Bolshoy Shantar () is the main island of the Shantar Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia; 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.
History The Shantar Islands were explored by Russian surveyors between 1711 and 1725.From the History of the Great Russian Geographical Discoveries in the Arctic and Pacific Oceans in the Seventeenth and First Half of the Eighteenth Centuries. by A. V. Efimov
Bolshoy Shantar was frequented by American whaleships 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.J. E. Donnell, of New Bedford, July 8-12, 1852, Martha's Vineyard Museum; Isabella, of New Bedford, July 8, 1854, Nicholson Whaling Collection (NWC); Mary Frazier, of New Bedford, Aug. 28, 1855, NWC; Java, of New Bedford, Sep. 17–19, 1866, Kendall Whaling Museum (KWM); Sea Breeze, of New Bedford, Sep. 17, 23, 1874, G. W. Blunt White Library. Two whaleships were wrecked on the island. On 18 October 1858, the bark Rajah (250 tons), of New Bedford, was wrecked on the north side of the island during a strong gale. Captain Ansel N. Stewart, the first officer, and 11 other men perished; the second mate and the twelve other crew members were saved four days later by the ship Condor (349 tons), of New Bedford, Captain Samuel H. Whiteside. Five men, including the captain, were buried on the island.The Friend, Honolulu, December 4, 1858, Vol. XV, No. 12, p. 93. Items from the wreck were found on the island as late as 1865.Onward, of New Bedford, August 1, 1865, north side of Big Shantar Island, GBWL. On 30 August 1907, the schooner Carrie and Annie (90 tons), of San Francisco, was wrecked on the island during a gale. The crew remained stranded on Bolshoy Shantar until 11 September, when the Russian transport Nitzun rescued them.Pacific Commercial Advertiser (Vol. XLVI, No. 7864, October 22, 1907, Honolulu).Los Angeles Herald (Vol. 35, No. 20, Oct. 22, 1907).
Climate
Flora and fauna
There are spruce forests on the islandTaiga in the Shantarskiye Islands and smelts (Hypomesus japonicus) and (H. olidus) are found in Lake Bol'shoe.Lake Bol'shoe In the spring and summer Steller's sea eagleNigge, 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 as the location of the headquarters of a fictional peer-to-peer programme called Shitster (a spoof of Napster).
References
External links
Bear kills camper in Bolshoy Shantar Island