partic-ipation of L. Collins and President of the Ameri-can Telegraph Company “Western Union”(Western Union Telegraph Company) H. Sibley,where the question of a possible sale of RussianAmerica to the USA was raised. The telegraphconstruction was considered both in the USA andin Russia as a “great enterprise.” However, in Feb-ruary 1867 in St. Petersburg, it was reported on thetermination of work by Americans due to the suc-cessful resolution of technical difficulties related tothe transatlantic cable laying fromEurope to Amer-ica across the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.Despite numerous Russia’s protests, the projectparticipants from the USA were firm: a telegraphline across the Atlantic was much cheaper thancommunications over the Bering Strait.