Eschscholtz Bay

Eschscholtz Bay is an arm of Kotzebue Sound, on the Chukchi Sea-facing coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is up to eleven miles wide, and separated from the outer Kotzebue Sound by Choris Peninsula and Chamisso Island.

It is located on the northern coast of the Seward Peninsula, 45 miles southwest of Selawik, Kotzebue-Kobuk Low.66°18′29″N 161°19′02″W / 66.30806°N 161.31722°W / 66.30806; -161.31722

Eschscholtz Bay was discovered and named in 1816 by Lt. Otto von Kotzebue after his ship's physician, Dr. Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz.[1]

The Inuit name of this bay has not been reported, but it was a traditional beluga hunting ground for the local people of the area.[2]

  1. ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. pp. 120.
  2. ^ Huntington, Henry P. (March 1999). "Traditional Knowledge of the Ecology of Beluga Whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in the Eastern Chukchi and Northern Bering Seas, Alaska" (PDF). Artic. 52 (1). Arctic Institute of North America at University of Calgary: 49–61. doi:10.14430/arctic909. Retrieved 7 November 2007.